Figured I should post here if for no other reason than to contribute to the statistics of who's built what.
First, huge thanks to Dave and Scott and the many others for their contributions here. We are truly lucky to not only have this forum and the information within, but also people who are willing to help and put up with silly questions from people like me...
I purchased 4x 11ms earlier this year, and bought both FHXL and Brodgar plans.
Due to resource and patience constraints, I built a pair of Sea Stacks first. These sound unreal - bass is better than I expected. All around they sound great, though I will continue to experiment with room placement. I have a measurement mic, so will measure response when I have the attention span.
I am now really interested in hearing what the FHXL and Brodgar sound like in comparison.
Next, I built a pair of the large Nostromos from the leftover BB ply. I decided to sand and finish these (Danish oil) prior to putting the speakers in, so there's a pic below.
These too sound amazingly good, with arguably the best bass I've heard from a speaker this size. Of course they lack the bass "feel" of the SeaStacks, but otherwise sound fantastic. I'm currently using them on my PC in place of my Tannoy Reveal 601a's. I'll also do some measurements and comparisons at some point.
I learned some good lessons building these, which will no doubt help when I decide to tackle the Brodgars
Thanks,
Alex
First, huge thanks to Dave and Scott and the many others for their contributions here. We are truly lucky to not only have this forum and the information within, but also people who are willing to help and put up with silly questions from people like me...
I purchased 4x 11ms earlier this year, and bought both FHXL and Brodgar plans.
Due to resource and patience constraints, I built a pair of Sea Stacks first. These sound unreal - bass is better than I expected. All around they sound great, though I will continue to experiment with room placement. I have a measurement mic, so will measure response when I have the attention span.
I am now really interested in hearing what the FHXL and Brodgar sound like in comparison.
Next, I built a pair of the large Nostromos from the leftover BB ply. I decided to sand and finish these (Danish oil) prior to putting the speakers in, so there's a pic below.
These too sound amazingly good, with arguably the best bass I've heard from a speaker this size. Of course they lack the bass "feel" of the SeaStacks, but otherwise sound fantastic. I'm currently using them on my PC in place of my Tannoy Reveal 601a's. I'll also do some measurements and comparisons at some point.
I learned some good lessons building these, which will no doubt help when I decide to tackle the Brodgars
Thanks,
Alex
Attachments
All my A12pw are whatever colour i want (within the limitations of the starting blue cones). My Anthrasite grey ones match well with the silver A7.3eN.
But if aesthetics is more important to you than performance, all the power to you. Keep in ind that CHR have historically been the lower tier of performance than the Alpairs (with the cheap basketed CHN an outlier).
dave
But if aesthetics is more important to you than performance, all the power to you. Keep in ind that CHR have historically been the lower tier of performance than the Alpairs (with the cheap basketed CHN an outlier).
dave
Interesting to people like me building mixed music / home theatre setups, though.
It would be absurd to buy a pair of Alpair 11MS for the underutilised rear speakers, and Pluvia isn't much of a deal at ~90% the cost of Alpair, but the CHRs could be just the thing - KJF have listed them at 55% the cost of Alpair (though who knows what they'll cost if they ever make it to Australia)
I am all for using lesser, but similar, drivers for the surrounds. My HT is 2.0 so i am not a good example, but Chris has 3 x A10.3eN across the front, and smaller ones for rear & height channels. Not sure what they are now, but the A6.2MeN he had out back are now in my briefcase hifi. They were in hard to make angular, and tiny sealed boxes.
Pluvias would be fine, but it is also worth considering that the new P7HD/PHD are purpotedly evolutions of the A7.3/7p so that would bump up there quality and make them competitive with the older Alpairs. And there is also sometimes, depending on distribution, no significant price differences. In Oz for instance the P11 and A11ms are very similar price, and, at least when they 1st hit NA, the P11 wa spricier than the on-sale A10.3.
Budget is almost always onne of the compromises that any music system has to work within.
dave
Pluvias would be fine, but it is also worth considering that the new P7HD/PHD are purpotedly evolutions of the A7.3/7p so that would bump up there quality and make them competitive with the older Alpairs. And there is also sometimes, depending on distribution, no significant price differences. In Oz for instance the P11 and A11ms are very similar price, and, at least when they 1st hit NA, the P11 wa spricier than the on-sale A10.3.
Budget is almost always onne of the compromises that any music system has to work within.
dave