My open baffles are finished

[falcoron]

After a long and hard road trying to get open baffles to work i gave up on crossovers and went the Vic at Transcription route. Have to say here and now Vic is a true gent and very very patient to a complete numpty like me. But after getting all the drivers and tweeter from him i went about designing the baffles.
i got a sheet of very good baltic birch ply, 18mm thick and glued these together and cut 2 rectangle slabs. Ithen bought realwood American wallnut veneer and popped my drawing and wood to a shop i have close who CNC machined the bevaled egdes and holes for the drivers then finished in a satin clear lacquer.
I fitted the drivers and tweets then wired up with cable talk 3. Bought a pro amp and a berhinger DEQ2469 for the eq of the 15" selenium neo bass drivers. I run the bastanis 12" and tweeters with my hyperion class A 18w valve mono blocks. Now from the off these sounded rather good but the bass was still playing some mid and treble. I messed about with the DEQ and got the bass drivers doing from 150Hz down the 12" does from that point upto i think its 16Khz ( not sure if this is right) and the tweets do all above that. the difference was really profound with a lot better bass and the mid although a little shouty was crystal claer.
Got a freind who know more than me ( not hard to do) and he set it up but intrduced some EQ into the bass to drive the 15" deeper and this in turn seems to have smoothed the mids. what im getting now is utterly butterly lovely with REAL deep bass no nasties at all detail to Die for and a big big sound top to bottom. I love these speakers so much so my Living Voice Avatar II's are now sulking in the spare bedroom. Only thing i dont like is the hum im getting from a nasty cheap pro amp that drive the bass. Im looking for a pwerful stereo amp to replace this so anything yoiu can recommend would be good. Something like a rotel with 180 to 200w or so and black would be good. :)
some piccies
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc77/falcoron/037-1.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc77/falcoron/038-1.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc77/falcoron/007-5.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc77/falcoron/008-7.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc77/falcoron/009-4.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc77/falcoron/005-5.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc77/falcoron/006-5.jpg

love to hear your comment and recommendations please.
Ron

[Beechwoods]

Wow those look fantastic. I have some inkling as to how they sound having heard Vic's OB's at Scalford earlier in the year. Looks like you have a great sized room for them too.

The woodwork looks beautiful. Top job!

[synsei]

They look totally cool. Nice pieces of furniture and great speakers to boot. Sorted!!! :respect:

[Ali Tait]

Very nice indeed. Well done.

[wiicrackpot]

Very nice Ron, i do like big drivers. :cool:

Would you be interested on a just serviced MC2 audio MC750 pro amp,
still in the box it came back from the factory never opened, £500.00 to your door, let me know what you think.

[falcoron]

thanks but trying to stay away from pro amps to be honest this is the third one ive had and although the cheaper ones they are noisy have fans and hum through the bass units so want to try a powerful stereo amp 150 to 200w rotel or something like that.
Budget is tighter than 500 to
Thanks for the offer

[Spectral Morn]

Those look fantastic.

[John]

Lots of amps you can use I think any clean sounding 100 to 200 watt amp will do
Nice work sure they sound great

[Ammonite Audio]

These look rather lovely. I can't help but wonder how my Tannoy 15" Monitor Gold drive units would fare in a similar open baffle configuration?

[falcoron]

Those look fantastic.

Thanks guys very kind,
If you wanna hear them give me a shout mate!

[falcoron]

These look rather lovely. I can't help but wonder how my Tannoy 15" Monitor Gold drive units would fare in a similar open baffle configuration?

Not sure thet do well in OB but i could be wrong, easy to try as all you need is a bit of MDF and router a hole for the drivers and see what you think, That is waht i did until i got the right sound then did the baffles in nice wood cost under £20 to find out.

[falcoron]

Lots of amps you can use I think any clean sounding 100 to 200 watt amp will do
Nice work sure they sound great

What you using John? i find the pro amps very noisey both in the room and through the drivers. Im getting lovely deep bass and ive only got the EQ set up fairly crude and done without a mic.
I havent a clue how to do it so would need someone who has the knowledge of setting up. got a freind to do a low pass set up and its way better than mine as the bass is only doing bass the mids and treble doing what they do best. But again only set up by ear not a mic. Anyone near me want some nice tea or coffee and bikkies to come and see what its like with a mic???

[Spectral Morn]

Thanks guys very kind,
If you wanna hear them give me a shout mate!

Yes I would - thank you - give me a pm and we can arrange something.

