It's apparently nothing like a ripol - that's been said by some knoweledgeable folks over on another forums. I'm not very familiar with ripols myself.
Each driver has it's own channel.
I'm using a 16 channel amp.
Each driver has it's own channel.
I'm using a 16 channel amp.
Can't comment on that as I've never tried it. It still does vibrate, it's not perfectly still. But nothing like any other configuration I've seen. If you make the frame from very stiff and thick materials, I'd guess probably you could do it.
IME, the amount of panel vibration from woofers in 180 degree-opposed W-frame is very low. How much of that affects your planar mid -- something like NEO8? -- will depend a lot on how it's secured.
Again, IME, the amount of vibration in the top minimalist baffle comes more from the low-mid driver than from the W-frame bass. At higher volume. An 8" or bigger driver crossed below say 200Hz (even LR4) will still produce lots of vibration in the mostly unsupported baffle. That is one weakness of the LX521 design, imo: The top baffle is not well secured; you can easily move/flex the baffle if you push the top of it back/forth. Whether this is a seriously audible detriment isn't clear. This type of "Doppler distortion" generally seems to be poorly perceived by people. But I'd feel better with a more rigid top baffle.
This is actually m frame with opposed drivers, so there's basically no movement in the vertical axis. You can feel some vibration if you place your hand on the sides, and nothing is 100% perfect anyway.
For lx521 it's a w frame, so you need the bridge to decouple the top baffle. No need for any decoupling here for the regular setup. I'm willing to bet it'd work just fine for planars, but I've never tried it. 🙂
For lx521 it's a w frame, so you need the bridge to decouple the top baffle. No need for any decoupling here for the regular setup. I'm willing to bet it'd work just fine for planars, but I've never tried it. 🙂
I think you have your frame terminology confused. 😉
The original LX521 is usually called M-frame. Your systems are Linkwitz W-frame -- as are my LX521-inspired systems.
https://www.hifizine.com/2012/12/subwoofer-origami/
But I reiterate:
A weakness of the LX521 design is that the top baffle is not that well secured; you can easily move/flex the baffle if you push the top of it back/forth. This is because most of the perimeter of the top baffle is unsupported -- as in a standard 6-sided box.
The primary source of front-back vibration in the top baffle is the low-mid driver. That's the case in my speakers, and I suspect this is also true of yours.
NOTE: The 2nd similar looking speaker in the background is a hybrid, with a sealed subwoofer + OB top >200Hz. I tried to make the top baffle less prone to vibration. It works somewhat. It would have worked better if the baffle was kept a bit wider at the point where the 8" meets the 5".
You are most likely right, I am always confusing W and M. But these (yours and mine) kinda look like none of that, it's more like, | _ | ‾ | _ |, and no letter looks like it.
The original lx521 has the drivers at a 45 deg angle, so there is strong movement from them. That was more of an issue to me than the movement of the low mid 8" driver, although you are quite correct, it does produce such movements too. I just didn't personally have any issue with it, but the lower baffle on lx521 absolutely needs a bridge, it's terrible without it. 90 deg configurations don't. I'd bet even if you didn't bolt the top baffle it'd be fine. But bolting it definitively solves that particular problem 😀
But if I'm not mistaken, the on axis angle of the sub bins and top baffle is not expected to be the same and actually requires a bit of tweaking to find the optimal positioning, something impossible to do if it's fixed.
The original lx521 has the drivers at a 45 deg angle, so there is strong movement from them. That was more of an issue to me than the movement of the low mid 8" driver, although you are quite correct, it does produce such movements too. I just didn't personally have any issue with it, but the lower baffle on lx521 absolutely needs a bridge, it's terrible without it. 90 deg configurations don't. I'd bet even if you didn't bolt the top baffle it'd be fine. But bolting it definitively solves that particular problem 😀
But if I'm not mistaken, the on axis angle of the sub bins and top baffle is not expected to be the same and actually requires a bit of tweaking to find the optimal positioning, something impossible to do if it's fixed.