Hi guys, just wanted to show my impressions on the ScanSpeak Discovery 861, from Troels Gravesen. It has been a great fun work and a very pleasing result. They offer a great level of transparency, with a very natural sound. The musicians stay right in front of you with a nice and natural soundstage. There's nothing I could emphasize, they just do everything good, in my opinion. I finished them in rosewood, that turned a bit reddish once I lacquered them. But looking good nevertheless. Not the best veneer on this web. In fact, it was very complicated, as rosewood did not make it easy at all. But enough to me. I did a detachable binding post board and the same for the filter, in case I need to do any repairs. Well, for the money, a great build, that will satisfy most of us, for sure.
Decluttered and recluttered front end of my system.
Out with a class A power amplifier, and in with a much more powerful class D amp.
It's highpassed first order at line level with a single cap, 0.039uf, for about the same effect as 0.047uf on the class A. Bass for the full ranges is picked up again by a sealed sub and plate amp for it. The full ranges don't reach up to the frequencies I find bothersome with my class D amp, and it seems much improved by highpassing the deep bass out of its budget self this way.
Out with a class A power amplifier, and in with a much more powerful class D amp.
It's highpassed first order at line level with a single cap, 0.039uf, for about the same effect as 0.047uf on the class A. Bass for the full ranges is picked up again by a sealed sub and plate amp for it. The full ranges don't reach up to the frequencies I find bothersome with my class D amp, and it seems much improved by highpassing the deep bass out of its budget self this way.
Impressive work. I guess you're used to it, but I bet guests are a bit intimidated by those speakers at first sight!
Thanks, they're in my man cave so some visitors don't even know they're there 🙂
My man cave system, or "the Voice of the sugar shack". Obviously inspired by Altecs Voice of the Theatre but on a budget. 18Sound 12" woofers (12MB600 if I remember correctly) in the bass bins and cheap P.Audio 2" compression drivers in the 200Hz Lecleach horns.
It took a couple of notch filters to tame the 2" drivers and a BSC-like circuit in series with the woofers to supress the slightly exaggerated midbass.
Why bother building "hornflex" cabs and then shave off the extra midbass efficency provided by the horn loading, someone might ask.
Well, they allow the woofers to be physically time aligned with the mid drivers without having the mid horns sticking out 2' from the bass cabs. I also like to believe that the horn loading provides a "punchier" midbass which integrates better with the mid horns, plus they do look quite cool 😎
They currently operate as a two way system (and they do it quite well, although within a slightly limited frequency range) but I recently started to experiment with super tweeters. In the same room I also have a pair of bass horns disguised as furniture, leftovers from an earlier horn rig but probably useful to add a little bottom below 50Hz or so.
It took a couple of notch filters to tame the 2" drivers and a BSC-like circuit in series with the woofers to supress the slightly exaggerated midbass.
Why bother building "hornflex" cabs and then shave off the extra midbass efficency provided by the horn loading, someone might ask.
Well, they allow the woofers to be physically time aligned with the mid drivers without having the mid horns sticking out 2' from the bass cabs. I also like to believe that the horn loading provides a "punchier" midbass which integrates better with the mid horns, plus they do look quite cool 😎
They currently operate as a two way system (and they do it quite well, although within a slightly limited frequency range) but I recently started to experiment with super tweeters. In the same room I also have a pair of bass horns disguised as furniture, leftovers from an earlier horn rig but probably useful to add a little bottom below 50Hz or so.
The mid horns are made from two layers of 1/8" masonite, cut out with a friends DIY CNC router. I made one or two attempts with 4mm plywood but it was very difficult to bend into shape and it turned out that the X and Y axis on the router had been slightly misaligned, resulting in prototype horns with twisted throats.
After calibrating the machine and resorting to masonite everything went much smoother
Hi amigos,
Let me introduce my new DIY floor speakers (2.5 way) based on the "ESSentielle ADS" diagram of "la maison du haut parleur" (MHP)
The cabinetmaking is made of French Ash wood with a vertical grain. (25mm)
These speakers are based on the famous ESS Heil AMT 3 Tweeter (latest generation) and two Satori MW16PNW-8 Woofers in Egyptian Papyrus whose measurements are here:
http://www.loudspeakerdatabase.com/SB/MW16P#8Ω
The Crossover was the subject of a patent after two years of R&D with a gain adjustment, it is manufactured by the "Maison du Haut Parleur" in Toulouse, still in France. It has been specially developed to get the best out of the ESS Heil AMT3 Tweeter.
