Neglected your other question. The Cubes are not designed for a back-loaded horn, and I am unsure if their cone could withstand the back pressure generated. My guess is that it would, but you will have to build the horns and buy the drivers to find out for sure.
Interestingly, the 8” Lowthers did not do as well in the Klein Horn. The larger cone tended to buckle when asked to produce heavy bass notes. The 5” cone, which is stiffer because of its shorter length and geometry, did much better on the deep bass.
Strange that I remember that after 25 years, and I cannot remember why I walked into a room a few minutes ago.
Interestingly, the 8” Lowthers did not do as well in the Klein Horn. The larger cone tended to buckle when asked to produce heavy bass notes. The 5” cone, which is stiffer because of its shorter length and geometry, did much better on the deep bass.
Strange that I remember that after 25 years, and I cannot remember why I walked into a room a few minutes ago.
I looked up the Cube's and they are not that sensitive either.
The PMx series Lowther are very sensitive (from what I could see).
The PMx series Lowther are very sensitive (from what I could see).
I have the Lowther PM2A's in Medallion 2 cabinets and CUBE FC-8's in SLOB's. I have found them both to be very similar when it comes to loudness vs volume control settings in my listening room. My Semisouth F6 easily drives both sets of speakers and sounds divine. Not sure why that is with the sensitivity numbers being so different.
Last year Jon had a SIT 4 with CUBE cabinets which surprised me on the depth and amount of bass with a full range. Looking forward to hearing the SIT 5 with the same CUBE speakers in April, it may be the the amp that has the best HF.
Last year Jon had a SIT 4 with CUBE cabinets which surprised me on the depth and amount of bass with a full range. Looking forward to hearing the SIT 5 with the same CUBE speakers in April, it may be the the amp that has the best HF.
I have fed my meat and bone scraps to coyotes for the past 50 years, but far enough away from my house as to not attract them. Like 1/4-1/2 mile away.
These coastal foxes are polite, but the Jill is the Mistress, Goddess, or SWMBO depending on your position in the
local hierarchy...
😎
local hierarchy...
😎
Well, my own coastal fox is more expensive that just plain meat.
She is polite and nice and sweet and all of that... but she likes good sashimi. And she likes the big OLED in the den. We get along just fine... all of these years. You ought to see her drive a stick shift wearing four inch heels... of course, she can't heel and toe that way but modern transmissions are synchromesh...
The other day she told me she "couldn't hear the difference"!
I almost had a heart attack. "But! You like how it sounds, huh?"
"Oh yes..."
Phew.....
Anyhow, she's been glued to the TV news since Monday.,.. so no chance to play the big rig in the living room... so I moved an F 4 into the home office... The VFET sounds good, but the F4 sounds -or rather doesn't sound- better. Driving it with a CJ tube preamp with teflon caps... TT with fancy P3 is in the living room 😛
I wonder how she'd take those big Klein speakers.... she tolerates the Maggies because I push them up against the wall when not in use and I had the white socks put on.
I put a vase with fake flowers on the Metronomes I got at the BAF24 auction. She likes how they look.
Most transparent Pass amps I've heard? SIT3 and F4. Inverse order.
She is polite and nice and sweet and all of that... but she likes good sashimi. And she likes the big OLED in the den. We get along just fine... all of these years. You ought to see her drive a stick shift wearing four inch heels... of course, she can't heel and toe that way but modern transmissions are synchromesh...
The other day she told me she "couldn't hear the difference"!
I almost had a heart attack. "But! You like how it sounds, huh?"
"Oh yes..."
Phew.....
Anyhow, she's been glued to the TV news since Monday.,.. so no chance to play the big rig in the living room... so I moved an F 4 into the home office... The VFET sounds good, but the F4 sounds -or rather doesn't sound- better. Driving it with a CJ tube preamp with teflon caps... TT with fancy P3 is in the living room 😛
I wonder how she'd take those big Klein speakers.... she tolerates the Maggies because I push them up against the wall when not in use and I had the white socks put on.
I put a vase with fake flowers on the Metronomes I got at the BAF24 auction. She likes how they look.
Most transparent Pass amps I've heard? SIT3 and F4. Inverse order.
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Can you point a finger at exact cap(s) that you would choose for that?
I'm of course going to play around, but yes, I intend to use dsp crossover and connect it straight to my tweeter, have nice silver cores to connect it (AudioTruth argent+ minus the copper cores) and play from ~1500Hz.
