[mlundy57]

Hi Mike,
I haven't listened to the Wedgies for a while, I was running in the V1s for a few weeks getting them ready for my son prior to finishing the Oticas.  I will be able to go from the wedgie to the Otica with a cable swap once I get everything where it belongs.  From memory the Wedgies image and soundstage better than the Oticas, the way I have the Oticas set up at the moment anyway.  They sound more similar than different based on audio memory.  It may be a bit before I can do any type of reasonable comparison due to college graduation and other family obligations.  I can offer this, the Wedgies are not embarrassed by the Oticas (of course you already know this  ) and I like the servos drivers facing forward better than opposite.

Best,
Ed

Ed,

My initial impressions were along the same lines. The Oticas are fuller in the midrange but the Wedgies imaged a little better. There was also something else about the Wedgies I liked but couldn't put my finger on it well enough to describe it. The Wedgies were also easier to get set up in my small 11' x 13' x 8' room.

The Oticas can almost be too much in my room but boy did they show off in the larger room I had at LSAF in May.

I haven't listened to my Wedgies since April. I wanted to get a good feel for the Oticas before doing any comparison again. I was unsure how much my familiarity with the Wedgies (had been listening to them over a year) combined with unfamiliarity of the new Oticas was affecting my impressions.

Remember, when comparing the two it isn't going to be as easy as a cable swap. You have to adjust the subs to compensate for the Wedgies 200Hz rolloff vs the Oticas 100Hz. I'm going to use Chuck's record sheets to record the sub control positions for Oticas and Wedgies. That should cut down the amount of time needed to swap from one to the other but it still won't be a fast A/B.

Mike

[Danny Richie]

If you guys make some comparisons start a new thread for it.

[mlundy57]

If you guys make some comparisons start a new thread for it.

Will do

[ebag4]

Because my room is small, I decided to mount my servo amps in the ends of a new stand to save space, and because my room is small I am able to do that and keep the connections short.

I am really enjoying the NX Oticas, I continue to tweak the bass and speaker positions.

More later.

Best,
Ed

[danvprod]

Awesome idea!

[corndog71]

Because my room is small, I decided to mount my servo amps in the ends of a new stand to save space, and because my room is small I am able to do that and keep the connections short.

I am really enjoying the NX Oticas, I continue to tweak the bass and speaker positions.

More later.

Best,
Ed

That's pretty cool!

[danvprod]

You just have to have Dave build an UberBuss inside the stand and you will be all set. 

[ebag4]

Thanks guys, it helps unclutter the floor a bit. 

The Uberbuss is sitting next to it right now, I considered building a spot for it but because of the space it would take up I chose not to.

Best,
Ed

[ebag4]

Hey all, I haven't been here much lately but wanted to stop in and give a brief update.  I have made numerous changes to my system, so many that it would be difficult to do any reasonable comparisons based on the sound I had previously. 

First off, the boss gave her permission to move my primary listening space into what we call the great room (only took 16 years , all it will cost me is new furniture ).  This room is much larger than my previous space, this has resulted in a system that is easier to listen to, soundstage has been positively impacted as well, but in my opinion the ease of listening is the biggest change, not that my previous space was bad, this is simply better (even without sound treatment other than furniture).  This is the current/permanent layout:






The 45 degree layout is a plus IMO, although the layout centered on the short wall was good as well (but wasn't working for the boss).

The other major change is that I have moved from my Auralic Vega DAC/Bottlehead Kaiju (300b amp) to a Vinnie Rossi LIO for my DAC/Preamp/Amp.

So how does it sound?  In a nutshell, pretty darn great!  The NX-Oticas are the best speakers I have owned.  Yes, I said the same thing about the Wedgies, I still love the Wedgies, the sound of both speakers is very similar with the main difference being what you would think, the Otica goes lower and has more bass impact than the Wedgie.  In my small room the Wedgie may still reign supreme, but I won't be dragging the system back there to compare.  I did have an extremely brief comparison of the Wedgie and Otica in the current room, that is what brought me to the conclusion noted above.  I will do a more thorough comparison at a later date, when I do I will start a new thread per Danny's request.

The Oticas and LIO are a great paring, the additional power of the LIO is a benefit, especially in the larger space.  The LIO/Otica combo present what I can only describe as a very natural sound, balanced, with nothing exaggerated.  This LIO has the AVC and Tube Buffer, I am saving up for the DHT with high hopes of where it will take me.  I am still messing with the setup, I need to pick up some slightly longer speaker cables and clean up the wiring to the microRendu, but I am one very happy camper!

BTW, I am driving the Otica MTMs full range, I will be following up with Vinnie to determine what my options may be with regard to hi-passing the amp at around 80Hz while keeping the preamp outputs full range.

