Hello!
I have been into Audio since even before I could remember. In fact the First Brand of Speakers were some Old Zeniths. Then some Car Audio speakers. (6x9's from Sparkomatic) And that I think was at about 10 years old.
From then on, it was Audio for me. Video was cool, but it was never that engaging to me.
Been a Long Reader of Audio publications and was thankful the Library had them on hand. But sadly, not much in the way of actual Speaker building. One day, I have to write a book about audio for kids. (Or at least that mindset)
I owned some very nice home speakers over the years, and I never really got the same joy that car audio gave me. In fact, it took me getting my first car to really get into car audio. My Volvo 240 Turbo. First car, and I still have it.
I really am impressed even today with my install on how I put those Sony 5 1/2s in the door and made them look great. I noticed there was Carpet in the doors, and from asking around all those years ago, I realized that was for acoustically treating the doors. I was a HAPPY 16 year old that got this to work. And I got the speakers at the Junk yard too. Something I still love to do today.
Then I got some 6x9's. Still. I was missing bass. But glad that I had them in. I got a small Alpine 2 channel amp, that I wired down to 2 ohms, and it worked great. Signal was my CD player or my walkman to the RCA's.
When I got my first job, I bought a Nintendo, and played Jason. I loved the bass on the soundtrack, and I then got some KLH speakers. Those lasted me for years. Found every way I could make the Bass more pronounced. Including placement.
I then got some Hand me down Admiral speakers from Montgomery wards. That was my First speaker Project. It took me a few more years however before I learned what crossovers do. I found out that the Bass speaker was tearing itself apart. So I looked into my local car audio place who had adds in something called Nickel Ads. I saw 2 Thump Speakers that were a great price and 8 Inches, and install them in. Worked great.
I bought my First set of speakers as Polks. And from then on, I was hooked on the Polk sound. But I never was really impressed all the way.
There was always this problem with breakup. Not even at High volumes, but I could always hear something was not right when I compared it to my headphones.
Many years later, and now 42? I understand why many of the speakers I bought just never fit the bill. In fact, kit took me till almost 5 years ago till I got some Magnapans to experience the high end sound I was looking for. And the CLarity I was missing all these years.
I tried electrostats from Martin Logan, but... I sadly have to say, I preferred the sound of the Bookshelf 201's
1. My music tastes also dictated Crappy Mastering.
2. I like a really large and open sound field. The sweet spot? Not a thing for me. But always still lacking that magic of the Electrostatics.
I was at a Magnoilia HiFi, and was about to get a Pair of Martin Logans. Paid the guy $20 bucks to leave me alone so I could try out some music. THing was? I was not really impressed. Sure the sound was clear, but you had to be RIGHT in the sweet spot. And for once? I was not happy. There was TOO MUCH detail. I mean every single FLAW came out. BTW? You can hear Ben Folds Five Farting in one of the tracks. And it really was not Enjoyable. Same with the Rock music of the time. It just did not have slam or dynamics I was looking for.
Years later, I found the Magnapans. And I was hooked. But then? I never really listen much inside the home. My jobs, I always spent a LOT of time in the car. And for YEARS.. I tried to find speakers that actully did what I heard the Maggies do. CLEAR PIANO MUSIC. Clear Female Vocals.
I finally figured out it was the Crossovers on many speakers. I even got the Highest spec'ed Kappa's in my Van, and loved the sound, but they still had this tweeter crackle or buzz. I gave up for a long time before I got some Dynaudio parts, and WOOW!!
After that it was all trying to get this Loud clear sound I was so use to hearing at Car Audio shows and events.
Thankfully, Today, I got all the Knowledge I need to build a system that approaches that Magic sound I get from the Maggies. (close, enough) And Loud of course.
For me, you could always have 2 things with mass market speakers. Clean sound, but dull or missing parts of the music and details, or Clean sound at the very lowest of volumes.
In fact, something that was not known to me, was that some of the source material that I had to listen to had Distortion Baked in right into the tracks of the CD. Microphone distortion, and even clipping. And angry letter to a Record company later and a few speakers after that, and some Baffled audio shops, and some retured speakers... Yea. It was almost my end of love with Audio reproduction.
Glad I DIYA, and other forums that talked about this. And I am Back into loving audio again. But I no longer trust the source material unless its something like TELARC or an Audiophile label. Still not my Fav music. but at least I know its solid.
So today, I tinker with old parts that I thought sounded bad, but just had bad parts. Hence, why I admire Danny so much.
In fact, I know when I get Drivers from Danny, I KNOW they work! (I have ordered many speakers in the past, and some are just mismatched, or they just don't perform well. Or were Broken from the Factory.
And low and Behold! The cost of the drivers are AMAZING! And not only that? The performance really is SPOT ON!
I built a few for freinds. (Helped) and now? I want to try some of those drivers in my Car Audio Builds. Something I had to do out of necessity when I was in the military as I had trouble getting good speaker drivers for my car. So this always was a Better option then some of the Mass market stuff that was not only WAY overpriced, but just did not PERFORM at all any better then my Stock parts many times.
Crystal clear Highs with smoothness is my defeining thing in Audio. And Buttery Smooth midrange with no Chesty honky iness. (again Piano lover) And one thing is for sure, Danny's parts do the goods.
I like to experiment and enjoy testing drivers. So I do a TON of that. Mainly by ear, but I have some measuring equipment.
This next year, I'm going to do a Full out build in my Volvo, and plan to use Danny's parts in my next build. I really want to see just how far I can Push my next build. I would not consider myself a Classical Audiophile. More of a Music Lover.
