My new project dubbed the monolith (sorry, no pics yet, to be posted tomorrow!) was totally finished today, in that the drivers, ports, electronics, etc, were put together.
These are the best sounding loudspeakers I have ever heard. The closest I have heard is some Apogee electrostats. I am really impressed. I think a lot of it has to do with the active crossover.
However, the tweeter (Fountek JP3 Ribbon), is a very nice, very fast, very revealing tweeter, but I put in some pop music in it (Green Day - American Idiot), and it sounded very very harsh. I think that the recording engineers must be listening to some cheap boom boxes when they mix this stuff.
While, I thought the bass might be a bit muddy because I went for a ported design (25hz, dual 3" flared ports), however I found it to be very quick and articulate (bad group delay does not happen till below 35hz, and at that point, very little music I listen to exists). The Dayton Reference series of woofers are very nice for the money.
The midrange, well I notice really notice it. I think that is a great compliment, really, because it does not draw attention to itself, but if it was missing the entire project would just be without most of the music (500-4000hz). It's a Vifa PL11WG, BTW.
I am not saying this is the best project ever, because I haven't heard a lot of commerical loudspeakers, but I can say that it blows the hell off of anything I have heard, and my RTA says it's withen +/- 8db in room response, and I haven't even done digital room correction yet, which should make it even better.
If anyone is interested, I might make a website about them with my building instructions, and some in construction pics, although.... it might not be good to show all of the messed up parts of it....
These are the best sounding loudspeakers I have ever heard. The closest I have heard is some Apogee electrostats. I am really impressed. I think a lot of it has to do with the active crossover.
However, the tweeter (Fountek JP3 Ribbon), is a very nice, very fast, very revealing tweeter, but I put in some pop music in it (Green Day - American Idiot), and it sounded very very harsh. I think that the recording engineers must be listening to some cheap boom boxes when they mix this stuff.
While, I thought the bass might be a bit muddy because I went for a ported design (25hz, dual 3" flared ports), however I found it to be very quick and articulate (bad group delay does not happen till below 35hz, and at that point, very little music I listen to exists). The Dayton Reference series of woofers are very nice for the money.
The midrange, well I notice really notice it. I think that is a great compliment, really, because it does not draw attention to itself, but if it was missing the entire project would just be without most of the music (500-4000hz). It's a Vifa PL11WG, BTW.
I am not saying this is the best project ever, because I haven't heard a lot of commerical loudspeakers, but I can say that it blows the hell off of anything I have heard, and my RTA says it's withen +/- 8db in room response, and I haven't even done digital room correction yet, which should make it even better.
If anyone is interested, I might make a website about them with my building instructions, and some in construction pics, although.... it might not be good to show all of the messed up parts of it....
I am sorry this reply took so long! My internet at home died on Saturday and just now started working.
I am using Dayton Reference RS270s, and I am using a proamp (Phonic Max 860) for the woofers, and an onkyo TX-501 for my mids and highs.
I initally thought that these amps would not be sufficent and that they would be at best, a stop gap measure, however, the onkyo handles the tweeter (flat 7 ohm) at a maximum of 15 watts quite easily, and the midrange (4 ohm nominal), also quite well. This is at my listening level of around 90db. The phonic which is rated much higher than the drivers also does the job well. I plan on replacing the midrange and high amplifiers with gainclones, and possibly the woofer section with a DIY amp.
Since the last post, I have configured the delays on the Rane AC23 x-over using trueRTA and a behringer ecm-8000. Also I have used Dennis Sbarigon (sp?)'s DRC guide to create a FIR correction filter. I am extremly happy with the result, as this is my first venture into high(er) fi. I am in love with the fountek tweeter which adds a lot of sparkle to music, and the bass drivers are very articulate, and even at peak levels I see very little movement (although I do not listen to a lot of bass heavy music). I don't remember if I mentioned this before but they are rear ported with 3" flared ports (2 per side)
Here are some additional pictures, and I'd love to hear comments, suggestions, or complaints.
I am using Dayton Reference RS270s, and I am using a proamp (Phonic Max 860) for the woofers, and an onkyo TX-501 for my mids and highs.
I initally thought that these amps would not be sufficent and that they would be at best, a stop gap measure, however, the onkyo handles the tweeter (flat 7 ohm) at a maximum of 15 watts quite easily, and the midrange (4 ohm nominal), also quite well. This is at my listening level of around 90db. The phonic which is rated much higher than the drivers also does the job well. I plan on replacing the midrange and high amplifiers with gainclones, and possibly the woofer section with a DIY amp.
Since the last post, I have configured the delays on the Rane AC23 x-over using trueRTA and a behringer ecm-8000. Also I have used Dennis Sbarigon (sp?)'s DRC guide to create a FIR correction filter. I am extremly happy with the result, as this is my first venture into high(er) fi. I am in love with the fountek tweeter which adds a lot of sparkle to music, and the bass drivers are very articulate, and even at peak levels I see very little movement (although I do not listen to a lot of bass heavy music). I don't remember if I mentioned this before but they are rear ported with 3" flared ports (2 per side)
Here are some additional pictures, and I'd love to hear comments, suggestions, or complaints.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Firstly let me say that they look good. Great finish actually. Secondly, there can be no complaints since they are your speakers so no one can complain since you are the one listening to them, to hell with us
You really do have a wide baffle though so i expect that you will get some gentle prodding to move the tweeter off center if you rebuild those monsters. Ella Fitz is wonderful, i started listening to her about 2 months ago when a friend turned me on to Billy Holiday Rose Clooney and a few other 'lounge lizettes' .
Good Work
You really do have a wide baffle though so i expect that you will get some gentle prodding to move the tweeter off center if you rebuild those monsters. Ella Fitz is wonderful, i started listening to her about 2 months ago when a friend turned me on to Billy Holiday Rose Clooney and a few other 'lounge lizettes' .
Good Work
Yep, these are the stolen boxes. I am pretty happy with the finish, but I wish I would have been able to do some more finishing work before they were painted, but I can't complain since sound is my primary concern, and I think (and my friends think) they sound wonderful.
If I rebuild I think that I might try my hand out on a transmission line system, and putting the tweeter off center (as was my first plan, but because of various reasons, I didn't get to). Also I might consider doing a MTMWW instead of MTWW, because there needs to be more stuff on this baffle because the top of it looks so lonely
If I rebuild I think that I might try my hand out on a transmission line system, and putting the tweeter off center (as was my first plan, but because of various reasons, I didn't get to). Also I might consider doing a MTMWW instead of MTWW, because there needs to be more stuff on this baffle because the top of it looks so lonely
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