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The best DIY speaker in the world?


kye

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1 hour ago, MattyW said:

 

I do love large speakers though. Nothing else sounds truly lifelike and pinpoint imaging isn't something exists outside of sound reproduction anyway so it's really not a necessity..... It's the only thing I'm willing to sacrifice really  ;)

Yes, after listening open back speakers exclusively for a few months I pull the floor standers out the other night for a listen. Yes they do highlight some inter details but the overall sense of naturalness isn’t there. The imaging seems sharper but not that doesn’t feel like listening to a real person or instrument. 
 

I feel like our ears don’t hear like a microphone unless you stuck your ear in the singers face. 
when listening from a distance we hear diffused and reflected sound from the singer not focused point source sound. 

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  • 6 months later...

Just a follow up post to show where my ongoing development of this design has landed (for now)

 

3 x C2000 drivers with the top run full range and the bottom 2 run in series with a 2mH inductor rolling off the top end

1 x 15” Eminance Alpha in H frame cabinet 

 

My NAD C388 has a 150hz high pass filter which I use to power the full range towers and the pre amp out runs through a Dayton Audio DSP with matching filter to a Nuprime power amp powering the woofer cabinets 

 

the full range cabinets are about 300mm deep and slightly tapered (not sure if this offers any audible advantage)

 

the baffle is lined with 12mm acoustic panel available from Bunnings  which was mainly to avoid the need to rebate the drivers but did seem to improve imaging 

 

What this system provides is 

articulate bass down to 30hz 

huge lifelike soundstage 

amazing dynamic range, (I now listen to classical music after experiencing effortless volume swells from 65db to 110db) 

low distortion (Rage against the machine at 110db with no harshness is a trick I like to show off to my friends 😁)

hearing trumpets and double bass through this system has brought tears to my eyes 

 

While I have the nagging temptation to try and upgrade the system with more expensive drivers I believe I would need to spend $20k-$30k on a commercial system to get the experience this system offers. (sure it may be more refined and do some things better, but not much out there offers the driver displacement alone) 

 

Kye the creator of this thread claimed to have heard Avantgarde’s and other Uber expensive speakers and still rated these humble drivers. 
 

the frequency plot is pretty crude just using the mic in my iPad and an app from the listening position. I could play with tweeters to boost the top end but my hearing is limited beyond 13k and I find what is there to be very natural sounding 
 

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Edited by RePete
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  • 7 months later...
7 hours ago, benanders said:

Amazing to see this thread still going! I last read through it maybe 5 or 6 years ago.
 

@RePete any further developments this year? Any playing with the DSP or dressing up the cabinets?

 

Hope you’ve just been enjoying the music since April ;)

Hey @benanders it’s been a busy ride since then. I went down the constant directivity road with compression drivers and waveguides and while they have great qualities and sound theory behind them I just didn’t seem to get lost in the music the way the full range tower did. The CD designs were less ragged in the frequency response and had a much wider sweet spot which revealed the limitations of this budget design but I still had a soft spot for them.

 

Long story short I’ve currently landed on Magnepan LRS actively crossed to the 15 inch dipole woofers. 
this combo seems to offer a smoother response with higher resolution and also provides the dipole presentation of the full range towers.

 

I guess my current position is that my variation on Kye’s design offers much of the Magnepan experience at a budget price especially considering they don’t require expensive amplifiers like the Maggie’s do. In fact these offer even better dynamics than the Maggie’s. 
 

I have learnt a lot from this project which has helped me understand what qualities I enjoy in audio equipment. 

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