Thor stories

[JDeV]

Some feedback on my completed Thor's.
I 1st connected them to my "Claus Byrith Mullard 4-30" valve amps, which are my primary "music listening system", driven by Rotel RCD-02. Well.... some things are just not ment to be
This marriage did not last long. It was like the speaker was covered with a thick woolen blanket - plain awful.

So I switched them over to my HT system (Denon AVR-1804 + DVD-2200) with not much hope or any high expectations. This junction delivered a much better result, but still not quit what I hoped for when I started the project. Since these drivers are still very fresh, I believe some "burning in" will improve the situation. There are some signs of the familiar TL bass and the Milleniums do show some good characteristics, but I pray that time will reveal a much better picture.

So, here are some nice pictures at least

[JDeV]

Other one:

[JDeV]

Terminals:

[NiToNi]

Sorry to hear that cause they look AMAZING!!

Give those magnesium drivers time to break in before you count them out. Are you using the original Thor crossover design or have you made any alterations to it?

[ahak]

use spikes, sound much better!!


Arie

[David Gatti]

Beautiful work JDev!
Can you shed more light on what it is you don't like?
What brand of terminals are they btw?

[JDeV]

The boxes were made by Shaun (a friend of mine, also a member here) - so all compliments to him.

What I do not like about the sound is what I do not hear. On my other speakers (self designed Scanspeak 21W-8552 + D2905-93000) I had much better clarity, detail, good imaging and a nice response over the whole soundstage. [Describing sound is not my strongest ability ]
With the Thor/Valve combination, they sounded dull and colorless, get the picture ? Together with the Denon, it was betterbut still not as good as other speakers.

I used the origenal x-over with Mills, Hovland, Solen and Goertz components, Acustuff measured to exact quantities as specified. Terminals are from Madisound, not sure what brand (see pic)
Internal + external cables are Nordost Flatline Gold MKII.
Got the spikes, must just fit them

[dtaylo3]

They look beautiful!

But the sound? Hmmmm. I think you should double check the x-over to make sure you got it correct.

The Mag drivers may sound different to you than other types such as paper or poly, but they should not sound bad or veiled.

After x-over check, I would try different stuffling levels in the cabinet.

[Scottmoose]

Beautiful cabinets. if I could build like that, I'd be a happy man.

Drop the stuffing density to 0.3 lbs per cubic foot. That's the max ANY properly designed TL should have or require. Remember, it's only there to damp the higher harmonics, nothing else. More than 0.3 lbs is just looking for trouble. Odd that you should find it lacking in clarity; I suspect the stuffing could be a major cause of that. I've just modelled Thor in Martin King's MathCad worksheets, and it's got a significatly rising response curve over 100hz, which would tend to emphasise the other extreme. Give the drivers a while to warm up too before listening, like any metal cone. Hope things improve soon
Best
Scott

[JDeV]

Here is an update on the Thor's.
They have been playing now for about 70 odd hr's and definately changed quite alot. The 1ste change I noticed was after about 60hr's. The muffled bass became open and solid. I am not sure if this was because of the "burn in" time or because of the spikes I fitted in that period, but the sound is very natural now. During the last 5 hr's , the highs and mids also became very clear and transparent. In the beginning verything sounded dull and colorless. The total sound picture are now very close to what I was expecting from the Thor's in the beginning. I did not try them again with the valve amps, but will soon. So it seems they really do need some "burn in" and can be a high-end speaker after all