Haha got ya!
Was just about to ask for some FE206En break-in procedures. After playing all of Led Zeppelin's studio albums in a row, there is a definite improvement in bass clarity. The amp is already burned in, over the past 100 hours or so, so it's not that...
What do people do to accelerate the break-in process? I'm in no mood to listen to Shepard's tone for more than 10 seconds.
This being my first backloaded horn, what's the most shocking is the sound quality and presence even at very low volumes...
Bravo! Somehow missed this post..., but this is what single driver "full range" wideband is all about. I find the simplicity utterly appealing, which is what initially hooked me into single drivers to begin with.
From a purist standpoint, I get it and even find it appealing. This is what initially got me into single drivers in the first place; the simplicity is always appealing. Now I'm intrigued by the Audion amp.
About "accelerating" break-in, I just simply stretch (ouch!) the driver physically in and out until it it seems compliant. And again a few times over the course of few months or so, more with the corrugated type surrounds. YMMV/caution. Your ears and brain actually do most of the break-in as it adapts/compensates for irregularities in the frequency response.
Regarding driver specificity, I remember that the designer (RonE?) used some advanced modeling techniques to specifically model the horn with 206e. The thing is that there are variations between the manufacturer specs and the actual production driver. Not to mention driver to driver variations. In my experience there is some "fudge" factor as long as the qts is in the same neighborhood. Higher qts (> 3.0 qts) will run into trouble producing odd resonances and or a very uneven response. Damping the compression chamber or mouth will likely allow one to tune/even out the horn to the room and or listening preference. You are really only tuning 200Hz and below. Bottom line is that if you like what you hear then all this is moot.
I really like it like it is, without any damping material, and no equalizer. I'm listening at low - medium volumes usually, and enjoying them.
BTW, does anybody know how to contact the designer (Ron Clarke)? Is somebody also curating the Dallas II plans? I have a set of cutting plans also (posted them also here) for the Dallas II, if someone wants to build them.
BTW, does anybody know how to contact the designer (Ron Clarke)? Is somebody also curating the Dallas II plans? I have a set of cutting plans also (posted them also here) for the Dallas II, if someone wants to build them.
No modification was done on the plans, I think the En and E are quite similar and compatible.
>Nice clean looking builds by the way.
The speakers you mean? They were too complex for me to do them myself, and I had professional help. 18mm Marine Baltic Birch inside and outside.
They're a work of art!
The amp was relatively easy to build and test (but I'm an electrical engineer, make no mistake, the 480 V inside will kill). I installed all the options of the Edison 60 Plus variant (dual monoblock), including the Audion Silver Night audio transformers, film caps and tantalum resistors
. The only thing I removed was the option for multiple inputs, I only left one connected directly to the volume pot (my entire collection of music is digital on files).
For the price, Audion offer an incredibly good value with the Edison kit (including a lot of very good iron !
) , and Graeme Holland, the owner of Audion, personally offered excellent support during the build, debugging and testing. I'm amazed such a product exists in our consumer society, to be honest.Edison 60 prices and options
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From looking Martin Kings documents my understanding was the chamber volume was more about tuning the horn than matching the driver. This fits with what you've said and it sounds like quite a few have successfully used the fe206en in this design.
I'd love the cutting plans, I have a friend who makes fine furniture and cabinets who has volunteered to help. Thanks!
Sure, here you go. There are made so that the sheets can be easily handled even in a smallish workshop. There is at least another plan on diyaudio, I remember seeing it a few months ago. Perhaps a search could find it as well
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/302709-dallas-ii-plywood-sheets-cutting-plans.html
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I have ~500GB of music stored on a Synology NAS, that streams anyway to another Squeezebox Radio device, so having it streaming to the squeezelite on the RPI is no additional effort.
The alternative would be adding a new HDD to the RPI3b's USB ports, and I dislike this: too high of a load on the RPI, together with the IQAUDIO DAC (up to 1800 mA nominal). With Raspbian the squeezelite is installed in 3 minutes, with Moode Audio in 3 seconds
.I have ~500GB of music stored on a Synology NAS, that streams anyway to another Squeezebox Radio device, so having it streaming to the squeezelite on the RPI is no additional effort.
The alternative would be adding a new HDD to the RPI3b's USB ports, and I dislike this: too high of a load on the RPI, together with the IQAUDIO DAC (up to 1800 mA nominal). With Raspbian the squeezelite is installed in 3 minutes, with Moode Audio in 3 seconds
Ah, right, that makes sense. Hadn't realized that loads like that would be an issue. Thinking of activating a Pi that's gathering dust here myself for my new system.
Finally got the time to stain them . Pictures show the left one after the first and the second application. I used Osmo Oil Mahogany (recommendable, all natural, almost smell less staining oil). They ended up much better than I expected, with a very deep 3D sheen and nice patterning.
. Pictures show the left one after the first and the second application. I used Osmo Oil Mahogany (recommendable, all natural, almost smell less staining oil). They ended up much better than I expected, with a very deep 3D sheen and nice patterning.Attachments
...and everything is installed back and playing. Their natural birch colour was nice, but this shade of mahogany is difficult to beat, they look professionally made now .
PS: In true audiophile fashion, I should now be bragging about how much of an improvement this oil stain has made on the quality of the output sound, and how much clearer everything is now.... That would be a lie, they sound EXACTLY as before.
.PS:
In true audiophile fashion, I should now be bragging about how much of an improvement this oil stain has made on the quality of the output sound, and how much clearer everything is now.... That would be a lie, they sound EXACTLY as before.Attachments
PS:
fb2017,
You have a dark stain and the insides of the ports are painted black - are you sure that your sound is not darker/mellower than before?
They're stained in the same colour, and only seem black because of the lacking light... nope, I cleaned my ears, warmed up the amp, treated the flac files with anti-static, done the voodoo, but still, can't hear one bit of difference. Damn, Ι need a 2000 USD power cable, for sure...
Damn, Ι need a 2000 USD power cable, for sure... fb2017,
You have a dark stain and the insides of the ports are painted black - are you sure that your sound is not darker/mellower than before?
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