It's going to sound so glorious 😭
I'm of course going to play around, but yes, I intend to use dsp crossover and connect it straight to my tweeter, have nice silver cores to connect it (AudioTruth argent+ minus the copper cores) and play from ~1500Hz.
It's going to sound so glorious 😭
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Wisconsin foxes he/she is currently sleeping under the front porch. The open water in the Koi pond attracts so many neighbors who stop by for a drink.
Attachments
@juanitox Which First Watt design will compliment SIT amplifier for the midrange/Midbass ie >100hz to 600hz?
I’m only familiar with the Aleph 5, J, MoFo, and many variations of my DIY SIT SE amplifiers, but among these, I feel that SIT SE amplifiers have the greatest sense of transparency. I have been using a two way multi amp system to drive a JBL with active crossovers, and out of all the combinations I tried, the setup with 4 channel SIT SE amps had the best overall transparency. This leads me to think that the transparency and openness of the high frequencies are also influenced by the low and mid frequencies.
Transparency is, of course, a subjective impression, but I found it striking that the simplest design with just one SIT as the sole active component sounded the most transparent to my ears, regardless of its measured performance. Since then, I’ve been pursuing minimalist / simplest amplifier designs, and I believe VFETs are among the best components for such an approach.
Transparency is, of course, a subjective impression, but I found it striking that the simplest design with just one SIT as the sole active component sounded the most transparent to my ears, regardless of its measured performance. Since then, I’ve been pursuing minimalist / simplest amplifier designs, and I believe VFETs are among the best components for such an approach.
depends of how many watts you want but 100 to 600hz is not the hardest part to reproduce , i like the F7 more than the SIT4 or my M2 for this task with my TAD1601 but it is not the most difficult charge for a amp can't say for other speakers ..
How many watts?
If only Nelson would be an adherent of Magnepans and stuff like that... then we'd have the FirstTen Hundred Watts.
However, the bridged F4 with BA3 step up FE and Iron Pre Bal driving it hits all the bases.... volume, bass, dynamics, boxes, lights, switches, knobs, cables, an order of operation to turn on/off. In fact, it will actually overdrive the Maggie 1.7. I suppose it will drive the larger Maggies too, but those would overdrive my room, so use the volume control(s) judiciously.
I won't say my BA3/Bridged F4s running the balanced output of the Iron Pre are linear. I suspect there is a bit too much bass. When I run the Iron Pre in SE mode it sounds lighter... so I don't know which way is correct. Having said that, the bridged F4s on the Maggie 1.7s sound more extended ( low and high ) than the A2s.
I'm still waiting for the Biggvs Dickvs SIT - ZM. With quad SITs and 100 wpc. Let's hope it's reliable.
Hmmm How about the F5 turbos? The F5Tv3 is a true 100 wpc monoblock, right? How does that sound?
If only Nelson would be an adherent of Magnepans and stuff like that... then we'd have the First
However, the bridged F4 with BA3 step up FE and Iron Pre Bal driving it hits all the bases.... volume, bass, dynamics, boxes, lights, switches, knobs, cables, an order of operation to turn on/off. In fact, it will actually overdrive the Maggie 1.7. I suppose it will drive the larger Maggies too, but those would overdrive my room, so use the volume control(s) judiciously.
I won't say my BA3/Bridged F4s running the balanced output of the Iron Pre are linear. I suspect there is a bit too much bass. When I run the Iron Pre in SE mode it sounds lighter... so I don't know which way is correct. Having said that, the bridged F4s on the Maggie 1.7s sound more extended ( low and high ) than the A2s.
I'm still waiting for the Biggvs Dickvs SIT - ZM. With quad SITs and 100 wpc. Let's hope it's reliable.
Hmmm How about the F5 turbos? The F5Tv3 is a true 100 wpc monoblock, right? How does that sound?
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Let's see... there's a company that actually has the name Pass in it that may have some amps with other-worldly power delivery. It's on the tip of my tongue... almost there...
Oh wait, it's the name of the forum.
A while back we had a visiting family of around 15 foxes in our back yard.
Yes... but I prefer the First Watt amps. You will notice that I have made it my hobby to get to squeeze 100 watts from Nelson's amps.
I mean, anyone can put $16K and get a pair of big amps... assuming the Fox at home doesn't cut your cojones when she sees the bill. What is the challenge then?
