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Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 9:18 am
by Docfoster
karatestu wrote: Thu Jul 25, 2019 6:29 pm I am not sure i can be arsed tweaking my diy speakers anymore. Of course i am going to turn mine into 3 x 12", 3 × 5" & 3 tweeter isobaic monsters. If they turn out decent from the off then that will be it. Move on to someting else.
Sounds like you have a clear end goal. And the energy to start a whole new project thereafter. Helpful and satisfying. I'm envious.
I do go through extended periods of not being arsed.
But trying out a new tweeter or midrange, or tapping in another brace is a relatively cheap and easy expression of the tweakist / hobbyist / improvement urge when it occasionally exceeds the not-being-arsed urge.

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 9:36 am
by Docfoster
Lindsayt wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2019 10:26 pm I've not come across any slimline ported speakers that do bass well.
And then there's my EV Sentry III wide baffle ported speakers with 15" drivers that I'd rate as "average" in the bass department. So even going large may not overcome the sonic drawbacks of ports.

The ported speakers with the best bass that I've come across are probably Steve 57's DIY'd speakers, but then they are semi ported, semi open baffle. And they do have decent quality 18" drivers.

Would anyone care to nominate any ported speakers that they think does bass well?


BTW, apart from sealed and ported and open baffle cabinets, there's also the Hartley Boffle.
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This looks like an interesting idea and one worth trying some day...
Definitely. Love the innovative approach to cabinet design. Great name too! :-) And looks easy to build, so could certainly give a go. Presumably the 2x1 timbers that frame the holed underlay sheets would have some bracing effect too. Which would be helpful.
The underlay sheet idea reminds me of the internal "curtains" that Goodmans once suggested for cabinets for their old Axiom drivers (page 4 of the brochure here... https://goodmans.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/a ... ochure.pdf

Regarding ported speakers that do bass well, I've not lived with a ported speaker for over ten years so I'm not confident enough to do anything as formal as make nominations, but I did enjoy my old Dynaudio Audience 82s (eventually replaced by NVA Cube 1s). Also I once heard some RFC Rhapsody speakers that I recall sounded very good.
All of my current speakers are largeish or large drivers in sealed boxes. Which informs me that from a purely sonic POV it is simpler, cheaper and probably better to base speaker designs around a large driver in non-ported cabinet. My wondering is simply about how possible (or "impossible"!) it is to design a good speaker around a ported design.

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 9:58 am
by Ali Tait
I currently have it set at 200hz 2nd order, seems to work well.

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:06 am
by Docfoster
Ali Tait wrote: Sat Jul 27, 2019 9:58 am I currently have it set at 200hz 2nd order, seems to work well.
Thanks. That’s food for thought for me.

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:12 am
by Ali Tait
Good thing with this is you can connect the amp to a laptop and adjust on the fly, so it’s easy to dial the speakers in to your room.

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:14 am
by Ali Tait
This may be of interest, it’s what Vic is currently using-

http://theaudiostandard.net/thread/5090/baffle-less

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:20 am
by Docfoster
Ali Tait wrote: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:12 am Good thing with this is you can connect the amp to a laptop and adjust on the fly, so it’s easy to dial the speakers in to your room.
That’s the ticket!
I use the parametric EQ in JRiver to calculate values for L-pads before building them. Usefully in JRiver one can adjust frequency, dB value and steepness of slope, so it’s incredibly helpful, and accurate, as a predictive tool. Doing it trial and error doesn’t bear thinking about!

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:21 am
by Docfoster
Docfoster wrote: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:20 am
Ali Tait wrote: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:12 am Good thing with this is you can connect the amp to a laptop and adjust on the fly, so it’s easy to dial the speakers in to your room.
That’s the ticket!
I use the parametric EQ in JRiver to help calculate values for L-pads before building them. Usefully in JRiver one can adjust frequency, dB value and steepness of slope, so it’s incredibly helpful, and accurate, as a predictive tool. Doing it trial and error doesn’t bear thinking about!

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:38 am
by Daniel Quinn
I follow rd and use my ears.

Except anally, there is nothing to be gained from ascribing a value to what you hear.

Re: Speakers

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 11:44 am
by Docfoster
Daniel Quinn wrote: Sat Jul 27, 2019 10:38 am I follow rd and use my ears.

Except anally, there is nothing to be gained from ascribing a value to what you hear.
I failed to communicate clearly.
I agree with the primacy of ears.
When I try a new tweeter in my speakers and my ears tell me it’s too “loud”, and so needs attenuating, I use the JRiver software to accurately attenuate the tweeter until my ears tell me I like it. I then build an L-pad to match that attenuation (and turn off the JRiver attenuation).
The measurement is merely a way of translating what my ears tell me, into the correct resistor values.