NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.

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Danny Richie

NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« on: 16 Mar 2016, 10:04 pm »
This is a follow up to the thread that covered this model move through the design and build stages: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=138009.0

These are now ready to go. And keep in mind that there is a limited number of these due to the limited number of the custom Neo 3 tweeters that are on hand. These can also be built using the standard Neo 3 pdr. Using the standard Neo 3 pdr omits one resistor and changes one cap value. So if you find or have a pair of the Neo 3 pdr's then I can sell you the whole kit minus the tweeters.

The price for everything is $2,199. This includes all the drivers, crossover parts, wire, connectors, screws, everything all top notch... (parts total $1,349), plus five sheets of No Rez ($200) that are necessary for this design. And the kit includes the CNC cut flat pack ($650). It does not include and upgrades of Platinum by-pass caps or shipping costs. The kit will ship from GR Research and the flat pack will ship from Oroville, WA.

You will also need some of our open baffle servo subs for the lower ranges.

The CNC cut cabinets for these are very impressive and fit together very nicely. I was actually able to tape this pair together and use them for finial measuring, testing, and voicing without having to glue them up. I wanted to hurry up and get the design finalized for everyone that has been waiting on them. Now I can take this pair apart and paint them up nicely to use as a demo pair.

Here are some very funny to see taped up speakers. There didn't appear to be any issues from the taped up panels. They sound great!









I used the lower section of the Super-7's for their open baffle servo subs only. And that worked out real well. 

These are actually right up there with the Super-7 on a performance level, and even exceed them in a few areas. So these rank up there in the top four best open baffle speakers that I have ever heard. And they are clearly the best sounding speakers that I have ever released as a kit. I'll even go so far as to say that you can't buy a better sounding kit for any amount of money and will be hard pressed to beat them with any finished speaker for any amount of money. These really are that good.

The wave guide for the tweeter not only physically aligned the diaphragm to the voice coil of the mid-bass woofers, but the wave guide also allowed the tweeter to play much lower than normal. Here is the crossover response that I settled on after listening to them for a while.



The on axis response is better than +/-2db from end to end. Yes, I know they don't look smooth blown up on the scaling that I use (5db scale), but they are really smooth.



And with the really low crossover point the vertical off axis looks great. The output stays more consistent over a wider vertical range than 95% of all of the speakers that I have ever measured.



The off axis response in the horizontal plane looks great too.



The cumulative spectral decay looks super clean too.



And the impedance is an easy load for any amplifier. And with the high sensitivity that these have they are easy to drive with single digit amps too. The sensitivity is 93db.



This model uses a pair of the M165NQ/16 woofers in parallel around the tweeter. These are purpose built drivers just for this open baffle application and there literally is nothing else like them on the market. And the vocal region that these cover is as good as anything or any other driver that I have ever heard.

Down below there are four of the M165 woofers in a series/parallel configuration. They handle the bass down to about 80 to 90Hz (depending on the room) and easily blend with the servo controlled open baffle woofers.

A sub tower of two SW-12-08FR's on each side is recommended. But you could go with three of the SW-12-16FR woofers per side as soon as they become available again.

Jay and Don and making flat packs for those too: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=139480.0

Don't wait fellows. These won't last long. I'll re-release them again one day when I can get my hands on more of the Neo 3 tweeters (one of these days). But for now, there are a very limited number of them available.
« Last Edit: 30 Oct 2017, 06:41 pm by Danny Richie »

revg1952

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #1 on: 16 Mar 2016, 11:35 pm »
Danny very impressive, even the duct tape looks good on these, very nice , I do bet they sound great!
 Revg/Gary

SteveKi

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #2 on: 17 Mar 2016, 02:31 am »
Danny,
Do you have a picture of the crossover? Does it just sit on a board at the bottom?
Steve

Danny Richie

Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #3 on: 17 Mar 2016, 02:50 am »
Danny,
Do you have a picture of the crossover? Does it just sit on a board at the bottom?
Steve

It will simply mount to a board placed in the bottom of the speaker. It is actually a very simple crossover. The drivers output was controlled by the cabinet design. So it doesn't require a lot of crossover manipulation to correct for peaks or dips. The bass to mid-bass crossover is a first order. The mid to tweeter crossover is a simple second order. Nothing to it.