That's NOT DIY.
Sorry for lack of clarity around the tongue in cheek comment. I'm not talking about buying amps.
Nelson Pass is pretty well known for amplifiers of prodigious power delivery into tough loads. The fact that those amplifiers aren't sold under the First Watt brand makes him no less of an adherent to/of (large) Magnepans, IMO.
Rephrased: I could say... an adherent of (larger) Magnepans may choose to build a Nelson Pass design similar to those under the namesake brand vs. those under the First Watt brand.
Make sense?
Don't get me wrong, as you well know, I absolutely dig those First Watt amps, and I like stretching their legs a bit also. 🙂 🙂
In the well-known Pass Labs realm; some of the Alephs, and some of the other modded circuits are pretty darn incredible; I agree wholeheartedly. I think you've got some big ol' Alephs if I recall.Anyway... not disagreeing with you, just saying that there are Pass Labs designs out there that are proven to work very well (along with stretching out some First Watt designs).
I mean, anyone can have amplifiers designed and built for them.
Is that what you mean by DIY?Most importantly, keep those foxes happy!
Cheers!
Ay, you hurt me. 😢😢 Of all the things you could have said...
I disagree... not "anyone can have amplifiers designed and built for them". Most people have no clue what's inside or how it works... they just go to a dealer and plunk the money. Some people know how things work but have not very good skills as a technician. So, like at work, I can specify how something should work and the techs in the lab will handle the details and build it for me. It's fun. As I get older, more and more I just do the hardware specs and handle the firmware... someone younger does the VHDL and the board layouts.
See.... I can't build a big amp worth a ^^$^,.... some people in these forums do fantastic work. But, I've started getting back into soldering, so the Zenductor and Zen of Zenductor (II) are a great start getting back into it. But, if I tried to build a pair of matched F4s I would need a fire extinguisher.
I was gonna get into it when I retired, then I went back to work... so...
So, OK, I'm not doing DIY... in the sense I'm not doing the construction, but I do spend the time to figure them out... as an engineer. You OK with that? It's a lot better than just going out to buy them from a dealer. Normally, it has taken as much as a year from beginning of the thought to putting them on the shelf and playing them. Some of them took two years. I figure I got quite a bit of thought and planning into them.
Indeed, looking at these pages, many builders don't know exactly how the amps work either, they're just good at putting them together.
Some, of course, know both, and those I find fun to read. Nelson, of course, I'm jealous. We had similar careers until we got out of school.. then he had fun and I went into the MIC. His designs were for people to have fun, mine, well... And then you got ZM. And a bunch of others as well, these forums are a hoot. Actually, I'm jealous about those who made a career out of audio. I thought about doing it but, my path went elsewhere.... often our only connection is our physics and our love for audio and music. Although I did do a little bit of work in psychoacoustics back in '83.
....
For one thing, I've become good at fixing what UPS and Fedex breaks.
....
I got the A2 and A5. And I'm driving the bridged F4 amps which are also awesome. And if something gets broken, I can usually figure some of it out. I can definitely detect smoke and burnt components. 😉😉 Sort of. Sometimes. I mean, I can look at schematics, unlike those rich doctors and lawyers and bankers who go out and buy a pair of XS300 amps. They have no clue how they work. I got meters, I got soldering iron, I have not smoked my '76 Radio Shack multi meter... I've done lots of metrology work and interface hardware. Wanna discuss the HP1980B? The HPIB paid for my mortgage from '81 to the early 90s.
...
Yeah.... I suppose a DIY clone of the XA160.8 might make some sense, but it would not really be fun, IMHO. It's way too brute force of an amp. I find that many of the DIY designs start with a Pass design but then they go into some very interesting places. Like using transformers for voltage amplification and then some transistors in the OP as strictly current stages. Sort of like the opposite of a tube amp... using the transformer at the output... not the input... Just look at ZM's Iron Pre...
Besides, IMHO, First Watt is where Nelson Pass has fun. The PL amps are traditional amps... nice but... BORING. I want to have fun too! Hence, a 100 wpc First Hundred Watt amp sounds like real fun.
...
The A2 is a great sounding amp. The A5s also drive really well. As a rule of thumb the Alephs have their own sound, which is not transparent, but sounds very addictive. They are truly fun to listen to.... glorious midrange and soundstaging.
