Al Garay said:
All my woodwork was done by a pro cabinetmaker with considerable speaker building experience. The Neo3 cutouts were slightly overcut, then edged with mahogany, for strength as well as appearance. Each of the Extremis cutouts was also slightly overcut, then shimmed with mahogany. Very snug. 😎
Wonderful thread that I have read a couple of times from start to finish. Has me toying with idea of building my own dankini. A couple of questions:
1. think back to when you were a diy newbie. How hard is this to build. My total experience is one pair of kit speakers (Ellis 1801s). I am fine with woodwork - which in this case is minimal - but particularly concerned when someone early on in the thread noted that this is a challenging cross over to construct.
2. what is the approximate cost to put Dan's dipole together - drivers, crossover, baffle materials. Thinking ball park $1,000 but short of costing the pieces out don't have a sense of this or maybe missed this information.
Thanks for information and the great thread.
David
1. think back to when you were a diy newbie. How hard is this to build. My total experience is one pair of kit speakers (Ellis 1801s). I am fine with woodwork - which in this case is minimal - but particularly concerned when someone early on in the thread noted that this is a challenging cross over to construct.
2. what is the approximate cost to put Dan's dipole together - drivers, crossover, baffle materials. Thinking ball park $1,000 but short of costing the pieces out don't have a sense of this or maybe missed this information.
Thanks for information and the great thread.
David
DavidLS said:
Dan really did us proud with this one, no question.
The crossover is a little more complex than usual, but building it is still pretty easy. The size of the components (no electrolytics were harmed in the making of my Dakinis!) made me build the highpass and lowpass sections on separate, quality 4"x6" single-sided, copperclad boards, which leaves plenty of room to work. I tie-wrapped the caps and coils through holes I drilled in the boards, and used the copper side as the common connection.
I just sandwiched the boards between acoustic foam and put them under cover in the bases, currently bi-wired with 4S11, sans terminals.
Cost for my pair, including professional woodworking and cosmetic bits, was right around $1k, but I got a really good deal on the Extremii. 😀
Z33 - thanks for the reply.
I am wondering about baffle material. I am guessing that I could use a variety of natural wood materials besides mdf such as mahogany (if I can find big enough pieces) or the earlier mentioned baltic birch.
Anyone have thoughts on this - might help me with the WAF as my system is in the living room.
David
I am wondering about baffle material. I am guessing that I could use a variety of natural wood materials besides mdf such as mahogany (if I can find big enough pieces) or the earlier mentioned baltic birch.
Anyone have thoughts on this - might help me with the WAF as my system is in the living room.
David
I used baltic birch but I'm considering adding some MDF to the back in strategic locations to damp the baffle a bit. Usually, layering materials like that yields good results.
BTW, I recently completed a Linkwitz dipole woofer using a pair of Adire Shivas from Creative Sound.
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/woofer2.htm
It's blends nicely with the Dakini. Currently I'm powering it with the 250w plate amp from Parts Express (which I see is no longer available although they have the remote control model) in a separate box. I have a digital EQ unit I may incorporate to handle the rolloff but it seems to be working well without it so far.
Considering the Shiva is available from CS for only US$99 each it's a reasonably inexpensive build for a good performer.
BTW, I recently completed a Linkwitz dipole woofer using a pair of Adire Shivas from Creative Sound.
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/woofer2.htm
It's blends nicely with the Dakini. Currently I'm powering it with the 250w plate amp from Parts Express (which I see is no longer available although they have the remote control model) in a separate box. I have a digital EQ unit I may incorporate to handle the rolloff but it seems to be working well without it so far.
Considering the Shiva is available from CS for only US$99 each it's a reasonably inexpensive build for a good performer.
I have received the cicuit schematics from Dan Wiggins and simulated the respose for the LP and Hp section of the active filter which I then submitted to Dan for his review and comments.
Dan concurred with the simulated responses.
Iam now in the process of designing the Gyrator circuits to simulate the 2 inductors, 2.83H and 68mH.
In general it appears to me the the accoustical response is improved by using the active crossover designed by Dan specifically it is smoother and is somewat extended in the lower frequency band. The drawback of course is that you now need to power amplifiers to drive the OBs.
To Z33: I have been impressed with your performance descriptions of the OB DDR and was the driver for me to construct them.
Dan concurred with the simulated responses.
Iam now in the process of designing the Gyrator circuits to simulate the 2 inductors, 2.83H and 68mH.
In general it appears to me the the accoustical response is improved by using the active crossover designed by Dan specifically it is smoother and is somewat extended in the lower frequency band. The drawback of course is that you now need to power amplifiers to drive the OBs.
To Z33: I have been impressed with your performance descriptions of the OB DDR and was the driver for me to construct them.
kaldenr,
I'd be very interested in hearing your results with the active Dakinis. I'd expect them to sound even better than the passive implementation, which is already pretty amazing. There are so many reasonable amp designs available now, that a fully active bi-amped approach doesn't have to be expensive. I've built a couple of MyRefC boards with an eye to bi-amping, along with GB150s, but things got suddenly way too busy and I haven't had much opportunity to pursue it. Perhaps your project will provide the needed incentive!
