[jrebman]

A little over a year ago, maybe closer to two, myself and two other friends decided to build a pair of Zigmahornets for each of us.  One guy had finished his but I had not been able to listen to his yet, but last weekend I was over at the third guy's house and got a chance to listen to them in his HT setup serving as fronts.  Note that I had heard an MDF version before and thought they were pretty good but they could not get away from that typical MDF sound that I just don't like.  All of ours were built with 13mm baltic birch ply.

So, my first thought when I sat down to listen is that the sub must be on as the bass was quite pleasing though without that kick you in the gut kind of impact.  It was however, extremely articulate and Jack Cassidy's bass notes stood out very clear and well defined on the Hot Tuna album we listened to first.  The low E string was all there.  Likewise, the crystal clear plucking on Jorma's steel strings was there without any irritating sizzle.  Everything in between was equally articulate, transparent and tonally very very good.  Ok, so far I'm pretty impressed, especially considering the source and amp were very mid-fi stuff.

I had not been in this room at my friend's house before so I didn't know how large it was, but my assumption was that it was pretty big and that the speakers were well out into the room and pretty far apart.  I would have guessed roughly 4 to 6 feet from the front wall, and maybe 8 or 9 feet apart.  I was probably most impressed with the amazingly wide and deep soundstage that I was hearing.  Ok, good enough.  We play a little Diana Krall and some Mingus before we decide to disconnect the speakers and take them to the room with the audiophile gear, including an AN 300b amp.  As we were unplugging the zigmahornets I was absolutely shocked to find out that they were not more than 16" from the front wall and maybe 6 feet apart. Remember, I could have easily believed that the speakers were out in the middle of nowhere in a large room and with a seemingly endless soundstage depth and a width of at least 12 feet.  Now I'm really impressed.

Playing all the same discs on the AN amp and with a much better CD player was, as one would hope, just all that much better.  Better tone smoother, and absolutely holographic.

I had to keep reminding myself that these were made for no more than $150 total outlay, and that includes some nice, half-moon shaped solid hardwood bases.

When I got home I promised myself that I'd finish mine off first thing next Spring when there is consistently warm enough weather for finishing.

Right now I'm listening to my Tonians with the Miniwatt amp, and I can't help but think that one could easily put together a really decent system consisting of the zigmahornets, the Miniwatt, and something like the HRT MusicStreamer+ dac, for significantly less than $1k and have a very musically satisfying system.

-- Jim

[andrewbee]

Jim,

What were the driver in the Ziggy's?

i built a pair a few years ago and was very impressed with them using FE103e's.

Like you, I did not notice any lack of bass although I have read of many others who did.
Maybe its to do with room positioning or what people conceive bass to be.
They do sound very good though.

[jrebman]

Andrew,

We all have Merrill drivers.  Mine are currently at Bud. P's place getting polka dots..

I've got enough projects in the pipeline now anyway, but come warmer weather, I'll be out in the shop finishing my pair off for sure.  They're nearly done -- baffle is cut and ready to mount the speaker, and the box is all glued up.  Just need to install wiring, glue baffle on, mount driver, mo9unt to bases and finish.

-- Jim

[TerryO]

Jim,

What were the driver in the Ziggy's?

i built a pair a few years ago and was very impressed with them using FE103e's.

Like you, I did not notice any lack of bass although I have read of many others who did.
Maybe its to do with room positioning or what people conceive bass to be.
They do sound very good though.

I built a pair a few years ago using 3/4 inch pine and Radio Shack 40-1197s which were modified.

I liked the sound, my wife liked the look and they imaged better (make that way better) than any speakers I've ever had in my house. At times, they could be almost scary with the soundfield placement and sense of depth and dimention.

The problem with my pair was that the lower midrange was lacking. I would chalk it up to a lack of baffle step compensation. The same drivers, in my "fat-boy" style BR cabinets (Hi-Tweek Black Box Nearfield Monitors) didn't exhibit this thinness, being 9.5 inches wide. I finally, with some misgivings, gave up on the Ziggys as being unsatisfactory.
 

Different drivers may give different results, so my comments should be understood to apply only to my particular situation and application.

Best Regards,
TerryO

[JLM]

Jim, please provide links to the drivers, Bud, and of course the plans.

[jrebman]

I don't have links, but you can get the drivers from Two Bald Guys Audio in Portland, OR and they come with the Plans as Dave Merrill designed them for his drivers.

Terry, I'd venture to say that in a cabinet like this that a lot of tweaking and tuning went into getting it just right for the drivers it was intended to use and thus YMMV if you deviate from that.  No, it's not the perfect speaker, but it is amazingly good, and a very serious bargain if you have the skills to build it yourself.

-- Jim