rockthebox said:That sounds like a good plan. I'll make up a couple of different supra-baffles and see which sounds best
Cheers for the advice.
You appear to have more time to experiment with this particular project than I did. If you get a chance, it would be interesting to hear your observations with the difference between round and elliptical.
FWIW, the dimensions I listed before for my elliptical baffle were in error, ratio of major to minor axis was on 1.618 / 1
Do try to fabricate with the largest radius profile you can manage.
Terry Cain's famous solid wood baffles were (originally) lathe turned, which allows a much larger profile than is practical with any high speed router bit. Perhaps Clarke and Jason may have migrated to CNC fabrication of the supra-baffles, with the right 5-axis machine virtually anything is possible, but an experienced lathe operator could well be faster on the simpler round shapes.
I've fitted 8 x M5 T-nuts in the baffle & put 8 x M5 clearance holes in the supra-baffle. Fitting different baffles for testing will be a case of unbolting the drive unit along with the supra-baffle. So should be able to test various types fairly quickly and easily. I'll probably glue the supra baffle in place when I have chosen the shape I like best.
I've been listening to a pair of Ruark SABRE III loudspeakers on my system for a while now. The plan this weekend is to relax and listen to the Ruarks over a couple of hours to let my ears settle into listening mode, then swap to the BLH's (with the small round supra baffles fitted) mid evening.
I'll report a comparison between the Ruarks & the Fostex BLH's.
I'm hoping to get time to make up an oval baffle next week and do a similar thing probably next weekend with round vs oval.
Cheers,
jason
I've been listening to a pair of Ruark SABRE III loudspeakers on my system for a while now. The plan this weekend is to relax and listen to the Ruarks over a couple of hours to let my ears settle into listening mode, then swap to the BLH's (with the small round supra baffles fitted) mid evening.
I'll report a comparison between the Ruarks & the Fostex BLH's.
I'm hoping to get time to make up an oval baffle next week and do a similar thing probably next weekend with round vs oval.
Cheers,
jason
Jason - this may be obvious, but be aware that two layers of material (supra baffle and front panel of main enclosure) with the same diameter driver cutout can cause some serious coloration issues. The FE108ES and FE126 as well have very large magnets and very shallow mounting depths, resulting in very little clearance to the mounting cutout on even a single layer of material. Thhe "tunnel" created by double thickness baffle will not allow adequate clearance for the rear waves. This is less of a problem with the 6" & 8" drivers (deeper baskets), the "7" models (smaller diameter/stacked shielded magnets) or the F120A (alnico)
In the case of our Aiko build, we knew we'd be trying different drivers, so I enlarged the opening on the front of the cabinet, and attached the SB from the front side with countersunk screws. This allowed a chamfer on the backside of the SB, which is very important on drivers as shallow as these. The enclosures are now being enjoyed in another home - if I had them back for finishing, I'd glue and plug fill the screw holes.
In the case of our Aiko build, we knew we'd be trying different drivers, so I enlarged the opening on the front of the cabinet, and attached the SB from the front side with countersunk screws. This allowed a chamfer on the backside of the SB, which is very important on drivers as shallow as these. The enclosures are now being enjoyed in another home - if I had them back for finishing, I'd glue and plug fill the screw holes.
Oh dear 
!!
I did have a bit of a worry about that kicking around in the back of my mind but didn't really have it down as a problem.
Do you think it would work if I left the T-nuts in place and cut around them to make a sort of flower pattern. I could enlarge both baffle & suprabaffle in this way?
Cheers,
jason
!!I did have a bit of a worry about that kicking around in the back of my mind but didn't really have it down as a problem.
Do you think it would work if I left the T-nuts in place and cut around them to make a sort of flower pattern. I could enlarge both baffle & suprabaffle in this way?
Cheers,
jason
rockthebox said:Oh dear
I did have a bit of a worry about that kicking around in the back of my mind but didn't really have it down as a problem.
Do you think it would work if I left the T-nuts in place and cut around them to make a sort of flower pattern. I could enlarge both baffle & suprabaffle in this way?
Cheers,
jason
that should be fine
one nice thing about threaded insert fittings vs T-nuts, is that the former can be installed from the front side after machining the chamfer
another is that they (threaded inserts) don't fall out
First impressions
I opened up hole in the baffles & made sure there was enough space between the driver magnet and baffle. Not as big a problem as I first thought it might be which was a relief. It didn't take much time to sort out and I soon had the speakers ready for a trial...
[The system is: EAC ripped flac, spdif output soundcard, CS8412/TDA1543 NOS DAC, Balanced output to Balanced Lightspeed LDR preamp, Balanced to Hypex UcD180HG with switchmode PSU.]
..and after a good deal of listening since getting them plugged in yesterday evening, I can definately say that they are different to anything I've listenend to before!!
After an initial period of - oh dear, what have I built here! I have been gradually warming to them. About 3 hours into the listening session, something about the sound they were producing was drawing me in. I think I would say that the boxes sound more alive than the usual run of the mill vented box. More like listening to a musical instrument than a speaker cabinet.
Listening to them now after about 20 hours of continous music playing on them, I think I can safely say that they are good, in fact very very good indeed.
Not huge amounts of bass, but what there is is very tight indeed. I can't bring myself to attempt an integration with the REL sub yet, as I think it will probably just mess things up.
The "wooden" sound that initially turned me off to them has reduced a lot. I also think I'm getting used to the different sound the boxes make.
Sound stage is excellent, deep and wide - but not heard the sound stage move behind my listening position as I have with the Ruarks. However I think more break in time & maybe the larger oval supra-baffle may improve this.
Midrange/treble is very smooth indeed. Vocals are amazing.
I'm looking forward to the Aiko's growing on me over the coming months/years.
Thanks Scott for a superb design, thanks for all the other help as well.
Still planning on getting the Oval supra baffle installed next weekend & will post an update on how that effects the sound quality.
Cheers,
jason
I opened up hole in the baffles & made sure there was enough space between the driver magnet and baffle. Not as big a problem as I first thought it might be which was a relief. It didn't take much time to sort out and I soon had the speakers ready for a trial...
[The system is: EAC ripped flac, spdif output soundcard, CS8412/TDA1543 NOS DAC, Balanced output to Balanced Lightspeed LDR preamp, Balanced to Hypex UcD180HG with switchmode PSU.]
..and after a good deal of listening since getting them plugged in yesterday evening, I can definately say that they are different to anything I've listenend to before!!
After an initial period of - oh dear, what have I built here! I have been gradually warming to them. About 3 hours into the listening session, something about the sound they were producing was drawing me in. I think I would say that the boxes sound more alive than the usual run of the mill vented box. More like listening to a musical instrument than a speaker cabinet.
Listening to them now after about 20 hours of continous music playing on them, I think I can safely say that they are good, in fact very very good indeed.
Not huge amounts of bass, but what there is is very tight indeed. I can't bring myself to attempt an integration with the REL sub yet, as I think it will probably just mess things up.
The "wooden" sound that initially turned me off to them has reduced a lot. I also think I'm getting used to the different sound the boxes make.
Sound stage is excellent, deep and wide - but not heard the sound stage move behind my listening position as I have with the Ruarks. However I think more break in time & maybe the larger oval supra-baffle may improve this.
Midrange/treble is very smooth indeed. Vocals are amazing.
I'm looking forward to the Aiko's growing on me over the coming months/years.
Thanks Scott for a superb design, thanks for all the other help as well.
Still planning on getting the Oval supra baffle installed next weekend & will post an update on how that effects the sound quality.
Cheers,
jason
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