Hi Perry,
I read your notes (which are in fact studies) with great pleasure.
After finishing my first ever OB project with many trials and errors and (to my ears) very good result at the end (with passive serial xo), I will start the Bitches Brew project.
It will take time, of course, and DSP will be a completely new land for me, but why not...
Right at the beginning: how critical is the wood material and even more the shape of the baffle? Parts are easier to collect, but the baffle seems to play a big role. And to the DSP: my preamps and power amps are balanced - do you have a recommendation for a balanced DSP?
Many thanks in advance!
I read your notes (which are in fact studies) with great pleasure.
After finishing my first ever OB project with many trials and errors and (to my ears) very good result at the end (with passive serial xo), I will start the Bitches Brew project.
It will take time, of course, and DSP will be a completely new land for me, but why not...
Right at the beginning: how critical is the wood material and even more the shape of the baffle? Parts are easier to collect, but the baffle seems to play a big role. And to the DSP: my preamps and power amps are balanced - do you have a recommendation for a balanced DSP?
Many thanks in advance!
@adason is partly right. The Bitches Brew original post was in this thread, but @Balthazarp and @Studley and @Plott lets continue the conversation at the Live Edge Dipole page https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...mpetition-updated-design.405104/#post-7498299
Please repost your question at https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...mpetition-updated-design.405104/#post-7498299 and let’s continue there.Hi Perry,
I read your notes (which are in fact studies) with great pleasure.
After finishing my first ever OB project with many trials and errors and (to my ears) very good result at the end (with passive serial xo), I will start the Bitches Brew project.
It will take time, of course, and DSP will be a completely new land for me, but why not...
Right at the beginning: how critical is the wood material and even more the shape of the baffle? Parts are easier to collect, but the baffle seems to play a big role. And to the DSP: my preamps and power amps are balanced - do you have a recommendation for a balanced DSP?
Many thanks in advance!
@perrymarshall so you would change the tilt of the Bitches Brew to 5 degree. Change anything else like the wings (bunching around 100Hz) [shape, parallel] or stay the same with 5 degree? Or change anything else?@Studley The Radian Coax in the Birch dipoles is 8" and I wanted to use 15" so the woofers and mid-coax matched in size.
Radian does have a Beryllium 15" coax but the directivity in its top octave is quite a bit narrower compared to the B&C. It's also 2X as expensive. So I chose the B&C with Titanium diaphragm, which has wider dispersion in the top octave. I find this is fairly important.
I had also tried a Beyma 15XA38ND coax, which is a pretty respectable driver, but for some reason the directivity in the 4-7K region is a hot mess. In other words in that octave it didn't have a controlled directivity characteristic, so I abandoned it for the B&C.
As for the "titanium hardness" of the B&C it's only very slight and it also comes down to which amplifier you use as to whether it's noticeable.
ONE OTHER THING: If I were to build these again I would tilt the front panel back 5 degrees instead of 10 degrees. With my couch and listening room, the 10 degree tilt has them firing about 5 degrees above my head. Really not a problem with the B&Cs but it would be a problem with say the Radian 15 or the Beyma 15 coax. Changing to 5 degrees would make it just about perfect.
Very nice speaker design!
@Arnold Harringer kindly re-post your question at https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...ker-design-competition-updated-design.405104/
This is for photos and basic info, not a full on treatise. Further discussion can follow the link to the build thread. simple.Perry is expanding his thoughts on modifications to his original designs originally posted in this thread, seems pretty relevant to me.
Now for something minimalistic and a bit unusual.
It started as an exepriment, as I got bored by boxed speakers.
I had Open Baffles before 2019, but then I changed residence and the new apatment would not fit the Open Baffles, or at least the ones with an 15" woofers.
Since I missed the OB sound, and I had some old Seas wide-rangers, I quicky cobbled something, just for fun.
Wide rangers with the helper tweeters, hanged by cable ties on the Ikea chairs, so no-baffle. (And no money too, read extreme frugal)
Bottom end is still boxed though. Monarch 250, 10" drivers in old JBL cabinets.
Overall, the idea was to do something that resembles Basszilla, but scaled down. (Should I call it Mini-zilla? 😀)
Yeas, it looks ugly. No phase plugs yet, but ugly nevertheless.
