I'm still puzzling over a design for a set of speakers for my office. I've got a pair of Ariel Mark II's in there right now. They sound absolutely fabulous. However, because of their size, they look a bit out of place. I want to find or invent a design that's smaller, probably less efficient, and meant to be placed close to the wall. The Ariels could then go home with me.
I am so happy with the sound of the Ariels that it occured to me to build "half Ariels" -- using only one Vifa P13WH08-00 per side rather than two. The later versions of the Ariels are actually two independent transmission lines in a single box. The Half Ariel would be half the size! I would lose the benefits of the MTM configuration, but maybe that's not too important. I sit right in the sweet spot, and floor bounce is not significant either.
The hard part for me would be designing the crossovers. So I googled the net for an existing design. I found a kit for sale at www.northcreekmusic.com called Okara II that uses the same drivers. http://www.northcreekmusic.com/OkaraII/OkaraII.htm The crossovers are said to be designed to use the speakers near the wall, which is a good thing. (I presume that means there is little baffle step correction.) There are two things that bother me though. One is the price. The other is the description of the crossover. They don't give a schematic. (Does anyone have it?) It's described only as a "simple second order" crossover at 1800 Hz. Lynn Olson designed the Ariel to have a crossover over an octave higher. He wanted to limit excursion on the tweeter. Would the lower crossover frequency and 2nd order rolloff be okay at moderate volumes? I also wonder if the sound would be significantly different.
I am so happy with the sound of the Ariels that it occured to me to build "half Ariels" -- using only one Vifa P13WH08-00 per side rather than two. The later versions of the Ariels are actually two independent transmission lines in a single box. The Half Ariel would be half the size! I would lose the benefits of the MTM configuration, but maybe that's not too important. I sit right in the sweet spot, and floor bounce is not significant either.
The hard part for me would be designing the crossovers. So I googled the net for an existing design. I found a kit for sale at www.northcreekmusic.com called Okara II that uses the same drivers. http://www.northcreekmusic.com/OkaraII/OkaraII.htm The crossovers are said to be designed to use the speakers near the wall, which is a good thing. (I presume that means there is little baffle step correction.) There are two things that bother me though. One is the price. The other is the description of the crossover. They don't give a schematic. (Does anyone have it?) It's described only as a "simple second order" crossover at 1800 Hz. Lynn Olson designed the Ariel to have a crossover over an octave higher. He wanted to limit excursion on the tweeter. Would the lower crossover frequency and 2nd order rolloff be okay at moderate volumes? I also wonder if the sound would be significantly different.
There is a smaller, vented box version of the Ariel called the ME2. You can find them at http://www.nutshellhifi.com (the latest Olsen web-site).
I heard a pair three years ago - sounded real good to me driven by a 2A3 SET.
I heard a pair three years ago - sounded real good to me driven by a 2A3 SET.
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