Seeking help for first Speaker project

[Ale79]

Hello everybody,
I'm a total newbie to diy and have finally mustered the funds for my first ever speaker project.
As I wouldn't have a clue on how to build a cross-over I was thinking about some full rangers, and after some reading I got the impression the Jordan JX92HD+ seem like a pretty safe bet.
I have seen the most popular projects for the JX92S and really love the looks of the classic VTL design by Ted Jordan, also it seems to be reasonably simple to build, but I'm not sure if the new HD+ drivers can be used with it and I was hoping to find reassurance here. I was also wondering if the MarkAudio drivers could be used in alternative and wether they would sound better or worse.
Could anybody please tell me where I could find the detailed projects for the VTLs', possibly with step by step instructions, photographs, and so on? I wasn't able to find anything more than the bare design and dimensions...
Thank you very much for your help!

[bear]

Nothing is "safe".



In terms of building, I do not know if the particular project ur interested in is documented, here or elsewhere. Did you do a search?

In general terms, drivers of similar T/S parameters can be substituted freely in a cabinet designed for a given T/S parameter(s). 10-20% variation in any parameter likely will not be a big change in result.

Generally speaking one wants to pick a driver and then design/build the cabinet to match.
For general building tips and ideas, there are a great many speaker builds documented in DiyAudio's posts. Looking at them should help you figure out what you want or need to do.

If you want help on a specific project, like this "VTL", people might read ur post who know it or use it - or you can post a link to the project and get some comments that way too.

_-_-bear

[larryldspkr]

I went with Mark Audio Alpair 10.2 in a bass reflex box, very happy with the results! There are several box options available and after the break-in period these are stellar performers!

Good luck Ale

[jimbro]

Those look very similar to Planet10s Pensil series for MarkAudio drivers. They are indeed a very easy to build and you will find plans on p10s website and lots of discussion and tips on this and the MarkAudio forum.
http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeaker...ete-100711.pdf

[jimbro]

Upon further review the vtl's look more like the half-towers for MA chr-70 or CSS el-70. Should be just as simple a build but I think more pensils have been built and are preferred. http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeaker...aps-150909.pdf

[Ale79]

Thank you everyone for the informations. I'm sorry I didn't reply earlier but I have taken some time to do a little reading and I've realised that there some very interesting projects that I didn't know anything about, and some of them are really appealing!
I think I have to work out a little better my room constraints and musical preferences in order to pick the right project before I get to the building stage. The speakers would have to go in a medium/large room (roughly 40 square meters) of rectangular shape, and would be located on the long wall (front wall from listening position) therefore they will not be close to corners, I can afford to place them at maximum 1,5m from the front wall.
I listen mainly to classical music, jazz, blues, and rock.
As I alredy mentioned I'd rather not embark in a crossover as I have next to no skill with a soldering iron, and that's the main reason I would like to go with a full range driver. Once I pick the speakers I'll be looking for a suitable amplifier, but I'd rather not go for diy there because I really don't think I could pull it through...
What I would like are some full rangers that really are full range, with great lows and excellent highs unaffected by beaming, and of course that incredibile mid range full rangers are famous for! Perhaps I'm asking too much...
My budget for the speakers is max 1000 euros finished, but I'd definitely prefer to spend less, I can do the wood work with the help of my father in law who is a skilled woodworker and has most of the tools needed, but I will outsource the finishing of the cabinets (Black or white lacker) so I need to factor it in the costs.
For the Time being I found particularly interesting the Jordan JX92HD+, and MarkAudio drivers, I seem to understand that they are amongst the fullest full-rangers out there. The designs I seem to understand get best reviews are the VTL, the MLTQWP, and ML-TL for the Jordan drivers and Pensil designs and Frugel Horn MK3 for Mark Audio drivers. When it comes to looks (no idea how they sound) I really like the VTL and FHMK3, but sound comes first of course!
I'd really appreciate any help in deciding what to go for!
Thanks,
Alessio

[Ale79]

Just stumbled on these:
Sylphe - RumoH - Caps, coils and speakers
I love the looks! Anybody heard them?

[chris661]

That 8" TB is one of the few speakers I've seen that, given the correct cabinet, will do bass (to about 40Hz) and up high enough in the treble so that you'd only want a super-tweeter out of personal taste: there's enough for most people.
However, in a large room with the volume turned up, they will struggle as cone break-up comes to the fore and you end up with a very piercing upper midrange. I'm told that cone treatments can help with this to some extent, but there's only so much that can be done.

If you want some speakers to properly rock out to, go for something like the Eminence Beta 12LT - not a full-range driver (you'll need a tweeter), not particularly high fidelity, but there's that dynamic range and sheer volume available (for parties etc) that a home hifi driver (certainly of the full range variety) will struggle to match. These are, after all, Pro Audio drivers.

Chris

[Ale79]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the info. I don't need party speakers as I've got a home theatre set up in the same room with 4 Infinity Beta 50 towers, C360 Center and 2 Beta 20 stand mounters, plus an Infinity SW-10 Sub (I'll add another soon) driven by an HK DPR2005 receiver that has 120W per channel into 8 Ohm, so very loud partying and rock concert volume Metallica sessions are pretty much sorted!
What I'm looking for is a very refined and accomploshed set of speakers for critical listening at civilised, moderately loud volumes, do you reckon the TB drivers in the kit I linked above would be right for this purpose? Are they better than the MarkAudio or Jordan drivers mentioned before?
Thanks for the advice

[planet10]

The VTL is a (poorly done) classically designed TL... here vrs GMs ML-TL.

Note that both of these were designed for the old-spec JX92S (ie pre-EAD)

dave