Seas Idunn - first impressions

[mr_push_pull]

a friend built them and we gave them a quick listen at his home this morning.

first impressions:
- no bass
- soundstage is pretty undefined, there is some depth but nothing to write home about; kind of left-right and middle "hifi" sound
- not dynamic, uninvolving
- some midrange resonance is present

kind of the sound that made me give up DIY loudspeakers.

pretty disappointing, I would not recommend this kit, I had expected more. but bear in mind that I have some pretty high standards, my home speakers manage extremely well in all the rated departments.

will come back with reports after some break-in and room placement experiments.

[Starre]

Let them play at least 100 hours, maybe it makes them sing.

[Artemkv]

Originally Posted by Starre

Let them play at least 100 hours, maybe it makes them sing.

+1

[rob g]

Do the speakers run in or is it your ears?

[AKN]

Hi,

Seas Idunn has received positive reviews in this thread: Seas Idunn kit

[miklos]

Originally Posted by rob g

Do the speakers run in or is it your ears?

[crazyhub]

Hi,

I built a speaker using the U18 in a BR 19 liters effective with a low-pass very close to this of the Idunn (same coil value and cap 12µF vs 10µF in the Idunn); the tweeter was different (27TDC in a wave-guide Monacor WG300) but with a 3rd order configuration Fx 2kHz so again close to what is inside the Idunn.
- bass is surprisingly tight and controlled but lack a bit of sub-bass
- midrange is neutral but relatively "cold", it lacks some warmth present in a L18 for example (we made A/B comparison in a friends home with the help of LSPcad emulator)...astonishing isn't it?
- image and soundstage in line with all other (good) speakers I built/owned

Described problems certainly are to be found somewhere else than the speaker IMHO.

[mr_push_pull]

the forum seems to disable notifications after a few replies so the subsequent ones didn't reach me.

so:
1. I'm planning to give them another listen after some 2-3 weeks. owner said they got better meanwhile.
2. it's impossible that is the fault of electronics (source and amp), I tested them with my speakers and the sound was light years ahead.
3. like I said, I will come back with reports after break in.

[simon dart]

Sorry for stating the obvious. You have double checked everything's wired up correctly in the crossover and in phase? Measuring them with ARTA, even if its with your webcam mic will help you check that there are no mistakes. They shouldn't sound that bad!

[mr_push_pull]

no problem. yes, I tend to check, double-check and then check again. I even checked connections with my DMM one more time before connecting the drivers even though I had checked 10 times already
well, maybe this was a bit of an exaggeration, they don't sound like crap, but considering the EUR 400 (w/o finishing and a few parts which I gave him for free) he paid for parts I expected more. for instance, I expected a bit more bass, some songs (take for instance Lhasa's "My Name", it has a very large drum at the beginning which creates atmosphere) sounded really thin, many musically important details were absent.
the sensation of "stage" was there but imaging was very vague.
OTOH my home speakers image like crazy but then again, they used to cost almost 20 times more new (I bought them used for a much lower price). but, and this is the big BUT, the EUR 800 new Dyn's I had before were much better at imaging than the Idunns.
but who knows, maybe they got better with break in?
it's important to know one's reference, sometimes I wonder if many of the much praised DIY designs aren't compared with $100 boom boxes? really no offence intended, been there, done that.