Alpair 12P cabinet options

frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
You lost them? I’d be happy to send replacements, but solder is better.

We use a pair of single solid 24g strands from a CAT5 cable. Little to no o impact on the bottom, a small improvement in information transferred at higher frequencies. Much easier to solder too.

Can the binding post sbe removed from the outside?

dave
 
Thanks for the offer! I'm happy to solder when I'm ready to make things less reversible, though.

The posts can't be removed from the outside, but I don't have the sides glued down, so I could always change the wire. I'll check around if I have any CAT5. I have a decent assortment of hookup wire from building amplifiers. All the gear in that pic is home built (except the CDP of course).
 
wp-1613167825512.jpg


Pulled all the stuffing out to get a baseline. I like what I'm hearing so far though room is far from optimal (recently moved and in the basement).
 
Looking good.

If I might make a suggestion, a room treatment I've found very effective is to get a few artificial ficus trees, 5 feet tall. They work as diffusers. I've got a fairly large room and use a dozen or so behind the speakers along (but slightly away from) the wall, and near the wall in front of the speakers. I got the artificial ficus trees at AT Home home decor store. $40 each.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I want to get the stuffing dialed in a bit before making a final judgement, but so far I'm impressed. Imaging and detail are on par, of course.

With the SPs, the bass roll off (below what I'm guessing is the tuning frequency) becomes noticeable with some material. The level difference between something like kick drums and a low synth or bass line is a little abrupt at times. I'm not totally clear on the theory of the design, so I'm not sure of the tuning or roll off specifics. To be clear I enjoyed them nonetheless.

With my initial listening, an abrupt roll off is not as noticeable with Joan. Levels across the lower frequency instrument families are more consistent. On the average, the levels may be a tad lower, or the SPs may have had some extra midbass gain. This is a little more difficult to to put my finger on as I'm in a new space since I used the SPs daily.

If I look at both in purely QW terms, some of this makes sense. The Joan's have a longer path but a smaller CSA. Lower tuning and less gain, I think? It's been a long time since I've read through any QW or TL papers though.

I've been listening without any poly fill added and plan to start adding it in systematically so I can (hopefully) hear what I'm doing. I'll follow the frugal horn guidance for the "V" and play with the space below the driver a bit. So far, I can't complain even without stuffing. The Alpair 12p is a great driver.
 
I want to get the stuffing dialed in a bit before making a final judgement, but so far I'm impressed. Imaging and detail are on par, of course.

With the SPs, the bass roll off (below what I'm guessing is the tuning frequency) becomes noticeable with some material. The level difference between something like kick drums and a low synth or bass line is a little abrupt at times. I'm not totally clear on the theory of the design, so I'm not sure of the tuning or roll off specifics. To be clear I enjoyed them nonetheless.

With my initial listening, an abrupt roll off is not as noticeable with Joan. Levels across the lower frequency instrument families are more consistent. On the average, the levels may be a tad lower, or the SPs may have had some extra midbass gain. This is a little more difficult to to put my finger on as I'm in a new space since I used the SPs daily.

If I look at both in purely QW terms, some of this makes sense. The Joan's have a longer path but a smaller CSA. Lower tuning and less gain, I think? It's been a long time since I've read through any QW or TL papers though.

I've been listening without any poly fill added and plan to start adding it in systematically so I can (hopefully) hear what I'm doing. I'll follow the frugal horn guidance for the "V" and play with the space below the driver a bit. So far, I can't complain even without stuffing. The Alpair 12p is a great driver.

Have you found the optimum amount of polyfill for your application? Any updates?
 
Hi mp9,

Sorry, I don't have any substantial updates yet. We are in the process of finishing the space these speakers were/will live in and I decided to hold off on tuning until the room itself was in its final state. The room was more or less all concrete, so I expect carpet, drywall, and treatments to have a big impact.

Hoping to get back to it in 3-4 weeks! I will update the thread as I can.
 
^ Why do you say that? Did I miss a few threads about the supra baffle being detrimental to Frugal Horns and their variants? Does the changed edge diffraction screw up the BLH speaker BSC or something? IDK, Terry Cain seemed to like incorporating supra baffles in some of his Cain & Cain speakers.
 
Sodacose, thanks a lot for posting the photos. It's really helpful for me in making the vector files for CNC and also for the idea about damping the cabinets.

joan.png


Has anything changed in Joan desing since 12-November-2019? I would like to build them in the next month or two.
 
Last edited: