thank you.. I have had a blast building it... can't wait to make another but as a 2way 
I am excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and it just so happens that I am tearing apart my fathers Ohm's that have been in storage for a few years and will be doing a really fun build with those
Fooling around with omnis, I just thought, "hey, listening 180 degree off axis on any other than omnis would be pretty crazy"
only omnis make that possible
With omnis my tip would be to forget about listening height, but instead try having drivers way below normal listening height, and forget center plug diffusor/spreader
ups, OT, sorry
When you get it just right, the EnABL thing, there is no on axis presence and the FR from on axis to 15 deg off axis doesn't change audibly. All of the perceived sounds come from behind the driver. As you slide to center position, only a slight "center of image" movement is detectable, without any lobbing or audible FR change. This is about 15 deg off axis, just outside of the near field for an 8 foot spacing of the drivers, nude on stands.
Further off axis rolls of the FR smoothly, but the null is only to about 2 inches from the mounting plate.
Walking between them from back to front, facing the seat you sit on, is like starting from the back of the stage, facing the audience. As you pass the mounting frame, the front side of the information paints itself onto this image and you can turn around to face the drivers. As you back away the image is right in front of you but gets better due to FR improvement as you get to the seat.
Not actually Omni, like the OHMs are , but the sound you hear at your seat is very much that sort of sound.
I have a full EnABL pattern set for OHM F's. And, I know the guy who is still making new ones.... for 7.5K per pair. New magnet, new spider and suspension, so the VC doesn't drop out of the gap, otherwise, absolute copy... and new! Wish I could afford them.....
Bud
Further off axis rolls of the FR smoothly, but the null is only to about 2 inches from the mounting plate.
Walking between them from back to front, facing the seat you sit on, is like starting from the back of the stage, facing the audience. As you pass the mounting frame, the front side of the information paints itself onto this image and you can turn around to face the drivers. As you back away the image is right in front of you but gets better due to FR improvement as you get to the seat.
Not actually Omni, like the OHMs are , but the sound you hear at your seat is very much that sort of sound.
I have a full EnABL pattern set for OHM F's. And, I know the guy who is still making new ones.... for 7.5K per pair. New magnet, new spider and suspension, so the VC doesn't drop out of the gap, otherwise, absolute copy... and new! Wish I could afford them.....
Bud
That's fantastic woodwork.
I'm not 'getting' a few things, though. The lowther drivers are kings of the 'rising response' and there is no acoustical attenuation in this design to flatten it out. As a result I expect you'd be hearing alot of upper midrange and treble energy with very little else. I don't see how you can match the 300-1k area to the rest without cutting the woofer high and shallow (pro audio area probably; not Lambda) or tweaking the Lowther actively. The subwoofer driver would have to be active and equalized to fight its own rising response as well. 'Sub'woofers typically exhibit their highest sensitivity above 100hz and OB will just worsen the tilt substantially. No doubt the issues can be solved and good sound will result.
But maybe I missed an explanation earlier in the discussion. Hrm. I will go over it again.
I'm not 'getting' a few things, though. The lowther drivers are kings of the 'rising response' and there is no acoustical attenuation in this design to flatten it out. As a result I expect you'd be hearing alot of upper midrange and treble energy with very little else. I don't see how you can match the 300-1k area to the rest without cutting the woofer high and shallow (pro audio area probably; not Lambda) or tweaking the Lowther actively. The subwoofer driver would have to be active and equalized to fight its own rising response as well. 'Sub'woofers typically exhibit their highest sensitivity above 100hz and OB will just worsen the tilt substantially. No doubt the issues can be solved and good sound will result.
But maybe I missed an explanation earlier in the discussion. Hrm. I will go over it again.
Thanks for the comments!!!!
Well, they work... and work damn well... in all my years of hifi... listening to more setups from a few dollars to a few half mil setups.. I'd put this up against probably 90% of them all.. seriously.. it goes against everything that I thought I knew.. and everything I thought wouldn't work..
All I can say is that you have all the points that I had when my friend had me come over and listen to his setup with the PM6A's mounted on a mic stand and using a set of 10's biamp'd with a crappy Behringer xover.. and after the first couple of versus I never questioned it again...
The thing is that you don't listen to Lowther or any other wide-range driver on axis. Once you are 15* off axis, the FR is fairly flat. The whole rising response thing is gone.
On the other hand, the Tang Band W8-1772 with a little, OK, a lot of BSC comes out pretty flat on axis out to 30*. A Bud said, once the FR is reasonably flat, the sweet spot expands and the speakers disappear. You can walk around the room and these speakers don't change sound much.
Bob
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I have sat in Davids personal house and listened to his setup using the super 12's.. I liked them allot...very fun stuff... but not even close to the level of fidelity of the Lowthers.. I also tend to agree with you that they can be very forward... but the PM6A's in this type of arrangement is both extremely smooth but at the same time detailed...
which is why I am excited to also do an EnABLd set and who knows.... If John at Lowther is up for an Enabld/Fieldcoil beast that would be insane...
I suspect Jon would rejoice at a field coil set of EnABL'd PM6 drivers. He has often said he likes the EnABL'd alnico magnet 16 ohm set he has, in his private system. There is a set of tests and a number of comments from the RMAF 2008 (?) show when Jon A/B'd treated and untreated drivers on one evening. I can probably dig up the relevant posts if you are interested in reading what he and others had to say about the demo.
The EnABL'd AN 8's Inclined is talking about have none of the difficulties you found with the 12's you heard. At least the ones on their way to him at the moment do not. Really, quite exceptional, with a very good mix of the Fostex F200 A eN technically perfect sound and the Lowther PM6A eN explosively colorful dynamics characteristics. Really, quite delightful drivers.
Bud
The EnABL'd AN 8's Inclined is talking about have none of the difficulties you found with the 12's you heard. At least the ones on their way to him at the moment do not. Really, quite exceptional, with a very good mix of the Fostex F200 A eN technically perfect sound and the Lowther PM6A eN explosively colorful dynamics characteristics. Really, quite delightful drivers.
Bud
I agree, if not wholly (to truesound). I would say the AN drivers I use display 85% of the fidelity of any Lowther driver. However, I have not heard a C series Lowther so I can't compare apples to apples, as it were. I picked the AN because it allows much higher volume without becoming screechy mush although further modifications of factory units are still needed. I considered the small loss of detail a small price to pay to get the other things I wanted.
But for lower volume use with some types of music material the Lowther will indeed be challenged to find a peer. The super-thin cones excel at giving you perfect detail. The tradeoff is they also go terribly nonlinear quite early. They are obviously an excellent choice for your listening tastes and habits and an abysmal choice for mine. And THAT is the reason for the infinite variety among transducers today. As many different approaches as there are people.
But for lower volume use with some types of music material the Lowther will indeed be challenged to find a peer. The super-thin cones excel at giving you perfect detail. The tradeoff is they also go terribly nonlinear quite early. They are obviously an excellent choice for your listening tastes and habits and an abysmal choice for mine. And THAT is the reason for the infinite variety among transducers today. As many different approaches as there are people.
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i know it's a bit out of topic, anyway, did you think of going 6.5" instead of 8"? used OB this can result in faster better resolving high-mids...
I didn't, because I needed the higher power handling an 8" offers. I didn't want to match a 6" running fullrange with 15" helper drivers, expecting it to keep up and deliver low distortion during demanding passages. But the higher sensitivity of the 8" is indeed a liability on OB. Compromise, ever compromise, you know the hifi drill.
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