Hi Dayne,
All very good questions!! Thanks for articulating what must be of interest to all people here, these are something. I've just today put finishing touches to the crossovers and absolutely hit the bullseye. I'm jubilant; the results are stellar, this is an astonishing speaker.
As always with speaker design, the final 15% takes 60% of the time. However, I succeeded in bringing the impedance dip up from 4R to 5.2R, and simultaneously bringing a very slightly recessed female vocal forward to a level of intimacy most of us prefer. The bass is even stronger, and the midrange more refined still. Vitality is remarkable, you really think you are there! All in all, a ripping corker of a speaker, and extremely easy to drive.
Sounds like a very interesting project! I'm also pleased that the F3 is below 40 Hz, which I imagine is due in part to using the 8" driver instead of 6.5".
I know very, very little about speaker design, so pardon the neophyte question: will using that 8" crossed over at what sounds like a fairly high 2600 Hz tend to make the speaker a little beamy (directional)? The consideration is that I'm a big fan of large (or perhaps forgiving is a more apt description?) sweet spots that are still enjoyable from off-axis.
Yes, very true, the 8" is the go, no question. This driver is exceptionally well designed and gives nothing away in speed to the 6.5" driver used on the AKSonics, which has been a surprise.
As Peter says, this is NOT a beamy driver. There is a phase plug, and a special moulded cone at the center of the driver which handles higher frequencies a bit like the whizzer cone on a Lowther, and it works extremely well. You can walk well forward and outside the two speakers and still perceive a very stable sound field. From another room, or from outside the listening room in the garden, the quality is very integrated and realistic. This beamy nature dominates with electrostatics, and is one of my pet dislikes. Like you, I like a speaker to sound like the real thing from lots of different locations.
Speaking of WAF, how far from the rear wall do the baffles have to be before they start to really sing? This has been one of my long-running battles. . .
The vent is at front, and since the depth is almost 18", these speakers can in fact be mounted right up against the wall with no diminution of image or sound field. This is a huge advantage for small apartments, as you suggest.
Are there multiple drivers? I'm a little unsure how you got to USD 550 for non-kit materials. The Peerless 8" 884 (the 830884?) seems to run around $80 and the 910921 $60. Adding in some shipping, 160 + 120 + 30 = $310. Were you also guestimating at the wood and veneer costs? Or am I just missing something?
I dislike grills but kids do get their thrills pushing on those big, black, silky dome tweeters. Are grills and magnets part of the package?
Just two drivers per speaker, the 8" 884 and the 1" silk dome 921. My prices were based on what we pay in Oz, which is far more expensive than the US for shipping reasons. However, I was assuming timber and veneering costs as well.
Grill material and clips will indeed be included in the kit.
Do the Vsonics hold the Linkwitz Orions at bay?
At the risk of hate mail from a few of the more notables on the OUG forum, I believe so. But I will admit I've not ABed them, and for this purpose would need to take a trip down to Marcus Aurelius for a pleasant session of comparison. As you may be aware, I shy away from active systems, largely for reasons of cost, but a few I've heard definitely do perform very well. The shortcomings of actives, in my view, can be sheeted home more to the electronics than the speakers themselves - but again, the jury is out and lots of knowledgeable people hold passionate views which I cannot dispute.
Peter,
I do try to make all links in the chain as optimal as possible. The easier the speaker is to drive, the better the sound from a given amp, and my designs are no different. I don't pretend to be a speaker designer, though I had a big hand in the final tweaking of the crossover, but I did find that my knowledge of electronics was very helpful here, and I was able to jump straight to workable solutions which bested the Xover Pro models. I will cynically admit that this did not surprise me; I have used PSpice for circuit modelling, but have been disappointed with the correlations with the real world, subjective sonic performance.
Cheers,
Hugh
