Curved Harveys

[Aengus]

Rats - does everyone else already know that if you "Preview Post" and then use the browser back button, you lose everything you typed!?

So, here I go again. I posted a couple of shots of my newly built Curvey Harveys on other threads (FR vs Studio monitors and VanIsle diyFEST) and there was some interest, so here are a few more. If anyone is interested, I will post some build photos and remarks as well.

I'll put the photos in separate posts, since I don't want to hassle with a web photo-hosting service.

Construction: Russian birch ply for the sides; "Rubberply" for the curved faces (Rubberply seems to be made with a multiply-scored wood - Lauan or similar - veneer on each side of a rubber-like centre veneer), faced with paper-backed birch veneer; and walnut trim, solid except for the p-b veneer in the cutouts.

Regards.

Aengus

[Aengus]

Some detail shots follow.

Oh, for those who don't know - Harvey's are one of the Scottmoose/Planet10 collaboration BVRs. Do a search if you're interested, there are a number of related threads. These have Planet10-modified Fostex FE126s.

[Nordic]

don't feel shy, post big pictures

Graphs and curves aside, what is the frequency band this speaker can operate in? How does it sound? Need a sub?

[Aengus]

...

[Aengus]

don't feel shy, post big pictures

We run up against my ineptitude with Photoshop. If I make the image sizes more or less the right number of pixels to just scrape under the size limit, the file size seems to grow when I do a "save as jpeg"; so I've been playing it safe and making them around 89K size.

I'll try for some larger ones later, though with trepidation - the clearer shots will show the level of my craftsmanship far too clearly.

Here's another small one to be going on with.

[Aengus]

OK, the last one was "bigger" - just lower resolution. The others are all 200 pixels/inch, so you can drag them into a photo viewer and make them bigger if that's of any help.

Also, Dave (Planet10) will be getting some higher-res shots so he may post a few on the Spawn website.

[Aengus]

Nordic asks:

Graphs and curves aside, what is the frequency band this speaker can operate in? How does it sound? Need a sub?

Hi Nordic

I'm not really ready to answer that question yet, for several reasons. One is that I haven't been able to do much critical listening (work, visiting relatives, domestic duties); the drivers aren't fully broken-in; the listening I have done says I've got to do more stuffing or otherwise taming the rear chamber - there's a peakiness to it that is irritating esp. on female vocals, e.g. Joni Mitchell on the "Blue" album is v. shrill; and I haven't played with placement much at all. Fortunately, they are far from side walls, so my initial impression is that placement isn't going to be a huge issue. There's also the fact that my ears are far from golden, more towards the tin end of that spectrum really.

All of that having been said, here are my initial impressions. Apart from the peakiness already mentioned, they seem quite well balanced. The bass is not the ultimate in weight and slam, but is tuneful and articulate. I was listening to the Herb Ellis/Red Mitchell album "Doggin' It" and Red's bass melody bits were rendered really well - though the bass seemed a bit smaller than life.

I personally am not considering a sub. It doesn't make sense to me to have speakers this size and still add one, plus the difficulty of integrating it. If you need weight and slam, these might not be the right speakers - but I'm holding my judgement until I get the balance, etc., right.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

[planet10]

Originally posted by Aengus
We run up against my ineptitude with Photoshop. If I make the image sizes more or less the right number of pixels to just scrape under the size limit, the file size seems to grow when I do a "save as jpeg"; so I've been playing it safe and making them around 89K size.

You need to "save for web". Set the quality to about 30. Just saving as a jpg attaches a lot of meta data to the file that explodes its size. All jpgs loose a fixed dpi when you save them.

a max of about 750 pixels is appropriate for posting on the forum (to make easy viewing for most people)

dave

[planet10]

Originally posted by Nordic
Graphs and curves aside, what is the frequency band this speaker can operate in? How does it sound? Need a sub?

Based on what Scottmoose has reported and personal experience i would estimate 40 Hz to 15k. Aengus is bringing these up to the diyFEST, i might be able to get an in-room FR of them.

dave

[DaveCan]

Nice job Aengus!! Dave