Ariel Vs. THOR?

[top5]

I have been wanting to build a good tried and true high-end speaker for some time now.

I have been reading at great length everything I can about Lynn's Ariel and SEAS/D'Appolito THOR. Having no access to either of these in completed form, for those of you that have heard them... which is best? (forgive the subjectiveness of this question)

To give you a bit of idea of what I would like to use them for, I currently run a SS amp, and think I will stay that way since these speakers will be used 50% Music and 50% Home theater.


TIA!

[top5]

Has anyone heard both?

Another possibly ignorant question... What about using the Ariel T-Line layout with THOR's driver's / XO?

[Mad_K]

Sounds to mee that you need the Thor

(Ref. my ME2 and Charis speakers.)

[Impoliticus]

Sorry, I haven't heard the Ariel, but I've made the ME2s (MTM ported version of the Ariel also designed by Lynn Olson). I like the vifa P13 a lot and I enjoy my ME2s, but if I had the money I'd probably go with the Thor. And to answer your question about using the Thor Xover with the ariel, definitely don't do that! Lynn Olson did a lot of work to tweak the ariel crossover to perfection, although I read somewhere that Olson didn't include any baffle step compensation. . . As a general rule of thumb, well designed crossovers are very driver/cabinet specific so don't mix and match.

[BobEllis]

As for using the Ariel folding method with Thor type drivers, I did something similar using some Focal woofers. It's a lot of work and the standard (thor style) line that I put the same drivers in works better. The Ariel was designed back in the "build it and see" days of TL design. Now thanks to Martin King and others we can build T lines with a degree of certainty that they will work as planned.

You might want to try building a set of Thors deeper than the original to increase bass performance. If you plug the driver parameters into Martin's worksheets you'll find that the Thor cross section is smaller than optimum. Keep the baffle width the same so there's no need for baffle step tweaking, but make them 25% or so deeper.

Lynn Olsen says the Ariels are unsuitable for solid state amps. while I don't necessarily buy that, I'd still go with the Thor. You'll get better bass extension out of a Thor, maybe enough with room gain to not need a sub on music. Not that I have heard either one.

[jackinnj]

Originally posted by BobEllis
You might want to try building a set of Thors deeper than the original to increase bass performance. If you plug the driver parameters into Martin's worksheets you'll find that the Thor cross section is smaller than optimum. Keep the baffle width the same so there's no need for baffle step tweaking, but make them 25% or so deeper.

I haven't yet built the Thor's -- but they are on the drawing board -- Bob's point is well taken -- I believe that the original AudioXpress article mentioned that the size (volume) was cut down for either reasons of domestic tranquility, or that other DIY bubaboo, practicality.

At any rate, my volume (when I get around to building them this winter) will correspond to the design equations.

[top5]

Originally posted by Impoliticus
I like the vifa P13 a lot

The main reason I cosidered the Ariel was the Vifa's... From what I have been able to research - the quality/value ratio compared to the SEAS W18 (I realise they are different sizes) is much better with the vifa's.

Is the Thor worth 4X $$ in woofers?


Thanks for the reponse thus far!

[analog_sa]

I have never read anything less than superlative about the Ariels. And i largely agree with Lynn's amp philosophy.

Unfortunately my impressions of two sets of Ariels i've heard are less than complimentary. The drive units are obviously of high quality and various sounds are, in isolation, convincing. The highs are very finely resolved and the bass goes quite deep for the size. There seems to be, however, a very strong colouration in the mids - i can immediately hear it on both vocals and acoustic piano. No idea if it's the TL or the crossover to blame. The owner initially built the originally specced crossover and it has gone through a myriad permutations ever since. The current state may well be a single cap on the tweeter, not too sure about that. A very mixed bag IMO.

[johngalt47]

BrianGT has a pair of Thors. He might be able to answer some questions. He has been known to hang out in the Chip Amp section.

Here is a link to pictures of his >>

http://www.briangt.com/gallery/thor