My plastic fantastics...
Since Steve dragged up photos of my prototypes on Tubeaholic, I felt a need to show that I have made progress with my homage to the LuiLui.
Here's a shot of the completed baffles. Switching to 1/2 lexan really tightened the sound compared to the 1/4 inch plexy.
Being a lover of fine wood, I used 5/4 quilted maple for the upright support, and figured walnut for the base.
While the PHY is run unfiltered, a 4th order highpass for the tweeter is hidden in the base.
Since Steve dragged up photos of my prototypes on Tubeaholic, I felt a need to show that I have made progress with my homage to the LuiLui.
Here's a shot of the completed baffles. Switching to 1/2 lexan really tightened the sound compared to the 1/4 inch plexy.
Being a lover of fine wood, I used 5/4 quilted maple for the upright support, and figured walnut for the base.
While the PHY is run unfiltered, a 4th order highpass for the tweeter is hidden in the base.
Attachments
Another pic...
Here's some of the rear detail...
I don't EQ these speakers, so bass starts to roll off ~160 Hz. Like Konnichiwa, I find that due to the shallow slope of dipole cancellation, I get usable bass down to 60Hz or so.
The bass tone is excellent and will be augmented soon with a dipole subwoofer that is under construction. While the baffles can be quite satisfactory without a sub, they really are amazing with the extra cones and EQ down low.
Here's some of the rear detail...
I don't EQ these speakers, so bass starts to roll off ~160 Hz. Like Konnichiwa, I find that due to the shallow slope of dipole cancellation, I get usable bass down to 60Hz or so.
The bass tone is excellent and will be augmented soon with a dipole subwoofer that is under construction. While the baffles can be quite satisfactory without a sub, they really are amazing with the extra cones and EQ down low.
Attachments
Kuei Yang Wang said:
Thorsten's spreadsheet is finally up as a download off my site.
Xlbaffle.xls
dave
No, excuse MY ignorance (and impatience).
Thanks for the kind words regarding the baffles, especially since this is my first speaker and woodworking project.
Can't take credit for the living room, though my taste is similar. I'm just house sitting till the end of September.
Pity. Excellent accoustics...
If anyone is interested in the construction of the lexan baffles, I have a walkthrough in the Gallery section of AudioCircle.
BTW - That odd looking thing seen on the far right of post #63 is the prototype of my dipole subwoofer (seen from the side). I credit Snkby with the k-tube concept, though I believe at 21+ inches diameter, it is the biggest one in existance. I've posted another angle to give a better idea.
I'm currently at the stage of applying veneer to the curved side panels (PAIN!), so I hope to have it assembled in a week or two. I'll post details if anyone is interested.
Thanks for the kind words regarding the baffles, especially since this is my first speaker and woodworking project.
Can't take credit for the living room, though my taste is similar. I'm just house sitting till the end of September.
Pity. Excellent accoustics...
If anyone is interested in the construction of the lexan baffles, I have a walkthrough in the Gallery section of AudioCircle.
BTW - That odd looking thing seen on the far right of post #63 is the prototype of my dipole subwoofer (seen from the side). I credit Snkby with the k-tube concept, though I believe at 21+ inches diameter, it is the biggest one in existance. I've posted another angle to give a better idea.
I'm currently at the stage of applying veneer to the curved side panels (PAIN!), so I hope to have it assembled in a week or two. I'll post details if anyone is interested.
Attachments
Hi Erik,
Congratulations and thanks for the informative great pictures!
I'm now at the planning stage of similar baffles, so here's my questions (sorry).
"Switching to 1/2 lexan really tightened the sound compared to the 1/4 inch plexy."
Learned from Dr. Google: Clear Lexan Sheet (polycarbonate) $473.98 for 4 ft x 8 ft
A bullet proof - one of the applications
Which is easier to work with Lexan or plexy?
"If anyone is interested in the construction of the lexan baffles, I have a walkthrough in the Gallery section of AudioCircle."
Certainly I'm interested, please do!
I'm interested in your speaker cables too.
It looks you use copper foils.
What about the one between drivers and the supporting base?
Keep up great work and would appreciate your further inputs to here
or even on Tubeaholic website!
Sayonara,
Kohjin
Congratulations and thanks for the informative great pictures!
I'm now at the planning stage of similar baffles, so here's my questions (sorry).
"Switching to 1/2 lexan really tightened the sound compared to the 1/4 inch plexy."
Learned from Dr. Google: Clear Lexan Sheet (polycarbonate) $473.98 for 4 ft x 8 ft
A bullet proof - one of the applications
Which is easier to work with Lexan or plexy?
"If anyone is interested in the construction of the lexan baffles, I have a walkthrough in the Gallery section of AudioCircle."
Certainly I'm interested, please do!
I'm interested in your speaker cables too.
It looks you use copper foils.
What about the one between drivers and the supporting base?
Keep up great work and would appreciate your further inputs to here
or even on Tubeaholic website!
Sayonara,
Kohjin
Erik said:
The room (and speakers!) looks absolutely stunning. But
sounding, I'm not too sure - all those reflective surfaces.
Uncovered wooden floor is bad. Tiles are absolute pig (in
my experience). Have you measured the reverberation
times ? Most speakers vastly prefer dead-ish rooms (T60 < 1s),
even dipoles (see Linkwitz for example).
Couple of gabbeh rugs on the floor (and some possibly on the
walls) would do wonders for imaging and focus. Plus this will
make speakers subjectively darker which is beneficial with non
equalized open baffle design (which naturally tilts upwards).
Again, it depends on type of music, I guess. Choral and organ
music recorded in churches etc. would in fact sound more
realistic in a very live room. But for rest of the music I find live
rooms very tiring.