This Crossover is mounted with discrete SMD type components. The Woofer part is filtered at 6DB / octave with two Jantzen Selfs (Grade 1B copper wire @ 3% / 0.10 Ω) with a very low DCR.
Here are the cutoff frequencies:
385HZ/1700HZ.
Bass Woofer can go down to 32HZ @ +-3DB
I wouldn't be very objective if I gave my opinion, would I?))) But I'm in love with Heil AMT3 Tweeters and I must admit that the first time I listened to these speakers, I took a real slap!
The Satori Woofers seem to marry very well with the ESS Tweeter, the listening is musical, detailed and of a beautiful straightness.
For ESS fans : you can listen to the DIY kit in Paris / Toulouse and in Lyon if you are ever passing through) They are available in a version with a different cabinetry and less elegant than my DIY version but listening and electronics remain the same.
And here are the pictures 🙂
Let me introduce my new DIY floor speakers (2.5 way) based on the "ESSentielle ADS" diagram of "la maison du haut parleur" (MHP)
The cabinetmaking is made of French Ash wood with a vertical grain. (25mm)
These speakers are based on the famous ESS Heil AMT 3 Tweeter (latest generation) and two Satori MW16PNW-8 Woofers in Egyptian Papyrus whose measurements are here:
http://www.loudspeakerdatabase.com/SB/MW16P#8Ω
The Crossover was the subject of a patent after two years of R&D with a gain adjustment, it is manufactured by the "Maison du Haut Parleur" in Toulouse, still in France. It has been specially developed to get the best out of the ESS Heil AMT3 Tweeter.
This Crossover is mounted with discrete SMD type components. The Woofer part is filtered at 6DB / octave with two Jantzen Selfs (Grade 1B copper wire @ 3% / 0.10 Ω) with a very low DCR.
Here are the cutoff frequencies:
385HZ/1700HZ.
Bass Woofer can go down to 32HZ @ +-3DB
I wouldn't be very objective if I gave my opinion, would I?))) But I'm in love with Heil AMT3 Tweeters and I must admit that the first time I listened to these speakers, I took a real slap!
The Satori Woofers seem to marry very well with the ESS Tweeter, the listening is musical, detailed and of a beautiful straightness.
For ESS fans : you can listen to the DIY kit in Paris / Toulouse and in Lyon if you are ever passing through) They are available in a version with a different cabinetry and less elegant than my DIY version but listening and electronics remain the same.
And here are the pictures 🙂
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you're baaaaaad man!!
I've just forgot Big AMT, didn't think of it for at least 2 weeks, and now you're posting this
I've just forgot Big AMT, didn't think of it for at least 2 weeks, and now you're posting this
This AMT Tweeter always drove me crazy )))
By the way : among twenty speakers tested, the Satori are definitely what work best with this AMT 3
By the way : among twenty speakers tested, the Satori are definitely what work best with this AMT 3
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The Pioneers, sony, RCF ...mmmmhhh and Philips!
Ladies and gents, my latest creations...well, uhm, not so much to create, just adapt the pieces.
(the amplifier's got a phono input! Savaged from an Akai...the BORG cube is Panasonic...The inputs are managed electronically but the playback & CD inputs are disabled somehow-there aren't any CD or Tape machines now-, so gotta put a switch or rotary to select extra inputs )
The cables are Q&D, I guess 🙄
So the curious ones have already jumped on the photos, and the well informed ones would recognize a Pioneer unit at the bass section, together with the box.
The little box is from the Panasonic combo, but it is used only to support mid& tweeter & X-over.
And, yes, the waveguide combo is from some RCF 3 way ( '80s ?!)
That's all, folks!
Ladies and gents, my latest creations...well, uhm, not so much to create, just adapt the pieces.
(the amplifier's got a phono input! Savaged from an Akai...the BORG cube is Panasonic...The inputs are managed electronically but the playback & CD inputs are disabled somehow-there aren't any CD or Tape machines now-, so gotta put a switch or rotary to select extra inputs )
The cables are Q&D, I guess 🙄
So the curious ones have already jumped on the photos, and the well informed ones would recognize a Pioneer unit at the bass section, together with the box.
The little box is from the Panasonic combo, but it is used only to support mid& tweeter & X-over.
And, yes, the waveguide combo is from some RCF 3 way ( '80s ?!)
That's all, folks!