Lux91 Monoblocks - Our Best Ever

[hkl]

Hi Thorsten

Thanks for your reply. BTW Merry Xmas and best wishes to all!

Thanks for offering to meet up - that would be great. Actually I'll be heading over on Wednesday afternoon to bring my Lux in for some minor issues. Will you be around? If not, no worries. I only heard the left channel of the Crescendos last time. I'd like to listen to both channels this time round and seeing i'm bringing in both monoblocks it'd be good to now listen and hear the difference between my speakers and the Crescendos.

Interesting - I'd also love to experiment and go DIY with speakers, although with my limited skills (i.e. not knowing which end of a soldering iron is which). Do you know of any decent woodworkers or speaker cabinet makers in HK, or north of the border? Or any pro speaker makers in our territory?

I'm not familiar with your D3L2QD design but will try to read up on it. Also, are the AN-E'ish speakers you refer to from Troels Gravensen the SEAS CA21REX, with the 1-inch tweeter and 8 inch dome? They look very interesting indeed. I was also interested in his DQWQTs but they looked a bit too big for my living room.

Thanks
HKL

 

[ThorstenL]

Hi,

Merry Xmas and best wishes to all!

Thank you, same to you and a good new year. In german we would wish literally translated "A good slip into the new year and break your neck and leg!", but I shall not wish this for fear of being misunderstood. The reason in any case is that to wish someone "bad" will actually guard against such things happen in reality and it is seen as something very friendly...

Thanks for offering to meet up - that would be great. Actually I'll be heading over on Wednesday afternoon to bring my Lux in for some minor issues. Will you be around? If not, no worries.

Sorry, not this time. I'm quite infrequently in the office.

I only heard the left channel of the Crescendos last time. I'd like to listen to both channels this time round and seeing i'm bringing in both monoblocks it'd be good to now listen and hear the difference between my speakers and the Crescendos.

Give Simon a ring and ask him to prepare everything...

Interesting - I'd also love to experiment and go DIY with speakers, although with my limited skills (i.e. not knowing which end of a soldering iron is which). Do you know of any decent woodworkers or speaker cabinet makers in HK, or north of the border? Or any pro speaker makers in our territory?

If you go to Guangzhou, there are two large buildings full of HiFi Shops. In both you can find some shops that offer making custom cabinets. Some can make very elaborate cabinets at reasonable cost. At one time I was investigating importing Tannoy GRF Autograph copies made by one of them into Europe, but it is was way too much red tape and regulations and testing (wood products) so I let this one go...

I'm not familiar with your D3L2QD design but will try to read up on it.

The designation and principles are a little "tongue in cheek". Probably one of the few places you can find anything are my old webpages:

http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/xentar/1179/theory/dddllqd/dddllqd.html

The Lowther HK Design was a slim Tower with a Lowther DX2 or such in the front and an upwards pointed Eminence Alpha or Beta 8.

I should add that this whole design approach gives many who represent themselves as professional or serious speaker designers fits of the blind staggers and generally offend their sensibilities, so ask them at your own risk.

Also, are the AN-E'ish speakers you refer to from Troels Gravensen the SEAS CA21REX, with the 1-inch tweeter and 8 inch dome?

Yes, something like that. I'd probably favour making it with the 34mm Audax Dome and a Super tweeter, but that is just details...

We can discuss more in person (some information I have I cannot discuss openly here as it falls under trade secrets and/or copyrighted items.

Ciao T

 

[OleBull]

Happy new year!

HKL, did you have the opportunity to listen to the Crescendos again during Christmas? If so, I hope you have the time and opportunity to report here. It would be great to read your impressions! Too bad there is no proper review of the Crescendos yet. It seems like a very special speaker.

Best regards!

 

[hkl]

Hello

Apologies for the delay, my day job's been keeping me busy since Xmas and I didn't have a chance to reply. Yes I did listen to the Crescendos again. Unfortunately my Lux91 monoblocks needed to be serviced at the time and I couldn't hear the Crescendos through them. There was a set of LD91 monos setup there - one of the channels weren't playing loudly enough but I did get a listen and here's my comment. First off the quoted 98db must be pretty on the mark (i.e. no fudging there). On the 8w monos, the sound was room-filling, fast and direct. The speakers are very revealing. The voices, the instruments sounded very real and quite natural. And the energy from the speakers are quite astonishing, considering its driven by an 8w amp. It happened that I listened to a set of Lowther Fidelios driven by PM6A drivers at another showroom just before visiting DIYHIFI, and comparing the Crescendos to the Fidelios I can say that I preferred the Crescendos a lot more. The Fidelios were good with orchestra pieces, but with vocals it sounded like the singer was shouting rather than singing. Also, the treble and bass was clearly missing to my ears. I personally didn't prefer the Lowthers and hence when I heard the Crescendos it was quite a contrast, and it sounded much more pleasant.

