Here are some pics of my build and my recent experience with this driver. The SOTA 11R is a fullranger from Markaudio with a diameter of ~ 110 mm. I picked up a pair of the raw drivers along with some diy folks for a nice price from a dealer looking to blow out his inventory. We couldn't get any TS parameters or raw measurements from the dealer and were only told that they were similar to the Pluvia 11 drivers. So I took him at his word and built a CGR designed for the Pluvia 11 designed by Planet 10. The SOTA 11Rs look like they are built to a high standard and come with a sturdy stamped steel frame. I ran the drivers for about 20 hours in free air before mounting them in the new enclosures.
I wanted to try one of Markaudios larger drivers and was hoping for a smallish set of fullrangers that could be as nice as the old Dayton budget bookshelf speakers designed by Wayne Jaesche that I had built about 20 years ago, the cost of the two builds is about the same. Unfortunately so far this has not been the case. The CGR enclosure seems to be doing its job well enough and delivers some punchy but not deep bass, after all it is a small enclosure. My disappointment so far is with the drivers apparent lack of detail and its uneven frequency response. With some decent electronics (aleph J, aikido pre) the budget 2 ways sound pretty impressive, on the same system The SOTA 11Rs are clearly lacking. I'm going to let them run in for a few days and then experiment with some BSC filters to see if I can improve the sound.
I wanted to try one of Markaudios larger drivers and was hoping for a smallish set of fullrangers that could be as nice as the old Dayton budget bookshelf speakers designed by Wayne Jaesche that I had built about 20 years ago, the cost of the two builds is about the same. Unfortunately so far this has not been the case. The CGR enclosure seems to be doing its job well enough and delivers some punchy but not deep bass, after all it is a small enclosure. My disappointment so far is with the drivers apparent lack of detail and its uneven frequency response. With some decent electronics (aleph J, aikido pre) the budget 2 ways sound pretty impressive, on the same system The SOTA 11Rs are clearly lacking. I'm going to let them run in for a few days and then experiment with some BSC filters to see if I can improve the sound.
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Thanks you for making this thread. It seems that data for Sota 11 is some kind of secret. I put my pair in FHXL, but Pluvia 7HD in FH3 have better sound for me. Sadly I dont have any measuring equipment
Bummer. 🙁 That said, the internal damping seems like major overkill for any MA driver unless it's a too high a Qt for BR loading and/or too shallow a box.
MA drivers need a long time for break-in. The manufacturer recommends at least 100 hours before you put much juice to them. After the 100 hour point, you'll still notice improvements over the next several hundred hours.
You're right about the secret specs, even the friends of Markaudio here have been mum on the subject..
I don't know the sota driver so i can't tell, but did you do the breakin procedure?
And that damping arround the port area may also affect the bass, i wouldn't damp near the port area at all, only the top half of the box.
And that damping arround the port area may also affect the bass, i wouldn't damp near the port area at all, only the top half of the box.
I let the drivers burn in for 16 hrs/day for the last couples of days and the are loosening up and the highs and definition have clearly improved. That puts them at around the 52 hr mark (20 hrs free air/32 in box). Today I played with some BSC filters, this made a big improvement in balancing out the frequency response and the sound quality (at least to me). I ran some calcs for the baffle loss to get a ballpark for the values. I'm just using whatever I have in my spare parts bin that's close enough. So far I've settled on L = 1.25 mH, R = 8 ohms, and I have ~ 2.14 uf of capacitance bypassing to bring up the high end. Sounds really nice. The driver really works well in Dave's box, plenty of good bass in a small form factor. I'll let it burn in to hit the 100 hr mark to make final adjustments in case it becomes too bright for my taste as it loosens up. So far after today I'm quite pleased with how it sounds.
One other point that can negatively impact the sound is the chamfer on the back side of the baffle. Allowing plenty of airflow out of the back of the driver is very important.
Ok, so I ran them 24/7 for a couple of days in my garage and finalized the bsc filter. They have improved a lot, but for my taste they needed the bsc filter to sound balanced, the final values that I settled on because that is what I had on hand were L=1.25mH, R = 10R, C = 2 uF. Nice bass with this box, mids are nice, highs are ok. Nice imaging as one would expect from a fullrange driver. All in all a nice speaker and fits the bill for what I was looking for, a small portable speaker for my deck. They crush any boom box. Here is a pic from last night during their debut, bluetooth to an old SUBBU dac to an even older MyRef C chip amp. Old diy projects never die, they just go into storage, its nice to use them again.
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They'll continue to improve as you use them. The break-in period for Mark Audio speakers is quite lengthy but well worth the time. The highs might improve, depending on how far "off-axis" you are. Bringing them up to ear height is always a good thing.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have the same issue with old speakers and old speaker projects, they won't die. Tons of speakers completed and otherwise in my basement. If I had some friends or family who appreciated better sound quality than the TV, I'd gladly share. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have the same issue with old speakers and old speaker projects, they won't die. Tons of speakers completed and otherwise in my basement. If I had some friends or family who appreciated better sound quality than the TV, I'd gladly share. 🙂
Ive posted full measurements in the previous Sota thread
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/372919-sota-11r-experiences.html#post6729495
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/372919-sota-11r-experiences.html#post6729495