Hello fellow diy'ers.
I recently received my ROAR15's from the CNC shop and was in the process of loading them with B&C 15SW115 when I noticed something amiss with one of the drivers, coil scratch, so that driver is going to be returned to the dealer.
The other one worked as intended and despite having only one ROAR15 up and running I still wanted to share some pictures and very early impressions (that may change as I get more time with them and both of them working).
They currently reside in our apartment's living room, so I cannot test them properly (you know, neighbors...) but even so I also do not have the means to properly power them, at least not yet.
Anyway, on with some pictures.
The driver baffle and interface:
Next to above we see one of the quarter wave segment inlets into the resonator:
The post summation quarter wave resonator:
The one that worked:
And finally the state of things as present, I will given time arrange things a little better, what you see blow is a work in haste, perhaps I will be moving them into another room seeing as the person I live with has voiced some opinions on the matter, can't say I blame her, they are actually somewhat noticeable.
Preliminary impressions of one ROAR15, corner loaded, in a relatively small room at low levels, is that it sounds massive, in this placement it also digs very deep, and I do notice a lot of bass details both in the lows and higher up in it's range.
It does seem to have the ability to be both punchy and dig deep at the same time, this trait it was also noticeable in the ROAR12 previously evaluated but this is a more of everything sort of experience in comparison.
This is not much to disclose given the conditions described above but it is a start.
I will be putting some more pictures and impressions up once I have the new driver mounted, until then.
I recently received my ROAR15's from the CNC shop and was in the process of loading them with B&C 15SW115 when I noticed something amiss with one of the drivers, coil scratch, so that driver is going to be returned to the dealer.
The other one worked as intended and despite having only one ROAR15 up and running I still wanted to share some pictures and very early impressions (that may change as I get more time with them and both of them working).
They currently reside in our apartment's living room, so I cannot test them properly (you know, neighbors...) but even so I also do not have the means to properly power them, at least not yet.
Anyway, on with some pictures.
The driver baffle and interface:
Next to above we see one of the quarter wave segment inlets into the resonator:
The post summation quarter wave resonator:
The one that worked:
And finally the state of things as present, I will given time arrange things a little better, what you see blow is a work in haste, perhaps I will be moving them into another room seeing as the person I live with has voiced some opinions on the matter, can't say I blame her, they are actually somewhat noticeable.
Preliminary impressions of one ROAR15, corner loaded, in a relatively small room at low levels, is that it sounds massive, in this placement it also digs very deep, and I do notice a lot of bass details both in the lows and higher up in it's range.
It does seem to have the ability to be both punchy and dig deep at the same time, this trait it was also noticeable in the ROAR12 previously evaluated but this is a more of everything sort of experience in comparison.
This is not much to disclose given the conditions described above but it is a start.
I will be putting some more pictures and impressions up once I have the new driver mounted, until then.
beautiful work - I know folks don't want to hear my babble but the original Karlson resonator (1951) cabinet when tonally balanced, has a lively and agile bass presentation which I think may sound better than (some) horns of its bulk. Of course a 1/4 wave horn of that bulk can be configured to play lower.
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I will have to get back to you on the charateristics compared to the THAM series once I have both of them working and aligned them properly with the linesources, I have just sent the defect driver back to the dealer and I cannot say when a fresh one will arrive, but once I can form a more substantial opinion I will be sure to let you know.
No not yet, given time I will though, it seems to be a very credible and affordable tool set, I have dabbed around with CLIO in the past, and their pocket versions is also appealing.
A quick RTA with a handheld device such as the Phonic PAA2 gives a rough idea, but not much more, the measurement was taken using audacity generated pink noise, no eq, 0-500Hz at the mouth at very low levels and with a brand new driver.
Still, if there were to have been something seriously wrong with the design i believe it would have shown up in the spectrum, as far as I can see it behaves as expected, nice smooth pass band and a dip above it.
Experience tells me that a measurement taken outdoors at some distance with more power will yield a different response, but this far I cannot see anything that worries me.
I have listened a bit more on the one I currently have up and running, once I quickly and roughly had the eq'd the room acoustics taking away the most disturbing peaks and the gain matching done (-8db to the two line sources) and had set a really rough (not measured) delay then it sounded a lot more "sophisticated" then before, it sounds really nice, despite it's borderline evil appearance.
Right, so now I have got a new (and working) 15SW115 loaded, meaning at last I have had the chance to listen to the two ROAR15's.
I have so far only listened at very low levels, indoors, six months old son, and so on... but here is the impressions so far, firstly - they sound very powerful, capable if you will, there is a clear sense of headroom, responsiveness and weight (not very surprising given the nature of the design ad their setting) and secondly - there is an interesting sense of resolution to the sound, ripples and details I have not picked up on before, and it is seems to be present throughout the range from 40Hz and up to the cross over point (currently set at 120Hz).
I feel it is important to again state that this is a matter of how I perceive them, not to say that this is the way they are, and I am not sure what part room acoustics, material or levels play in to this perception, I'm stating this since I have no real credible measurements of the properties that might explain such an impression.
They do not seem to pose a problem to integrate in to a system, in my case with a pair of very compact line sources (FCAM123), you simply have to dial in the delay at the cross over point that seems to sound the best and gain them correctly.
In my case I chose to cross them over at 120Hz 48dB/Oct (LPF, no HPF applied) and delayed the tops 276cm, summed path length at the mouth, physically aligned with the tops, and gained them down -8dB compared to the same.
No EQ applied expect some cuts at the most evident room peaks compared to the quick RTA previously made.
Bottom line - I'm so far very happy with the way they perform, sure they are big and heavy enough to make you call a friend if you intend to lift and move them (me being an office rat and all), but even so, really nice sounding boxes.
I have so far only listened at very low levels, indoors, six months old son, and so on... but here is the impressions so far, firstly - they sound very powerful, capable if you will, there is a clear sense of headroom, responsiveness and weight (not very surprising given the nature of the design ad their setting) and secondly - there is an interesting sense of resolution to the sound, ripples and details I have not picked up on before, and it is seems to be present throughout the range from 40Hz and up to the cross over point (currently set at 120Hz).
I feel it is important to again state that this is a matter of how I perceive them, not to say that this is the way they are, and I am not sure what part room acoustics, material or levels play in to this perception, I'm stating this since I have no real credible measurements of the properties that might explain such an impression.
They do not seem to pose a problem to integrate in to a system, in my case with a pair of very compact line sources (FCAM123), you simply have to dial in the delay at the cross over point that seems to sound the best and gain them correctly.
In my case I chose to cross them over at 120Hz 48dB/Oct (LPF, no HPF applied) and delayed the tops 276cm, summed path length at the mouth, physically aligned with the tops, and gained them down -8dB compared to the same.
No EQ applied expect some cuts at the most evident room peaks compared to the quick RTA previously made.
Bottom line - I'm so far very happy with the way they perform, sure they are big and heavy enough to make you call a friend if you intend to lift and move them (me being an office rat and all), but even so, really nice sounding boxes.
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