Herm, I'll most certainly post my findings here after I've completed the whole system. The B1 is built and tested. Next will be speakers and then ACA. It might take a while.
Christo
Thanks for your input Jim. Much appreciated. I need to make a decision based on what I read in this thread, because I don't have enough experience to do it on my own. Hopefully, people will be forthcoming with dependable information.
Christo
Thank you, X. That makes sense. It will have to be Ferrite's then. The only remaining question then is whether the ACA's will be happy with 4ohm speakers.
Christo
X, how did you fit dual 3FE25's in the 0.53x cabinet?
I've drawn it in CAD and they don't fit. The cabinet height inside is 381mm according to the Karlsonator 0.53x for dual TC9FD drawing. Is it ok to increase the height or should I make the driver panel higher? Btw, I'm going to use 12mm MFD. If a cabinet from foam board sounds good, I suppose it's ok to use MFD?
I've drawn it in CAD and they don't fit. The cabinet height inside is 381mm according to the Karlsonator 0.53x for dual TC9FD drawing. Is it ok to increase the height or should I make the driver panel higher? Btw, I'm going to use 12mm MFD. If a cabinet from foam board sounds good, I suppose it's ok to use MFD?
Attachments
Last edited:
I haven't actually tried just assumed it fits because I know TC9FD fits. Thanks for drawing cad picture. Just extend panel that drivers mount to accommodate. That will change the angle of that board a bit but it is of no consequence.
Ok, great. I will do that. Thanks for the prompt answer. If the magnets on the 3FE25 weren't so big, we could've moved them down even more.
ACA works fine with 4ohm speaker
I just tested my ACA with an XKi fitted with dual PA130-8's in parallel (4 ohm nominal load). It sounds great - gets quite loud and the single speaker fills the room nicely. I am thinking that this might just be the next combination for my shop speaker. Driven with a Focusrite DAC, it plays very nicely. With an iPhone - can't get as loud but still enough to be very listenable for a 14dB gain amp. Here is a quick sound clip on this special XKi designed as a midrange/top tuned for 80Hz and not much bass (although you can hear it, it was not designed for it). I don't hear any distortion artifacts or clipping, so I think you are good to go. Check out this mp3 sound clip of the ACA driving a 4ohm XKi. Change the .asc extension to .mp3 to listen.
For those of you wondering what the third device mounted on the heatsink is, that is a 7812 with some resistors to slow down a small CPU cooler fan on the backside of that tiny heatsink to allow this amp to work quietly and cool while not needing a big expensive heatsink.
I just tested my ACA with an XKi fitted with dual PA130-8's in parallel (4 ohm nominal load). It sounds great - gets quite loud and the single speaker fills the room nicely. I am thinking that this might just be the next combination for my shop speaker. Driven with a Focusrite DAC, it plays very nicely. With an iPhone - can't get as loud but still enough to be very listenable for a 14dB gain amp. Here is a quick sound clip on this special XKi designed as a midrange/top tuned for 80Hz and not much bass (although you can hear it, it was not designed for it). I don't hear any distortion artifacts or clipping, so I think you are good to go. Check out this mp3 sound clip of the ACA driving a 4ohm XKi. Change the .asc extension to .mp3 to listen.
For those of you wondering what the third device mounted on the heatsink is, that is a 7812 with some resistors to slow down a small CPU cooler fan on the backside of that tiny heatsink to allow this amp to work quietly and cool while not needing a big expensive heatsink.
Attachments
Last edited:
Thinking about it, at the last diyFEST a couple weeks ago the ACA (full kits from diyAudio store) drove the Frugel-Horn Lines with 4Ω Mark Audio Alpair 5.2eN marvellously.People listening were stunned by the (apparent) bass.
The ACA seems to play much louder than one would think for its power rating, likely a sign of how well behaved it is on clipping.
dave
The ACA seems to play much louder than one would think for its power rating, likely a sign of how well behaved it is on clipping.
dave
Thank you X. Now we know that it works and I'll go ahead with the 0.53x build with dual Faital 3FE25's.
And thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. I have decided what speakers to build for the ACA's.
I may need to do the same since the heatsinks that I've ordered look about the same size as yours.
Last edited:
Great stuff! Thank you X for real life operation testing.
Thank you Dave for that feedback on ACAs.
Good to know that (within the ACA limits) there is no real concern driving 4ohm speakers then. Gives me peace of mind to try the dual TC9FDs, 3FE25s or PA130-8s sometime in the future.
I understand Skylar88 has chosen a project. For everyone else in the same situation, I can offer thoughts on the last few years of my DIY path which has involved some of the speaker projects already discussed. I started out with some banana coned Fostex 126en in FH3. Great intro into semi-high efficiency speakers. Worked fine with a few W of SE DHT on delicate music. Then I went to a Karlsonator with a range of 12" and 10" new, vintage, pro, and hifi drivers and also in a couple of econowave set ups. These worked much better on mainstream types of music. They were particularly stars with overdriven guitar stuff. Still fine with low wattage amps. They weren't nearly as refined as the FH3 with the Fostex, but they certainly all had tighter punch. After that, I tried some MA Alpair drivers in the FH3. Huge improvement for most everything over the Fostex except for the sensitivity. They benefitted from more power, stepping up to a PP EL34. Then I tried a range of front horns with all sorts of drivers. Mixed results. Now, I'm entranced by some MLTL with Alpair 12pw run full range with a waveguided compression driver to fill in the highs at 10k Hz with the 12pw run out of steam. Certainly the best I've heard so far. My thoughts anyway. What a fun hobby....
16 Ohm FaitalPro 3FE25
Twocents discovered a 16 Ohm version of the FaitalPro 3FE25 with even higher Qts: 0.82 compared to the 0.7 of the 8 Ohm model.
So, things are looking really good for my ACA dual driver speakers!
Twocents discovered a 16 Ohm version of the FaitalPro 3FE25 with even higher Qts: 0.82 compared to the 0.7 of the 8 Ohm model.
So, things are looking really good for my ACA dual driver speakers!
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.