Hi Efficiency speaker recommendation pls

[milen007]

i am new to hi eff speaker and would like to build one.

My preferences and goals:
- musicality and naturalness
- base is not the most important but added value
- clear Warm sound
- Clear bass rather than lowest notes
- smooth treble
- small room size
- range of music mainly jazz, vocal
- would love to pair them with SE amp or low watt T amp

i have dca 4 or 5.5 in mind. with BIB, PAWO or Metronome enclosure?
do you have any recommendation? what type of enclosure do you use?

thanks in adv
Erwin

[Scottmoose]

AFAIK, there are no published T/S specs for the Merrill drivers, which has meant a dearth of DIY cabinets for them, short of the regular Zigmahornet which I believe the former has been dropped into in the past. A real pity, because they do look very nice little drivers indeed, assuming availability is good / improves.

How big a room, how big a cabinet, & how much can you spend?

[milen007]

hi Scottmoose

i found a source in malaysia that carry this drivers.

my room is around 12x20x10 feet, bloomy base with my 2 way speakers. unless i push it back to 2 feet from side wall and 3 feet from back wall. while sitting in the middle of the room.. not ideal setup as i just move in to the room and thats the best position i can find at the moment.

i am looking around the size as big as PAWO or zigmahornet. but its not an issue as i prefer performance to anything else.

money is not a problem considering i really want a highly revealing and natural sounding speakers. but ranging up to 1K is a good start or even more as no crossover is required (i assume). excluding the carpentry. as it wont cost me more than $200 using plywood to make it here locally in indonesia. thx in adv

[Godzilla]

>>> i am new to hi eff speaker and would like to build one.

I recommend building two. Just kidding. I can warmly recommend BIBs anytime but the others you mentioned are also very good choices.

Your room size is good for a small to medium sized BIB.

Godzilla

PS. Happy New Year

[limono]

You're room is not so bad. I'd recommend Earl Geddes kit .It is in your $$ range and will be perfect for narrower and long rooms. I have Ziggies with Merril drivers and they are OK for bedroom TV duty. All fostex ferrite drivers I heard were tonaly dead and in general uninspiring. Maybe their alnico models are good. Look for vintage Tannoy drivers also for more $ Audio Note speakers (used ) are good. SEas exotic is said to be great ,but you'd need more power than 4W to drive it and it cost a bit.

[Nanook]

planet10's modified (as in EnABLed ) FE127s are a great place to start.

The Merrills are very inexpensive, but without many real comparisons out there, a little tough to recommend, considering the distance (and the expense) that they would travel to get to you. If there is a dealer in Malaysia for the drivers then no problems, else stick with "known quantities", particularly if they must be shipped from Europe or North America.

I've been listening to a chrisb (a significant part of the planet10-hifi team) built pair of Milevas with the EnaBLed FE127 drivers in them. These things pretty incredible, and are esthetically very pleasing. are very enjoyable to listen to with a small Nakamichi Stasis receiver . Any good, low dampening factor amp is where to start with amplifiers (be it tube, T-amp, etc). What amp are you planning on running with your new speakers?


stew

[milen007]

Your room size is good for a small to medium sized BIB.

Godzilla

PS. Happy New Year [/B]

Happy New year

godzilla, do you have BIB plan? i read alot about it but cant seems to find the enclosure plan.

Originally posted by limono
You're room is not so bad. I'd recommend Earl Geddes kit .It is in your $$ range and will be perfect for narrower and long rooms. I have Ziggies with Merril drivers and they are OK for bedroom TV duty. All fostex ferrite drivers I heard were tonaly dead and in general uninspiring. Maybe their alnico models are good. Look for vintage Tannoy drivers also for more $ Audio Note speakers (used ) are good. SEas exotic is said to be great ,but you'd need more power than 4W to drive it and it cost a bit.

I have a look at Earl Geddes kit. seems has good review. will be contacting him to quotes on the shipping. thx for the input.

so in your opinion, the Geddes Kit is better than the merrill?

Originally posted by Nanook
planet10's modified (as in EnABLed ) FE127s are a great place to start.

The Merrills are very inexpensive, but without many real comparisons out there, a little tough to recommend, considering the distance (and the expense) that they would travel to get to you. If there is a dealer in Malaysia for the drivers then no problems, else stick with "known quantities", particularly if they must be shipped from Europe or North America.

I've been listening to a chrisb (a significant part of the planet10-hifi team) built pair of Milevas with the EnaBLed FE127 drivers in them. These things pretty incredible, and are esthetically very pleasing. are very enjoyable to listen to with a small Nakamichi Stasis receiver . Any good, low dampening factor amp is where to start with amplifiers (be it tube, T-amp, etc). What amp are you planning on running with your new speakers?


stew

Hi Stew
Enabled FE127 has been discussed alot here in the forum. will check it out. thx

any other recommendation that compare the suggested product above? thanks

erwin

[Scottmoose]

Originally posted by milen007
[B]do you have BIB plan? i read alot about it but cant seems to find the enclosure plan.

It depends on the driver. Most people use one of the very simple calculators to size their own box for their own units. As there are unfortunately no parameters available for the Merrill drivers however, you'd have to simply take a wild guess and hope for the best.

so in your opinion, the Geddes Kit is better than the merrill?

It's utterly different in just about every concevable area, so comparisons are all but meaningless. Leaving aside their merits / demerits, given that this is the forum for FR drivers, I'm surprised that they even appeared on the radar of anyone here, let alone were suggested to someone mooting over an FR driver based system. 'Better' is a dangerous term anyway, because it's entirely subjective -as noted, 'different' is the phrase. As the Merrill units are quite rare though, and very few DIYers have got their hands on them, their potential remains an unknown.

FWIW, I don't know what limono has been listening to, but most Fostex units are anything but tonally dead. I've heard almost all of them in a variety of systems.

[marekst]

Hi Erwin,
“my room is around 12x20x10 feet, bloomy base with my 2 way speakers.”

It may be a result of room acoustics. With a single driver speakers you will get less bass so it will be less bloomy, but my BLH didn’t sound right until I put enough bass traps in the room.
http://www.imagebam.com/image/1bcae422397887
Marek

[milen007]

Originally posted by Scottmoose


It depends on the driver. Most people use one of the very simple calculators to size their own box for their own units. As there are unfortunately no parameters available for the Merrill drivers however, you'd have to simply take a wild guess and hope for the best.

hi scottmoose

if this is the case, i think BIB will be out then. the seller suggest sigmahornet for dca 4 and pawo for dca 5.5 tho. but i just want to learn my option if i go with any of them.

actually i am after a high efficient full range. which i think dca goes into that category. correct me if im wrong as i am leaning the terminology

Originally posted by marekst

It may be a result of room acoustics. With a single driver speakers you will get less bass so it will be less bloomy, but my BLH didn’t sound right until I put enough bass traps in the room.
http://www.imagebam.com/image/1bcae422397887
Marek

Hi Marek

yes. that certainly is room problem. i have no such issue on my old room. its classified as an untreated room by the way. just a carpet, some sofa and some furniture.

thats why i am after a single driver that has possibly smaller amount of bass. (my guess from reading several review on small single driver)

anyway, is single driver is also a full range driver?

ps: nice driver you got there. sorry for my ignorant. is that commercial speaker or diy? what that setup call? nice setup

thx