The personal planars

haffe · 25th January 2003, 04:03 PM

Has anyone on the forum tried building a pair of these? http://www.decware.com/panels.htm
They strike me as the perfect speakers for my computer.

DrDave · 25th January 2003, 05:06 PM

I made them. The physical principle is so neat I had to try them. Greatly amused some of the engineers at work.

They were surprisingly good. Steve is right that they're very revealing of small detail. The replaced the satelites on my Cambridge Soundworks so I was using a cheap sub with them.

There are a few posts about them on the Decware board (some from me)

They've since been superceded by Jordan JX92's as my computer speakers.

haffe · 25th January 2003, 05:17 PM

Ok. Thanks. I thought it seemed strange that I never had heard of them if they were as good as the site claimed, but I guess I will trust you. You wouldn't care to give a estimate of the project costs and the difficulty of construction them?

Bose(o) · 25th January 2003, 07:41 PM

Better than my Monsoons??? I gotta' try 'em any how!

planet10 · 26th January 2003, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bose(o)
Better than my Monsoons??? I gotta' try 'em any how!

Monsoons are pretty good. Most people have no idea because they only have them hooked to their 'puters.

I have a friend who i set up with a top notch Arcam CD player plugged directly into his MM1000s. It reveals just how good these things can sound.

dave

diypole · 26th January 2003, 08:39 PM

Dave D.,
Could you elaborate on the sound of the Monsoons? The distributed mode thing is interesting, but i figured if it was good it would have caught on by now, since there is a couple "high enders" using it.
Perhaps a new thread, or is this old hat (site search)?
Regards, Jason

planet10 · 26th January 2003, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by diypole
Could you elaborate on the sound of the Monsoons? The distributed mode thing is interesting, but i figured if it was good it would have caught on by now, since there is a couple "high enders" using it.

Monsoons aren't distributed mode. They are push-pull magnetostats. Monsoon licensed the tech from Bruce Thingpen (Emminent Techology IIRC) and figured out how to manufacture them for almost nothing. Bruce's hi-end versions start at somewhere on the far side of $1.5k.

Like any planar they get kind of beamy, and they have some resonances (taken care of in the built-in amps) from cavity resonances that keep them from being S-of-T-A. And the amps & sub boxes can be cleaned up alot. But if someone wanted a budget home setup, two pair of these stacked with stereo woofers aren't bad -- even a single pr beats a similarily budgeted shelf-system. Each set comes with what is essentially a passive-pre so you just need to add a serious source and away you go.

dave

Marmaduke · 27th January 2003, 03:41 AM

Hey DrDave,

If you can, i was wondering if you could give a estimate of how much it cost to make a pair of these. I"m a broke college student

and am really interested in these but dont' want to waste $20 for a password if its gonna cost a couple hundred dollars to build a pair that i can't afford to build. i woudl appreciate it

thanks

cowanrg · 27th January 2003, 03:54 AM

i would actually be interested in building a pair of these for fun. maybe a bigger pair, like the size of a bookshelf speaker too....

but before i get the plans, it would be nice to now average time and cost to build them...

Quote:

Originally posted by planet10

Monsoons aren't distributed mode. They are push-pull magnetostats. Monsoon licensed the tech from Bruce Thingpen (Emminent Techology IIRC) and figured out how to manufacture them for almost nothing. Bruce's hi-end versions start at somewhere on the far side of $1.5k.

Like any planar they get kind of beamy, and they have some resonances (taken care of in the built-in amps) from cavity resonances that keep them from being S-of-T-A. And the amps & sub boxes can be cleaned up alot. But if someone wanted a budget home setup, two pair of these stacked with stereo woofers aren't bad -- even a single pr beats a similarily budgeted shelf-system. Each set comes with what is essentially a passive-pre so you just need to add a serious source and away you go.

dave

planet10 · 27th January 2003, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Marmaduke
If you can, i was wondering if you could give a estimate of how much it cost to make a pair of these. I"m a broke college student

and am really interested in these but dont' want to waste $20 for a password if its gonna cost a couple hundred dollars to build a pair that i can't afford to build. i woudl appreciate it

Come on guys. This is how Steve makes a living. This is not the kind of thing to be discussed on diyAudio.

dave

(in official capacity)

25th January 2003, 04:03 PM	#1
haffe diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sweden	The personal planars Has anyone on the forum tried building a pair of these? http://www.decware.com/panels.htm They strike me as the perfect speakers for my computer.

26th January 2003, 08:39 PM	#6
diypole diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Vermont	Dave D., Could you elaborate on the sound of the Monsoons? The distributed mode thing is interesting, but i figured if it was good it would have caught on by now, since there is a couple "high enders" using it. Perhaps a new thread, or is this old hat (site search)? Regards, Jason __________________ Unbaffled

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25th January 2003, 05:06 PM	#2
DrDave diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Toronto	I made them. The physical principle is so neat I had to try them. Greatly amused some of the engineers at work. They were surprisingly good. Steve is right that they're very revealing of small detail. The replaced the satelites on my Cambridge Soundworks so I was using a cheap sub with them. There are a few posts about them on the Decware board (some from me) They've since been superceded by Jordan JX92's as my computer speakers.

25th January 2003, 05:17 PM	#3
haffe diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sweden	Ok. Thanks. I thought it seemed strange that I never had heard of them if they were as good as the site claimed, but I guess I will trust you. You wouldn't care to give a estimate of the project costs and the difficulty of construction them?

25th January 2003, 07:41 PM	#4
Bose(o) diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	Better than my Monsoons??? I gotta' try 'em any how!

27th January 2003, 03:41 AM	#8
Marmaduke diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Knoxville, TN	Hey DrDave, If you can, i was wondering if you could give a estimate of how much it cost to make a pair of these. I"m a broke college student and am really interested in these but dont' want to waste $20 for a password if its gonna cost a couple hundred dollars to build a pair that i can't afford to build. i woudl appreciate it thanks

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