The Metronome

BSC and near walls/corners

Hi,

Just want to bring up back this thread... For those who built these without BSC and tried them near the back wall or corners do you still hear any dips/anomalies in the response etc? I'm talking about the non-bipole config.

Dave and gang's new Frugal-horn site is great resource btw. Keep up the great work guys.:)

I have a pair 5" drivers here that could benefit from a nice enclosure like this one.

fred
 
Hi Fred

My original Fostex FE108EZ versions with Scott's mass loading applied are six inches from the rear wall without BSC and sound very even across the range they cover. The sub fills in the low bass with mine of course

Bring them out from the wall and they develop a hole in the mid bass and become
too bright. So I can safely say that wall proximity without BSC sounds great. Image depth is a bit curtailed by the wall placement but IMO that is a small price to pay for the gain in efficiency brought about by not having to use BSC.

They image superbly anyhow so the slight loss of depth is not all that troublesome in the wider scheme of things..

Steve.
 
With my oversized FE127E Metronomes (see post #135) I'm seeing what Steve sees, a good even response when they are positioned close to the wall. If I bring them too far out - well actually I don't really know, my room's too small :)
Mind you, I'm in the processing of cutting the speakers down to the "proper" size. One was finished this morning, and sofar, the sound is a bit strange with a boomy bass, but then I'm listening to two different speakers (no left/right control on my Charlize!) so I'll have to report back when they are both finished.
Cheers,
gus
 
So, just finished listening to my newly sized FE127e Metronomes. They used to have external dimensions of 7.9 x 9.5” and 4.7 x 4.3”. Now they are at the design size of 6.54 x 9.5” and 3.2 x 4.3” (these dims were chosen to give an internal golden ratio when using 18mm ply). First impressions – they look much better in the new sizes! Pics to follow, if I can steal a digital camera. Listening – they always were great, now they simply sing. The mids and imaging are just stunning and there is easily enough bass for my taste. I went to see Lucinda Williams at the Birmingham symphony hall a while back - it’s a place with terrific acoustics. Listening to her new CD takes me right back there but this time with a better seat. There is a small tendency to boomy bass at a couple of frequencies. I’ve pulled them away from the wall but it doesn’t seem to help, in fact the wall reinforcement seems to augment the overall sound. I’ll play around with other factors, but I’m new to this so if there is a standard method to tune speakers of certain qualities don’t be shy letting me know.
 
gus900 said:
There is a small tendency to boomy bass at a couple of frequencies. I’ve pulled them away from the wall but it doesn’t seem to help, in fact the wall reinforcement seems to augment the overall sound. I’ll play around with other factors, but I’m new to this so if there is a standard method to tune speakers of certain qualities don’t be shy letting me know.

Hi Gus

Try very lightly stuffing the top third of the cabinet with BAF wadding and put a piece just below the driver. This evened out the response on my FE108EZ Metronomes.

Be careful however as overdoing the damping sucks all the life and detail out of the sound. You'll soon know if you've overdone the damping as the effect is not subtle! The soundstage collapses and everything goes flat.

Steve.
 
Hmm, newbie problem I guess, lets try again... Ohh I see, now I realise I should pay more attn to error messages
 

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Aint no stopping me now. Here in it's natural environment, tried to get the cat to pose a la Steve's metronome pics but Bruno wouldn't play. There are two of them but this one turned out better so it's the one I'm showing
 

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Great looking speakers Gus.

Hope you don't mind but I've nicked a couple of your images to post on the
World Designs Metronome Thread in the UK

Quite a few members are from the Bristol area and the forum itself is a friendly supportive place
much like this one. It discusses valve amps, speakers, turntables; in fact anything to do with DIY audio.

It's well worth registering unless of course you already know about it and have already done so.

Steve
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
gus900 said:
Using the g/friends silly Mac instead of my regular PC doesn't help though

You GF likely has the better 'puter (but given how long a Mac is useful it could be getting on)

Would you mind mailing me larger pictures for me to work with for my Metronome page? (hit my email link to establish contact)

Chris & i will have to get a set of bipole 127 metronomes happening for the summer diyFEST.

dave
 
planet10 said:


You GF likely has the better 'puter (but given how long a Mac is useful it could be getting on)

Would you mind mailing me larger pictures for me to work with for my Metronome page? (hit my email link to establish contact)

Chris & i will have to get a set of bipole 127 metronomes happening for the summer diyFEST.

dave

Thought that comment might get a rise ;-). Thanks for all your nice words but it's really me who should be thanking the people who developed this design. Thanks to you I've got a music system better than I ever thought possible, and the GFAF is good too. She's a classical lover and Bach has never been so good. Actually there's something not quite right with that last sentence but wtf, too late to change now :).
Dave - I'll email you decent quality pics (of the speakers, c'mon guys) tomorrow.