Regards
HKL

 

[murphythecat8]

Hello

Apologies for the delay, my day job's been keeping me busy since Xmas and I didn't have a chance to reply. Yes I did listen to the Crescendos again. Unfortunately my Lux91 monoblocks needed to be serviced at the time and I couldn't hear the Crescendos through them. There was a set of LD91 monos setup there - one of the channels weren't playing loudly enough but I did get a listen and here's my comment. First off the quoted 98db must be pretty on the mark (i.e. no fudging there). On the 8w monos, the sound was room-filling, fast and direct. The speakers are very revealing. The voices, the instruments sounded very real and quite natural. And the energy from the speakers are quite astonishing, considering its driven by an 8w amp. It happened that I listened to a set of Lowther Fidelios driven by PM6A drivers at another showroom just before visiting DIYHIFI, and comparing the Crescendos to the Fidelios I can say that I preferred the Crescendos a lot more. The Fidelios were good with orchestra pieces, but with vocals it sounded like the singer was shouting rather than singing. Also, the treble and bass was clearly missing to my ears. I personally didn't prefer the Lowthers and hence when I heard the Crescendos it was quite a contrast, and it sounded much more pleasant.

Regards
HKL

thanks a lot for this "review". Just need to find the funds now...

 

[murphythecat8]

can anyone chime in and tell me about the sound of the ld91?
Anyone built does ones and can report?

 

[NG]

Guangzhou 2 building

Hi Thorsten:



Good to hear you ahead. Could you help by giving a little more info about the two large buildings of Hifishops in Guangzhou that do custom made speaker cabinets ?

Thanks again for your help once more.

Best regards,
NG

Hi,



Thank you, same to you and a good new year. In german we would wish literally translated "A good slip into the new year and break your neck and leg!", but I shall not wish this for fear of being misunderstood. The reason in any case is that to wish someone "bad" will actually guard against such things happen in reality and it is seen as something very friendly...



Sorry, not this time. I'm quite infrequently in the office.



Give Simon a ring and ask him to prepare everything...



If you go to Guangzhou, there are two large buildings full of HiFi Shops. In both you can find some shops that offer making custom cabinets. Some can make very elaborate cabinets at reasonable cost. At one time I was investigating importing Tannoy GRF Autograph copies made by one of them into Europe, but it is was way too much red tape and regulations and testing (wood products) so I let this one go...



The designation and principles are a little "tongue in cheek". Probably one of the few places you can find anything are my old webpages:

http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/xentar/1179/theory/dddllqd/dddllqd.html

The Lowther HK Design was a slim Tower with a Lowther DX2 or such in the front and an upwards pointed Eminence Alpha or Beta 8.

I should add that this whole design approach gives many who represent themselves as professional or serious speaker designers fits of the blind staggers and generally offend their sensibilities, so ask them at your own risk.



Yes, something like that. I'd probably favour making it with the 34mm Audax Dome and a Super tweeter, but that is just details...

We can discuss more in person (some information I have I cannot discuss openly here as it falls under trade secrets and/or copyrighted items.

Ciao T

 

[ThorstenL]

Hi,

Good to hear you ahead. Could you help by giving a little more info about the two large buildings of Hifishops in Guangzhou that do custom made speaker cabinets ?

Guangzhou has two huge "HiFi" Malls. One is in a building where only the lower floors where ever finished, the other is a bit more upmarket. I do not know directly the addresses (they might as well be in chinese, for all I can make out from them - hey, THEY ARE Chinese... )

Both feature many shops that offer a bewildering array of 2nd hand and custom made stuff. In some ways it reminds of Tokyo's Akihabara (the HiFi section), but with a chinese flavour.

In these places you will find several shops that offer custom made cabinets for speakers, including replicas of classic designs like the Tannoy Autograph.

A few years back when I was with AMR at the Guangzhou HiFi show I took many Photo's at the show which you can see at 6moons.com:

6moons industry features: Guangzhou AV Fair 2009

For those of you who are on facebook, I also pictures at Guangzhou HiFi Buildings at that time which are on my facebook account:

Facebook

Most of the "HiFi-Friends" I know in Hong Kong know these places, so ask around a bit if you do not know. One can be reached by Tube, the other needs Taxi or Bus.

Ciao T

 

[NG]

Hi Thorsten:


Great, thanks, I think I know where they are.

