[rasykora]

Hi AudioCircle members!

Am a long time audiophile and worked in automation for 30 years.  I now do some IT in support of individuals and small businesses.  When not busy with my IT efforts, am a AES engineer that designs DIY speakers and custom amplifiers. My audio company name is Sykora Sound Technologies.

I look forward to making some new friends and helping others as my time allows.

Kind regards,

Rick

[FullRangeMan]

Welcome to AC Rick.
Really nice find someone willing to help 

[rasykora]

Thanks!

Started out a few decades ago pursuing buying bigger and better audio up until we started a family and turned more towards DIY for better ROI (notably with speakers).

In automation, learned a lot about manufacturing costs and cemented my desire to get the best value from audio equipment purchases. So am rather pragmatic about what I spend on audio.

I am at a stage n life where I like to pay forward for all those who taught me along the way, so try to help others whenever I can these days. Am looking forward to seeing how I might help AudioCircle members whenever I can.

Rick

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[JLM]

Welcome!

Would like to learn more about you and your company.

[rasykora]

There is more information on a webpage I started as part of my IT work here: www.sykorasound.com

Until allowed to PM here, if you want to ask something more privately, feel free to email me at rick.sykora@outlook.com. 

 

[FullRangeMan]

This is a very nice FR tower:
https://www.parts-express.com/Epique-CBT24-Line-Array-Speaker-System-Pair-301-982
Do you think these SB acoustics would do better than the Dayton?
Unfortunately they are not 1 ohm.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com//approx-4-woofers/sb-acoustics-sb12pac25-4-4-aluminum-cone-woofer/#tab-1

https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-3-fullrange/sb-acoustics-sb10pgc21-4-3-full-range/

[rasykora]

In the CBT24, better drivers can be used, but the attenuation network would likely need adjusting.  One gentlemen used 4 ohm  SB drivers as shown here: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/my-new-line-array-its-a-modified-cbt24.313352/

The native driver is 16 ohms and was designed specifically for the CBT24.  As it is a challenging cabinet to build, one aspect of the drivers is a thin flange.  This makes it easier to mount them along the curved cabinet.

Don Keele is the primary designer and posts most of the design considerations here: http://www.xlrtechs.com/dbkeele.com/CBT.php

As with most speaker designs, there are tradeoffs.  The constant beamwidth does not form over the entire speaker bandwidth.  Not sure how much that affects the audible results as have not heard any others. It needs a subwoofer and the large sweet spot is great for home theater. So it works well there.  It does pretty well with stereo music playback too, but I still like more traditional monopole speakers for that purpose.

Rick Craig (RIP) did work with Don Keele extensively and told me the CBT36 sounds much better.  Don is in his 80s and is still working AFAIK.  Since Parts Express discontinued and Selah Audio is defunct, JBL Pro has the only major CBT offering still in the US market. Harman is trying to revive the design in Europe and Don is collaborating with someone there too.  The objective is to offer an array that has an adjustable soundfield (akin to the B&O Beolab speakers). 

[JLM]

In the CBT24, better drivers can be used, but the attenuation network would likely need adjusting.  One gentlemen used 4 ohm  SB drivers as shown here: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/my-new-line-array-its-a-modified-cbt24.313352/

Yes, the quality of the drivers in the Parts Express kit are scary/pathetic, especially the tweeters.  That's always been one of my strikes against the CBT's.  Of course high quality drivers would push their cost way up, especially in a commercial venture and going to the CBT-36 version even more so.

[rasykora]

Never really looked too hard at the driver as there was no choice as Parts Express was closing out the speakers. I recall I spent just under $1000 for the pair. Given the cabinet complexity, would not be worth my time to build.  So I got something that was interesting and does work better for home theater than many more expensive speakers I have owned.

I did buy some driver spares and the construction is decent. They appear comparable to many drivers in commercial speakers, but they do need eq to get any real highs out of them.  Considering how old the design is, there are certainly better driver values today. When we downsize, may have to consider what happens to them.  I spoke to Don and Rick about some smaller ones, but never materialized. Maybe will repurpose the cabinets and upgrade the drivers then, but with kids moved out, not using the home theater much anymore. The room sees more action for measuring new designs rn.

[dB Cooper]

Welcome rasykora. Good that someone of your background is here, and that you are involved in DIY audio. Most of the DIY speaks I have been exposed to seem to have been designed by seat-of-the-pants methods and assessed with a sprinkle of 'proud papa' bias but a build of a professionally done design that comes out actually sounding good is probably within reach of a lot more people. I have seen some impressive cabinet building in the DIY forum.

[jtwrace]

Are you the same Rick from ASR? 

[rasykora]

Yes, am the same guy. 
 

[mresseguie]

Welcome to AC, Rick.

I've just begun reading the Direktiva project, but I must admit to being intimadated by how much time it will take to read all 44 pages of posts. Is there a faster was to learn about the speakers, and whether there are ready-to-build plans (or purchasable kit??)?

Michael

[rasykora]

Thanks Michael!

The first 20 pages of the build thread: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/directiva-r1-speaker-build-using-denovo-flat-pack.23535/post-787115 should get you most of the way.  Then a crossover needs to be selected from the active or passive threads.  I have not had enough interest to market a kit as yet, but maybe once the passive crossover is finalized.  At that point, will need to create some more concise docs.  Directiva was conceived to be a platform project, but the forum organization does not really support an applicable structure for it.

Thanks for pointing out the need for some spring cleaning. ASR is not highly curated, and some members rather post in an existing thread even when they should start a new one. 

If you have questions after looking over the first part of the build thread, feel free to PM or email me.  I usually turn email within 12 hours.

Rick

[FullRangeMan]

Hi Rick,
Thanks for the CBT detailed panorama.
The 16Ω drivers means a serie/parallel combo, unfortunately I had a bad experience with serie/parallel connections and not recommend it to any hi-fi use due the unexpectedly low impedance at high SPL when music have bass or mid-range square waves usually eletronica music, which resulted me a damage in a pro-audio amp.