Speakers Worthy of Pass Amps?

Got a lovely sounding Pass amp? One simple speaker truth to rule them all:

1. If you compare really good sounding really small speakers with really good sounding really large speakers: The really large one always wins by far, while they still really only are cruising around.




Unstrained Headroom, Sub Bass bandwith and Realistic Dynamic Scale and sound image size are EXTREMELY important really high fidelity speaker aspects.

👊🙂👍
 
Got a lovely sounding Pass amp? One simple speaker truth to rule them all:

1. If you compare really good sounding really small speakers with really good sounding really large speakers: The really large one always wins by far, while they still really only are cruising around.

Unstrained Headroom, Sub Bass bandwith and Realistic Dynamic Scale and sound image size are EXTREMELY important really high fidelity speaker aspects.

👊🙂👍

I absolutely concur. I needed speakers worthy of my M2 amp and after much deliberation, I bought Audio Nirvana Ferrite 12" FR drivers for only $495/pr and built my own boxes as per the supplied plans. Here is my opinion: Oh, BOY! Do they sound BIG!!! They are ticking all the right boxes for me; Imaging, musicality, presence, etc.

The boxes are not small, but also not overly large (160 litres) and the wife approved when she saw them. The secret is to carry the panels into the house one by one before you start assembling the boxes. That way the shock is lessened. ;)
 
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I would be interested to know more about this. Could you be more specific or supply a link, please?
Unfortunately there is no link nor published information that I know of. I was just fortunate to receive a prototype to try out with my SEAS FR drivers. It was like night and day.

Nelson, do you think Jason would like to try this out in the store? I realize it's probably pretty far down the list of projects on your spreadsheet. But I'm willing to help if needed. =)
 
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I absolutely concur. I needed speakers worthy of my M2 amp and after much deliberation, I bought Audio Nirvana Ferrite 12" FR drivers for only $495/pr and built my own boxes as per the supplied plans. Here is my opinion: Oh, BOY! Do they sound BIG!!! They are ticking all the right boxes for me; Imaging, musicality, presence, etc.

The boxes are not small, but also not overly large (160 litres) and the wife approved when she saw them. The secret is to carry the panels into the house one by one before you start assembling the boxes. That way the shock is lessened. ;)
Always been interested in trying a FR driver. Did you get the “classic” or “super” ferrite model? Seems the power rating are identical and frequency range are similar, but one has a phase plug and the other is listed as a dust cap for the same price. Just curious which you chose and why. Thanks!
 
The one and only
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A topic of great interest to me, as I have a large collection of FR speakers, all of whom "need a little help".

I made a cute little EQ board that works well at treating bottom and mid/top, and it's on my release schedule as a cheap little kit.

:snail:
 
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Along the lines of Zen Mod's Heresy suggestion for speakers matched to Aleph J, how about the Crites Speaker Style 2 (https://critesspeakers.com/crites-speaker-style-2.html)? Seems like they specialize in Klipsch related designs. The Cornscalas get a lot of coverage on the web. Maybe something like them as the poor man's alternative to the the Heresy's?? Any opinions/experience on this out there?
 
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efficiency and sensitivity, speakers with that are natural pair for small power A Class

Somewhat true. But it is not the full truth.

In my OPINION🙂

Do not ever forget: High sensitivity is not equal to High Capability: Wide Bandwidth and Extreme dynamic range.

High capability gives high fidelity.

So. You absolutely need very large and extraordinarily dynamicly capable, extremely wide band speakers, if your goal is to let the, just for starters, the wonderful little Amp Camp Amp play it out fully without the being crippled by your mother in laws favourite midget speakers partly hidden behind the bookshelf.

Nothing wrong with high db/w/m. But of utmost importance is extremely high capability speakers= Large speakers❤️🤗
 
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frugal-phile™
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One i have heard. Yuk.

And don’y make it worse by putting it into a box suggested by Mr Dicks. These are not designed. Mr Dicks was banned from this forum after goibg way over the edge after the membership started offering him helpful criticism on his speaker boxes.

dave
 
frugal-phile™
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Bingo
efficiency and sensitivity, speakers with that are natural pair for small power A Class

I am very happy with my big 87 dB MTMs with the SIT-3 (and the ACA mini [it does run out]).

A12pw-MTM-comp.jpg


Seeling efficiency for efficieny sake brings all sorts of compromises. The significant ripple train of cone resonances in the mentioned Audio Nirvana is an example. Sounds akin to the annoyance of finger nails on a blackboard.

dave
 
Always been interested in trying a FR driver. Did you get the “classic” or “super” ferrite model? Seems the power rating are identical and frequency range are similar, but one has a phase plug and the other is listed as a dust cap for the same price. Just curious which you chose and why. Thanks!

I went the classic route because I've heard bad things said about the whizzer cones. The reason for going big FR is that I've had small FR speakers for 3 years - driven by an ACA and just loved the FR sound and absence of XO complexity. When I built the M2, I asked advice on a speaker forum and was told that "there is no replacement for displacement". That really got my attention and since I have a limited budget due to being recently retired and also living in a country with a currency far weaker than the US$, the Audio Nirvana's just made sense.

I read the negative comments above about the Audio Nirvana drivers and honestly, it doesn't make sense to me. Yes, they do need a little help here and there, and I've accomplished that with EQ and now I really love these speakers. To me the sound is exceptional. Maybe I'm living in a bubble, but who cares? As long as I like the sound and keep on being amazed by it, I don't care if there is peer jealousy between speaker manufacturers. It's none of my business. I've made my choice and it seems to be a good one. When my audio buddy heard these speakers he said "world class".
 
A topic of great interest to me, as I have a large collection of FR speakers, all of whom "need a little help".

I made a cute little EQ board that works well at treating bottom and mid/top, and it's on my release schedule as a cheap little kit.

:snail:

Wow, that's just what I needed to hear. Software EQ is not my first choice, so I'd love to get my hands on them "little EQ boards" when they become available. (y)
 
frugal-phile™
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To me the sound is exceptional

That is all that counts. Here is the factory impedance curve Ithe ones i made are more dramatic), but you will notice all the bumps in the curve above primary resonance. Each one of those is a cone resonance, and they drive my ear/brain crazy. I have measured thousands of drivers and most have a smooth curve above resonance, with only the piston to chaotic radiation, and an occasional one if the driver has a HF resonance (common amoung FRs)

Screen Shot 2022-08-19 at 11.54.56.png


dave