Confused about Hemptone speakers

lcrim · « **on:** 11 Mar 2006, 01:51 am »

Over in the 2 channel forum in a thread where I was asking about another brand of speaker, dmason mentioned that the 8" Hemp Cones (?)were his new favorite 8" driver and that they had a bass reach to ~36 Hz, which is impressive.
I can't find that particular measured parameter on any speaker that Louis quotes frequency measurements on. I don't doubt that Dan was being straight, its just that I wonder which speaker that he was referring to and if there is more info including price.
Thanks

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #1 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 03:21 am »

Quote from: lcrim

Over in the 2 channel forum in a thread where I was asking about another brand of speaker, dmason mentioned that the 8" Hemp Cones (?)were his new favorite 8" driver and that they had a bass reach to ~36 Hz, which is impressive.
I can't find that particular measured parameter on any speaker that Louis quotes frequency measurements on. I don't doubt that Dan was being straight, its just that I wonder which speaker that he was referring to and if there is more info including price.
Thanks

Hi lcrim,

I *think* Dan is referring to the new Super Hemps, not the Hemptone Compact 8. I see a picture of the Super Hemps on the Omega webpage (in the Gallery section). It is a wide baffle box with more cabinet volume. I believe Louis is still working on making a page for it in his products section.

I also do not doubt dmasons findings regarding the in-room bass response. I would think that with the size of the Super Hemp cabinet, the 8" driver, and the big power port on the back, the bass should go at least down to 40Hz. I will FINALLY get to hear them in our room at the Montreal show!

Best regards,

Dmason · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 04:44 am »

Yup. The SuperHemp. With room gain, and where my ears are located for serious listening, lying on the floor with head propped up, all kinds of very well damped bass. The big flared port does a hell of a lot more than just vent the box, playing them backward, I realized there was a ton of info coming out of there, and when placing them back I realized that they actually were adding a considerable amount of ambience. This added radiation from the big port combined with SET is, for a BR speaker, far closer to bipole, etc., than I ever would have thought. This is something new. Louis notices the same thing, apparently. An added benefit.

For the last ten years, my favourite 8 inch wide ranger/coaxial driver in general has been the Radian 508 coaxial, which I have owned for years, an Emilar 8, with the special secret herbs n spices paper recipe used in the same cones in the Tannoy Pre$tige Line. Arguably this line represent the eternal Arch-Lords of the Point Source speaker. www.tannoy.com and you will see what I mean...This is because the American wing of Tannoy was producing the drivers up the road, and Radian was a spin off of Emilar. ...Now, this hemp matrix cone stuff, and with a little radiating surface, ----> 8 inch <----for which there is no substitute, (sorry you 4.5" fans) has come along and blown all that coaxial stuff into the ...weed, ...pardon the pun. No crossover, no phase issues, no material dissimilarities, no aluminum diaphragms and on...

Mine aren't even broken in yet, having only been played quite quietly on nothing more potent than 6 watts ClariT, and recently they are really coming into their own. I have been ill, and as such have not been interested in listening to anything much heavier than Beethoven chamber counterpoint. Soon, they will get something crunchier to chew on. Point is, they are NOT burned in, and they still sound fabulous.

The state of the art so far as higher efficiency 8 inch drivers appears to have been pushed forward once again. The hemp 8 OEM driver has a Fs=~44Hz, Qts ~.45, in a 2.5ft^3 box, with room gain? ...attaining 36Hz is a no brainer, expecially with lower damping factor of a tube amp. TONS of bass. There is a bass TL in the room, and no inclination to plug it in. To me this is proof of fullrange E. Nuff. Completely exceeded my expectations. What it doesn't tell, is the story of this unbelievably high calorie dry, sweet, warm organic thing coming out of these speakers. Turns out that almost all of the current owners of SuperHemps are using SET amps, and about half are using the world's most loved 2A3, Don Garber's Fi X. Synergy. Credibility. Uber musicality

