Mini Karlsonator (0.53X) with Dual TC9FDs

$55.04 buys Eight shipped - there's a coupon in theory to further reduce the price by 15% but could not find a place to enter it in the test of the checkout - perhaps after the payment info is entered (?)

btw - the full size Karlsonator ("Karlsonator12" by GregB) works well with 12lta, and should work with a number of 12 and 10 drivers. Fb on mine measures ~37Hz so keep that in mind.

Hi Freddi. Are you able to share your coupon code please? I would love to give it a go.
 
Newark (US) = Farnell UK

Freddi just ran across what appears to be the spittin’ image of a Dayton PA130-8 from MCM for $8ea. This would be very useful in a Karlsonator loaded with four in series parallel. I think it would be about a full size 1.0x Karlsonator with 97dB sensitivity at 8ohms and 2.83v.

http://www.newark.com/mcm-audio-select/55-1595/audio-visual-audio-video-loudspeaker/dp/11C1076

Available from UK site too! Though as they are shipping from US there is a £16 charge. Can get 4 for ~£42 delivered
http://uk.farnell.com/mcm-audio-sel...5?ost=55+1595&DM_PersistentCookieCreated=true
 
105 left in stock now :)

Good call. I ordered six, along with a dozen each IRFP9240 and IRFP240 for a pass F4 build ;) can't beat the price, especially once you hit $49 for free shipping.

She Who Mothers my Kids has asked me (just last night) to build a pair of K's for her sister, and a little tube amp to match, so the price is definitely right.
 
That's why I decided to build the F4, as an excuse to build multiple preamp designs. The current plan is a tube based gain stage based around the Russian subminiature 6N16B, another with the 6SN7, and maybe even going for a dual mono/balanced input config, with my own version of Sy's Impasse amplifier. Easy enough to put a gain of 15~20x together simply with a ton of good designs.

You see, choosing the right projects specifically to justify further/future projects is the way to go :)
 
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That's why I decided to build the F4, as an excuse to build multiple preamp designs. The current plan is a tube based gain stage based around the Russian subminiature 6N16B, another with the 6SN7, and maybe even going for a dual mono/balanced input config, with my own version of Sy's Impasse amplifier. Easy enough to put a gain of 15~20x together simply with a ton of good designs.

You see, choosing the right projects specifically to justify further/future projects is the way to go :)

You might want to look into a Preamp I made with AKSA specifically to drive the F4. You need an amp capable of 40vpp to get 25wrms into 8ohms. And to do that on a F4 requires a preamp that can get 40vpp with low noise and low distortion, and have a nice harmonic profile similar to SET - not crazy odd order harmonics up to H9 at max power. Real simple 5 actives nothing unobtanium.

Design here:
AKSA's Lender Preamp with 40Vpp Output

GB here:
AKSA's Lender Preamp with 40Vpp Ouput GB
 
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Freddi just ran across what appears to be the spittin’ image of a Dayton PA130-8 from MCM for $8ea. This would be very useful in a Karlsonator loaded with four in series parallel. I think it would be about a full size 1.0x Karlsonator with 97dB sensitivity at 8ohms and 2.83v.

http://www.newark.com/mcm-audio-select/55-1595/audio-visual-audio-video-loudspeaker/dp/11C1076
Hi X. Could a single one of these drivers work for a smaller K? What size enclosure do you think I might try. I intend to buy 8 for a big pair, but wondered if it would be fun to try a couple of single driver units allong the way.
 
for larger Karlsonators and Karlson type made of wood, I wonder what makes a good and reasonably "dead" but strong laminate for their wings/ aperture plate ? Thin wings can be problematic and normal thickness wings ring like bongo drums. If removable, maybe a thin gasket of rubber could help (?) I have one original K12 ~1955 with hardboard/Masonite, bonded to 5/8" fir plywood - the outer Formica skin makes it very stiff. Typically larger couplers have strut braces from the baffle to the wings. Transylvania Power co. used 3/8" alltread run all the way through their cabinet as did KK-audio and Acoustic Control.

