It’s not just duelund that packages their boutique caps in big plastic cylinders. I have not dissected the clarity and jantzen caps I just received, but they feel like light pieces of solid plastic, i.e. cheap.
I just priced the drivers & wave guides, can$4000 if the volt drivers come back in stock at solen.
Been looking for a high quality classic speaker kit but these are a hefty price tag. The original post indicated north of $1000 was acceptable and I am not sure what it ended up at when it was finally conceived but escalation over the years sure has turned this into a high end boutique project.
Has their been any reviews or comparisons done by reviewers of the osmc ?
Would like to review some before embarking on this
Been looking for a high quality classic speaker kit but these are a hefty price tag. The original post indicated north of $1000 was acceptable and I am not sure what it ended up at when it was finally conceived but escalation over the years sure has turned this into a high end boutique project.
Has their been any reviews or comparisons done by reviewers of the osmc ?
Would like to review some before embarking on this
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Good points. I haven’t auditioned yet, but we do have a group close by that has…so an audition may come. That being said, I would really, really love this speaker to be measured on a Klippel NFS. Too bad I don’t live close to Alabama, or else I would build one up quickly and haul it over to Erin and even pay him for his time and services. The measurements posted on Github show promise.
Best,
Anand.
Yikes! It is unfortunate that the 3” Volt dome now is $800 CAD and SS ring radiator now $500 CAD; that’s $2600 for 4 drivers!
These boutique driver don’t have natural competitors, and thus “own the market” niche, IMHO.
What is the system sensitivity?
If we relax the requirements a little, perhaps other 3” dome and ring radiators are be suitable, but.. that would require re-measurement and crossover redesign.. which may be the most time intensive part.
These boutique driver don’t have natural competitors, and thus “own the market” niche, IMHO.
What is the system sensitivity?
If we relax the requirements a little, perhaps other 3” dome and ring radiators are be suitable, but.. that would require re-measurement and crossover redesign.. which may be the most time intensive part.
Should we ask the question, if someone with a built pair is close to Alabama, and would be willing to get one of their speakers tested?
A very quick search gave me EUR 550, which is only 10% more than it was back when I wrote the documentation. I believe the problem is not so much that the driver got more expensive, but that exchange rates for Canadian coins went wrong.
The OSMC was never meant to be cheap.
I want to see some more detail on the horizontal polar plots. I want to also see vertical polar plots (although they matter less in the power response…they do matter, especially when you are talking about the DIY investment here). Directivity index transitions from the midrange to the tweeter, how does it look? I want to see what the estimated in room response looks like. What is the horizontal dispersion? +/- 40, 50, 60 or 70 degrees? All of this matters with room placement from the standpoint of room treatments, proximity to the side walls and how much/little toe in (i.e. 1st wall reflections). Finally, I want to see how this speaker is performing at high power levels, not at the 2.83V/92dB at 1 m level (I don’t listen at 1 meter away, more like 3 meters away and about 85-100dB at that seated distance). At what voltage level (and calculated SPL) does compression set in (Dynamic Range - Instantaneous Compression testing)? And finally Multitone distortion measurements which will probably be quite good for this speaker since we have dedicated low distortion drivers for small ranges of frequencies as opposed to a 2 way model.
@Inniswhe - This thread has a few subjective reviews and all have been positive. That’s a good sign. Just type in review in the search engine for this thread and see what comes up. I recall some incredibly nice builds. Very talented woodworking here!
Best,
Anand.
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Horizontal and vertical disoersion data are in the osmcdoc repo at github.
A speaker without expensive boutique parts would be a significantly different kind of speaker that appeals to a different kind of DIYer. When the original group project was being discussed I was interested in using standard range drivers but others favoured boutique parts. I and I am fairly sure one or two others lost interest when it started to move forward with boutique parts. But that is the nature of group projects and is not a criticism given the project was successful in creating a well documented speaker design. Plenty of group projects don't.
Perhaps we need another group project but this time with no boutique parts and a reasonable budget as one of the firm objectives before discussion about the others. I would be interested.
It's better to start from scratch, with a new set of design goals so you always know where to go.
I'm definately interested in a lower cost monkey coffin, but is that not essentially what the pit viper is from paul carmody ?
As pricey as the osmc is, I am still considering it as a potential end game speaker. It would need to be for me as a diy speaker has low resale value typically.
As pricey as the osmc is, I am still considering it as a potential end game speaker. It would need to be for me as a diy speaker has low resale value typically.
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Resale is nothing you should ever connect with DIYS speakers or electronics. After many years of DIYS I must admit that many builds I have seen are just a waste of money and work. Not anyone in DIYS has the skills to build somethink that would pass as a professional, sellable product. Sad but true.
With speakers, removing the drivers and selling them in single often will net you x-times more than offering the whole construction.
Worst are things that have been modified or DIYS "improved" in some way.
With speakers, removing the drivers and selling them in single often will net you x-times more than offering the whole construction.
Worst are things that have been modified or DIYS "improved" in some way.
When someone from the richest country in Europe does DIYS, don't expect it to be a low budget affair.
Do your own project that will fit your bill, but don't try to make this one cheaper. I'm sure you can get a similar or even better result for a fraction of the cost, but that's not the point. This thread is a step by step development that may be perfect for a few people, like it or leave it.
Anyone here will be happy to follow, if you start your project and bring it to a good end.
Do your own project that will fit your bill, but don't try to make this one cheaper. I'm sure you can get a similar or even better result for a fraction of the cost, but that's not the point. This thread is a step by step development that may be perfect for a few people, like it or leave it.
