[jrebman]

I decided to ressurect the single driver circle for one main reason -- after lots and lots of experiments and systems of many kinds, I constantly find myself coming back to the charm of a good single driver speaker and a good single-ended amp.  Of course, as with any system, nothing is perfect and compromises must be made, but for me, there is nothing more enjoyable to listen to... when done right.

My office system is pretty much done and set now -- the Horn Shoppe Horns that I have modified, a Cube, a simple USB dac, and the Carina.

In my living room, the main system, I currently have the EE Minimax M-520, my Fonkensteens and a Havana DAC with Legato async USB to spdif converter, and soon to be joined by a small, fanless linux box serving up the tunes.

Well, as wonderful as the minimax/fonkensteen combination is, I really want that special something one gets with a high efficiency speaker and a SET or SEP amp, so after pondering the situation for a very long time, and motivated by the fact that about the only really affordable (for me) speaker was about to become extinct and that the British pound was down, I called Jon VerHalen at Lowther America and ordered myself a pair of Alerions with the new Lowther DX65 drivers.

The DX65 is a brand new Lowther driver in the 5 inch series and as Jon put it to me, retains all of the nice features of the other 5 inchers -- smoother response, better imaging, etc, over the 8 inchers but finally brings the 5 inch driver into the same league as the 8 inchers in terms of dynamics.  It also adds a couple dB higher sensitivity so the Alerions with this driver should come in about 96 dB, and maybe better once the compensation network gets removed in favor of a passive one between the dac and amp.

My wife will be very happy with the very beautiful cabinet work from Jason at Lovecraft (formerly Cain and Cain) and the speaker is all maple and maple plywood, and left natural -- no stain applied, which should also nicely match the solid maple rack that Standman, Jeff Dicks made for me.

The only bummer is that the new drivers are special order right now and it may take a couple months for me to get the speakers delivered.

I am definitely counting on this as a lifetime purchase.

So, come on folks, buy up all the gear I have for sale -- gotta pay for these somehow .

-- Jim

[FullRangeMan]

Thankyou for ressurect this Full Range Driver Forum, I was missing it but do not have anyone to ask for.
Due lack of propaganda the Full Range Fans community is very small in all the world, so any bit point of media/divulgation is important.
Regards, Gustavo

[floobydust]

 Hi Jim,

 Seems I missed the DX65 announcement. These are quite a price jump from the DX45 and DX55. I'm still very happy with the Feastrex D5nf driver, but am looking to pick up something from the Lowther camp that is in the same ballpark and the DX65 looks to be a candidate. Once you get these in and have a chance to listen to them, do post your impressions.

 Regarding a small fanless Linux box... perhaps take a look at the Intel mini-ITX boards which are Atom based. These are small and inexpensive and can run Linux fairly well. Mini-box also makes some nice small cases which can be fanless depending on the board/CPU used. You can also pick up one of the recent Netbook machines.... could be all you need and more.

 Regards, KM

[jrebman]

Kevin,

I've been looking at a lot of small fanless computers to run linux, but as AC member "nyc_paramedic"
" mentioned in the discless circle, these little ALIX boards have no extraneous stuff like VGA, keyboard, etc.:

http://www.netgate.com/index.php?cPath=60_84

And they're pretty cheap, and perfect for what I want -- just a box plugged into the network and a USB cable coming out and going to the async usb-spdif converter.

I have a couple of Acer Aspire Ones -- one for my general use and another dedicated to audio, but for the system where this linux box will go, it's more trouble than it's worth to have the computer by the async converter and dac as I really can't use any remote control software.

With the setup as I am proposing now, the Acer will just be the control interface, and since the music will stream from the NAS to the linux box, I can even have the Acer wirelessly connected to the network and not introduce any compromises (I think anyway -- will have to look more closely at these things.)

The DX65 is supposed to be really quite special and I can't wait to hear it for myself.  The Alerion Horn design also is supposed to be extremely good at front/rear wave integration.  All to be seen of course.

-- Jim

[richidoo]

Kevin, what cabinet are you using for D5nf now, still your oak BVR?

I'm starting to experiment with SET so the Feastrex' are getting more use now.  I know what you mean Jim, it is a simple and pure sound that is very engaging. Thanks btw for facilitating the circle.
Thanks
Rich

[floobydust]

 Hi Rich,

 Yes, still using the oak BVR enclosure. Overall they're nice.... but two minor issues; driver is too low to the ground and the bass extension doesn't go as low as I'd like.

 I did get the drawing from Hal for their 30-liter triple ported enclosure a while back and also have the MCAP multiple cavity design from S. Suzuki which I want to try out.... Suzuki-san has the Feastrex NF5ex drivers and they appear to be his favorite. Which enclosure are you using these days?

 I'm also working on some new SET designs for more power... about 10-watts via 300B and more via transmitting tubes. As much as I enjoy the 45 SET amps, 2-watts only goes so far. I just need more free time.

 Regards, KM

[richidoo]

Thanks Kevin. I miss that little BVR I made from pine.

After hearing so many sperical speakers at RMAF last year, I drew up a sphere enclosure for it, Q.707, which I will make from laminated circles of MDF, sanded to shape with a belt sander.  If it sounds OK, I know a CNC guy who can carve a pretty pair from solid wood. I built a pair of rectangle Q.7 boxes just to hear the bass, it's not too bad but needs a sub, of course.