Having been a novice reader only member on the board for a year I have undertaken a few tube builds and am looking for some expert advice on which speakers to build that will make my 10W modified Elekit TS879S shine!
Currently I have 3 way wharfdale modus speakers, which are nice but only 'bring a tear to my eye' on the very odd occasion. I'm looking to build something that can do better. I am not looking for the 'best' speaker but one that will fill a moderately sized room with a great sound.
I have been looking at the 8 inch metronomes, the frugal horns and spawn series, as well as the tangband kits. Even looked at how to fabricate DDD and John inslows amazing paper horn creations ( beyond my expertise!)... There's a lot out there! I have access to a woodshop with Lathe/Router/Table Saw and a carpentry expert! And I have $500 to spend.
I have middle-aged ears, still in good condition, I can still hear to about 18Khz
I listen to a very broad cross-section, but in a nutshell, I like complex and broad arrangements (Tindersticks, Andrew Bird), folk and classical guitar / piano (John Renbourne / Eric Satie) and sixties rock (Love/Airplane/Dead).
Thanks in advance!
Currently I have 3 way wharfdale modus speakers, which are nice but only 'bring a tear to my eye' on the very odd occasion. I'm looking to build something that can do better. I am not looking for the 'best' speaker but one that will fill a moderately sized room with a great sound.
I have been looking at the 8 inch metronomes, the frugal horns and spawn series, as well as the tangband kits. Even looked at how to fabricate DDD and John inslows amazing paper horn creations ( beyond my expertise!)... There's a lot out there! I have access to a woodshop with Lathe/Router/Table Saw and a carpentry expert! And I have $500 to spend.
I have middle-aged ears, still in good condition, I can still hear to about 18Khz
I listen to a very broad cross-section, but in a nutshell, I like complex and broad arrangements (Tindersticks, Andrew Bird), folk and classical guitar / piano (John Renbourne / Eric Satie) and sixties rock (Love/Airplane/Dead). Thanks in advance!
Having been a novice reader only member on the board for a year I have undertaken a few tube builds and am looking for some expert advice on which speakers to build that will make my 10W modified Elekit TS879S shine!
Currently I have 3 way wharfdale modus speakers, which are nice but only 'bring a tear to my eye' on the very odd occasion. I'm looking to build something that can do better. I am not looking for the 'best' speaker but one that will fill a moderately sized room with a great sound.
I have been looking at the 8 inch metronomes, the frugal horns and spawn series, as well as the tangband kits. Even looked at how to fabricate DDD and John inslows amazing paper horn creations ( beyond my expertise!)... There's a lot out there! I have access to a woodshop with Lathe/Router/Table Saw and a carpentry expert! And I have $500 to spend.
I have middle-aged ears, still in good condition, I can still hear to about 18Khz
Thanks in advance!
you've answered a few of the questions often posed to a first time speaker builder - and regardless of brand / number of drivers per enclosure, there's probably only a couple left:
physical room size / enclosure dimension constraints, and WAF?
some of the enclosures for higher performance systems, particularly those utilizing larger "full range" single drivers likely to be recommended herein are not small, may have particular placement requirements, and don't fall into the "cute little monkey coffin" style of furniture
Hey Chris - Appreciate the advice and assistance!!!
The room is 12' by 25' by 9' tall. - I have my own room and thus WAF is high as in I have room for anything below 6 feet with a relatively small footprint, within 3x3 feet. Nothing too offensive, she puts up with the eccentric, but I wouldn't want to expand into the ridiculous, unless I can convince her I bought it from phillip stark!
To quote... "Yes dear, "The faces" sound so much better, I can hear all the details in the background, which caspatitor did you change this time? Can I play my "Ryan Adams" records?"
"Thanks Love... Maybe later..."
The room is 12' by 25' by 9' tall. - I have my own room and thus WAF is high as in I have room for anything below 6 feet with a relatively small footprint, within 3x3 feet. Nothing too offensive, she puts up with the eccentric, but I wouldn't want to expand into the ridiculous, unless I can convince her I bought it from phillip stark!
To quote... "Yes dear, "The faces" sound so much better, I can hear all the details in the background, which caspatitor did you change this time? Can I play my "Ryan Adams" records?"
"Thanks Love... Maybe later..."
