I'm drawing up plans for a pair of speakers in which each channel consists of a stretched wire ESL mated with a vertical array of six Parts Express RS225 8" woofers mounted in an open baffle. The lowest 1 - 2 octaves will be handled by an old NHT 1259 woofer in a sealed box (~20" cube).
I've decided to make the ESL element out of paper/phenolic boards (called Garolite XX in the McMaster-Carr catalog) and magnet wire. I can post a SketchUp rendering if it turns out it would be helpful, but my real question concerns the dimensions of the ESL panel. I'm going to replace my current perforated steel stator ESLs which are about 20" wide and a little over 6 feet (~2 meters) tall because
(1) they're too big
(2) they beam like crazy
(3) I need something to improve the midbass, and
(4) I'd like to try something different.
The woofer array plus ESL may end up as large as my current ESL panels so reason (1) may not hold any water; reason (2) leads me to segmented wire stators; reason (3) leads me to the dynamic woofer array; I don't think I need to justify reason (4) to this crowd.
I was going to build wire stators that are between 9 and 12 inches wide, about 5 feet tall, and with a 1.5 mm stator-diaphragm gap, but the Garolite doesn't come in anything longer than 4 feet. I can come up with some sort of joint to make 5 foot long Garolite sections, but I worry about the flatness of the result, and I would like to avoid going through the trouble. I could make two small ESL panels and stack them vertically, but the middle seam between two ESL panels is one of the "features" of my current ESLs that I'm trying to eliminate in the new design.
I've pretty much decided not to use MDF or plywood instead of Garolite even though it would be easier to make long pieces out of those materials. This decision is partly motivated by a small prototype I made out of Masonite (HDF) that has let lots of slack accumulate in the stretched wires. I think that it was humid when I put the prototype together and the dry winter air has let the Masonite shrink enough to make the wires slack. In addition, the Garolite is due to arrive in a couple of days so now I'm committed!
Do those of you with ESL panels shorter than 5 feet (~150 cm) run into any difficulty? I like the idea of a true line source so I'm concerned about using an ESL panel that's so much shorter than the distance from the panel to the listener. Also, I'd like to be able to hear full range sound while standing so the top of the panel needs to be over my head or they need to be tilted back a bit. I noted that Martin Logan's Summit model has an ESL panel that is about 44 inches (112 cm) tall and about 12 inches wide, tilted back so that standing listeners don't lose the treble.
So should I go with 48 inch tall 12 inch wide panels, which can be done easily with the Garolite I've purchased, or go through the trouble of making taller panels? Suggestions or reassurance are welcome.
Few
I've decided to make the ESL element out of paper/phenolic boards (called Garolite XX in the McMaster-Carr catalog) and magnet wire. I can post a SketchUp rendering if it turns out it would be helpful, but my real question concerns the dimensions of the ESL panel. I'm going to replace my current perforated steel stator ESLs which are about 20" wide and a little over 6 feet (~2 meters) tall because
(1) they're too big
(2) they beam like crazy
(3) I need something to improve the midbass, and
(4) I'd like to try something different.
The woofer array plus ESL may end up as large as my current ESL panels so reason (1) may not hold any water; reason (2) leads me to segmented wire stators; reason (3) leads me to the dynamic woofer array; I don't think I need to justify reason (4) to this crowd.
I was going to build wire stators that are between 9 and 12 inches wide, about 5 feet tall, and with a 1.5 mm stator-diaphragm gap, but the Garolite doesn't come in anything longer than 4 feet. I can come up with some sort of joint to make 5 foot long Garolite sections, but I worry about the flatness of the result, and I would like to avoid going through the trouble. I could make two small ESL panels and stack them vertically, but the middle seam between two ESL panels is one of the "features" of my current ESLs that I'm trying to eliminate in the new design.
I've pretty much decided not to use MDF or plywood instead of Garolite even though it would be easier to make long pieces out of those materials. This decision is partly motivated by a small prototype I made out of Masonite (HDF) that has let lots of slack accumulate in the stretched wires. I think that it was humid when I put the prototype together and the dry winter air has let the Masonite shrink enough to make the wires slack. In addition, the Garolite is due to arrive in a couple of days so now I'm committed!
Do those of you with ESL panels shorter than 5 feet (~150 cm) run into any difficulty? I like the idea of a true line source so I'm concerned about using an ESL panel that's so much shorter than the distance from the panel to the listener. Also, I'd like to be able to hear full range sound while standing so the top of the panel needs to be over my head or they need to be tilted back a bit. I noted that Martin Logan's Summit model has an ESL panel that is about 44 inches (112 cm) tall and about 12 inches wide, tilted back so that standing listeners don't lose the treble.
So should I go with 48 inch tall 12 inch wide panels, which can be done easily with the Garolite I've purchased, or go through the trouble of making taller panels? Suggestions or reassurance are welcome.
Few