[John]

Shuggie Most speakers will not work well in Open baffle configeration The driver need a high QT to get the best out of it in a open baffle sitiuation

[John]

Hi Ron
Most people use plate amps Look at some of the BK range you can use one to go mono or two in stereo
I use a Behringer a much miligned amp and not heard at it best I have put a small resitor to cut down the fan I now get no fan noise the amp has a overheat shutdown circuit and I have never had any issues with the amp.
Because you got the Behringer crossover there is no need to go down the above route basically your right something like a powerful Rotel power amp would be ideal. The Neo's have a lot of upper bass detail and be pushed up quite high making them the ideal match for the Bastanis You could even go for old classic amp if they have pre in and out and just bi-pass the pre section With the look of the speakers I think that could work well

[falcoron]

Hi Ron
Most people use plate amps Look at some of the BK range you can use one to go mono or two in stereo
I use a Behringer a much miligned amp and not heard at it best I have put a small resitor to cut down the fan I now get no fan noise the amp has a overheat shutdown circuit and I have never had any issues with the amp.
Because you got the Behringer crossover there is no need to go down the above route basically your right something like a powerful Rotel power amp would be ideal. The Neo's have a lot of upper bass detail and be pushed up quite high making them the ideal match for the Bastanis You could even go for old classic amp if they have pre in and out and just bi-pass the pre section With the look of the speakers I think that could work well

Thanks John,
As i say im playing ( blindly) with the EQ and i am getting a very good sound but im sure if these were set up correctly using an omni mic they would be much better. I have the Crossover set at about 200hz down for the neos would that be about right?
Thanks

[John]

Usually about 150 to 180 I think but trust your ears those bastanis cut out quite early

[WOStantonCS100]

Well done, those OB's. Wish I could hear them.

I also agree that Vic is a top gent. That certainly mirrors my experience.

[Ali Tait]

I run my OB's actively and get good results with Bantam Gold chip amps. What's the sensitivity of the drivers?

[John]

105db so the Bastanis need only a small amp to power them not sure of the Neos sensitivity

[Clive]

Try the xover at around 90hz or up to about 110hz, probably using a fairly steep slope too. 150hz IME is too high, fun but high!

[falcoron]

Try the xover at around 90hz or up to about 110hz, probably using a fairly steep slope too. 150hz IME is too high, fun but high!

thanks Clive

[falcoron]

hi Clive,
Are you running the berhinger DEQ as well?
I really have no clue what im doing and had a freind over who knows more than be but even this was a bit hit and miss with out a mic although he did get the bass drivers to stop doing the mid stuff. had no omni directional mic either so all by ear and to be honest it sounds bloody good but room vibs and the likes playing there part also.
I have no electronic experiance and am not very computor literate so this is frustrating to say the least. I cannot follow the intruction manuals either as i have no knowledge of what the hell they are on about.:scratch:
Anyway is there an easy way to do this or is it a complicated process. there is a you tube instruction but for setting bass on a small speaker. Any help would be appreciated if you can.
Cheers
Ron

[Clive]

Hi Ron,

I used to run a DEQ. The controls and display do take some fathoming out. I can't remember much of it but in your situation I set it up to use the same settings for L & R, there's a away to preset this so you don't need to set everything twice.

Are you simply trying to set the xover freq and slope for now? Room modes gets a whole lot more complex and really needs a mic and measurement software.

There's bound to be a youtube tutorial somewhere.....I'll try to remember some of the details but I've used my XTZs for more than a couple of years now so my brain has forgotten the DEQ details....

What are the dimensions of your room?

[Clive]

Oh yes, one more thing to add to further complicate your setup. I use a 6db boost at 25, 31.5, 40, 50 and 63. This is needed to get a flat bass response.

[falcoron]

Hi Ron,

I used to run a DEQ. The controls and display do take some fathoming out. I can't remember much of it but in your situation I set it up to use the same settings for L & R, there's a away to preset this so you don't need to set everything twice.

Are you simply trying to set the xover freq and slope for now? Room modes gets a whole lot more complex and really needs a mic and measurement software.

There's bound to be a youtube tutorial somewhere.....I'll try to remember some of the details but I've used my XTZs for more than a couple of years now so my brain has forgotten the DEQ details....

What are the dimensions of your room?

Would an XTZ be a better way of going and would 1 run the 2 drivers?

[Clive]

Would an XTZ be a better way of going and would 1 run the 2 drivers?
Just different, not better. I find them easier to setup but you need two Sub Amp DSPs and their Room Analyzer. Vic uses a Behringer digital amp with dsp, it's all in one box and is intuitive to setup. You'll need a room analyzer unless you have a well behaved room. Vic modded his amp as the fans were too noisy. I think it's an iNUKE NU1000DSP.

There's also the more expensive auto setup modules that Antimode make, I've not tried these but they should be easiest of all though maybe the most expensive too. http://www.bkelec.com/hifi/Sub_Woofers/anti-mode.htm

[falcoron]

Oh yes, one more thing to add to further complicate your setup. I use a 6db boost at 25, 31.5, 40, 50 and 63. This is needed to get a flat bass response.

wish i knew what that all means and how to do it :doh:

[John]

The INuke is quite intuitive Vic uses NU6000DSP I use the NU3000DSP my drivers are harder to drive than the Neos but you need to speak to Vic about the mod he does to prevent fan noise with either version
This might help with the 2496 http://www.decdun.me.uk/deq2496.html
As Clive has said probarly some good tutorials on youtube too

[falcoron]

thanks john, a very good step by step i will have a good go at that and see what i get