Crescendo: Eureka! 100db from a 30L Cabinet - 65hz to 25khz

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Pyramidal Cabinets for Crescendo Ribbon Horn Speaker System - Part 1

Today we received our new speaker cabinets. They are made of plywood. Overall finishing is excellent. Price is attractive, only $600 for the whole set. There are more than 20 colors to choose.

The woofers are in the front while the plate amps are at the back. Let's see how this pair will look like with the drivers.

PS: Another set of cabinets are made also for a customer. We will post some of their pictures later.

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Crescendo

I am n Hong Kong. I bought the demo pair with the active bass modules from the showroom a few months ago. I use this on rotation with my well burned in Bastanis Mandala Chrystal open baffle system.

I must say I am VERY impressed! I admit I was a bit skeptical about any "box" and "crossover" system having lived with open baffles with almost fullrange drivers for years.

Wht can I say? i can live with either alone! They each excel at certain things over the other.

I will post some pictures later.
 
Hi Welborne,

Couldou please elaborate on the comparison between the Cresendo and Bastani speakers?

Thanks a lot!

Best regards
Peter

I am n Hong Kong. I bought the demo pair with the active bass modules from the showroom a few months ago. I use this on rotation with my well burned in Bastanis Mandala Chrystal open baffle system.

I must say I am VERY impressed! I admit I was a bit skeptical about any "box" and "crossover" system having lived with open baffles with almost fullrange drivers for years.

Wht can I say? i can live with either alone! They each excel at certain things over the other.

I will post some pictures later.
 
I am using iphone now with its stupid keyboard. I will write more with pictures when I return to my desktop. In short, Crescendo has more body and weight, while Bastanis's disappearing act is still unbeatable. Dynamics of both are SCARY! I use either a 300B SE or a 6c33c se. I also tried a Yamamoto 45, both work like charm. Great for many explosive Reference Recording.
 
Crescendo

Okay, I have a full keyboard and I don't mind to write more on my Crescendo and Bastanis.

Having lived with open baffle system (various, from diy projects using various vintage german radio alnico drivers based more or less on Lampizator website, to finally a Bastanis Mandala , then upgraded to the Chrystal coating version with 18" dipole/ripole bass) for years my ears are spoiled and I always find it difficult to enjoy listening to most other system with "box" and "crossover parts". I have listened to a lot. Although occasionally one or two of my experience did raise my eyebrows quite high, such as recently a system built around Rockport 3-way with a side firing woofer model and Wavestream tube gears, most other time I find traditional box speakers lackluster. I am not saying box type speakers are not good, it may just be that my ears are so adapted to baffle/planar type of sound.

Open baffle system has the ability to create a very strong "you are there" sensation, almost all open baffle system can do this very well. Its partly to do with the absence of box coloration, but largely, I think, to do with the delayed reflection of sound from behind teh baffle. Its almost like having a surround sound system installed. This is a double edged sword. If you are not able to control these free flying reflection by having enough room treatment behind the baffle, they can can create troughs and peaks when interacting with the direct sound reach your ears. And you need a lot of room behind the baffle in order to fully realise the magic of open baffle sound. Luckily I have my audio room built round an approx 30 sq. meter industrial office which is dedicated totally for audio hobby, I am spoiled. The usualy domestic user may not be so lucky as their loudspeaker systems have to compete with the rest of the furnitures and human activity :eek:

I got interested in the Crescendo because I know it is designed by Thorsten Loesch, and he has been giving me a lot of help via email on modding my old Consonance 300B single ended into a D3a-300B 350v/60ma/5k operating point. I am also using an early Django TVC with S&B transformers also coming from diyhifisupply. Having heard how my 300B transformed from a lowly chinese intergrated amp into something very special, I want to hear what a loduspeaker system built by the same man is all about. One day I saw a demo pair on sale at Diyhifisupply's website as they were trying to clear surplus stock. I asked for a quote and I was happy enough that I grabbed them the next morning, together with a pair of plate amps and the bass modules.

About the sound of Crescendo: Well, I was expecting difference because one is box and another is boxless. Sensitivity wise they are rather close, and indeed they should be as Bastanis was rated as 100db and Crescendo 98db. I just set up Crescendo next to the Bastanis. coincidentally the Bastanis's tweeter and Crescendo's tweeter are of the same height from the floor. I have to tell you that the difference between the Crescendo and my Bastanis is really smaller than you may think. Both have a startling transparency and crystalline sparkles on top octaves. Bastanis disappear compeletely but the Crescendo is very close. As I said above, the presentation of open baffle is different because the sound you will hear is a mix of direct radiation from drivers and delayed reflection from walls around so you will hear a "bigger sound" illusion, this is fun but may not be accurate as to what is in the recordings. With the Crescendo, you hear all the same texture and harmonics with a slightly narrower soundstage behind the speakers but with on-the-other-hand a deeper soundstage and more pin-point image of musician and musical instruments. Directivity of the Crescendo horn is also quite narrow adn this is very obvious each time I stand up from my chair to change CD I will lose a lot of treble, well this is horn, and a good thing because it means less laterally radiated waves that will interfere with the ceiling, floor and side walls.

