VISATON experiences re. speakers

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Jennice

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Joined 2003
#1
Hi everybody,

It seems hard to find outlets for speaker drivers here in Denmark where I live. I have found a place to buy VISATON speaker drivers in Germany, and would know if they're any good, both in absolute terms and "value for money".

Jennice
 
#3
last year I made some floor standers as christmas presents for friends of mine. they are a 3 way design of my own in a MTWW configuration, sealed cabinets, curved sided construction. I used Visaton for the mid and 2 woofers, the tweeter was a Hiquphon OW II.

The result?

OUTSTANDING.

The visatons were very easy to integrate with the tweeter, plenty of detail and loadsa bass clout without being overbearing unlike my own speakers which I had to tame down a lot because I was using 2 Audax AP210Z0's in parallel giving a 3 - 4 ohm load and just a bit too much down low. I was especially pleased with them making a 4 ohm shielded woofer, that meant I could keep the entire speaker to an 8 ohm impedance which I considered important because of my friend's rather modest amplifier (pioneer MIDI system).

I used the W170SC 6.5" shielded mid and 2 x W200SC 8" shielded bass units in series in each cabinet.


The crossover is a series crossover, 2nd order between the Treble and mid, 1st order between the mid and bass.

Crossover points are 300 and 2700 hz. the 2700 hz point means I didn't have to worry about the 4 - 5 k hump on the W170SC. Zobels on the bass and midrange drivers.

I'm sure I could have spent a lot more and got an even better result but I am perfectly happy with how they turned out. For my own speakers I'm thinking about upgrading the mid driver from an Audax AT170Z0 but am unsure of what to put in it's place, the Visaton "high end" drivers don't appear on the face of it to be particularly special especially since I'd be limited to the shielded range.
 
#4
Very interesting indeed...

What program did you use, that allowed you to work with two series-connected woofers (which I assume, since you mention 4 ohm drivers, and an 8 ohm speaker.)

I mean... can it really be as simple as calculating with 1 driver for enclosure calculations and doubeling the resulting suggested volume??? The crossover will behave differently also, won't it?
*puzzled*

How much did you spend on a pair?

One thing I've always wondered about. A lot of threads don't have the treble (highs) driver on top (if I read your MTWW) correctly. A lot of commercial systems seem to have the highs on top, though. Can you explain the difference?

Jennice
 
#5
I actually placed each woofer in it's own enclosure each being the same size, I have in the past put 2 woofers in 1 chamber and used double the volume as an assumption. It worked well but I'm not sure if that's a strictly correct way of going about things. The cabinets are sealed because I prefer the sound of a sealed cabinet over ported.

I used a crossover calculator spreadsheet found on mr graddon's website for calculating crossover component values with fine tuning by ear. The spreadsheet was a good place to start but I found that I was able to improve things by changing the L-pad values on the tweeter very slightly, making the mid and tweeter merge much more effectively. The danger of course is that you then tune the speaker to your own ear and not for the most accurate reproduction.

I placed the tweeter under the mid because I wanted the tweeter to be at roughly ear level when seated, the speakers stand about 1.2m high (on 50mm thick sandstone plinths... very, very attractive) so if I'd placed thetweeters at the top they'd have been a little high.

So the design isn't at all a cookbook recipie but a combination of things I've learned over the last year or so which worked well on my own speakers. You'll find that everyone here will have a different take on what makes a good speaker and what is the 'best' way of doing things. Read a lot and make up your own mind because unless you get an off-the-shelf design you'll find whatever you come up with will have a piece of your own personality in it. AND THAT IS NOT A BAD THING.

As an aside it doesn't seem as though many people go to the trouble of building speakers with curved sides but not only does it make the cabinet very non-resonant but it also looks pretty good as well, all you need is a few sheets of 3mm thick MDF (anything thicker just won't bend enough), LOTS of glue (PVA) and some big clamps. The biggest problem I had was that you can't get veneer in a wide enough sheet to go all the way round without joints whereas the standard flat sided construction gives you corners which limit the necessary width of the veneer.

Next up once I get my self established in Christchurch, New Zealand (currently in Sydney) will be a center channel, 4 surrounds, and maybe, just maybe a pair of isobaric subs using the Adire Tempest... But first I need to get a GK-1 preamp to go with my 100W Nirvana modded AKSA power amp.

The spending never ends!
 
#6
Ordering at Visaton directly is more expensive than through "neutral" distributors.
You might also check some Ebay-dealers.
The report from the Visaton-forum about them is quite good.
http://cgi6.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=fjdickhut&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50
http://cgi6.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=aunds123&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50

One of them hasn´t got any Visaton´s at the moment but usually you can write them up and ask for specific parts.
 
#7
akiwiskibum:

akiwiskibum said:
I actually placed each woofer in it's own enclosure each being the same size, I have in the past put 2 woofers in 1 chamber and used double the volume as an assumption. It worked well but I'm not sure if that's a strictly correct way of going about things. The cabinets are sealed because I prefer the sound of a sealed cabinet over ported.
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me (good or bad, I can't tell but it sounds fair enough.
I'm still confused about your impedance issue (using 2pcs of 4ohm speakers). Did you just calcutale them as one 8ohm unit when calculating the x-over? (Couldn't find the spreadsheet link you mentioned, but maybe the link makes it all clear?)


The danger of course is that you then tune the speaker to your own ear and not for the most accurate reproduction.
Click to expand...
I don't see this as a must-be-bad thing. After all, the most important thing is that you like listening to it, right? 🙂

I placed the tweeter under the mid because I wanted the tweeter to be at roughly ear level when seated, the speakers stand about 1.2m high (on 50mm thick sandstone plinths... very, very attractive) so if I'd placed thetweeters at the top they'd have been a little high.
Click to expand...

Ahh.. OBVIOUS!!! :idea:
As an aside it doesn't seem as though many people go to the trouble of building speakers with curved sides but not only does it make the cabinet very non-resonant but it also looks pretty good as well, all you need is a few sheets of 3mm thick MDF (anything thicker just won't bend enough), LOTS of glue (PVA) and some big clamps.
Click to expand...

I understand the advantages of curved sides, both visually and sonically (on the inside), but I also see problems that might keep many from doing so:

1) A 3mm sheet is very thin. How many (few sheets?) layers are enough?

2) How do you make a good mechanical connection from the curved sides to the front/rear? My obvious guess is some wood, but a rectangular piece of wood doesn't give much contact surface to a curved side.

I thought of making sides flat, but hollow 2-layer thing, and filling it with sand. Ever tried that?


Jennice
 
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