The Hempatics OB

[Telstar]

Originally posted by InclinedPlane
Gee those are small magnets on the FR driver.

BTW, I agree. They had to make compromises at the price. Not very smooth transition to the whizzer being another.

[Telstar]

Originally posted by human.bin
at least they will not autodestroy collapsing the basket, like my audionirvana did when opened the windows and the experimental baffle went to the floor...

No, they are heavy! I think about 18-20kg each speaker.

[human.bin]

telstar which is the sensitivity of the fullrangers? does one woofer suffice for bass augmentation? if yes any particular reason about choosing the beyma? as clearly visible i'm in italy too and i have also some trouble finding the eminence or the goldwood drivers, not to talk of the pyles...

[Telstar]

Originally Posted by human.bin

telstar which is the sensitivity of the fullrangers? does one woofer suffice for bass augmentation? if yes any particular reason about choosing the beyma? as clearly visible i'm in italy too and i have also some trouble finding the eminence or the goldwood drivers, not to talk of the pyles...

Sorry, I dint see this message before.

The estimated sensitivity of the hemps is 94db in my setup.
In a small room, under 20sq meters, one 12" is enough, yes. I have searched and evaluated woofers parameters (mostly 12") and as well tried to contain costs being this my first project. The Beymas are excellent drivers. One alternative is the Tone tubbies available in UK at a good price (but still much higher than my woofers). Models up in the Beyma range are also excellent.

I have to say that you cannot have very high SPL in the low-bass with a single driver in dipole/u-frame/h-frame. Equalization helps, but up to a point. Over 10db and the sound gets more dirty, I prefer less low-bass to that. For this reason I'm thinking of adding a pair of closed-box subwoofers to cover the first octave.

I'm not really sure what you could accomplish with other setups, but it seems to be general consensus to have 2 or 3 woofers per speaker to achieve high SPL at very low frequencies with dipole.

[Telstar]

The subject means that basically the Hempatics project finishes here. I dont see margins of improvements that wont require the replacement of the Hemp drivers themselves, making the name void.
I'll make a new thread when will be the time.

I can sum up the balance, though.

Plus:
+Very low cost
+Sound quality like commercial speakers of 5-10 times more the cost
+Excellent bass from my POV
+Better transparency than ANY speaker I have ever heard, not considering price. (this thanks to direct connection to amps and software crossovers)
+Easy, seamless integration between the Beymas and the Hemps, both drivers are recommended, knowing their characteristics.

Minus:
-Fullrange drivers not particularly undistorted and with an annoying energy storage around 3k which hasnt been easy to tame
-Limits in reproduction of high harmonics
-Low SPL in the very low bass (under 60hz)
-Air/ambience could be improved with speakers with higher freq extension
-Wings size a bit too much that creates a little resonance around 250hz (can be fixed cutting the wings).

The future steps will be replacing the FR with unconventional widerange midrange transducers (top secret for the moment) + Heil AMT (Mundorf or Precide models) and the addition of a pair of closed-box subwoofers with peerless XXLS 10" to augment the very low bass (up to 50-60hz).
And obviously new baffles, with better finish, smaller wings and narrower on the top!

The reason for delays is that I'm waiting to get a state of the art DAC that will help me evaluate the new speakers that will come. I can only say that the name will be crazy.

Stay tuned.