Dynamics of both system are quite similar when driven by the same 300B amp, but I would say, to your and my surprise because of judging from the size of the drivers on these two systems (12" bastanis widebanders vs 8" Cresendo) the Crescendo has more punch and weight in the mid-bass region (around 100hz). I played a CD with a lot of big band March recordings and I was totally jaw-dropped with the Cresendo. Playing the same CD on BAstanis gives a more light-weight presentation but at the same time you feel the band is bigger and closer to you. Which is more accurate? I do not know. But are fun and I love them.

About the ribbon horn on Crescendo: This is my first experience with ribbon horn tweeters, and here is a huge one. It plays down to 600hz in 1st order cutoff according to the technical information. When I think of ribbon, I would immediately think of airy and sometimes steely treble energy that will stand out too much. The Crescendo ribbons don't sound like this at all. They are not dull, but you dont' hear that typical "I am ribbon" sound waving at you. They are more about dynamics and coherence than "sparkling treble" to please you. They will show the chime and bells when your recordings have it, but they won't carry a ribbon label on the forehead. I would say they sound like a typical compression driver with good HF exntension than a ribbon tweeter in the more traditional sense.

To summarise, I would say the Crescendo is a killer system even for an open baffle addict like me. And they are easier to place in a typical domestic room than any open baffle system may demand. :xmasman::D:p

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Crescendo

I would say the biggest drawback (if it is) of Crescendo is that they look tiny, much more compact that what most "horn system" look like. I believe most horn guys are fascinated by the "horny big" look of horn mouth. Think of Klipschorn, Altec VOTT etc. These Crescendo look way too modest to evoke your horny imagination. There was one time my friend visited me for the Bastanis baffle and he saw the Crescendo horn sitting silently at the back. I asked if he wanted to listen to that and I was very happy to set it up. He said "those drivers are so small in comparison to the Bastanis and I do not think I would be interested" hahahaha.

So he missed the chance.;)
 
Hi PK,

I hope Robert of Bastanis won't see this as he has been helpful in many ways and I still love his system, more so today than day 1 as it takes FOREVERRRRR to burn in.

Having heard Bastanis and Crescendo, I can't resist the temptation to replace the compression driver on Bastanis with the Crescendo ribbon horn and I may really do this some day. I love the Big Ribbon Horn, it is one of a kind, combining efficiency of compression horn drivers with ribbon's resolution.

So I have answered your question, haven't I? :)
 
I would say the Bastanis is harder to get right because of room acoustics issues I talked above, and before you get it right it has a tendency to sound bright, especially on female vocal, especially classic soprano stuffs. The longer they burn in, the smoother this becomes so it may be the issue of the widebanders as the compression drivers hardly need so many hundred hours of burn in. The Crescendo, on the other hand, sounds very smooth yet detailed out right. Things that sound a bit shrilled and peaky on Bastanis sound much more tamed on Crescendo. Which is more truthful to the source? I have no clue. But I have been listening to the Crescendo for the whole last month since I plugged them in again. It is the more forgiving of the two.

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I actually find the Bastanis dipole 18" bass bin a nice match to the Crescendo. Don't this remind you of Celestion System 6000?

If you are in Hong Kong and want to listen to Crescendo, feel free to contact me by PM
 
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thx for the review

Can we buy the drivers alone and use our own wood and parts to build the crossover and enclsure?
that would be a great solution for diy guys that can only afford less premium parts...
since the mid-bass and horn drivers are listed at 640$ and the xo is also 600$, that could be a great option to either get the xo parts recommended or use cheaper parts.
if so, ill buy a pair!
 
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Crescendo kit

thx for the review

Can we buy the drivers alone and use our own wood and parts to build the crossover and enclsure?
that would be a great solution for diy guys that can only afford less premium parts...
since the mid-bass and horn drivers are listed at 640$ and the xo is also 600$, that could be a great option to either get the xo parts recommended or use cheaper parts.
if so, ill buy a pair!


I think you can, but you better ask the guys at DHFSY directly. I did see they listed the drivers only a while ago but I don't see it now on their www.
 
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