A sealed rear chamber K or one with low placed vent probably might not exert much pressure on transients. The klam type, as driver is buried further back, and adjacent to the narrow portion of the slot, can bend 3/4" plywood wings.

my taller K18 has 4 - 1 inch diameter dowel struts from the reflector to the wings.
 
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I just ordered 8 for $58 shipping included. There were 113 in stock before I ordered so get them while they last.

I hope the T/S params pan out to be close to PA130-8. The magnet looks substantial so should be ok. A four driver K'nator 12 with the highs of a 5in and 97dB sensitivity would be very cool indeed.

I just received a big heavy box of 8 drivers. They look almost like a PA130-8 and probably from same OEM in Taiwan. The surround does not have the sticky rubber compound like the Dayton. The dustcap is treated canvas rather than paper as in the Dayton. The pole piece does not have a vent, so if you wanted to cut the dustcap off and install a small coaxial tweeter as the phase plug you can’t do that. But for $6ea - not a bad looking driver. My one sample measured with DATS woofer tester is also not showing anything close to a PA130-8 (which has an amazingly low Qts for a budget driver).

For my one sample test: the MCM 55-1595 is coming in at Qts of 0.86 and fs of 140Hz. Appears to be stiffer suspension and a lower Vas but higher Qts. It may work as a single driver in a Karlsonator but I will have to rerun the sims to see what the optimal cabinet scaling is.
 
I just received a big heavy box of 8 drivers. They look almost like a PA130-8 and probably from same OEM in Taiwan. The surround does not have the sticky rubber compound like the Dayton. The dustcap is treated canvas rather than paper as in the Dayton. The pole piece does not have a vent, so if you wanted to cut the dustcap off and install a small coaxial tweeter as the phase plug you can’t do that. But for $6ea - not a bad looking driver. My one sample measured with DATS woofer tester is also not showing anything close to a PA130-8 (which has an amazingly low Qts for a budget driver).

For my one sample test: the MCM 55-1595 is coming in at Qts of 0.86 and fs of 140Hz. Appears to be stiffer suspension and a lower Vas but higher Qts. It may work as a single driver in a Karlsonator but I will have to rerun the sims to see what the optimal cabinet scaling is.

Did you break in the driver at all before you ran your DATS test, X?
 
Hey X,

I've had this little driver around for a while.
It's not very special, besides the fact that it only needs a very small correction to get it pretty flat up to 12kHz, where it drops into oblivion after that.

It also was too boomy in the TABAQ, with huge spikes at 55Hz in the original dimensions (see the graph).

So, I thought it might fare well in a mini-K.

I haven't done the test for Vas yet... I know...

But at first glance, you think there's a chance this might work?

No rush on this... if you don't mind, whenever you have a moment in your busy life!
 

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Hey x, any more on these drivers yet? I've got six stacked on my kitchen table ready to use :)

If they sim well I might be interested in building a bigger K (0.7x scale maybe?) with a pair per side, and maybe crossing them around 7khz (maybe?) with a k-tube piezo tweeter. Either way I know I want to see how well a single per side will do, since the price is definitely worth the fuss.

Any idea if they might work in a cornu?



Man, I really wish I had the skills (and time!) To figure out how to sim these things.
 
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The MCM 55-1595 has a very low Vas and the only Karlsonator that works is a 0.42x with a single driver. All configurations with multiple drivers will require a box that has too much volume in order to fit the multiple bezels in. As a single driver unit, it has nice response and can handle a lot of power and good 88dB sensitivity.

Measured T/S are:

Re=7.36ohm
Fs=137Hz
Qts=0.84
Qms=3.07
Qes=1.158
Le=0.265mH
Mms=5.48g
Vas=1.75L

OTOH, the very low Vas of 1.75L means this is the perfect driver for the the sealed little mini cube mix monitors.
 

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