The "Elsinore Project" Thread

dmcgown,

Good to see you getting closer to completion - what color are you going for the cabinets?

I am painting with Duratex tinted the pastel blue-grey you see in the photo (my initial primer coat). It will provide a nice contrast with the black drivers. I have experience from another project applying this with a fine foam roller so that the texture has an even, matte appearance instead of a more aggressive orange peel look suggested by the manufacturer. It hardens to a very durable, scratch and chip resistant finish.

David
 
I have some that produce audible "buzz/hum" at higher input levels. Others, don't - sort of a "luck of the draw", and often most of it is near the "leads" from the inductor ..and even their "support" section, which is a good place for hot glue.

You can also "spot" glue the coils at multiple points with a hot glue gun - but that's something you have to do under-test.
 
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Close to Finished

Had a very productive weekend, completing the wiring harness for the crossovers, installing the Dacron batting and crossovers, and finally bringing the cabinets inside for final assembly. One speaker is complete, save for the terminals at the back, the other still awaits the drivers.

Plan on finishing them tonight after work. I have spiked outrigger stands to attach which will raise the speaker by 2 inches (50 mm).

The speakers on the outside of the Elsinores are a pair of Zalytron/Orca Aria 5R speakers on top of powered subwoofers.

David
 

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Had a very productive weekend, completing the wiring harness for the crossovers, installing the Dacron batting and crossovers, and finally bringing the cabinets inside for final assembly. One speaker is complete, save for the terminals at the back, the other still awaits the drivers.

Plan on finishing them tonight after work. I have spiked outrigger stands to attach which will raise the speaker by 2 inches (50 mm).

The speakers on the outside of the Elsinores are a pair of Zalytron/Orca Aria 5R speakers on top of powered subwoofers.

David

Are those screws in the inductors non-magnetic?

Also, I would suggest to keep the inductors further away from each other, and at 90 degree angles relative to each other where possible.
 
The inductors on the lower mid-bass section are oriented 90 deg from each other so that field lines do not pass through the axis of the adjacent inductor. The screws through the foil inductors are brass. Keep in mind I have separate boards for the tweeter, mid-bass and lower mid-bass, placed in different locations in the enclosure. The picture is that I posted just shows all the crossover boards for both speakers laying on the workbench, and not intended to represent the actual installed layout.

David
 
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Thrilled!

I have been a bit quiet since completing my build. After playing around with position in my room, I have just been sitting back listening. I have never heard a speaker disappear like these, and have such solid, even response from top to bottom. I had a few non-audiophile friends (fellow musicians) who were absolutely amazed that it was possible for speakers to sound like these do, creating a solid 3 dimension sonic image from the plane of the speaker extending side to side and to the back of the room behind the speakers, like being in a concert hall. But today I had a fellow audiophile and DIY'er over (who was picking up some horn speakers that I experimented with several years ago and not longer need or want), and he thought these were the best speakers and system he had ever heard, including at our local audio show (Capital AudioFest). In fact, he would love to participate in a group build of these, and felt that if more heard these, there could be several wanting to do so.

This is an incredible project, and I am absolutely happy beyond belief on how these turned out. They work perfectly with my Class A tube/MOSFET hybrid amp, and I have a pair of 20W+ GM70 SET monoblocks waiting in the wings to try out (as well as a pair of PP 300B amps that need little more work before I will try them).

David
 
I have been a bit quiet since completing my build...

David

Hi David, that sounds like a great little mini-review. May I quote you? It is fresh and concise, nice.

The aspect of the "disappearing speaker" is a recurring reported theme. I believe that this is due to keeping suppressing current-induced distortions being fed back into the voice coil of the drivers - and this seems to get the sounds out of the box. It may be traced to actual audible distortion that then gives away to the box location because it does not sound natural. Suppress those and we become less aware of the box (but the box itself also needs to be quiet).

I know somebody who has already done some partial measurements that are telling, but a more serious attempt is being planned meticulously to see if acoustic measurements can be made to tally with current distortions - and these current type distortions are very real even if they are not well known.

This DIY forum is mainly to help guys to build and help each other. But every now and then I will point to some of the technical aspects of the design, but not necessarily turn this into a technical forum.

Just keep building them. :D

Cheers, Joe
 
Joe,

No problem use of my review.

If I might add, one of the interesting things about these speakers "disappearing" is as you walk about the room, and even within a couple of feet of one of the speakers, there is still no sense of the sound coming from the speaker itself but instead it is coming from the space or soundfield that they present. Mind you, it did take a little setup to determine the best location to get that, and I do use some diffuser room treatment on the side walls close to the speakers to scatter first reflection. The dimensions of my room 8.25m long by 4m wide, by 2.44m high. The speakers are arranged firing lengthwise into the room, about 1/3 of the room length from the front wall (and my listening position is similarly 1/3 of the room length from the rear wall). I have found this to work best in my room (basically the same location as I had my open baffle speakers). I experimented with speaker separation and clearance to the side walls until the image opened up. I was concerned about the recommendation by others that these needed to be in a room about 5 meters wide, but they seem to work fine in a narrower room given care in setup. A small change in position can make a big difference.

David
 
Joe,

No problem use of my review.

If I might add, one of the interesting things about these speakers "disappearing" is as you walk about the room, and even within a couple of feet of one of the speakers, there is still no sense of the sound coming from the speaker itself but instead it is coming from the space or soundfield that they present. Mind you, it did take a little setup to determine the best location...

Yes absolutely, it can pay huge dividends find the best location of the speakers in the room. I always tell people that if they read a review and the reviewer ends up spending a lot of boring words on finding that best position, then the reviewer is only doing his job. But in some cases, I have found that a room can have a sweet spot and that is the case with mine. But even then, it may only suit speakers of similar size etc.

In my room, people often comment that my Elsinores are spread wider than most and turned in about 15 degrees. That toe-in is also important, but bottom line, it's worth just keep playing around with it and sometimes something almost magical can happen.

Also raising then 3 or maybe 4" off the floor works too.

Happy listening.

-Joe