The Radian 508, and thus the Galante Rhapsody only reeeelly sound great using micro power SET. The hemps sound great using Class T, 45SE, 6DN7 SE, Hafler A/AB, the hemps sound ridiculously great with all these different topologies. The guy selling the Rhapsodies is likely trying to fund the upgrade most appropriate to him: the SuperHemps.

lcrim · « **Reply #3 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 01:43 pm »

Vinnie & Dan:
Thanks for the info, I would love to audition the Super Hemps in my living room system that has Eastern Electric Minimax pre and power amps. While the power amp is not a SET, it is a wonderful little pp amp utilizing four 6BM8 dual package power pentode/triode to generate a big 8 watts per channel. I am currently driving 88 dB speaker w/ an apparently benign impedance curve (rated @ 6 ohm). Those are 8 very big watts, as its control of the speaker diaphragms is the best I've yet encountered. The bass is aided by an Adire Rava sub and since I put the EE MM preamp in the chain' this has begun to draw attention to itself.

Dan, the guy selling the Rhapsodys, replaced them with a pair of the very pricey PHY-HP KM30 SAG mounted in DIY boxes and is awaiting delivery of slightly used Audio Note E/LX. The pictures of the Super Hemps, with the wide front baffle, looks very similar to the Snell derived ANs.
Maybe Louis will weigh in with some specs and pricing on the Super Hemps?

Dmason · « **Reply #4 on:** 11 Mar 2006, 04:18 pm »

I love that little Minimax amp; It surely SOUNDS like an SET, and the author, Alex knows what he is doing. Best of both worlds, the bite of PP, but sounding for all the world like SET. One amp I have wanted for a long time now.

The SuperHemp derives from the Snell AN/E designs yes. That is discussed in earlier SuperHemp thread.

skite30 · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 08:59 pm »

Dmason
If the superhemp behaves similar to an OB does that mean it needs to be postioned well away from the rear wall? Have you tried it nearfield in a small room setting?

Dmason · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 Mar 2006, 09:28 pm »

All rear ported speakers should be placed fairly well away from walls. Mine are abit closer than they ought to be, I suppose, due to room size constraints. They are raised a total of about six inches, with a 5' tilt.

I was not directly comparing it with dipole nor bipole speakers, THAT would invite some sort of flack; what I was saying was that an awful lot of musical information was being presented out the back, in addition to the box venting dynamics of a port system. It is a large flared port, with a 3 inch channel tube. I was noting that in concert with the dimensional psychoacoustic presentation unique to Single Ended Triode , there existed ALOT more dimensionality than I would have expected; it was simply an unexpected and very positive observation shared by other listeners, including Louis, as I recently discovered, other's experience could naturally differ. ...think of it as a bonus. Sitting in the next room, it would seem the effect is even more noticeable.

skite30 · « **Reply #7 on:** 13 Mar 2006, 08:18 pm »

Dmason,
Thanks for the info. I'm not real familiar with normal rear ported bass reflex speakers. I've been using jordan jx92s's in the jim griffin monitor in a small 10x10 room, stuck as far into the corner as possible. Recently built the VTL cabinet for them also placed in the corner. I"ve been amazed by how much the wide baffle has smoothed out the mids and top end of the jordans. Have been curious about the A8's and I could use a bit more effeciency than the jordans have. I really like the looks of the superhemps but don't have alot of extra distance from the rear wall to work with. I"m really looking forward to Louis's nee 4.5 hemp driver creations. Hope they turn out effecient enough for a 2a3 amp. Seems they could be a good option in either the xrs or the front ported super 3.

Dmason · « **Reply #8 on:** 13 Mar 2006, 09:01 pm »

Sometime ago I listened to the VTL Jordan auditioned right next to the GM-MLTL Jordans I built, and there was no contest in the quality of the midband, hands down the wide baffle. No substitute. I was so dismayed I actually sold my MLTL's after that. Greg Monfort himself vastly prefers the VTL to his own design.

The traditional, wide baffle is, I think, such a good thing with the gorgeous midband of the hemps, like a perfect home or environment, the perfect load and configuration for this particular driver.