Recently a german DIY magazine tested the Gradient GRT 195 Mk2 for just 50€ and found it can keep up with much more expensive tweeters.
Decca Ribbon tweeters in TOP Levinson & Celef (Pro-Ac) speakers
When I was a student, years ago, in around 1972 I think, I heard that Mark Levinson had used 2 pairs of Quad Electrostatics with some Decca Kelly horn tweeters in a d'Appolito configuration, with a 24" subwoofer, to build his TOP model loudspeaker, at the time $30,000. I'm sure I read about it, in those pre-internet days, in HiFiNews magazine. At the time, I was building my own system, building record deck & speakers, using second hand amps.
In 1980 I visited the Audio Centre (now Audio Images) in Sheffield, UK to collect a set of Meridian amplifiers. They demmed the Meridians with a few speakers for me, and after hearing the Meridians with everything else, I was stunned, when I heard a pair of VERY different Celef RT1 speakers. (for £600 as a demonstration pair, reduced from £1200). I walked out with them, wallet £600 lighter. (well, staggered out with them, actually). Serial numbers were 0011 and 0012 🙂
In June 1979, Gramophone magazine had said about them: Celef Audio had added a new speaker to the top of their line. The Celef RT1 used a new reflex-loaded 225mm bass unit, a 200mm mid-range unit loaded into an open chamber and a ribbon tweeter operating from 3-5kHz upwards: power handling, and the consequent acoustic levels obtainable, seemed up to and beyond all domestic requirements.
These massively built veneered cabs, 14" x 15" x 30", beautifully made and heavily braced, housed 3 speakers....an ATC SB75-234 9" Studio bass unit in the MAIN lower heavily damped 3/4 of the cabinet, a KEF B200 (large magnet 1039 model) midrange, housed in a separately partitioned upper enclosure, which was OPEN at the back, with a light cloth covered space approx 13" x 10", and a Decca DK-30 ribbon tweeter mounted IN the bass cab, but in between the 2 other drivers.
The net result of this system with its excellent crossover, was that when you were sitting in front of it, that (if like me, you're a 50s born child of the seventies...), a Tracey Chapman, Free, Doors, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Peter Green, Zeppelin, Paul Weller rock fan) the bass guitarist was playing through an Alembic bass through an Ampeg system inside the speakers, that any vocals were coming from a point source approximating midway between the Decca tweeter and the KEF midrange, and that the sheen and shimmer from these wonderful Deccas was creating a palpable, tangible cymbal, hi-hat, tambourine so clear that with everything else, I have just NEVER heard music sound so real. It was all SO integrated and cohesive as a sound. Part of this would have been the fact that although the throat of the Deccas is very deep, it was sitting between the similarly fairly deep Kef B200 and ATC and as a consequence they are almost time aligned more than any other combination would be without stepped or curved baffle shapes.
I used these for over 20 years in a 20ft x 20ft room. They were initially on the end of the Meridian 101 / 105S monoblock amp system, fed by a Linn LP12 with an Ittok & Koetsu, and later a Pioneer Elite PD-91 CD player, then I tried a Naim NAP160 power amp with a PS Audio 4.6 pre-amp, which was a HUGE improvement, and then I tried a valve amp....a Leak Stereo 20, which was SOOO sweet. I then thought I'd try going active with them. I built a 3 way electronic crossover from a design in Elektor magazine, which to my absolute amazement worked first time...and rigged up my Naim NAP160 amp to the bass section, and 2 Stereo 20s to the mid and treble. The CLARITY and POWER of that system!!!!....I have never heard better.
I eventually had to let these go for various reasons, and NEVER came across anything which filled the bill so well. I tried smaller ATCs SCM12s with 2 home built ATC based subwoofers, I tried Quads, I tried Sonus Faber Amators, and I tried Wilson Benesch. Then last year I went to the Scalford Hall HiFiWigwam show, which I would recommend ANY enthusiast to go to. I am just so lucky that I live within 30 miles of it, in the East Midlands. For those who don't know, the hifiwigwam site is:
HiFi WigWam
Every year they hold a 'bake-off' or meeting at Scalford Hotel in the East Midlands of the UK, and now I think in Bristol too. Everyone is welcome to visit dozens of enthusiasts who take over a room each in the hotel and demonstrate their own systems to anyone who is interested....everything from budget vintage to esoterica....and this reawakened my interest, mainly because I had forgotten, in the current corporate surround-sound world, just how WONDERFUL and AWE INSPIRING a well designed & tweaked legacy stereo system can sound, and how much pleasure it can give.
