Puget Sound Speaker Contest 2010!

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ra7

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The first pic shows the judges' room. Behind the curtain, the judges sit. Very well managed by Jerry and co.

Its great to see the enthusiasm and spirit of the all the people who attented and especially the ones with entries. Whetts the appetite nicely for Burning Amp. Great stuff! I'm really glad I attended.
 

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Scratching post speakers

My buddy and I arrived about half way through the event so we didn't get to hear many of the speakers there. One of the speakers we did get to listen too were the little tube speakers pictured in post #39. They were made by a guy named Pete and were surprising.

R/
Jim
 
Hi All,
I've gotten some much needed rest and feel somewhat coherent (at least as coherent as I ever get!) and will try to supply some names and comments to the pictures thoughtfully provided by Ra7.

This is a picture of Will Jennings' Speakerlab Super 7's that he restored/ updated. Will just turned sixteen and has been busy restoring and repairing various vintage gear along with speakers. He's a very bright and knowledgeable youngster as well as being a nice guy.

These speakers were a real wreak when he first got them and he's gone all out to fix them up and improve them. He had the woofers recently reconed, added a CT-25 tweeter from Bob Crites and upgraded the x-over.

The Cabinet was completely stripped down, old veneer removed and filled any irregularities in the surface before applying a wonderful Zebra Wood veneer to the exterior. His attention to detail really shows in the matching of the grain overall. Absolutely great work by any standard and he's just a youngster. (Yes, I really hate him!!!)


I heard them last year and thought they sounded pretty good, but with the reconing, etc., that he's done since then, they have really improved.
Very, very nice indeed!

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Best Regards,
TerryO
 
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post 40, left side picture, beautifully finished :D

Hi Cal,

Is this the one you're asking about:

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If so, those belong to John Nail (The Blond Giant) a former Best of Show winner, who lives on the wrong side of the Cascade Mountains, or is it the other way?

They have an Audax Aerogel mid/woofer and a Vifa Fabric tweeter. John's speakers always have great finishes and these were no exceptions.
The added twist is that Dave Rosgaard did a series crossover for them and they sounded very nice when I listened to them at Dave's house.
I believe that John has $85 dollars in them.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
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Joined 2006
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This is a picture of Will Jennings' Speakerlab Super 7's that he restored/ updated. Will just turned sixteen and has been busy restoring and repairing various vintage gear along with speakers. He's a very bright and knowledgeable youngster as well as being a nice guy. (Yes, I really hate him!!!)

185774d1283062830t-puget-sound-speaker-


Best Regards,
TerryO

Ahhhh - another Jennings in the crowd - but not one of my clan as far as I know. I should hand down all I know - which should only take about - errrr - 5 minutes!!! I would tell him all of the things that I have learned but are now forgotten - but I can't remember what they were!

Nice work he does - really great for his young age!! At that stage of life I was still turning lamps on a wood lathe. :rolleyes:
 
Next we got to listen to Carl's voight pipe design using the classic Tannoy dual concentric driver. This definitely made an impression on me. Coherance similar to a full-range driver and good, deep bass.

Carl's speaker design is, at least to me, very interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to listen to it, but the comments I heard were very complementary.

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It seems to be an inverted Voight pipe, but on closer inspection it tapers from the top (right behind the driver) down to the base which has a front firing slot port which is right at the point. I really liked the stained finish on it and it was, to these old eyes, a very attractive design overall.
It featured Tannoy 1667 drivers and stock crossover. The cost of the driver and crossover is listed at $125.
Great job Carl!

Best Regards,
Terry
 
These back loaded single driver horns were the product of Howard Grim. They were perhaps the most interesting design there. I managed talk to Howard for a bit, as well as listening to the speakers. Howard was at our last Contest with a similar design with a 4 inch driver (he won the low price single driver class) and evidently these are a scalable design, as he related that the expansion ratio is the same and he merely increases the depth to account for the increase in driver size. In his latest example, he used a Fostex 206 E driver and with a Passive Radiator firing from the back of the chamber. I can't say I've ever seen a configuration like this and would have assumed that it couldn't possibly work. Well, so much for assumptions...as it not only worked, but sounded great. The design has an open bottom and can sit on the floor and fires out the side, or can be placed on an "X" shaped platform and becomes down-firing. I "think" I liked it better on the platform, but would certainly welcome a chance to hear them for an extended period of time.

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Very cool and original work!

Best Regards,
Terry
 
These "Junky" speakers assailed the sensibilities of everyone in attendance and may be the greatest insult ever inflicted upon the ears of Diy'ers. As the owner remains incoherent, and merely babbles about speakers and gear, it's not certain if these represented an actual effort to produce something worth listening to.

From what I gathered in the vain attempt to have a rational conversation with this escapee from the mental ward, he purchased some 1.5 inch Radio Shack Close-out drivers for about $1.50 each 10-12 years ago. The bass drivers are 8 inch Adire Audio AV8 drivers (crossed over at 450 Hz), that he place in a bass reflex box tuned to 33 Hz. He claims, and it's difficult to believe, that Dave Rosgaard actually did a series crossover for these. Dave is a great guy, so I find it hard to believe that he would have anything to do with the likes of this "builder".

We shall, in the future, avoid this person as well as ignore him, if he makes another attempt at speaker building!

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Total cost of drivers and crossover parts is $81.00.

Best Regards,
Terry
 
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It was truly a great event. Terry and others put an excellent competition. Big thanks to all of them. It was great to hear and see speakers and meet likeminded people. I pretty much enjoyed everything. Speakers, people, music and good humor. Terry was very welcoming and an excellent host. If you have any fear or reservation coming to an event like this, chuck it out of the window.
Here are some of my observation regarding speakers. Of course, this are my opinions. The winner of the whole event was Gary's three way speaker and deservedly so. Great story behind it, sounded open and transperent. From the first note when it played, I liked it. Carl's Tannoy was very very nice. The voices were excellent and it really surprised me how well it did with classical music as well. According to Carl, Bob Brines helped with the design. Carl finished them the night before, so I am sure they could be even better with fine tuning. I liked his speaker a lot.
The Fostex based TL had a passive radiator on the back. When we started the session the speakers were placed straigtforwardly at us and the speaker sounded somewhat bright on axis. After they were pulled more to the sides with toe in, they sounded much better, though for my test slightly peaky. Again my taste. The voices were great on those.
The black MTM is Natalie P and was done by a young guy Cal and it sounded smooth and good with any music. This is a sealed version of Natalie P. Nice speaker.
To me the most interesting part was the Genesis amp and the havoc it created on people who never heard their speakers sound this good. Most of the people do not have that type of gear at home, so this was a treat. Great stuff.
 
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