Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
Martello, 8hrs/day, no issue.
Care: solid wood expands and contracts with humidity changes by different amounts along vs across the grain. You need to know what you are doing if using it to make a sealed box. Russian Birch Plywood is my recommendation. I hate MDF, nasty dust, blunts tools etc.
Care: solid wood expands and contracts with humidity changes by different amounts along vs across the grain. You need to know what you are doing if using it to make a sealed box. Russian Birch Plywood is my recommendation. I hate MDF, nasty dust, blunts tools etc.
Not the Mark Audio. The Fountek top issues may or may not be an issue. Listner fatigue might be more likely to come from poor electronics & source in front of them.
dave
Oh. Thats not what I expected to hear lol. Is it something about these 2 drivers/boxes specifically that would lead to fatigue, or would the same thing happen with most small full range drivers? How long of a, passive, listening session would be appropriate on the miniOnken?Also, I can setup some amount of DSP (using REW most likely) if that would help to mitigate some of the fatigue.
When you refer to poor electronics, is that just a side effect of inexpensive Class-D amps in general, or the TPA3116 specifically?
The biggest thing with any driver, FR or not, is hash up top. Drives some people (me for instance), seems to have little effect on some.
Few FRs have a very smooth top (there are some, A10p/A6.2p, 10F [not really FR]). This can happen up way high where it becomes inaudiable but still provides some air, or it can be peaky lower down which can be even more annoying (most FExx6 [Fostex shout), FF125wk, some Lowthers).
The Fountak is a driver i find has a slight edge on the top, probably similar to that in the A10.2. (A10, JX92 have more, such that i could not live with, Eikona is better but still not problem free).
Given this is diy and you ar eunlikely able to listen before buying, you have to make a judgement call and try some. DIYers rarely stop at building 1 speaker.
A note: I regularily stun people playing the uFonkenSET or uMar-KenSET (the most exotic version of the box i suggested for the CHN-50) in my main system, paying music that does not reveal their lack of deep bass or have a need to play loud in my big room. Add a woofer and they make few excuses (after i break in and listen to CHN-110 in FHXL, i plan on hooking up the micros eith their supporting woofT stand.
Here the pretty pair with uFonkenSET (for sale amounst many) — i’ll keep the protos.
It should be noted that the really fatiging stuff often comes from the preceeding electronics, subtle, but annoying and fatiging. Cerainly Class D amps have historically had HF issues, related to the passive low pass filter just before the speaker. Really bass with early Class D (the original Infinity that showed up in the late 70s was really bad), but some modern Class D amps are fine now, depending on your level of audible scrutiny. But the HF crap can come from any piece of poorly done electronics (PAT4 anyone), and suseptability is quite user dependent. You have to listen and trust your ears (or your wife’s in ths case), your listeing pleasure is all important.
I can listen to these 24/7 (not conciously while sleeping :^)
dave
Few FRs have a very smooth top (there are some, A10p/A6.2p, 10F [not really FR]). This can happen up way high where it becomes inaudiable but still provides some air, or it can be peaky lower down which can be even more annoying (most FExx6 [Fostex shout), FF125wk, some Lowthers).
The Fountak is a driver i find has a slight edge on the top, probably similar to that in the A10.2. (A10, JX92 have more, such that i could not live with, Eikona is better but still not problem free).
Given this is diy and you ar eunlikely able to listen before buying, you have to make a judgement call and try some. DIYers rarely stop at building 1 speaker.
A note: I regularily stun people playing the uFonkenSET or uMar-KenSET (the most exotic version of the box i suggested for the CHN-50) in my main system, paying music that does not reveal their lack of deep bass or have a need to play loud in my big room. Add a woofer and they make few excuses (after i break in and listen to CHN-110 in FHXL, i plan on hooking up the micros eith their supporting woofT stand.
Here the pretty pair with uFonkenSET (for sale amounst many) — i’ll keep the protos.
It should be noted that the really fatiging stuff often comes from the preceeding electronics, subtle, but annoying and fatiging. Cerainly Class D amps have historically had HF issues, related to the passive low pass filter just before the speaker. Really bass with early Class D (the original Infinity that showed up in the late 70s was really bad), but some modern Class D amps are fine now, depending on your level of audible scrutiny. But the HF crap can come from any piece of poorly done electronics (PAT4 anyone), and suseptability is quite user dependent. You have to listen and trust your ears (or your wife’s in ths case), your listeing pleasure is all important.
I can listen to these 24/7 (not conciously while sleeping :^)
dave
Go for the Martellos
I built a pair of Martellos for my wife's home office. Defiantly use 1/2" Baltic Birch. I added 1/4" quarter sawn oak for the sides & cherry veneer for the top and bottom. The sound is fantastic for a 70 SF room with 8 foot ceilings. Should take about a week if you take care of the finish. I looked up a Mission finish. Take a look at my post & others who have used this design. A fun and rewarding speaker project. Good sound. I paired them with the hybrid tuned amp from Parts Express. The smaller one. Can' go wrong. Use the Counter FR88EX for speaker selection. Good imaging and depth, clear highs and mid. Piano & vocals are well rendered. Not really a speaker for rock but will give classical music respect. Very easy to listen to. I don't known if the addition of the 1/4" of veneer mass improved the sound. Others here may have comment to that. I did listen to them prior to adding the veneer and found that there was an improvement in the sound. Again enjoy.
I built a pair of Martellos for my wife's home office. Defiantly use 1/2" Baltic Birch. I added 1/4" quarter sawn oak for the sides & cherry veneer for the top and bottom. The sound is fantastic for a 70 SF room with 8 foot ceilings. Should take about a week if you take care of the finish. I looked up a Mission finish. Take a look at my post & others who have used this design. A fun and rewarding speaker project. Good sound. I paired them with the hybrid tuned amp from Parts Express. The smaller one. Can' go wrong. Use the Counter FR88EX for speaker selection. Good imaging and depth, clear highs and mid. Piano & vocals are well rendered. Not really a speaker for rock but will give classical music respect. Very easy to listen to. I don't known if the addition of the 1/4" of veneer mass improved the sound. Others here may have comment to that. I did listen to them prior to adding the veneer and found that there was an improvement in the sound. Again enjoy.
Last edited:
Hi,
I own a pair of Tang Band W3-2141 3" full range, testing them now, and reasonably priced and sounds quite good. You can get them from Parts Express. If interested I can post the freq resp. curve.
I own a pair of Tang Band W3-2141 3" full range, testing them now, and reasonably priced and sounds quite good. You can get them from Parts Express. If interested I can post the freq resp. curve.
I have been chewing on this over the weekend, and it is something I never gave much credence to previously. So much so that I switched my own desk speakers from BT to wired and noticed an immediate, significant increase in overall quality, along with finally getting rid of a really fatiguing high-pitch drone that had an awful resonance with the tone from my laptop cooling fan.
As for the wife's speakers, she is somewhat particular about her speaker tuning even if she doesn't realize it. and having something that isn't fatiguing will be a big plus in the long run. I do have the gear and experience needed to add DSP (using REW directly) to help smooth out an HF junk.
I think I'm going to go with the CHN-50 for this build, and I will send an email later this week about buying the Mar-ken plans.
As to the Martellos, that's a really interesting proposition, and I will be keeping that in mind as possible future build. Maybe as a gift set for someone down the line. However, my next build after this one is going to be a FH-Lite. I have some Aurasound NS3 in the garage that are in 3d printed BR enclosures and I would love to throw them in a FH-Lite just to see what all the fuss is about.
Thank you all for the help! I will be updating this thread periodically as the build progresses this winter.