So, my stereo story is re-starting....I was just recently was able to get hold of another pair of RT-1s, in superb condition, and once again, sounding absolutely streets beyond what I heard recently when I visited a specialist high-end hifi dealer. The guy who released the RT-1s to me also has Pro-Ac Carbons...a £25K pair sit in his living room, and he was STILL seeming to regret losing these supposedly old-timers!
Yesterday I visited Audio Images again, where Andy Tooley, the guy who sold me the originals, STILL works, and we had a good chat about how wonderful those Celefs were, and how Stuart Tyler, the Celef (and now Pro-Ac head honcho) ALWAYS knew what he was doing....it just seemed that his model range was forever changing, and I am led to believe from a conversation I had with Stuart on the phone years ago that he would have a few pairs made of one particular type, then want to 'move on' to a different challenge...I dont know how many RT-1 systems there are out there, but it won't be many....my latest pair are serial numbers 0019 and 0020...I did see one pair being sold in Wales a few years ago, but I wouldn't be surprised if in total there are no more than a dozen in existence.
I am now preparing to set up my second pair of RT-1s with my present system, again with a Linn and high end amps and CD Player....
So if anyone wants advice as to how to integrate a Decca with other speakers.....the above the basis of it, or get in touch and we'll maybe discuss the crossover components, crossover points, cabinet, etc....
When I was a student, years ago, in around 1972 I think, I heard that Mark Levinson had used 2 pairs of Quad Electrostatics with some Decca Kelly horn tweeters in a d'Appolito configuration, with a 24" subwoofer, to build his TOP model loudspeaker, at the time $30,000. I'm sure I read about it, in those pre-internet days, in HiFiNews magazine. At the time, I was building my own system, building record deck & speakers, using second hand amps.
In 1980 I visited the Audio Centre (now Audio Images) in Sheffield, UK to collect a set of Meridian amplifiers. They demmed the Meridians with a few speakers for me, and after hearing the Meridians with everything else, I was stunned, when I heard a pair of VERY different Celef RT1 speakers. (for £600 as a demonstration pair, reduced from £1200). I walked out with them, wallet £600 lighter. (well, staggered out with them, actually). Serial numbers were 0011 and 0012 🙂
In June 1979, Gramophone magazine had said about them: Celef Audio had added a new speaker to the top of their line. The Celef RT1 used a new reflex-loaded 225mm bass unit, a 200mm mid-range unit loaded into an open chamber and a ribbon tweeter operating from 3-5kHz upwards: power handling, and the consequent acoustic levels obtainable, seemed up to and beyond all domestic requirements.
These massively built veneered cabs, 14" x 15" x 30", beautifully made and heavily braced, housed 3 speakers....an ATC SB75-234 9" Studio bass unit in the MAIN lower heavily damped 3/4 of the cabinet, a KEF B200 (large magnet 1039 model) midrange, housed in a separately partitioned upper enclosure, which was OPEN at the back, with a light cloth covered space approx 13" x 10", and a Decca DK-30 ribbon tweeter mounted IN the bass cab, but in between the 2 other drivers.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The net result of this system with its excellent crossover, was that when you were sitting in front of it, that (if like me, you're a 50s born child of the seventies...), a Tracey Chapman, Free, Doors, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Peter Green, Zeppelin, Paul Weller rock fan) the bass guitarist was playing through an Alembic bass through an Ampeg system inside the speakers, that any vocals were coming from a point source approximating midway between the Decca tweeter and the KEF midrange, and that the sheen and shimmer from these wonderful Deccas was creating a palpable, tangible cymbal, hi-hat, tambourine so clear that with everything else, I have just NEVER heard music sound so real. It was all SO integrated and cohesive as a sound. Part of this would have been the fact that although the throat of the Deccas is very deep, it was sitting between the similarly fairly deep Kef B200 and ATC and as a consequence they are almost time aligned more than any other combination would be without stepped or curved baffle shapes.
I used these for over 20 years in a 20ft x 20ft room. They were initially on the end of the Meridian 101 / 105S monoblock amp system, fed by a Linn LP12 with an Ittok & Koetsu, and later a Pioneer Elite PD-91 CD player, then I tried a Naim NAP160 power amp with a PS Audio 4.6 pre-amp, which was a HUGE improvement, and then I tried a valve amp....a Leak Stereo 20, which was SOOO sweet. I then thought I'd try going active with them. I built a 3 way electronic crossover from a design in Elektor magazine, which to my absolute amazement worked first time...and rigged up my Naim NAP160 amp to the bass section, and 2 Stereo 20s to the mid and treble. The CLARITY and POWER of that system!!!!....I have never heard better.
