Construction journey-Active 3-way

[MJL21193]

One done - listening now.
What a difference! Much clearer, gone is the cheap radio sound. Very pleased I am!
Now THIS is a great midrange!

A bit tricky getting the recess deep enough - almost 2mm deeper. Driver is a perfect fit though, even the screw holes line up.

I'll get the other one done tomorrow.

[F1 FAN]

Originally posted by MJL21193

What a difference! Much clearer, gone is the cheap radio sound. Very pleased I am!
Now THIS is a great midrange!

Yep you have to get that important mid range right.It's good to hear the Vifas gave you the desired improvement.

[Andy G]

The Vifa P and M mids were very nice drivers , great for the ears, they will be sadly missed. Good to see that have the PL series as a compromise though.

[Dr.EM]

Shame to hear those original mids didn't quite work out. Glad to hear these are much better though; its a range of mids I looked at myself (despite already having HM100Z0 drivers, i'm becoming increasingly paranoid about damaging them!). A case of good specs matching a good sound

[ShinOBIWAN]

Hi John, not spoke to you in while. Hope all is well - certainly sounds like it is

Congrats on the driver choice. The Vifa's PL, as far as drivers go, are near legendary. They're an easy driver to work with and give great results with a minimum of fuss.

The last speaker I heard using them was the Earthworks Sigma and featured the PL17 along with the Vifa XT25 tweeter. The sound was superb to my ears. And they cost £2000 so you got a bargain there.

[MJL21193]

Originally posted by F1 FAN
Yep you have to get that important mid range right.It's good to hear the Vifas gave you the desired improvement.

Hi F1,
It's like night and day, the difference to my ears.
This is my first real 3-way, and I made the mistake of not paying enough attention to the midrange, assuming the Max was good enough. I didn't even test it's frequency response.
Lesson learned.

Originally posted by Andy Graddon
The Vifa P and M mids were very nice drivers , great for the ears, they will be sadly missed. Good to see that have the PL series as a compromise though.

Hi Andy,
This is my second Vifa PL driver - I have two PL18's in a pair of TL boxes. These drivers are outstanding.
I also have an older pair of P13's in rear surround speakers. Excellent drivers.

[MJL21193]

Originally posted by Dr.EM
Shame to hear those original mids didn't quite work out. Glad to hear these are much better though; its a range of mids I looked at myself (despite already having HM100Z0 drivers, i'm becoming increasingly paranoid about damaging them!). A case of good specs matching a good sound

Hi Dr.EM,
How are things going? Get your DOZ working?
From all accounts, the Audax is a great mid, though I haven't heard them.
I have the same paranoia - one slip with the screw driver...

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN
Hi John, not spoke to you in while. Hope all is well - certainly sounds like it is

Congrats on the driver choice. The Vifa's PL, as far as drivers go, are near legendary. They're an easy driver to work with and give great results with a minimum of fuss.

The last speaker I heard using them was the Earthworks Sigma and featured the PL17 along with the Vifa XT25 tweeter. The sound was superb to my ears. And they cost £2000 so you got a bargain there.

Hi Ant,
Good to hear from you and congratulations on your ascension to the peerage Everything is A-OK here.

I haven't heard the XT25, how does it compare to the Scanspeak R2904/7000? I see it's about 1/10 the price. I can't say that I heard the extra cost of the revelator in comparison to it's lesser siblings ( I have the D2905/9300 in this speaker). But then, I can't hear above about 12K anymore anyway. Smooth response is the important thing for me.

I think I've got a winning combination now. Further changes coming though: I'll be taking a look at the active amp and may change the slope of the woofer/midrange cross to 12db/octave, but I'll need to take some more measurements first.

I have put the other mid in this morning and I'm listening while I type this (at pretty high volume ). A change well worth doing.

I have also started the centre speaker that will match these (in style anyway). I have studied Tony Gee's USB and ran a few simulations in Unibox to come up with a high performance design.
I will treat the interior in the same way as the midrange chambers are done on the mains. This seems to work very well.

Here's the body, put together with glue and airgun nails. Front curve was layed out with a thin wood strip bent around a centre pivot. Only one brace as this box is small and the panels don't have wide spans.
Material is 3/4" cabinet grade plywood.

[ShinOBIWAN]

Hi Ant,
Good to hear from you and congratulations on your ascension to the peerage Everything is A-OK here.

Thanks, I think.

I haven't heard the XT25, how does it compare to the Scanspeak R2904/7000? I see it's about 1/10 the price. I can't say that I heard the extra cost of the revelator in comparison to it's lesser siblings ( I have the D2905/9300 in this speaker). But then, I can't hear above about 12K anymore anyway. Smooth response is the important thing for me.

Not much in it TBH. If the your wanting a 2Khz or slightly lower crossover then I'd look at the R29 as its better in absolute terms. Problem is the ridiculous price.

I think I've got a winning combination now. Further changes coming though: I'll be taking a look at the active amp and may change the slope of the woofer/midrange cross to 12db/octave, but I'll need to take some more measurements first.

I have put the other mid in this morning and I'm listening while I type this (at pretty high volume ). A change well worth doing.

I have also started the centre speaker that will match these (in style anyway). I have studied Tony Gee's USB and ran a few simulations in Unibox to come up with a high performance design.
I will treat the interior in the same way as the midrange chambers are done on the mains. This seems to work very well.

Here's the body, put together with glue and airgun nails. Front curve was layed out with a thin wood strip bent around a centre pivot. Only one brace as this box is small and the panels don't have wide spans.
Material is 3/4" cabinet grade plywood. [/B]

Sounds good John. I'll keep checking back every now and then to see things develop. Oh, BTW, when do the surround start?

[MJL21193]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN


Not much in it TBH. If the your wanting a 2Khz or slightly lower crossover then I'd look at the R29 as its better in absolute terms. Problem is the ridiculous price.

Oh, BTW, when do the surround start?

That's about what I figured for the difference. Thought I'd ask you since you have first hand knowledge.
Retail here for the XT25 is $48.00; $400 for the SS.

The rear surrounds are already built. See here for details. I will be veneering these eventually though. The Baltic birch plywood has a reasonable grain pattern, but the surface veneer has minute cracks in it, so I'd like to improve upon this.

I have started to put the baffle on. It'll be three layers of 1/2" MDF, which will make it a bit thicker than the baffles on the mains.
I should have cut and glued in the styrofoam wedges before I put the front on, but I didn't want to wait. Besides, the front will need to dry over night before I can finish it with the final layer of MDF. In the meantime I'll cut the wedges, ready to glue in when I cut out the speaker hole.

Here it is with the first layer glued and screwed on. I used #8 x 2" screws and LOTS of yellow carpenters glue.

[Andy G]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN

Not much in it TBH. If the your wanting a 2Khz or slightly lower crossover then I'd look at the R29 as its better in absolute terms. Problem is the ridiculous price.

THE driver of choice for lower x-o points is the Seas 27TDFC or 27TBFC.

The XT25 is a very neutral tweeter, but you have to be very careful because it doesn't like doing anything at its Fs. Big LRC and steep slopes are required. It is normally crossed around 3k or above despite is low Fs.