Hello everyone, my name is Oliver, I'm a 25-year-old student from Germany.
I'm DIY-enthusiast since I was 12... I started with building audio circuits and that's what I still do... I got the idea of high end later, however. Probably after growing through listening to this awful disco music and beginning to realize what a difference carefully designed audio equipment makes when listening to real music...
My current setup is a two-way-system consisting of an ESS Air Motion Tranformer and an Eton bass driver. I'm using the Heils from 800 Hz upwards. I'm really happy with the speakers and probably won't change anything soon.
Currently I use an Accuphase P-500 and Marantz CD-10, that's only because I build stuff and people buy it from me some days after
The P-500 and CD10 sound ok, however, they will be replaced soon by a DIY digital preamp and poweramp which should be the best result of all the experience I gathered until now.
That's why I joined this forum: Maybe I can get additional opinions / experiences / tips from people for my project. I'd be even more happy if I could help someone with something. Let's see
I'm DIY-enthusiast since I was 12... I started with building audio circuits and that's what I still do... I got the idea of high end later, however. Probably after growing through listening to this awful disco music and beginning to realize what a difference carefully designed audio equipment makes when listening to real music...
My current setup is a two-way-system consisting of an ESS Air Motion Tranformer and an Eton bass driver. I'm using the Heils from 800 Hz upwards. I'm really happy with the speakers and probably won't change anything soon.
Currently I use an Accuphase P-500 and Marantz CD-10, that's only because I build stuff and people buy it from me some days after
The P-500 and CD10 sound ok, however, they will be replaced soon by a DIY digital preamp and poweramp which should be the best result of all the experience I gathered until now.That's why I joined this forum: Maybe I can get additional opinions / experiences / tips from people for my project. I'd be even more happy if I could help someone with something. Let's see
Yes, I'm using the big ones: AMT-1.
I'm more into electronics, but a friend of mine is making a living from building and selling speakers... As you can guess, I'm very often at his house discussing ideas, listening to all the new stuff he did and A/B-comparing speakers. There is almost no bass driver, no tweeter he hasn't yet played around with.
He was the one who first tried the Heils and I was immediatly fascinated by the new dimension of transparency and resolution they offer. We listened to a lot of experimental speakers w/ the Heils, including 2-way and 3-way setups.
Although we both basically prefer the (simpler) 2-way setup, he started up with a 3-way since all literature about the AMT-1 warns you not to use them below 1.5 to 2 kHz. The best 3-way system included a Thorolf woofer in a really *big* enclosure, and a B&W midrange. I didn't care about the *huge* crossover required for this, since my Accuphase amps would drive almost everything.
Although I would have bought those speakers from hime without hesitating, he still thought you could get more out of the Heils and started all over, this time searching for a perfect partner for a 2-way setup. He finally chose the Eton 11-581/50 HEX. This woofer has exceptional resolution provided you put it in the right enclosure. The only problem is a huge and ugly peak in frecquency response soon after 1 kHz. That's why we wouldn't believe this speaker was in any way good after we first connected it to a standard crossover. You have to use 18dB or even 24dB filters to get the best performance, and we chose 800 Hz as crossover frecquency. My friend is particularly good at designing crossovers, and he came up with a huge board of only the finest components. The speakers sounded much better than the best 3-way setup and better than the most expensive speakers I've ever listened to.
This even though he ignored the warnings about using the Heils at frecquencies that low. The speakers measure horribly (he took them to another friend who accidentally owns some very nice equipment), but you wouldn't care either if you ever listened to them.
I cloned them at once, however, I will try an active crossover soon or later since I built a lot of PA speakers and electronics (yes, they do sound good, don't kill me) and I know the improvement you can get out of an active setup quite well. I'm not quite happy with having to voltage-divide the Heils down to match the woofer, even though I like the sound so much. Just experimenting. That's DIY.
I'm really looking forward to Nelson Pass's first word on active crossovers!
I'm more into electronics, but a friend of mine is making a living from building and selling speakers... As you can guess, I'm very often at his house discussing ideas, listening to all the new stuff he did and A/B-comparing speakers. There is almost no bass driver, no tweeter he hasn't yet played around with.
He was the one who first tried the Heils and I was immediatly fascinated by the new dimension of transparency and resolution they offer. We listened to a lot of experimental speakers w/ the Heils, including 2-way and 3-way setups.
Although we both basically prefer the (simpler) 2-way setup, he started up with a 3-way since all literature about the AMT-1 warns you not to use them below 1.5 to 2 kHz. The best 3-way system included a Thorolf woofer in a really *big* enclosure, and a B&W midrange. I didn't care about the *huge* crossover required for this, since my Accuphase amps would drive almost everything.
Although I would have bought those speakers from hime without hesitating, he still thought you could get more out of the Heils and started all over, this time searching for a perfect partner for a 2-way setup. He finally chose the Eton 11-581/50 HEX. This woofer has exceptional resolution provided you put it in the right enclosure. The only problem is a huge and ugly peak in frecquency response soon after 1 kHz. That's why we wouldn't believe this speaker was in any way good after we first connected it to a standard crossover. You have to use 18dB or even 24dB filters to get the best performance, and we chose 800 Hz as crossover frecquency. My friend is particularly good at designing crossovers, and he came up with a huge board of only the finest components. The speakers sounded much better than the best 3-way setup and better than the most expensive speakers I've ever listened to.
This even though he ignored the warnings about using the Heils at frecquencies that low. The speakers measure horribly (he took them to another friend who accidentally owns some very nice equipment), but you wouldn't care either if you ever listened to them.
I cloned them at once, however, I will try an active crossover soon or later since I built a lot of PA speakers and electronics (yes, they do sound good, don't kill me) and I know the improvement you can get out of an active setup quite well. I'm not quite happy with having to voltage-divide the Heils down to match the woofer, even though I like the sound so much. Just experimenting. That's DIY.
I'm really looking forward to Nelson Pass's first word on active crossovers!
Welcome, AMT-freak! I use custom design ribbons, they are beutiful too.
For your digital amp project we welcome you to the thread
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=89529#post89529
/Andrej
For your digital amp project we welcome you to the thread
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=89529#post89529
/Andrej
No no, must have been some kind of misunderstanding...
I'm building a digital PREamp. Well, a DAC actually w/ some additional analog inputs and a volume control.
To be honest, I've never heard any digital power amp I would call "audiophile" up to now and the only advantage, efficiency, is not one of my main concerns, at least in home audio.
I'm building a digital PREamp. Well, a DAC actually w/ some additional analog inputs and a volume control.
To be honest, I've never heard any digital power amp I would call "audiophile" up to now and the only advantage, efficiency, is not one of my main concerns, at least in home audio.
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