Best,
Ed

[Captainhemo]

Hey Ed, congrats on the new room and the  new  LIO    We've been  messing with some of the  Slaglaformers up here  as well in a  totally passive peramp and  they are very impressive.  Haven't heard them in the LIO but I know John Chapman was directly involved inthe LIO's AVC , he  also built the   digital contorl for the  autoformers in teh  "pre" we've had access to.
Glad to hear   you are  enjoying the  Ottica MTM's, bet they sound great with the additonal  room around them 

jay

[flavo]

I love what you've done with these. A couple of questions on the build.
 
How did you get the veneer in the wave guide recess to mold with the concavity?
Also, the divider between the H frame and the MTM. Is that permanently affixed to the H frame and did you have those fancy angles cut on the CNC machine?

[Bob in St. Louis]

Very nice. Pelin burl?

[Captainhemo]

I love what you've done with these. A couple of questions on the build.
 
How did you get the veneer in the wave guide recess to mold with the concavity?
Also, the divider between the H frame and the MTM. Is that permanently affixed to the H frame and did you have those fancy angles cut on the CNC machine?

If you go back through his build,   Ed shows how he did the veneer in the wave guide ( pattern from  duct tape/painters tape)   and   the  tops  IIRC

jay

[ebag4]

I love what you've done with these. A couple of questions on the build.
 
How did you get the veneer in the wave guide recess to mold with the concavity?
Also, the divider between the H frame and the MTM. Is that permanently affixed to the H frame and did you have those fancy angles cut on the CNC machine?

Hi Flavo, sorry for the late reply, I didn't see your question until now.  With regard to the waveguide, As Jay noted, I showed how I did it earlier in the thread, there may be other ways as well but this worked pretty well for me.

The middle piece is not permanently attached, it sits on 4 Herbies dots (don't recall the actual name ATM).  I wanted to be able to use the H frames with other speakers down the road.  The angles were done on my table saw, I built a jig due to the compound angles, they are made of 3 3/4" pieces of mdf, they were glued up prior t running them through the saw. I am lucky I didn't lose any appendages, if you have a safer way to do something like this I highly recommend it.

Hope that helps!

Best,
Ed

[ebag4]

Very nice. Pelin burl?

Hi Bob, it is Plane tree Burl.

Best,
Ed

[mlundy57]

Ed,

Would you go into more detail on how you laid out, cut, and glued up the middle section, including the jig you used?

Thanks,

Mike

[ebag4]

Ed,

Would you go into more detail on how you laid out, cut, and glued up the middle section, including the jig you used?

Thanks,

Mike

Hey Mike, sure, let me start by saying this was a very dangerous cut to make and I don't recommend anyone going this route.

I ended up doing this twice, in the first version I tried to take the angle too close to the corners, in the final version I left  about 1/4" from the corners.

I started by cutting 3 of the 3/4" panels to the appropriate  size, I then cut the footprint out of the MTMs from the top panels using a jigsaw and glued them up.

I set my blade to the angle I wanted, this angle was dictated by the points I wanted to land based on the front view (e.g. 1/4" from the cutout on the top panel and 1/4" from the side bottom) with the panel placed vertically.

Because the material being removed reduced front to back, I had to raise the back of the panel, I did this by screwing an additional panel to the back that would sit square on the table. Something like this:



Some better sketches would help explain it, unfortunately my laptop is down right now so I don't have access to Visio but I am working on it today.

 The difficult part of this was getting the same angle for the opposite side because one side starts at the front and the opposite side starts from the back, a little hard to explain but more obvious when you are setting it up.

I did this with no safety guards on the saw, hence my earlier warning.  For my layout, the saw blade was a bit shy of cutting all the way through so I finished the last bit with a handsaw followed by sanding.

I am a "seat of the pants" woodworker, just figuring things out as I go, there are probably better/safer ways to get the same results, but with my tools and knowledge this is what I came up with.  I built that part a year ago last October, I don't think I left anything out but I have slept since then .  If I remember anything significant I will modify this post.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Ed

[mlundy57]

Ed,

Thanks. Pictured/sketches would be a help. I think I’m getting the gist of it but haven’t got my head wrapped around it yet.

Mike

[ebag4]

Mike, a picture is said to be worth a thousand words, hopefully this gives you a better idea of what I was trying to explain above:



Best,
Ed

 

[mlundy57]

Ed,

Thanks. That makes more sense. A tall fence would make that a lot safer.

For me I need to figure out how to turn it around backward because I have a right tilt saw. Looks like the easiest would be to move my fence to the left side of the blade. Also build a supplemental fence that fits over my current one and is as tall as the jig.

I can see how this is dangerous because even with a tall fence you still have to hold the work piece against the fence as you push it through the blade. This means having your arms over the blade as it makes the cut. Feather boards won't work, nothing to attach them to. Maybe an L shaped attachment to the jig that rides on the table on the outside of the blade. The base of the jig would have to extend beyond the work piece in both directions, not just one, for the L piece to attach.

This might work. You wouldn't be able to see the cut but once you have it setup that shouldn't matter.

Mike