InDIYana was a DIY speaker competition held in Richmond, IN over the week end.
I'm going to try and take some photos and put together some technical information on the design in the next couple of days. But here is the story of how they developed.
Last summer, Jeff Bagby and I were working on a new design that resulted in a speaker called the Pharos. While visiting Jeff during the process, he asked me what I thought about open baffle speakers. The reason he asked is that he recently finished just such a design. I told him I was intrigued so he told me to take them home and spend some time with them. He had too many speakers sitting around (like every speaker designer) and his wife told him he would have to get rid of some before he built more. He suggested that after I put them through their paces, I could simply sell them for him.
After spending some time with the design, I emailed Jeff and told him that I thought the midrange and top end were stunning, but that they were a little weak in the bass department. I also told him that I had some reservations about selling them due to the bass performance, but it seemed like a shame since the mids and highs were so good.
About that time, I came across some Lambda drivers and asked Jeff if there might be a woofer that would be a drop in replacement. It turned out that one Lambda design in particular was quite close in performance to the woofer Jeff originally used. So I went ahead and had a pair of woofers built.
Well, as luck would have it, while they were very similar in performance, they weren't exactly a drop-in replacement. They didn't fit in the cabinet Jeff originally built. But the drivers tested phenomenally. So well in fact, that I thought it would be worth developing a whole new cabinet for them.
When we finished the new cabinets, the speaker performed very well but the new woofers were slightly more sensitive than the originals and the bass was a little overpowering. So Jeff modeled a revised crossover and we made the changes. The result was perfect from top to bottom.
We thought all along that if things worked out, AKFest would be a good place to introduce the new design. But Jeff had never heard the finished speakers.
It just so happened that he was going to be attending InDIYana and asked if I would be willing to drive down with them so he could see and hear what we had done to his design. It would also be a good opportunity to have other speaker designers listen to them and provide feedback.
I told Jeff I thought he would love both the new cabinet design and, more importantly, the sound of the finished speaker. So we set off for Indiana on Friday evening after closing the shop.
While InDIYana was a DIY speaker-builder competition, we chose not to complete. We thought it would not be fair to others who were submitting designs. But the reaction to these speakers was extremely positive. One speaker designer, who by the way had one of the best entries at the event, emailed Jeff later and said it was the best speaker he had ever heard and he wouldn't change a thing - high praise indeed. Jeff put his stamp of approval on the design as well (and Jeff is VERY fussy).
So now we're back home preparing for AKFest and we're definitely taking these speakers along for the ride.
I hope to have technical details and post a "name this speaker" thread in the next couple of days. We're extremely busy these days, but I hope to get this accomplished before we leave for AKFest.
- Jim
