Here is my first speaker of my own design. As a mono it’s perhaps a glorified Bluetooth speaker, but I find that I’m too restless to sit in the sweet spot long enough to justify a second unit. This opened up my budget to invest in the horns I really wanted to hear.
I had an open baffle before running audio nirvanas and eminence 15a. Fell in love with the 15a for its reproduction of the upright bass and found its polite sound great for apartment listening. I was remiss to let it go but went with the Acoustic Elegance dipole for its midrange performance figuring that the stiffer cone would also compliment my appetite for techno, rnb etc.
The horns are azurahorns 1200 and 425 crossed at 2400 and 700. Compression drivers are B&C DE250 and Radian 475pb respectively.
The aesthetic design is inspired by an old Braun radio circa Dieter Rams, the iPod mini and the pure audio project first generation open baffle speakers. I had the front panel water jet cut. The Baltic birch was cut on a friend’s CNC. I’m single but wanted this project to be aesthetically pleasing enough for when I am no longer single.
I have never heard horns before but they certainly put a smile on not only my face but friends’ and family’s as well. In some ways I miss the Eminence over the AE woofer. It was more sensitive and nimble but the AE is growing on me with its meatier presentation. If I only listened to jazz I would look at a more efficient woofer like an altec/GPA but my musical preferences lend favor to the AE.
I attenuated the horns to match the woofer using some pink noise and a db meter on my phone. Not sure how scientific that was but it got me pretty far. I felt I needed to boost everything below 200hz as high as the eq on my MiniDSP allowed and then toned everything above that slightly down further still. I do not have a measurement mic but I’m so happy with my results as they are that I probably won’t invest. Convince me otherwise?
There is a hiss coming from the horns and I’ll likely try putting line level resistors between the DSP and amps (Icepower). I have a nondescript turntable and Spotify as sources.
This board is full of inspiration! I’ve been lurking for years so thought I’d share. Feel free to share tips or comments.
I had an open baffle before running audio nirvanas and eminence 15a. Fell in love with the 15a for its reproduction of the upright bass and found its polite sound great for apartment listening. I was remiss to let it go but went with the Acoustic Elegance dipole for its midrange performance figuring that the stiffer cone would also compliment my appetite for techno, rnb etc.
The horns are azurahorns 1200 and 425 crossed at 2400 and 700. Compression drivers are B&C DE250 and Radian 475pb respectively.
The aesthetic design is inspired by an old Braun radio circa Dieter Rams, the iPod mini and the pure audio project first generation open baffle speakers. I had the front panel water jet cut. The Baltic birch was cut on a friend’s CNC. I’m single but wanted this project to be aesthetically pleasing enough for when I am no longer single.
I have never heard horns before but they certainly put a smile on not only my face but friends’ and family’s as well. In some ways I miss the Eminence over the AE woofer. It was more sensitive and nimble but the AE is growing on me with its meatier presentation. If I only listened to jazz I would look at a more efficient woofer like an altec/GPA but my musical preferences lend favor to the AE.
I attenuated the horns to match the woofer using some pink noise and a db meter on my phone. Not sure how scientific that was but it got me pretty far. I felt I needed to boost everything below 200hz as high as the eq on my MiniDSP allowed and then toned everything above that slightly down further still. I do not have a measurement mic but I’m so happy with my results as they are that I probably won’t invest. Convince me otherwise?
There is a hiss coming from the horns and I’ll likely try putting line level resistors between the DSP and amps (Icepower). I have a nondescript turntable and Spotify as sources.
This board is full of inspiration! I’ve been lurking for years so thought I’d share. Feel free to share tips or comments.
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I like that you stayed mono for now. It makes discovery much quicker. Your open baffle clearly needed a lot of EQ, no surprises there. The pink noise was a good choice. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out you needed to use a speaker level L-pad to reduce the hiss.