Wish you a Happy Chinese New Year, Good health.

Best regards,
NG

 

[hkl]

Hi NG -would you mind telling me where you think the hifi malls in Guangzhou are, or the name of the two places? I'd like to make a trip there to take a look too.

Hi Thorsten - what are your thoughts on pairing the Tram2 and Lux91 monos with Troels Gravensen's TWQT IIs? Uses an Audax TW034 tweeter and a custom made SEAS JA8008 driver. It has a stated efficiency of 95db.

Thanks
HKL

 

[ThorstenL]

Hi,

Hi NG -would you mind telling me where you think the hifi malls in Guangzhou are, or the name of the two places? I'd like to make a trip there to take a look too.

Why not bring together a few hifi enthusiasts and go together. Guangzhou also has many tasty restaurants.

If you guys are in HK, you should also check Avant Garde Hong Kong one of these days...

Hi Thorsten - what are your thoughts on pairing the Tram2 and Lux91 monos with Troels Gravensen's TWQT IIs? Uses an Audax TW034 tweeter and a custom made SEAS JA8008 driver. It has a stated efficiency of 95db.

Never tried that combo, but on numbers alone (also impedance) they should be ok on the Lux 91 4 ohm Tap...

Ciao T

 

[NG]

Hi HKL:

One of the place I think is the building next to Lite Audio (????|????|LITE AUDIO ???? ????????????? - Powered by MvM mall). The other place is should be 广州市海珠区南华中路388号豪丰大厦高盈国际电子城. I have been there before and I remember I have seen someone making very nice speaker cabinets, an old person, the craftsman type.

Actually, I am planning to build the DTQWT, that is why I need a decent speaker cabinet.

Best regards,
NG

 

[hkl]

Thorsten / NG

Thanks for your replies. Indeed we can consider a trip up to Guangzhou to check out the shops there - anyone else live in HK / GZ and are interested? I haven't been to the two places you mentioned before so should be an eye-opener.

I'm interested in finding a decent speaker builder in our region too. Although I probably won't take the plunge until I sell my Roksan speakers, it doesn't hurt to look and learn! I was more attracted to either Troels's TQWT (because of the smaller cabinet size), or the AN-E'ish lookalikes as discussed above with Thorsten.

Regards
HKL

 

[ThorstenL]

Hi,

HKL/NG

Drop me a line via PM.

Maybe we can line things up for when I'm next in the HK/SZ/GZ Metroplex.

I can also introduce you to some HK DIY Enthusiasts if you like...

Ciao T

 

[NG]

Hi Thorsten, HKL:

I would love to organize or help organize a trip to Guangzhou, but work has just resume (after Chinese New Year) so really don't know when I will have the time.

But if I pass by Guangzhou during one of my next business trip to Guangzhou, I will definitely find some more info and post it on this site.

Best regards,
NG

 

[Havdtorius]

Gents,

I also live in HK and after Thorsten told me about the place when I was at the DIY shop me and my friend where interested to join. In the meantime I told someone else about this and he also likes the idea. We could team up.

Cheers,
Erik

 

[ThorstenL]

Folks,

I also live in HK and after Thorsten told me about the place when I was at the DIY shop me and my friend where interested to join. In the meantime I told someone else about this and he also likes the idea. We could team up.

Looks we have quite a few people from HK.

Might be best if we all meet up one evening for a few brews and a natter.

First Wednesday of the month used to be the traditional day for the London HiFi Club, as it rarely is taken by anything.

Could be the start of the Hong Kong HiFi Circle...

(BTW, I do not volunteer for editor of Newsletter, but I can probably hook up some interesting listening sessions)

I vote Knutsford Terrace in TST.

All in favour and interested, drop me a PM, do feel free to invite friends interested in HiFi/DIY. In theory first of month is tomorrow, I won't be able to make that, but Wed the 8th would be dandy for me as I have business in TST anyway.

Ciao T

 

[Indiansprings]

Looks like it could be a nice setup

 

[hum4god]

300b Tube rolling for LUX

Hi

i was wondering what experiences people have made re Tube rolling.

as i understand the LUx runs the 300b a little harder then usual and i was wondering if it would be more appropriate to use the higher power 300b tubes from KR audio ( 300bxls) , Vaic, Emission Labs ?

anybody tried the Psvane or the TJ carbon , there is also a Sophia Carbon+ ?

if owners of the lux could share their experience that would be much appreciated .

thanks

 

[Chromene]

I have the Lux and use the TJ Carbons. I have been very happy with them and they have been running for over 2 years with considerable use and I have not had any issue.