Captainhemo

Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #4 on: 17 Mar 2016, 04:41 am »
Danny,
Do you have a picture of the crossover? Does it just sit on a board at the bottom?
Steve

Stee, post # 64
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=138009.60

You get a couple of these boards with the flat packs
They're cut narrow enough to allow for the no rez on either side

jay

AKLegal

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #5 on: 17 Mar 2016, 01:43 pm »
Does this mean the X-Otica's are close to being released? *fingers crossed*

Danny Richie

Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #6 on: 17 Mar 2016, 02:02 pm »
Does this mean the X-Otica's are close to being released? *fingers crossed*

Those are actually done too. I finished them up a few weeks ago. I still need to draw up the cabinet plans into a usable form so that the customer can build them and then I will release them. Those things sound really great too.

Hank

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #7 on: 17 Mar 2016, 04:33 pm »
Congrats on your fine effort, Danny!  What a smooth frequency response. 
Remember guys, Danny's 5 dB scale is atypical - most published graphs I've seen use a 10 dB scale, thus minimizing the appearance of peaks and valleys.

mlundy57

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #8 on: 17 Mar 2016, 09:17 pm »
Does the NoRez only go in the bottom section or does it go on the large wing also?

Danny Richie

Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #9 on: 17 Mar 2016, 09:23 pm »
Does the NoRez only go in the bottom section or does it go on the large wing also?

It needs to cover the full length of the long wing, and all of the lower section of the short wing.

mlundy57

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #10 on: 18 Mar 2016, 12:29 am »
It needs to cover the full length of the long wing, and all of the lower section of the short wing.

Thanks. Good to know before I painted and topcoated those sections. Looks like I may have one and a half of them to build.

Peter J

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #11 on: 18 Mar 2016, 01:21 am »
It needs to cover the full length of the long wing, and all of the lower section of the short wing.

Danny, does this go for the MTM section of the X-Otica as well as NX-Otica? If so I'm gonna need yet more NoRez...

londonbarn

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #12 on: 19 Mar 2016, 05:02 pm »
The Duct Tape version could represent the ultimate in high end audio portability...  I believe "DT Research" could be a profitable "portable" line for you Danny...

SteveKi

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #13 on: 19 Mar 2016, 06:24 pm »
Yes but, OB with DT, the WAF is even worse.
Steve

bdp24

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #14 on: 19 Mar 2016, 11:59 pm »
Yes but, OB with DT, the WAF is even worse.
Steve

Fortuitously, the W of WAF is upgradeable ;-).

Captainhemo

Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #15 on: 26 Mar 2016, 02:10 am »
Well, the day has arrived



Here are a few  brief impressions, it's very early as I 've  had these up for abot 3 hrs or so.

Funny, I believe it was easter weekend 2013  (good friday) when I first got my Ob7's up and running,   here we are again.
The NX Otticas definitely are fuller and  provide substantially more impact than the OB7's.  There would seem to be a  lot more  "punch"  behind them.  the highs have a similar  sound, but are more open  and strangely, seem more detailed. Integration with the servo subs is even more seamsless than what I experienced with the 7's, you'd swear there are no subs.  Also noticed right away a wider, more defined soundsage, very precise imaging with an extremely strong center image of vocals.  Really impressive

I'll post some more wonce I've a ccumuloated some hours but right now, I'm  extremely happy and just  siting back enjoying  :dance:

Used  a bundle  of Sonicaps  for the 100 uF  group in the mid filter along with a  Alpha Core Foil Inductor, an extra .1 uF Gen Ii bypass cap on the  shunt cap  in the mids,  and platinums on the  high pass.  Also   wired  to  bi-amp  with the 4 ch Dood/Richie prototype amp. The other little change  with these is we used the M165X -16's in the lower section (already had these on hand) and the standard Neo 3 PDR tweeter (no resistor needed to pad  slightly)

Perma grin  :green:

jay

ebag4

Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #16 on: 26 Mar 2016, 02:14 am »
Jay, those are gorgeous !  Can't wait to read more impressions.  Congrats!

Best,
Ed

Captainhemo

Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #17 on: 26 Mar 2016, 02:19 am »
Jay, those are gorgeous !  Can't wait to read more impressions.  Congrats!

Best,
Ed

Thanks Ed,   :thumb:

jseipp

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Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #18 on: 26 Mar 2016, 02:20 am »
I'm excited to know that you are enjoying the fruits of much labor -- enjoy, man!!

ebag4

Re: NX-Otica kits are ready to ship.
« Reply #19 on: 26 Mar 2016, 02:30 am »
I'm excited to know that you are enjoying the fruits of much labor -- enjoy, man!!
+1