Finished my second BIB. This time Lowther DX3

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#21
LOL! that's a new one, shouting into a bag of polyfill to test its damping attributes (makes sense though). Next time I'm in the fabric shop with my wife, I'll try it ...will probably get me sent to the insane asylum.

I agree with you that Lowthers are superb and sound much better than Fostex. There's a transparency and transient speed with the Lowther that seems to be missing with the Fostex's.

This might be a bit controversial, but I'm just wondering whether anyone gets any meaningful bass out of Lowther/Fostex/Coral/AER or any of the point source drivers. I've had quite a few such drivers and to test them I have simulated them on WINISD and loaded them into BR boxes up to 200 litres - bass depth and punch is severely lacking in all of them to say the least.

My DX-3's are currently running in Martin King's MLTL+BSC and the sound is very nice, but again with negligible bass. I'm just wondering whether its worth pursuing the BIB/Sachiko or BLH, they seem like a lot of box for not much bass?? I suspect the strength of these drivers is in the midrange and treble, and there's no hope in pursuing proper bass out of them.

BTW, I use Eton 11-581 in TL boxes to get the bass I want.

Regards,

Steve M.
System Pics: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1146370182&view
 
#22
Steve! I totally agree with your audiogon description of the Lowthers .... they look roughly made (less finished than the Fostex) but they sound dang fine! I lucked out and got a reconed pair from John at Lowther America for $700. They're very present and lifelike compared to the Fostex ... like a blanket was removed from the drivers. Mine have some distortion and buzzes that seem to be going away with each passing hour. They've been going non-stop for about 24 hours and seem to play louder with less strain compared to when they were brand new. I was also having a rattling sound on bass passages that seems to be going away as well. The only electrostatics I've heard are the Martin Logan Vantages and they remind me of them in a way.

For fun I hooked up my Paradigm Signature 2s (Stereophile Class A monitors) and I much prefer the Lowthers. they're more lifelike in every way ... very fast and clear. The Fostex seem slower in comparison.

I guess mine aren't too bass heavy either but I'm using a sub so it doesn't bother me.
 
#23
qnuqear: The Lowther buzz is easily cured by re-aligning the cone and voice coil yourself.

There are four large nuts around the circumference of the spider:

-loosen these right off and gently tap the basket with your fingers to shift the whole basket & cone sideways. You are looking to shift the cone sideways by only tenths of a millimetre, so its quite tricky to judge
-press and pump the cone VERY gently up and down, with your fingers spread out to evenly distribute the pressure. This recreates the natural pumping motion of the driver
-if there is no scraping noise then you have correctly aligned the cone/voice coil
-plug and play your speaker with a difficult bass note, the buzzing should be gone
-if not, don't despair. Mine took 4-5 goes to re-align, just do it all again until you have no buzz.

I saw this procedure on the Lowther USA website...

Regards,

Steve.
 
#26
I forgot that I had posted here and when reading was like oh ya..

I think regardless of what any of the math says, BIB's are amazingly good for the simplicity of the build.. I believe many stay away from trying this easy build do to some of the negative math and such, but I'd put them up with other regarded designs behind a curtain and wouldn't be surprised in the least if the BIB was chosen a few times as a nice sounding unit..

Nice to have a Lowther BIB build, good stuff!!

Dave🙂
 
#28
Easily. I don't have time to run off a MathCAD graph for you, but using some average measurements Lowther sent me (not the ones published on their site), you'll need a box 70in tall, Zdriver 30in (so basically in length & driver position TC's original cabinet), & rounding to the nearest logical figure, 11in wide x 15.5in deep, internal.
 
#30
Like a Lowther PM7c in BIB. I know that's no much help, but it does depend on your system, room & their placement in it. As for 'better', again, that is something only you can tell as in addition to being system & room dependant, it also depends on your own preferences WRT presentation. FWIW, assuming the BIBs are corner positioned (as they should be) -lots of bass gain & extension, very airy & large soundstage. Bit of ripple but not as much as often expected.
 
#31
Thanks again.
They will be placed in a corner.
My system at the moment are
CJ MV 50 power amp
Tram W.O.T pre
Impulse H6 clones
Consonace Orfeo transport
Audio Note 1x1 Signature Plus dac.

Is there antone out there that can help me with exact dimesions?
My wifa has said yes to 1,80 meters tall speakers.
They are not thet wide she asked, and I had to say yes 😀

The sound you described is just what I wanted. I have a pair of fantastic H6 clones, but I have heard the Hedlund horn, and they sound very good.

Is a listening position 2 - 2,5 meters from the speakers enough?

Håvard
 
#33
Scottmoose said:
Like a Lowther PM7c in BIB. I know that's no much help, but it does depend on your system, room & their placement in it. As for 'better', again, that is something only you can tell as in addition to being system & room dependant, it also depends on your own preferences WRT presentation. FWIW, assuming the BIBs are corner positioned (as they should be) -lots of bass gain & extension, very airy & large soundstage. Bit of ripple but not as much as often expected.
Click to expand...

Now that's an honest to goodness straight forward answer that tells it like it usually is😎 The BIB is not the most refined, but stupid simple to build, and sounds surprisingly good for what it is..

Sometimes when I'm listening to mine, and I ponder the innards of my cabs, and how its just an expanding path, no compression chamber or anything complicated really, it just boggles the brain.. Of course it's all dependent on set up, placement and driver + path length, but its all good on this end...

BTW having said all that, I'd still want try some of the BVR cabs and Ron's designs.. I think if a person wants to get a quick cab slapped together then the BIB is your baby, if you want to get more technical and maybe the last drop of goodness out of your drivers, then some of the other cabs may suit you very well..

Dave🙂
 
#36
DaveCan said:



BTW having said all that, I'd still want try some of the BVR cabs and Ron's designs.. I think if a person wants to get a quick cab slapped together then the BIB is your baby, if you want to get more technical and maybe the last drop of goodness out of your drivers, then some of the other cabs may suit you very well..

Dave🙂
Click to expand...

Any suggestions on other cabinets?

Håvard
 
#37
Scottmoose said:
Should be.

I've already given you the dimensions you need: 70in tall x 11in wide x 15.5in deep (internal), Zdriver 30in. There isn't a whole lot else to them.
Click to expand...

I don't have a long experience building spekears, so I have to ask some more questions.

If you look at the drawing here

http://www.zillaspeak.com/bib-howtobuild.asp

What would C be?
I mean how long will the internal panel be?

Håvard
 
#39
Haavard said:


Any suggestions on other cabinets?

Håvard
Click to expand...

I'd try the BIB, then if you want to explore further, some of Scott's BVR's should hit the mark for you quite well I'd think..

Sometimes I think the best approach would be to first use a manufactures recommended cab first, kind of makes sense to me even if the cab is less than great. Then you will have a reference point to judge all other designs against.. For instance if I was able to ever get a pair of Feastrex D5Nf drivers, I would build the recommended cab for them first, and I believe everyone should, math guru or not, otherwise where is the reference to the standard cab?
Dave🙂
 
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