Current flavor of the day - digital amps

JLM · « **Reply #20 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 11:15 am »

Here's another interesting driver:

http://www.impactaudio.co.uk/product.asp?ref=521

8 inch diameter, 96 dB/w/m, 6 ohm, 40 - 18,000 Hz, Qts 0.7, about $160 each.

An Aussie over on the Decware forum is loving it with his 10 wpc homebrew and is blown away compared to his previous Jordan 92S drivers. He runs them in large open baffles with active crossover to dual woofers per channel.

Dmason · « **Reply #21 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 01:42 pm »

I also have read nothing but good about the new Visaton creation. I spoke with a fellow from Germany about this and he said in forty years of tweaking audio he never had it so good as with his Tripath 2050 and Visaton B200. A simple recipe and the best solution in his 40 years...Planet10 of DIYaudio.com fame said he was "amazed" at the B200, so there is another option. www.solen.ca is the distributor of Visaton.

To visit a museum of single driver speakers, www.spectrumaudio.de go to "breitbandlautsprecher" to give yourself an idea of what is out there for your audio fun. This is where I got my Ciare 250's and they too are great speakers, true music makers.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #22 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 02:08 pm »

The thing that amazes me about Solen carrying those Visatons, is that they are $160 CANADIAN! I would have thought that was the US price, and then with duty, taxes etc, it usually comes out to around 1.5 times that.

Tempting... and my WR125's are barely done!

Dmason · « **Reply #23 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 02:57 pm »

Mark,

You should order a pair, cut holes in those two sheets of MDF in the back, hook em up, and get a big taste of the open baffle experience. You could even run them through your sub XO, and tune them in with the sub. You can be our test-bunny.

The B200 has only been out about a year and the opinions are starting to filter down and they are all extremely positive. Dare I say it, the WR125 is giving me only a peek thru the keyhole of some truly grand sound courtesy of direct digital amplification + wide rangers.

It seems that the larger radiating surface has alot to do with it, and 8 inches in terms of DIA/SA ratio is optimal. The 250mm cones are abit big to be fast, methinks.

miklorsmith · « **Reply #24 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 03:12 pm »

OK, the Clari-T sounds better with the Fostexes than the HCA-2. On day 2, still within the unlistenable period.

I was able to max out the volume on some heavy dub music. The amount of bass the 206's in my BR boxes can make is incredible. Clean all the way to max volume too. I forgot to break out my SPL meter, but it was LOUD, mon.

Yum yum yum. Did someone say something about brownies?

Dmason · « **Reply #25 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 03:35 pm »

Yes, that is another thing; digital amps have such a grip on drivers, the T chips squeeze as much bass out of the FE-E speakers as can be imagined, and waaaaaaaaay more than the tube-o-philes are getting. It can do sort of "real" bass with the ClariT. Amazing bonus, that is. Put the port on the back if it isnt too late. Room gain, even in the garage is excellent.

Miklor, the Fostii need at LEAST 150 hours before they really start to settle down. I have gotten in the habit of cooking these things for a week, inside cardboard boxes before any of it getting into my ears. Saves that disappointment. People complain routinely about the highs. Every time, it is due to green drivers. The Fostex have a cool way of getting better and better over time, and the FE-E qualify for ValueKing status.

gary · « **Reply #26 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 03:46 pm »

Quote from: miklorsmith

OK, the Clari-T sounds better with the Fostexes than the HCA-2. On day 2, still within the unlistenable period.

I was able to max out the volume on some heavy dub music. The amount of bass the 206's in my BR boxes can make is incredible. Clean all the way to max volume too. I forgot to break out my SPL meter, but it was LOUD, mon.

Yum yum yum. Did someone say something about brownies?

That's what I couldn't get over (and didn't expect at all). The bass my little monitors was putting out was unreal, even at the same sort of volume I used to listen at the whole house was filled with sound whereas before you hear it from upstairs but it wasn't overbearing.

Gary

miklorsmith · « **Reply #27 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 04:23 pm »

Yeah, I built these boxes as a garage project, with no idea how they would sound. Aside from volume, I worked from the TNT BFB model, building a skinny-ish tower with sloped front baffle (cool but a pain) out of unlaminated MDF. Port in front. I stained them and they look OK, especially with the off-white drivers but they're not a long-term, pretty solution.

Dmason, do you have a tall-box shape you like with back-port? Do the dimensions used have much effect on the sound? I've got a wild-hair notion of building a pair out of thick, high-density plastic drain pipe - round! No standing waves! They would be ugly as sin though. Maybe put the pipe in a box? . . .

corwin99 · « **Reply #28 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 04:51 pm »

Quote from: Dmason

Mark,
You should order a pair, cut holes in those two sheets of MDF in the back, hook em up, and get a big taste of the open baffle experience.

Dmason, are those Visatons good for open baffle designs?

-neL

Dmason · « **Reply #29 on:** 24 Feb 2005, 05:08 pm »

Miklor

Someone somewhere built a pair of Sonotube pipes with the 207 probably, as it has a higher Q. the right tubular pipes with floor loading could be dangerous good. The 206 is actually designed for a backhorn, but it seems to work okay in boxes. I dont think shape is as important as volume, of course the more you stray from the Golden Ratio. Mine are 25L boxes lifted right off the Fostex website for recommended enclosures, then I compared it with Omega Grande 8, then I added 10 L because the F200A was going to go into it as well. Now it is my enclosure for 8 inch singles and coaxials.

Corwin,

The word is that the Visaton is best in an open baffle. It likes BIG enclosures and needs EQ, but OB it can run wild, and Fs roll-off is high enough that the rising response isnt an issue. No one has complained about the rising response, so I think Visaton is being very careful to conservative in their ratings. I would use EQ pre-amp on something like that, something the BSC circuit guys dont seem to think about: why bother with a single driver solution if you are going to kill the First Watt with signal surgery? I bet the Visaton B200 is killer in just about anything.

www.visaton.de Look for English Tab

Find t-linespeakers site for more. He also has experience with the B200, and lives in Victoria. He wrote in DIY that he had a pair for sale.