I eventually had to let these go for various reasons, and NEVER came across anything which filled the bill so well. I tried smaller ATCs SCM12s with 2 home built ATC based subwoofers, I tried Quads, I tried Sonus Faber Amators, and I tried Wilson Benesch. Then last year I went to the Scalford Hall HiFiWigwam show, which I would recommend ANY enthusiast to go to. I am just so lucky that I live within 30 miles of it, in the East Midlands. For those who don't know, the hifiwigwam site is:
HiFi WigWam
Every year they hold a 'bake-off' or meeting at Scalford Hotel in the East Midlands of the UK, and now I think in Bristol too. Everyone is welcome to visit dozens of enthusiasts who take over a room each in the hotel and demonstrate their own systems to anyone who is interested....everything from budget vintage to esoterica....and this reawakened my interest, mainly because I had forgotten, in the current corporate surround-sound world, just how WONDERFUL and AWE INSPIRING a well designed & tweaked legacy stereo system can sound, and how much pleasure it can give.
So, my stereo story is re-starting....I was just recently was able to get hold of another pair of RT-1s, in superb condition, and once again, sounding absolutely streets beyond what I heard recently when I visited a specialist high-end hifi dealer. The guy who released the RT-1s to me also has Pro-Ac Carbons...a £25K pair sit in his living room, and he was STILL seeming to regret losing these supposedly old-timers!
Yesterday I visited Audio Images again, where Andy Tooley, the guy who sold me the originals, STILL works, and we had a good chat about how wonderful those Celefs were, and how Stuart Tyler, the Celef (and now Pro-Ac head honcho) ALWAYS knew what he was doing....it just seemed that his model range was forever changing, and I am led to believe from a conversation I had with Stuart on the phone years ago that he would have a few pairs made of one particular type, then want to 'move on' to a different challenge...I dont know how many RT-1 systems there are out there, but it won't be many....my latest pair are serial numbers 0019 and 0020...I did see one pair being sold in Wales a few years ago, but I wouldn't be surprised if in total there are no more than a dozen in existence.
I am now preparing to set up my second pair of RT-1s with my present system, again with a Linn and high end amps and CD Player....
So if anyone wants advice as to how to integrate a Decca with other speakers.....the above the basis of it, or get in touch and we'll maybe discuss the crossover components, crossover points, cabinet, etc....
Just noticed your thread, even if quite old. The VLD13 ( the bulgarian designation ) was developed closely by Jordanov and Ivan Valchev. It is still in production but the build quality is terrible. It is made in Blagoevgrad.
Ironically, the expensive Expolinear drivers you all quote are actually made in Bulgaria by Ivan Valchev`s own company. They are called NDRL 81. The following info is from November 2011: they have ceased production but have drivers in stock. They are made in the Technical University in Sofia. Can`t comment prices, but localy they should be much cheaper. Reviews from many people that have used and still use them in Bulgaria are for excellent build quality, each driver is tested by Ivan Valchev before to go on sale. I have not heard this driver but bulgarian diy-ers claim it is unmatched in performance if used with a high 8-10Khz cutoff or lower but steeper. I know they sell to locals ( under the NDRL brand ) and would like to hear the driver by myself. If anyone is interested, PM me and will call them for pricing.
Ironically, the expensive Expolinear drivers you all quote are actually made in Bulgaria by Ivan Valchev`s own company. They are called NDRL 81. The following info is from November 2011: they have ceased production but have drivers in stock. They are made in the Technical University in Sofia. Can`t comment prices, but localy they should be much cheaper. Reviews from many people that have used and still use them in Bulgaria are for excellent build quality, each driver is tested by Ivan Valchev before to go on sale. I have not heard this driver but bulgarian diy-ers claim it is unmatched in performance if used with a high 8-10Khz cutoff or lower but steeper. I know they sell to locals ( under the NDRL brand ) and would like to hear the driver by myself. If anyone is interested, PM me and will call them for pricing.
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Here's another ribbon, probably not loud enough but hand-made with AlNiCos:
Howard Dawson Audio - home page
Howard Dawson Audio - home page
Ive often considered buying some ribbons, but I was put off by the price. something like a neo1.0 is about all id go for, given the financial considerations I have, since these are quite reasonable in price.
I have however, also considered the Mivoc ribbon/magnetostat, and the more expensive Visaton magnetostat.
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/pdf/mivoc/kft130m.pdf
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/pdf/fountek/fountek_neo_cd1_0.pdf
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/pdf/fountek/fountek_neo_cd3_5h.pdf
I have however, also considered the Mivoc ribbon/magnetostat, and the more expensive Visaton magnetostat.
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/pdf/mivoc/kft130m.pdf
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/pdf/fountek/fountek_neo_cd1_0.pdf
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/pdf/fountek/fountek_neo_cd3_5h.pdf
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