Anyone here will be happy to follow, if you start your project and bring it to a good end.
The idea of a group project is for more than one person to contribute although it tends to need someone to take the lead and keep things on track as discussion and conflicting interests takes things off in all sorts of directions. I would view the Pit Vipers as more of a Party Speaker than a Monitor/Monkey Coffin due to the use of budget drivers rather than standard or premium range drivers but, obviously, the term monkey coffin is imprecise. If further discussion is of interest it perhaps ought to take place in it's own thread.
Please stick to the topic of this thread: design and build of the OSMC.
Please start a new thread if you need to discuss something else (like a new loudspeaker design).
Thanks!
Please start a new thread if you need to discuss something else (like a new loudspeaker design).
Thanks!
Progress update.. Will post some more pictures soon.. Very productive shop day last week. Plinth's built, backs cut, front baffles finished and attached to cabinets.
Cabinets back to my house for the veneer process. Some stumbling along the way with that process. Initially, I ordered a 4x10ft sheet of "flat cut" veneer. Thought that was enough, but came up ever so short considering the plinths that we built. So I ordered another sheet of 4x8 and mistakenly ordered the same species, but "quarter sawn".. When that sheet showed up I thought "WOW!".. It looked so much better.. So, another order in for a second sheet of quarter sawn veneer. Spent today measuring and cutting all of the veneer panels from the 4x8 veneer panels. Fairly easy to cut the paper backed veneer with a sharp utility knife. Changed the blades a few times as there was a huge difference in cutting with a sharp blade vs one with 8-10 cuts on it. Will start tomorrow with veneer attachment. Probably 2 more weeks with this, then back to my friends shop for finish work. Final assembly after that and it'll be "Music time"!
Cabinets back to my house for the veneer process. Some stumbling along the way with that process. Initially, I ordered a 4x10ft sheet of "flat cut" veneer. Thought that was enough, but came up ever so short considering the plinths that we built. So I ordered another sheet of 4x8 and mistakenly ordered the same species, but "quarter sawn".. When that sheet showed up I thought "WOW!".. It looked so much better.. So, another order in for a second sheet of quarter sawn veneer. Spent today measuring and cutting all of the veneer panels from the 4x8 veneer panels. Fairly easy to cut the paper backed veneer with a sharp utility knife. Changed the blades a few times as there was a huge difference in cutting with a sharp blade vs one with 8-10 cuts on it. Will start tomorrow with veneer attachment. Probably 2 more weeks with this, then back to my friends shop for finish work. Final assembly after that and it'll be "Music time"!
I am in the process of soldering the crossovers, below are the three boards for one channel. Lm2 and Rt2 are not yet mounted, the idea was to put the latter on the back of the board and then add an opening with a lid to the box so that Rt2 can be changed more easily.
The woofer board does not have connections on the back, but the others do:
The case shown below is lying on its side, the woofer board will be at the bottom. The idea was to mount tweeter board to the side which is lying down in the photo, but it doesn’t fit. So I placed it as shown:
How do the coil distances and directions look to you?
The woofer board does not have connections on the back, but the others do:
The case shown below is lying on its side, the woofer board will be at the bottom. The idea was to mount tweeter board to the side which is lying down in the photo, but it doesn’t fit. So I placed it as shown:
How do the coil distances and directions look to you?
@maximax77
Coil orientations look good. Distance is always your friend as you know. And I actually really like your selection of crossover parts. There are areas where you do spend the money and there are areas where you don’t have to when you are building up this level of crossover. The decisions you have made are judicious. We are way beyond the industry standard of sand caste resistors, electrolytic caps and ferrite inductors here.
I would give some thought to doubling up on some wires to lower the AWG particularly in the woofer circuit or just use a wire AWG that is nearly commensurate to the AWG of the woofer inductors. In example, the wiring that goes from the binding post to LW1, the wiring that is between LW1 and LW2, the wiring that goes from LW2 to the woofer + voice coil and the wiring that forms the return from the woofer - voice coil to the negative binding post should be a thicker AWG. Since we are already guilding the lilly with this speaker project especially with foil inductors and such, might as well go all the way.
I don’t know how attached you are into putting all your XO components into a ‘box’ but I am actually in the middle of a XO build right now and I have splayed it all out into the open, it makes it easier to minimize inductor interactions - Just saying…everybody’s scenario is different.
And great job on the neatness and wiring.
Best,
Anand.
Coil orientations look good. Distance is always your friend as you know. And I actually really like your selection of crossover parts. There are areas where you do spend the money and there are areas where you don’t have to when you are building up this level of crossover. The decisions you have made are judicious. We are way beyond the industry standard of sand caste resistors, electrolytic caps and ferrite inductors here.
I would give some thought to doubling up on some wires to lower the AWG particularly in the woofer circuit or just use a wire AWG that is nearly commensurate to the AWG of the woofer inductors. In example, the wiring that goes from the binding post to LW1, the wiring that is between LW1 and LW2, the wiring that goes from LW2 to the woofer + voice coil and the wiring that forms the return from the woofer - voice coil to the negative binding post should be a thicker AWG. Since we are already guilding the lilly with this speaker project especially with foil inductors and such, might as well go all the way.
I don’t know how attached you are into putting all your XO components into a ‘box’ but I am actually in the middle of a XO build right now and I have splayed it all out into the open, it makes it easier to minimize inductor interactions - Just saying…everybody’s scenario is different.
And great job on the neatness and wiring.
Best,
Anand.