LSA Signature 50 Speaker

Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
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No, I did not design the Signature 10. However, I am working on the Signature 100. It will have a ribbon tweeter and a 6.5in XBL licensed aluminum woofer. There is a racetrack shaped passive radiator on the back. The theoretical crossover work is coming along and is starting to take shape.
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My lab assistant, is busy inspecting the cabinet and suggests we replace the ribbon with the Cat’s Meow tweeter which sounds much more organic and natural. :)
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My lab assistant has doubled in size since this photo was taken. :)

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Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
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When I was young, I had a Maine Coon that was 18lbs. He was the boss of the neighborhood. All Dobermans and German Shepherds nearby feared it. :)
Big kitty. He lived to be a good 18 years. My next two were orange tabby's and lived to be 20 and 21 not so fearsome but indoor cats.

RAAM, did you have a real panther or just a very large black cat?
 
Just a big black cat that when looked at in profile looked exactly like a black panther. She was a sweetheart but also dominated the neighborhood and our 95 lb female Akita though they were buddies. Lost her at 10 years old, just had to be outside at night, RVing, I am sure it took more than one Coyote to bring her down:(

Maine Coon, my wife wants one, might just happen!
 
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Well, Danny’s stuff has to be taken with some context as his motivation is to sell “upgrade” kits. The voicing of all my speakers is set with the sensitivity set at where the bass is - and that was about 85dB at 100Hz and there is a right down tilt in the sensitivity - the “Harman House Curve” which has been shown through extensive listening tests to provide the best balance for all genres and be non fatiguing. You don’t want your tweeter set at the same sensitivity as your woofer - the traditional flat curve is not very enjoyable beyond the shock and awe of the audition room. I am surprised he has measured such a dip in his setup and that might be unit-to-unit variability.
 
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unit-to-unit variability
That's what I was thinking too when I watched the video earlier today.

I'm curious, did LSA give you the woofer and tell you to make a speaker with it? Otherwise, I'm curious how you chose it. I would expect drivers put into a fairly premium speaker like the Signature 50 to have better consistency, assuming that is the culprit of the wonky measurements Danny took
 
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Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
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"You don’t want your tweeter set at the same sensitivity as your woofer"

Hi X,
could you please explain it?
Thanks!
I purposely voice the response vs frequency to have about a -3dB to -5dB slope from 50Hz to 20kHz. It will tilt down to the right. This gives the most pleasing balance for all music genres. Sometimes, companies will quote a high sensitivity at 1kHz but do not provide the bass of sufficient amplitude to keep up with that and the speaker will sound bright and fatiguing. It’s much easier for someone to quote a high sensitivity based on pre-baffle step losses need 1kHz.

Regarding the woofer used: yes, I was asked to design a speaker around the specified woofer as installed in this cabinet. I was given freedom to specify the tweeter and design the crossover and voicing.
 
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Joined 2021
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I purposely voice the response vs frequency to have about a -3dB to -5dB slope from 50Hz to 20kHz. It will tilt down to the right. This gives the most pleasing balance for all music genres. Sometimes, companies will quote a high sensitivity at 1kHz but do not provide the bass of sufficient amplitude to keep up with that and the speaker will sound bright and fatiguing. It’s much easier for someone to quote a high sensitivity based on pre-baffle step losses need 1kHz.

Regarding the woofer used: yes, I was asked to design a speaker around the specified woofer as installed in this cabinet. I was given freedom to specify the tweeter and design the crossover and voicing.
Thanks X, that was my guess too.
Tilt down to the right is exactly what I like, can't stand bright/shouty speakers.
 
Founder of XSA-Labs
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Danny also doesn’t have it right in saying that the predicted response was from an infinite baffle measurement that doesn’t account for the cabinet. The predicted response was from the measured raw response in the cabinet which includes baffle step and diffraction effects and driver offset. You can’t design a good crossover without actually measuring the in-cabinet response. Below is the measured response (yellow) overlaid with the predicted response (blue) and they match almost perfectly except for a slight offset. I probably should have done that from the start but generally, my predicted response and measured responses are identical.

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And here is the measured distortion. If there was a bad resonance at 1.9kHz like Danny saw, it was not on the speaker I worked with. Sometimes, this can be caused by a rattle in the driver basket or loose screw.
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I've built a lot of xrk's foam core low cost designs. My last build was a micro trynergy. It's one of the best systems I've heard in my 50 years of fooling around with this hobby. 20 years or so ago I bought a bunch of Danny Richie's sonicap capacitors to try and upgrade my crossovers in a scan speak two-way. A couple hundred dollars spent building an xrk design has yielded 100% increase in my enjoyment of audio. The capacitor upgrade in my crossovers yielded a couple of percent if I use my imagination. Just sayin...
 
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I had watched Danny often a long time ago for entertainment but he started to wear on my nerves- always negative and defensive or condescending.. til I don't watch anymore. I wondered when he would get a pair of speakers that I had and lay waste to them :)
What is telling to me is that the room matters a great deal and the sources as well, type music and so on. The sound he goes for ( at least I think) is a flatline and I like dynamic and punchy...I play a lot of rock, no sub...from late 70's til today...These speakers are some of my favorites as are my sig 80's, BMR's, JBL L100's, Gallo 3.1's, my Klipsch Quartets...I love my LSA amp too, my tube amps, ES Sony amps, Schiit mono blocks...having been in the biz and a music lover, guitar player, bass player, tuba player, Piano player, rock band, marching band, killer car stereo rigs....on and on...These speaker are awesome and my favorite at this price...in the right room, they are a tough to beat until you spend a lot more money and the bass is perfect for my needs, uses...
I'm sure Danny has good stuff but I'll pass, I'll wait for the next XRK piece that fits my needs as the sound signature I like, he produces on point.
 
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