I disagree... not "anyone can have amplifiers designed and built for them". Most people have no clue what's inside or how it works... they just go to a dealer and plunk the money. Some people know how things work but have not very good skills as a technician. So, like at work, I can specify how something should work and the techs in the lab will handle the details and build it for me. It's fun. As I get older, more and more I just do the hardware specs and handle the firmware... someone younger does the VHDL and the board layouts.
See.... I can't build a big amp worth a ^^$^,.... some people in these forums do fantastic work. But, I've started getting back into soldering, so the Zenductor and Zen of Zenductor (II) are a great start getting back into it. But, if I tried to build a pair of matched F4s I would need a fire extinguisher.
I was gonna get into it when I retired, then I went back to work... so...
So, OK, I'm not doing DIY... in the sense I'm not doing the construction, but I do spend the time to figure them out... as an engineer. You OK with that? It's a lot better than just going out to buy them from a dealer. Normally, it has taken as much as a year from beginning of the thought to putting them on the shelf and playing them. Some of them took two years. I figure I got quite a bit of thought and planning into them.
Indeed, looking at these pages, many builders don't know exactly how the amps work either, they're just good at putting them together.
Some, of course, know both, and those I find fun to read. Nelson, of course, I'm jealous. We had similar careers until we got out of school.. then he had fun and I went into the MIC. His designs were for people to have fun, mine, well... And then you got ZM. And a bunch of others as well, these forums are a hoot. Actually, I'm jealous about those who made a career out of audio. I thought about doing it but, my path went elsewhere.... often our only connection is our physics and our love for audio and music. Although I did do a little bit of work in psychoacoustics back in '83.
....
For one thing, I've become good at fixing what UPS and Fedex breaks.
....
I got the A2 and A5. And I'm driving the bridged F4 amps which are also awesome. And if something gets broken, I can usually figure some of it out. I can definitely detect smoke and burnt components. 😉😉 Sort of. Sometimes. I mean, I can look at schematics, unlike those rich doctors and lawyers and bankers who go out and buy a pair of XS300 amps. They have no clue how they work. I got meters, I got soldering iron, I have not smoked my '76 Radio Shack multi meter... I've done lots of metrology work and interface hardware. Wanna discuss the HP1980B? The HPIB paid for my mortgage from '81 to the early 90s.
...
Yeah.... I suppose a DIY clone of the XA160.8 might make some sense, but it would not really be fun, IMHO. It's way too brute force of an amp. I find that many of the DIY designs start with a Pass design but then they go into some very interesting places. Like using transformers for voltage amplification and then some transistors in the OP as strictly current stages. Sort of like the opposite of a tube amp... using the transformer at the output... not the input... Just look at ZM's Iron Pre...
Besides, IMHO, First Watt is where Nelson Pass has fun. The PL amps are traditional amps... nice but... BORING. I want to have fun too! Hence, a 100 wpc First Hundred Watt amp sounds like real fun.
...
The A2 is a great sounding amp. The A5s also drive really well. As a rule of thumb the Alephs have their own sound, which is not transparent, but sounds very addictive. They are truly fun to listen to.... glorious midrange and soundstaging.
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@ItsAllInMyHead
BTW, look up the Xylinx MPSoC... that's the future.... just add some digital daughter boards...
Or the Intel Arria
And the Raspberry.... some people in these forums have been doing some fun stuff with that.
Do they sound good? Who knows? Well, the Raspberry drives the USB and the hat quite well.
BTW, look up the Xylinx MPSoC... that's the future.... just add some digital daughter boards...
Or the Intel Arria
And the Raspberry.... some people in these forums have been doing some fun stuff with that.
Do they sound good? Who knows? Well, the Raspberry drives the USB and the hat quite well.
I feel that in every other post you contradict yourself. Why doesn’t FW make 100 watt amps?? Even thou if you look on their website it says low power 25w amps. You say, I guesss you could build a Pass Labs amps, but that is too “brute force” and “boring”.
Guy walks into a dealership, I want a hatchback with a V8. Sir, you can either buy a hatchback with a 4 cylinder or a truck with a V8… No, I said I want a hatchback with a V8…. Sir…. We don’t sell that here…. Well I guess you don’t want my business then…
Guy walks into a dealership, I want a hatchback with a V8. Sir, you can either buy a hatchback with a 4 cylinder or a truck with a V8… No, I said I want a hatchback with a V8…. Sir…. We don’t sell that here…. Well I guess you don’t want my business then…