Mini Karlsonator (0.53X) with Dual TC9FDs

[xrk971]

0.53x K'nator with PA130-8 Rocks!

Ok, surgery was a success and this thing is loud and great bass punch! Love it!!!

One of the best values in full range higher SPL drivers.

Photos...

And a sound clip of a drum solo and some vocals (recorded in mono this time with my UMM-6 mic). Change extension to .mp3 to listen. I have not heard the recording myself lets see how this turns out. I did not have the Zoom H4 handy.

 

[freddi]

FAB - that sounds like a "big" and good speaker - fwiw I think the drum recording sounds more "natural" than RP - she always sounds "processed" no matter which speaker - perhaps its just the acoustics combined with her mic position

 

[xrk971]

I just got a chance to listen to the sound clips - the mic is clipping or something funny. Let me re-post some new ones with the Zoom recorder. Sorry about that... The bass extension sounds pretty impressive for a 5in driver with measured 98Hz fs.

Here are the new clips made with proper mic and recorder. It's funny but the bass sounds deeper with the UMM-6 mic.

 

[freddi]

I like UMM-6 better on the drums - "deeper" - less hard mids - RP sounds decent on both mics - the cut with her (i think) and drums is cool if you have it handy

 

[xrk971]

0.53x K'nator with PA130-8 Measurements

The 0.53x K'nator with K-aperture does a good job in the frequency response department: about +/-3.5dB over most of the range (this is very good for a K without any EQ). The response on the floor and against a wall(1/4-pi has enhanced bass but at the expense of a large floor bounce cancellation. When placed on a stool up high, the 1.2kHz dip goes away and the exaggerated peaks actually smooth out.

Here are the frequency response measurements (blue is without K-aperture, green is with K-aperture & on floor, red is with K-aperture & on stand):

Here is the Impulse Response:

Here is the Harmonic Distortion:

Here is the absolute phase and frequency response in high res scale (4ms gate and 1/48th oct smoothing):

I think that the variation over the 60Hz to 15kHz is quite minimal given a K-aperture on the front. This helps contribute to a very clean musical sound.

Here is the impedance sweep of the speaker (with bare driver sweep):

 

[freddi]

- very nice response on the stand - what was the height of that stand?

 

[xrk971]

Stand is a bar stool 29in high and driver height is 32in.

 

[freddi]

great height ear level for seated on couch - hope folks noticed these Dayton PA130/0.53 scale Karlsonator posts - sounds like a super bargain - good sensitivity, punch and dispersion. So far its been a good for K-tech - the original Ks can be very good from like a K10 size upwards, GregB's Karlsonator has been a huge success in various scales and builds, your XKi builds were great, your KaZba K-dipole came out surprisingly well - and of course ther e's hardly any tweeter in the 1K5-upwards category than a simple "K-tube"

 

[xrk971]

0.53x K'nator with PA130-8 in Stereo

I finally finished the matching pair for stereo. Sounds great - a truly easy to listen to speaker suitable for all genre's. Quite loud with a TPA3116D2 amp - very portable and easy to have a great music for a get together.

Foam Core Lab:

Here is some jazz in stereo - change extension to .mp3 in order to listen.

 

[freddi]

not bad at all for a teensy speaker - an enterprising builder could make a K'nator PA130 boombox - perhaps have the speakers so they could detach from the carrying handle/battery holder section so it could serve as a boombox and regular stereo system.

 

[freddi]

is there a good XKi for PA130?

 

[xrk971]

Good question, it has similar Qts to RS100-4 which worked very well in XKi. I will run a sim and see what I come up with. I think the XKi should be a lot more compact compared to a 0.53x K'nator. However, you may have to deal with a steep notch at the upper bandwidth where the vent tuning causes destructive interference. I like the PA130-8 in this setup so much I don't envision them leaving this box anytime soon.

 

[xrk971]

A PA130-8 in an XKi needs to be tuned a bit higher at 73Hz but produces a pretty high bass SPL of about 90 dB down to 67Hz (-3dB). The box is 7in wide x 7.25in deep x 12in high approximately 0.35 cu ft - similar in size to a 0.4x Karlsonator. So quite small but with pretty good punch covering below 80Hz for ability to get the first overtone of 41Hz bass. Box uses 7in wide x 0.75in high x 9.0in long vent. 7.5 liter rear chamber and 2.5 liter front chamber. Max SPL is 98 dB at 2mm xmax.

Freq response at 1m and 2.83v:

In a way it's kind of like a more powerful 0.4x Karlsonator.

 

[freddi]

that should make a cool 2.1 system with a powered subwoofer - are those internal box dimensions? is that destructive dip prediction what I've seen in some K12 with too small area single vent?

this case was worse than a sealed rear chamber- it seemed to play and measure ok when I opened the area up a bit

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

 

[xrk971]

that should make a cool 2.1 system with a powered subwoofer - are those internal box dimensions? is that destructive dip prediction what I've seen in some K12 with too small area single vent?

The velocity in the vent shows up as a minor couple of resonance velocity peaks that will cause a little bit of cancellation at 750Hz and 1300Hz and 1500Hz. They will be minor dips though as you can see in the velocity plot for the vent.

 

[freddi]

what caused the >>20dB dip in the K above? is there a compromise XKi for BG20 which would be better than a 0.6X or so K15? (BG20 is a nice little driver imo - it might benefit from a helper tweeter in K-duty)

 

[xrk971]

That might be floor bounce? Have you ever tried elevating the speakers for a measurement? I was getting 18dB dips and tried adding foam in back chamber and did not help. Then I elevated it and it went away. Studio monitors are often on a stand about the same height. I wonder if that had something to do with it. If you put them on a desk, the desk bounce is like a floor bounce.

BG20 doesn't model well in XKi. I could not get a decent bass extension in a reasonable box. MLTL is the way to go with that. Did you see my WIBAQ thread sim.

 

[freddi]

dunno if floor bounce or not as other K of similar height had less.
I think BG20 played fine in Jesse's Karlsonator8 - here it is in a K12 copy with slit vents - both cabinets 24" up from the floor

here's BG20 with not much more than a half cubic foot rear chamber in Art's dad's "K8"
all slot vents were open - fb probably around 95 - it just had one little piece

do you have any little dome tweeters which might be tried with a K-tube
as helper tweeter?


of bonded Dacron on the cabinet's bottom.

 

[moray james]

I finally finished the matching pair for stereo. Sounds great - a truly easy to listen to speaker suitable for all genre's. Quite loud with a TPA3116D2 amp - very portable and easy to have a great music for a get together.

Foam Core Lab:

Here is some jazz in stereo - change extension to .mp3 in order to listen.

Have you listened to these laying on their sides with the open end of the aperture pointing toward the left and the right walls? I ran my Fostex FE166 K-Lines this way they sounded excellent with stunning stage and image.

 

[xrk971]

Have you listened to these laying on their sides with the open end of the aperture pointing toward the left and the right walls? I ran my Fostex FE166 K-Lines this way they sounded excellent with stunning stage and image.

No, I haven't before but I will give it a shot. You mean like this? The K-apertures work their polar magic when oriented vertically. Initial impression is that the central phantom image is more powerful in side orientation but sweet spot is smaller and walking around the room the phantom image is not as stable. I will give it a day or two in this configuration though. Doesn't sound bad at all though - surprising actually.