>>> I'm first going to try one of the inexpensive Tripath Class D amps to see what I can get away with on power before building the SET...
Get one... or even two. I have five. My two sons have one each and i have one at the office. There's one in the basement by the ping pong table and one as a spare. I brought the spare to a friends party and we hooked up his speakers in the backyard without him having to take apart his stereo in the den. Besides being small and transportable they sound really great.
Don't buy that Lepai from PartsExpress... i sent mine back bc the knobs didnt move smoothly and it was all scratched up. The Dayton's are great! I can't tell the difference between the lower and higher powered T-amps. You can combine them with subwoofer amps to power a sub.
Compared to my Cary push pull el34 tube amp they sound flatter... meaning less 3D imaging. But they sound better than any typical solid state i've heard (i have the dayton solid state amp, a yamaha and onkyo receiver and had a rega brio that i sold bc the T-amp was better... imo). The best solid state i've heard was Krell, Arcam, Tandberg and Luxman. For some reason they sound fantastic and better than the other brands mentioned. I'm sure there are other excellent sounding solid state. I think MJK uses Rotel amps.
Regardless, the amp offers small improvements in sound quality, the speakers produce the most obvious differences. The TB and other drivers mentioned will work beautifully with SET if you decide to build one... but for the time being, don't be afraid to plop $50 - $100 on a neat little T-amp.
Get one... or even two. I have five. My two sons have one each and i have one at the office. There's one in the basement by the ping pong table and one as a spare. I brought the spare to a friends party and we hooked up his speakers in the backyard without him having to take apart his stereo in the den. Besides being small and transportable they sound really great.
Don't buy that Lepai from PartsExpress... i sent mine back bc the knobs didnt move smoothly and it was all scratched up. The Dayton's are great! I can't tell the difference between the lower and higher powered T-amps. You can combine them with subwoofer amps to power a sub.
Compared to my Cary push pull el34 tube amp they sound flatter... meaning less 3D imaging. But they sound better than any typical solid state i've heard (i have the dayton solid state amp, a yamaha and onkyo receiver and had a rega brio that i sold bc the T-amp was better... imo). The best solid state i've heard was Krell, Arcam, Tandberg and Luxman. For some reason they sound fantastic and better than the other brands mentioned. I'm sure there are other excellent sounding solid state. I think MJK uses Rotel amps.
Regardless, the amp offers small improvements in sound quality, the speakers produce the most obvious differences. The TB and other drivers mentioned will work beautifully with SET if you decide to build one... but for the time being, don't be afraid to plop $50 - $100 on a neat little T-amp.
LOL. I've heard that you have to get five Lepai's just to get one that works, anyway...
Regarding the 15 watt Dayton T-amp, if used on a FR in an OB, what efficiency rating could you get away with for a moderately loud application? Not metal-banging loud, but say, exciting 1812 overture loud? Many of the FR's that people are interested in are in the 89dB area. Is that sufficient or should I continue to look for 93dB or more, like the Betsy or the TB's?
In fact, if I'm not mistaken, you've endorsed both the Betsy and the 1808. How would you compare the two in OB? Is the 1808 worth the many extra dollars? Similar SPL and Qts. So far, I'm inclined toward the 8" drivers over the smaller ones. High extension is not an issue with me.
This is what I intend to do, with an active xover. In your experience, how much power do you need for, say, an Eminence Alpha 15a in an H frame? I've heard around 75 watts. Oh, maybe that came from you...
Is there any advantage to using a dedicated plate amp over a regular SS amp if you are going to have an active XO anyway? Most regular amps spec down to 20hz.Ron
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I have the original SI, the SI Super-T and the Dayton DTA-100. The Super-T was a major improvement over the original. Actually sounds pretty good, though it is a bit bright, particularly with Lowther, 206's and the like. The DTA is the same, but with guts. It has the headroom to do justice to the 1772's and F200's. The brightness is not a problem to me bacause 1) my ears are old a beat up and 2) I have a nice 31 band VTS equilizer plugged into my music player (Foobar2000).
Bob
Bob
Zilla, Bob, Bob, and anyone else here with an opinion,
Based just on your personal preferences and experiences, what is the best sounding 8" FR driver, 92dB or better (going to be a low-watt SET amp), for an OB on top of an MJK-style woof? System would be bi-amped, active xover (MiniDSP with Parametric EQ). I'd like to keep it under $200 each but frankly even 200 is a big bite for me...
What the heck, let's include 6.5" too, but it needs to be high SPL.
If you have a $50 driver in mind that rivals an expensive one, let's hear about it (Gee I hope someone does
Thanks
Based just on your personal preferences and experiences, what is the best sounding 8" FR driver, 92dB or better (going to be a low-watt SET amp), for an OB on top of an MJK-style woof? System would be bi-amped, active xover (MiniDSP with Parametric EQ). I'd like to keep it under $200 each but frankly even 200 is a big bite for me...
What the heck, let's include 6.5" too, but it needs to be high SPL.
If you have a $50 driver in mind that rivals an expensive one, let's hear about it (Gee I hope someone does
Thanks
Two votes for Fostex. Thanks Martin. I respect your advice.
Regarding the Fe126e, I can't find any for sale right now. Madisound is out of stock. along with the fe127e. Wonder if it's discontinued. Still, it brings up a point. With it's low Qts and size, will it extend down far enough on a 20" OB to allow a crossover below 200 Hz? Ideally, I'd like to experiment with a xover closer to 150, if that's feasable. Otherwise, the limited highs of the fe126e is a non-issue for me and, I think it was more around $100? I can't even find any price references.
In one of your papers, you praised the FE166en, at least within it's price point. How would it stack up for you now do you think? They're pretty cheap and spec well for my needs, but I have no idea how they compare against the others for general listening qualities for experienced listeners.
Have you found that in general, smaller drivers can be blended with the Alpha 15's well? And at 200 Hz or below? There seem to differing opinions on that subject, but that's one issue that is leaning me towards an 8" FR. But judging by your papers and posts, you seem to favor the smaller drivers in this kind of application. Maybe you could comment on that point as well. You've listened to one heck of a lot of combinations!
re:1812 - once blew two K33E in K-horns on cannons - not enough sound to wake a late buddy of mine passed out on wine - Belles A (only 70 watts/channel) seemed to clip real hard as it also took out some maggie tweeters.
are the FF or equivalent coming back this year? - will the quake have unfavorable effects upon Fostex economics?
- Belles A (only 70 watts/channel) seemed to clip real hard as it also took out some maggie tweeters.are the FF or equivalent coming back this year? - will the quake have unfavorable effects upon Fostex economics?
FF is coming back. Not equivalent to anything thou. Look like FFs, specs sorta like FExx7.
Fostex made in China, quake is going to affect everyting.
dave
I have not heard the FE-166En so I cannot comment, it will probably work. Both the FE-166En and FE-126En are in stock at Madisound.
You have asked many questions, but before getting into any detailed discussions I have a question. What have you done to design your system?
Small drivers can work very well with the larger woofers in OB, U, or H frames. The baffle's size and crossover point are closely tied together. You need to do the engineering and design work to understand the trade-offs between baffle size, crossover frequency, and mating with the bass driver. There are a lot of people talking and making recommedations with no technical depth behind them. I am not going to spend any time debating other people's opinions.
Martin
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