[trondareo]

Hi everybody,
Just dropping a note to show you my current project:



You can find the whole story unfolding on my blog, TAO of Tubes http://taooftubes.blogspot.com/2011/01/visaton-b200eminence-alpha-15a-speaker.html

Dimensions are
Width 750cm
Height 650cm
Sides 30 to 20cm wide.
Here is the cutting plan:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_C7bws0dOpF8/TSeB-YOCqtI/AAAAAAAABM0/co_ZeBjlulk/s320/Kappeplan+TA%25C3%2598+SPKR%25233.jpg

Presently the Eminence Alpha 15 is low passed with a 4,7mH Jantzen P-Core.
I have only listened to them in the big workshop at work, but I am pretty pleased with the sound in that room, As are my colleagues, there is always somebody trying out there music on them.

Future experiments include digital EQ of the B200´s rising response, and trying a 500Hz second order crossover for the Alpha 15A.

[mcgsxr]

Welcome to AC, and welcome to the open baffle circle especially!

Thanks for sharing your project, looks interesting.

What amp are you running with the b200's?

[trondareo]

I have several amp´s and haven´t decided yet. I will probably use a 13EM7 SET amp (1 Watt) in a small study, or my main system running a Audioromy 813 SET of 30 Watts.  But then I am building a PP 832 amp as well. So who knows? Right now we are listening to them on an early 90´s Rotel integrated at work.

[trondareo]

Update!

The speakers are pretty much finished, and brought home in my living room.
They are veneered in black Walnut. grill cloth is Marshal Salt&Pepper.
Lowpass filter Jantzen P-core inductor, 4.7mH for the Eminence Alpha 15
Parallel notch filter 0.15H, 1.5R, 6.8uF  for the Visaton B200

[trondareo]

And here is a video of them.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9rh_9Mn6VQ

[mcgsxr]

Very nice cosmetics, I think those are the best finished DIY speakers of this sort that I have seen.

Love the dark walnut!

[-Richard-]

I have been AWOL from the OB threads for a while (although I have a review of a new "8 speaker that has replaced the B200's in my OB's, that mcgsxr is posting for me soon... thanks mcgsxr!). Your speakers are indeed beautiful, a pleasure to look at and I am certain pure magic to listen to.

I have a question... have you tried listening to them without the grills as well as with the grills for a comparison... if so... did you hear a difference. I find with my own OB's that anything that gets in the way of the "naked" sound coming from the speakers affects the sense of "space" and "air".

I am interested in your thoughts about this. And again... lovely work, beautifully realized!!! Thanks for sharing with us.

With Warmest Regards ~ Richard

[trondareo]

I am happy that you like them!   

The speaker cloth (Marshal Salt&Pepper) is quite robust, but with plenty of free air gaps. I was sceptical as well when I bought the cloth, and did some blind testing (eyes shut) with several people. One of us stood beside the speaker and moved the cloth in front and away. We were not able to hear a difference. But this was at apprx. 80-90dB. At lower volumes, like an evening with the family I do think the highs and lows dissapear a lot, and obviously the ability to fill a large room and create a sense of space and air is reduced as well. I have not checked how much of this is due to the speaker cloth.

Right now they have taken the place of some Magnepan SMGa´s in the livingroom. The Maggies are modded by adding a true ribbon tweeter and turning the mylar forward. The Visanence sounds better! more dynamic, deeper and with just as nice mids and highs.
The Magnepans beat them in airiness and a laser tight sweet spot. I am tempted to build another set in a taller, slimmer shape, in white, for the living room. The current speakers do not pass WAF and are intended for the man-cave.

PS: I´m driving them with a 13EM7 Single ended triode amp that has lowly Hammon 125CSE output transformers. Getting some better transformers etc shoud lower the lows even lower.