Bratislav
more baffles
Hi y'all,
I've been reading in this forum for a while now, being especially interested in fullrange and OB stuff lately.
Following Thorsten's aka-dunno-how-many-aka's-he-has thread I was amazed to see that there is always people around the globe playing with the same ideas.......
So I can contribute my version of a semi-transparent OB. As I am only in the planning stage I can only come up with CAD raytracings.........but they show my intent. First picture is with transparent "wings" (which can also be wider etc..), second one is all from wood.
To try the concept I am planning on using some vintage Saba's first (I have two pairs), augmented by the new Harwood ribbon tweeter. Having heard the Fertin and AER drivers and hearing good things about Supravox drivers these could be future "upgrades".
But I am not in a hurry.......
Hi y'all,
I've been reading in this forum for a while now, being especially interested in fullrange and OB stuff lately.
Following Thorsten's aka-dunno-how-many-aka's-he-has thread I was amazed to see that there is always people around the globe playing with the same ideas.......
So I can contribute my version of a semi-transparent OB. As I am only in the planning stage I can only come up with CAD raytracings.........but they show my intent. First picture is with transparent "wings" (which can also be wider etc..), second one is all from wood.
To try the concept I am planning on using some vintage Saba's first (I have two pairs), augmented by the new Harwood ribbon tweeter. Having heard the Fertin and AER drivers and hearing good things about Supravox drivers these could be future "upgrades".
But I am not in a hurry.......
Attachments
About 18 months ago, when one of my ESL-57s broke down, I started investigating Phy/Fertin/Supravox. Mainly inspired by the sight of LuiLui.
I broke this off when a pair of ESL-63s magically landed in our lounge, but this thread here tickled my interest once more. Maybe someday, if and when funds permit ...
I still have a pending project for Gradient-like dipole subs for the ESLs.
Thorsten, do you think the Thomessen's parametric eq. suitable for eq'ing the subs, without any additional electronics? Could be a neat solution, especially now that I started removing all unnecessary boxes and toys from the main system.
I broke this off when a pair of ESL-63s magically landed in our lounge, but this thread here tickled my interest once more. Maybe someday, if and when funds permit ...
I still have a pending project for Gradient-like dipole subs for the ESLs.
Thorsten, do you think the Thomessen's parametric eq. suitable for eq'ing the subs, without any additional electronics? Could be a neat solution, especially now that I started removing all unnecessary boxes and toys from the main system.
Glass baffles?
How is a glass sheet as baffle material? I know that glass will be brittle, heavy, and tough to work with unless you approach a workshop that has glass drilling and cutting equipment. But acoustically, how would your OB speakers sound with a 12mm (that's about half an inch) thick transparent glass sheet as baffles, instead of acrylic or Lexan polycarb? Sheets like that seem to pass the "knuckle test" very easily. And such a sheet here in Bombay costs about one-tenth of what Kohjin has cited as price of Lexan.
Also, SL seems to deaden his OB panel by fixing heavy tiles on the rear surface (Phoenix). Isn't 6mm acrylic very "live" compared to this? How does a speaker sound so good in spite of this, with acrylic?
Tarun
Dear KYW, Eric, Kohjin, others,Kohjin Yamada said:
How is a glass sheet as baffle material? I know that glass will be brittle, heavy, and tough to work with unless you approach a workshop that has glass drilling and cutting equipment. But acoustically, how would your OB speakers sound with a 12mm (that's about half an inch) thick transparent glass sheet as baffles, instead of acrylic or Lexan polycarb? Sheets like that seem to pass the "knuckle test" very easily. And such a sheet here in Bombay costs about one-tenth of what Kohjin has cited as price of Lexan.
Also, SL seems to deaden his OB panel by fixing heavy tiles on the rear surface (Phoenix). Isn't 6mm acrylic very "live" compared to this? How does a speaker sound so good in spite of this, with acrylic?
Tarun
Kohjin -
1. I have only worked with 1/4 inch plexy and 1/2 inch lexan, so comparisons are difficult. I think the plexy is more brittle than the lexan and is more prone to cracking when you work it. Get a drilll bit designed for plastic. Most woodworking tools will mill the plastic just fine, but the material is murder on the blades. Cut quickly or the plastic will melt...
I had the lexan cut to size by a plastic shop for ~US$150 per panel. Plexy would have been 50% less.
Lexan also finishes to a dull grey on the edges (which I like). Plexy will be clear on the edges (if you polish it enough).
I think thick glass would look and sound fantastic, but would weigh a ton and be very difficult to rabbit for a flush mounted tweeter.
2. You will have to go to www.audiocircles.com to see the walkthrough. Good board, though not dedicated to DIY.
3. The wiring harness is Alphacore Python which matches up well with the Alphacore M1 I use for speaker cables.
1. I have only worked with 1/4 inch plexy and 1/2 inch lexan, so comparisons are difficult. I think the plexy is more brittle than the lexan and is more prone to cracking when you work it. Get a drilll bit designed for plastic. Most woodworking tools will mill the plastic just fine, but the material is murder on the blades. Cut quickly or the plastic will melt...
I had the lexan cut to size by a plastic shop for ~US$150 per panel. Plexy would have been 50% less.
Lexan also finishes to a dull grey on the edges (which I like). Plexy will be clear on the edges (if you polish it enough).
I think thick glass would look and sound fantastic, but would weigh a ton and be very difficult to rabbit for a flush mounted tweeter.
2. You will have to go to www.audiocircles.com to see the walkthrough. Good board, though not dedicated to DIY.
3. The wiring harness is Alphacore Python which matches up well with the Alphacore M1 I use for speaker cables.
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