Z33
I'd be very interested in hearing your results with the active Dakinis. I'd expect them to sound even better than the passive implementation, which is already pretty amazing. There are so many reasonable amp designs available now, that a fully active bi-amped approach doesn't have to be expensive. I've built a couple of MyRefC boards with an eye to bi-amping, along with GB150s, but things got suddenly way too busy and I haven't had much opportunity to pursue it. Perhaps your project will provide the needed incentive!
Z33
FYI, in case you haven't heard.
The Extremis will no longer be manufactured and the existing stock has been purchased by RAW Acoustics. Creative Sound is in the process of bringing a replacement model to market but it is likely to be several months.
The Extremis will no longer be manufactured and the existing stock has been purchased by RAW Acoustics. Creative Sound is in the process of bringing a replacement model to market but it is likely to be several months.
Tim,
Have you heard if the CSS driver will be a carbon copy, or a "new & improved" version of the driver?
Eric.
Have you heard if the CSS driver will be a carbon copy, or a "new & improved" version of the driver?
Eric.
The inuendo is that it will be improved. It does need to replace the extremis in a number of OEM designs so it should be relatively close.
dave
dave
Z33.
Thank you for your response.
My decision to proceed with the Dan's OB system was by and large influenced by your excellent descriptions of performance.
I just purchased the Extremis and the NEO3PDR units.
My original intent was first to start with the passive cross over network. to get my feet wet. Then after that I will start to incorporate the Active low and high pass filter as designed by Dan. As a second apmplifier I have deceided to get the UCD.
Money is not so much an issue but my work environment is, where the load factor is now byond the 150%.
I guess things will happen in baby steps.
Thank you for your response.
My decision to proceed with the Dan's OB system was by and large influenced by your excellent descriptions of performance.
I just purchased the Extremis and the NEO3PDR units.
My original intent was first to start with the passive cross over network. to get my feet wet. Then after that I will start to incorporate the Active low and high pass filter as designed by Dan. As a second apmplifier I have deceided to get the UCD.
Money is not so much an issue but my work environment is, where the load factor is now byond the 150%.
I guess things will happen in baby steps.
Very sad news that the extremis is no longer available.
I just purchased the last 4 from CSS.
I get the impression that the extremis is not obsolete but is more difficult to purchse. The units are manufactured in China (what else is new) and the manufacturer's minimum qty is 1000. Such a minimum qty is prohibitive to companies like CSS as they have to commit at lest $60 to $70K upfront.
This is the very reason why CSS is in the process to find a near equivalent but my concerns are the elctro-accoustic parameters.
I will soon post the active filter and the electrical response curves as an attachment. Please take notice that there were 2 mistakes in Dan's circuit schematic which I reviewed with him. Hence do not yet construct the LP and HP filters.
I just purchased the last 4 from CSS.
I get the impression that the extremis is not obsolete but is more difficult to purchse. The units are manufactured in China (what else is new) and the manufacturer's minimum qty is 1000. Such a minimum qty is prohibitive to companies like CSS as they have to commit at lest $60 to $70K upfront.
This is the very reason why CSS is in the process to find a near equivalent but my concerns are the elctro-accoustic parameters.
I will soon post the active filter and the electrical response curves as an attachment. Please take notice that there were 2 mistakes in Dan's circuit schematic which I reviewed with him. Hence do not yet construct the LP and HP filters.
Yes, there will most likely be differences in the TS parameters but the quality should be quite good based on my past experience with the transducer engineer's work (same person that designed the SD12 woofer).
Timn8ter said:
That one is a beauty.. can't wait to see the XBL 15" (the thot of a stereo pair of push-push TLs mounted on the roof of my shop area firing into the living room haunts me)
dave
Timn8ter said:
No holes in the floor. The other side of the 1st 4 feet of the tall wall with the teak shelving unit is the top 1/3 of my workshop (which has 12 foot ceiling) ... this gives me a 4' x 16' vertical wall to cut holes in and a 4' x 16' x 12' volume (that otherwise goes unused) to fit the boxes into.
dave
wasn't there another Extremis replacement coming out from CSS or DIY Cable or someone? i saw a link to a thread that had some pics. cool basket and heavy duty terminals. now for the LIFE of me i cannot find it. anyone know what i am talking about?
I had a while ago a telephone discussion with Kevin regarding the fact that the Adire web site had evaporated.
Kevin indeed confirmed that they were in the process of designing a near equivalent to the Extremis however, they will not be for sale as seperated units.
Their intent is, at least to my understanding, to make it only available through the purchase of complete kits.
Kevin indeed confirmed that they were in the process of designing a near equivalent to the Extremis however, they will not be for sale as seperated units.
Their intent is, at least to my understanding, to make it only available through the purchase of complete kits.
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