Sweet sounding Speaker dillemma

[oon_the_kid]

Hi,

I have built quite a few full range speakers and have owned quite a few speakers. While they sound great on many materials, I find I just couldn't get it to sound right on old recordings.

For example, I am a big fan of Lobo and somehow I could not get his song to sound the way it did when I was much younger, listening to my dad's old car stereo. It just doesn't feel the same, somehow the 'mood' is just not there.

I reckon, what I need to help it achieve that mood, is some very coloured speaker. I've built a few markaudio and Jordan speakers, which unfortunately for this particular singer sounds too clear...

Do you have any recomendations for speakers that might fit this criteria, probably very mellow warm, and coloured...

Thanks in advance...

Oon

[bmwman91]

What you are describing is at least as much psychological as technical. We all have very strong links to things that we associate with childhood, and often we prefer them simply because they remind us of times that we look back on fondly.

Chances are that the speakers you have built are technically far superior to the setup in your dad's car from long ago. You are probably listening to the songs more like the artist had intended with your FR speakers. To get that "car sound" you should probably install a LPF somewhere around 8kHz, use an EQ to boost everything under 80Hz by 10dB & drive the speakers until they exhibit non-linear distortion. I am being 100% serious here, if the aim is to get back the experience from your childhood. Sadly, I think you might find that reliving some fond childhood memories may tarnish them forever. Some things are best left as fond memories.

Then again, your father's car may have been super nice with a world-class sound system. In that case, build a subwoofer, figure out how you want to power it & call it a day.

One other option is to use a current-feedback or transimpedance amplifier. These will help top give your FR speakers a warmer sound, but you also need to be careful about how much cone excursion you end up with at high sound levels.

[oon_the_kid]

"What you are describing is at least as much psychological as technical"

I wouldn't say at least psychological, I would say definitely psycological...

It is not just limited to car stereo, I actually enjoy listening to those songs from a transistor radio more than a hifi system. Somehow newer systems tend to bring out the rest of the instruments more and distracts from the vocals. For example, slow Elvis songs tend to sound a bit funny if the drums are too prominent....

At these moment, I am considering a few option.

Fostex FE166 or 206? Can anybody comment on their sound? I already have the FE103e, but I understand the bigger ones sound different...

or possibly the old Corel speakers.

Oon

[ttan98]

I am a Malaysian I know what you mean, those days the car stereo uses speakers such as Clarion(definitely), Coral, and Foster(maybe), all these speakers have higher distortions and the radio uses carbon resistors and polyester capacitors all these combinations will produce the sound(coloured sound) you are missing. Rather than building system that will sound like yester years, buy 2nd-hand car radio and speakers from the seventies and that will produce the sound you yearn for.

Hope you can get the sound you are looking for, I rather get an old Valve radio with new tubes and play on your full ranger you will the fabulous "old sound". I am listening to a full ranger driven by a 15watt (close to class A) chipamp sounds good to me, not that old sound though.

[Cal Weldon]

You need a small motor driver that has a high Q rating and a natural roll off around 10K. It will give you that nice rich, warm sound you remember as a boy. The only thing your can't reproduce is the volume of the cabin. Your listening environment is likely much larger and this will detract from that a lot so you might have to close your eyes and imagine a bit or sit closer to the speakers.

[oon_the_kid]

Hi TTan98,

Well, the one problem with your suggestion is they run on cassetes then, i don't think there are cassettes anymore today....

My dad's old speaker was a coral. I am using mostly DIY tripath (class D), although I have a tube amp as well.

I guess in many ways what you described is probably what I would like to go for. A good full ranger with tube amp.

The only trouble is, full ranger's have two types, high accuracy modern sounding types (Jordan, Markaudio are two that I have tried) and old type (Lowther, Fostek, Coral).

I already have the high accuracy modern type, now I am looking to get one of the older sounding type, warm, mellow, smooth....

What speakers are you using and what do you think of them...

Oon

[oon_the_kid]

Originally Posted by Cal Weldon

You need a small motor driver that has a high Q rating and a natural roll off around 10K. It will give you that nice rich, warm sound you remember as a boy. The only thing your can't reproduce is the volume of the cabin. Your listening environment is likely much larger and this will detract from that a lot so you might have to close your eyes and imagine a bit or sit closer to the speakers.

I think you are pretty much hitting there, do you have any recommendations on any particular driver that fulfils this criteria?

I think other criteria might be a slight boost of around 500Hz compared to 1~3KHz, to give it a warmer sound. I am curious how does the q rating affect the sound?

Oon

[Scottmoose]

It's how well damped the driver is. High Q = weak damping, may be underdamped on the bottom end; low Q = highly damped.

[Candisa]

Try the TangBand W4-1320!
We compared this bamboo-coned driver with the titanium-coned W4-1337 and found that the 1337 version delivered a lot more detail, but the 1320 sounded more ambient.
If you're talking about "missing the mood" and "too clear voices", the TangBand W4-1320 might be exactly the driver you need!

You might consider building a speaker with both a W4-1320 and a W4-1337 with L-pads on both, so you can tune the amount of ambience (1320) and sparkle/detail (1337) anytime you want, according to what kind of music you're listening too and what mood you want to create at that moment.
Those two drivers sound very beautiful together (which is something we also tried when comparing them) and we are seriously considering building a pair of MTMW (the tweeter to enhance the off-axis dispersion, the woofer to help in the bottom end) speakers with both of them one day.

Isabelle

[ttan98]

I don't think you can duplicate the sound you want from modern day components like you mention modern clean full ranger and Tripath uses components that will also give you a very "clean" sound. Amps from the 60-70's have a very "dull" and "warmer" sound because of carbon resistors and polyestor coupling caps.

I like to suggest you buy 2nd hand Coral from Ebay and also use 2nd hand home transistor amps(all car amp are transistors) from the 60-70's such Sansui or Pioneer or Monarch or even Luxman. These components will give you the sound "close" to what you want. Having said that I think it is a waste of time, you see the sound you heard was a combination of sound you heard and the atmosphere at that point in time, ie you and your family interacting(I am sure it is of very nostalgic one), that interaction/atmosphere cannot be duplicated. Furthermore even if you can duplicate the sound I think you will not use the set-up on a regular basis because it does not even come close to modern sound. After a while you will be "bored" with it. A valve amp and modern full ranger will give you a more lasting sound full of enjoyment for many hours.