I find the combination of the annoying dip in 3-5kHz range that often occurs with age, and constant tinnitus (my last visit to the audiologist ended with her comment "don't fight it with heroic measures, just learn to make it your friend" ) that most causes grief with the upper mids to top end.
I'd be inclined towards perhaps one size smaller driver than the 8" FE206 - i.e FE166E or even FF165WK - although arguably some folks might find the latter could use some gentle help above 10 kHz
If you can spare some room behind the enclosures, I could heartily endorse the Victor/Vulcan designs - although they're at the limit of your 6' height tolerance. I've heard the smaller Maeshowe/Valiant version of this design with FE126E (don't let the driver size fool ya) , as well as the Victor with FE166E - both do dynamics, soundstage scale & depth quite well, and these drivers are particularly synergistic with SE amps.
Thanks guys. I came across the woden site a while back. Being an ex-pat I was excited by the simplicity of the designs being a beginner. Whats not mentioned on the site are the listening impressions or comparisons of the two models. Also in my research I hear mixed reviews on fostex vs mark audio drivers...Any further info you guys have would be much appreciated.
I assume these units are to be built using HDF at worst and Baltic ply at best.
Thanks again!
Glen
I assume these units are to be built using HDF at worst and Baltic ply at best.
Thanks again!
Glen
Victor is 5' like the Valiant.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/191159-woden-design-victor-fe166en.html
That is Maeshowe on the floor.
dave
One grade ply lower than BB at worst, stranded bamboo ply at best (a challenge to so the bigger ones with this, as it comes in 4x6 sheets.
dave
Note that there are 3 grades of bamboo ply with the stranded the best.
For general purpose work we are switching from BB to Murphy Plywood, made in Oregon, it has maple surface veneers, is higher consistency & quality, and at least for the 15 & 18 mm, 2 more plys than BB. It is more expensive, but comes in 4x8 sheets which usually give us better yield.
dave
There are a huge number of choices... we'd likely need another 50 posters to recommend all the candidates.
No mention yet of any of the new boxes for the FFxx5wk yet either...
Steve's build of FF225wk Met is getting raves from the locals over in the UK.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
There are mets for the FF165wk & FF125wk pretty much fits the FE127 met.
And i've only just started on the FFxx5wk miniOnkens -- FF85 & Ff125 designed, built and declared good -- with FF165 & FF225 in the works -- the latter 2 likelty best suited here.
dave
I think the Mark Audio drivers may struggle with low power amps being a good deal less efficient then the Fostex's.
I have middle-aged ears, still in good condition, I can still hear to about 18Khz
Thanks in advance!
I'm in that category myself... 10 watts will run out pretty darn fast with the smaller favored "fullrangers" so if you like to turn it up, I'd go with with an 8" Fostex, say the FE208ez, in one of the various rear loaded horn options. This is a simple filter-less single driver speaker, although you could add a super-tweeter later if needed. This driver is efficient and "gutsy"; plays loud without the sound field suddenly collapsing and going into distortion like the smaller fullrangers.
The other option is to go small and add a sub. The plus is that you have potentially smaller footprint and more flexibility in placement, albeit with the added complexity of another amp, high and low pass filters. Caveat, this is the path where you begin to think about speakers more than listening to the music.
My Alpair 10.2's driven by an 8 wpc SET, in a 13 x 24 room will play to very uncomfortable levels, (unfortunately, no #'s available)
decidedly louder than I would ever listen, though.
Don
I wanted to pursue the full range option, rather than involve cross-overs or complimentary subs. I have been researching this for a couple of months now and advice has led me to believe that a larger double mouth horn enclosure, with a single high-efficiency driver, should provide a cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing listening experience.
So I wanted to ask you to cast some votes as to which enclosure and driver I should go for!!!
A) Woden vulcan
B) Kirishima manifold horn enclosure
1) FOSTEX FE206-En2 8 inch (EnABL'd from DAve at Planet-10)
2) AUDIO NIRVANA - Super 8 CAST FRAME
I am thinking I'll skip the terminals and use hand braided litz solid core copper cables directly from the amp into the driver.
Any recommendations as to how to best connect the cables to the driver. I am vague on this but I read that adding a couple of components to filter the signal can be advantageous. I should re-iterate...I am a novice!
Currently playing "Double Nickels on the Dime" by the Minutemen...What a fantastic band!
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