The sound?
What the....
WOW.... 😉
It started as an exepriment, as I got bored by boxed speakers.
I had Open Baffles before 2019, but then I changed residence and the new apatment would not fit the Open Baffles, or at least the ones with an 15" woofers.
Since I missed the OB sound, and I had some old Seas wide-rangers, I quicky cobbled something, just for fun.
Wide rangers with the helper tweeters, hanged by cable ties on the Ikea chairs, so no-baffle. (And no money too, read extreme frugal)
Bottom end is still boxed though. Monarch 250, 10" drivers in old JBL cabinets.
Overall, the idea was to do something that resembles Basszilla, but scaled down. (Should I call it Mini-zilla? 😀)
Yeas, it looks ugly. No phase plugs yet, but ugly nevertheless.
The sound?
What the....
WOW.... 😉
Attachments

I love the esthetics of the Balthazarp version of Perry Marshall's Bitches Brew speakers. Here is my less esthetic version of the Bitches Brew. The first piece of music I played on them was Mozart's Clarinet Quintet on Calliope with Bohuslav Zahradnik playing clarinet. As it would happen, I'm a semi-pro clarinetist so this piece just made sense. The clarinet's tamber sounded fantastic - far superior to my other not too shabby system. My listening room is in the basement adjacent to my practice room. My wife, a retired clarinetist, who was upstairs at the time, initially thought I was practicing until she figured out the playing was just too good for what I produce. This speaker design is something else.
Wow, awesome jrhilgers! I think you did a great job. How long have they been breaking in? Any more detailed listening impressions? Comparisons to other speakers you've heard?
Fantastic build, congratulations. Love the story about your clarinetist wife. Do tell us more as you dial these in to your room, your equipment and your listening tastes.I love the esthetics of the Balthazarp version of Perry Marshall's Bitches Brew speakers. Here is my less esthetic version of the Bitches Brew. The first piece of music I played on them was Mozart's Clarinet Quintet on Calliope with Bohuslav Zahradnik playing clarinet. As it would happen, I'm a semi-pro clarinetist so this piece just made sense. The clarinet's tamber sounded fantastic - far superior to my other not too shabby system. My listening room is in the basement adjacent to my practice room. My wife, a retired clarinetist, who was upstairs at the time, initially thought I was practicing until she figured out the playing was just too good for what I produce. This speaker design is something else.
Nice job! If you're half as happy with them as I am with my live edge dipoles I'm sure you're delighted!
Hi People,
I am going to replace my H Frame with Visaton BGS40 with 2 parallel SB Audience Bianco-12OB150.
Has anyone tried this type of enclosure? Or just make a new H Frame for 2 Bianco-12OB150.
I am going to replace my H Frame with Visaton BGS40 with 2 parallel SB Audience Bianco-12OB150.
Has anyone tried this type of enclosure? Or just make a new H Frame for 2 Bianco-12OB150.
I haven't tried it, but it's an interesting design. Would you cross or EQ the down firing (SLOB) woofer differently than the front facing one?
No, they will be wired parallel.I haven't tried it, but it's an interesting design. Would you cross or EQ the down firing (SLOB) woofer differently than the front facing one?
Hi People,
I am going to replace my H Frame with Visaton BGS40 with 2 parallel SB Audience Bianco-12OB150.
Has anyone tried this type of enclosure? Or just make a new H Frame for 2 Bianco-12OB150. View attachment 1242455
That looks like a fun way to pack in another driver while adding only half the height and hiding some visual complexity. I haven't tried slot loading yet but it would be cool to experiment with it. I'd be really curious to know how different (or not) this configuration would sound compared with the same 2 drivers arranged vertically on the baffle.
Depending up on how high up you plan to XO them you could also consider those 2 drivers in a ripole configuration, which adds some force cancelling into the mix and would take up even less vertical space, although your mid/high driver at 26" seems quite low as it is. (unfortunately no, I haven't been able to try this configuration, either!).
perrymarshall - my other system is a 6.1 setup with Martin Logan Monoliths for fronts, Martin Logan ReQuests for sides, Martin Logan SL300s for rears and a Martin Logan Balanced Force 212 for the sub. The sub is self-powered and the rest are powered by DIY tube amps of my design.
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