Nola Micro Reference Gold

[wendelltate]

Hi all,

I am going to try to put something like these together. I have already made a very nice homage to the Nola Brio Trios which has blown me away. I would make something bigger but I have a rather small room and the Nola Micros are about as big as I could go.

I do not have the ribbon tweeter for this and will be using a Dayton, RS28A-4 in my prototype. The Nola uses a Raal but that is too rich for my blood. Does anyone have a suggestion for a suitable ribbon tweeter for this?

Thanks

 

[ewollowe]

Link to your Brio Trio build wendelltate?

 

[mrkennyk]

Check out some Fountek ribbons.

 

[audiomagnate]

I like my Aurum Cantus G3si. https://www.parts-express.com/aurum-cantus-g3si-ribbon-tweeter--276-410

 

[Patrick Bateman]

IMHO, the Nola and Alon speakers work largely the same as the Linkwitz, Kreskovsky, and Clayton Shaw speakers.

In particular, the Linkwitz LX mini.

So the good news is that you can study their work to improve upon the speakers you have.
The bad news is that the speakers you have work pretty darn good. I've heard the Nola brio trio and it's really quite remarkable. I'm not 100% sure that his other speakers are "better." True, the treble is more extended. But the brio trio and the LX mini are really "coherent."

If I were going to try and improve on the brio trio, I would put a LOT of energy into studying the polar pattern, particularly at the crossover point.

Carl knows what he's doing, and I think he's using a ribbon because it allows him to match directivity to the woofer.

The ultimate solution would be a coax. Which is what Shaw does.

 

[OhioTanner]

NOLA Debuts Micro Grand Reference Gold Loudspeaker at THE Show-Newport | The Absolute Sound

Nice! Following this one!

 

[wendelltate]

Patrick,
I agree with everything that you have said. I started out about a year and a half ago trying to replicate something that could give me the sound of my friend's Spatial Audio speakers. Clayton uses 2 15" with the top one being a coax. I had never heard anything like those. I used to work in a hifi store and have heard Quad, Dahlquist, Martin Logan, etc. but nothing that just sounded as "right" as those M3s. I have a pair of LX Minis that I love. I find them very similar to the Brio Trio in their ability to create an image and sound stage. They are also very effortless in their presentation. And they can be built for under $100 in a weekend.

The drivers in the Micro Grand Reference are a different story. Those are very expensive. I am not quite sure how to get close to those. It should be fun though.
Wendell

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Totally.

I've listened to easily hundreds of speakers, and the HiFi designers who consistently knock my socks off are Clayton Shaw, Carl from Nola, and Gradient's designer. And all of their speakers work on similar principles.

I've heard clones of the Linkwitz designs, but never 'the real deal.'

 

[PeteMcK]

Like the look of these, what's the best way to do a driver cutout like that?

 

[ICG]

Like the look of these, what's the best way to do a driver cutout like that?

Router. Router circle jig (like this one (just an example, you can build it yourself)). 2 router bits straight/notch and 45° angle/bevel.

Use a sacrifice board below your baffle, clamp them together (or screw them together from the back (to avoid screw holes), near the edges) so that the router jig is able to move freely in a whole circle. Screw down the cutout piece onto the sacrifice board, otherwise your center piece will come lose once you've completed the circle hole. Bore your center and route out the cutout. You should do that with a straight/notch router bit, don't go directly for the bevel/angle router bit because that's too much material at once. Then make the circle smaller, cut out a ring of material, so the angle router can move freely on the inside without having to 'work' there. Then swap for the 45° bevel router bit and route the angle down in several steps. If you need a thicker baffle than your router or router bit can handle, do it in two boards which you can route separately and glue them together after you're done.

Just remember you cannot remove the board or the center piece until you're done, otherwise you'll lose your center bore and the circle will not match anymore.

 

[PeteMcK]

Thanks ICG, I'd sorta worked that out, but those are 15" speakers above, the 45° bevel router bit would have to be huge.....???

 

[ICG]

Thanks ICG, I'd sorta worked that out, but those are 15" speakers above, the 45° bevel router bit would have to be huge.....???

No, it does not. Like I said, you use the router circle jig, not something like a gigantic drill press. 😀 To use a reasonable sized router bit, the circle jig has to be adjusted one or several times in diameter and the depth of the router has to be adjusted aswell. That way you can cut much larger bevels than the size of the router bit normally allows. If you reach the maximum depth of the router, use 2 (or more) boards and route them separately.

 

[PeteMcK]

OK, got it, cheers 🙂