New here

[maximax]

Hi, I’m based in London, have been intermittently into audio diy since early secondary school and I am preparing for another upgrade round as my music taste has moved towards classical, so higher requirements for the system.

Current main system:
Musiland MD10 Dac
Hyped UCD400HG based diy amp
Von Schweikert VR-1 speakers
Cables mix of diy and Nordost

Second system:
Raspberry4-based streamer
Eve-Audio SC203 active speakers

Upgrade path will be:
1. All sources
2. Decide on main speakers
3. Build class a amps

[system7]

Greetings Max.

You are making me think here. Does a liking for Classical music require a different sort of loudspeaker?

The great expert on that topic is Mr. Lynn Olson:

http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/

His notion is that Classical music is spectrally dense. Hence requires steep crossovers and drivers that avoid breakup.

Possibly the Harbeth or Spendor approach. Which is derived from the BBC monitor idea. Hope it helps.

[maximax]

Greetings Max.

You are making me think here. Does a liking for Classical music require a different sort of loudspeaker?

The great expert on that topic is Mr. Lynn Olson:

http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/

His notion is that Classical music is spectrally dense. Hence requires steep crossovers and drivers that avoid breakup.

Possibly the Harbeth or Spendor approach. Which is derived from the BBC monitor idea. Hope it helps.

Not sure yet about speakers, I was focussing on the sources first, but complex classical with its massed strings and the importance of transients, holographic presentation etc requires a lot from every part of the chain.
My thoughts so far on speakers for complex acoustic music:
-three way speakers can resolve more details than two way speakers which is what I currently have, all else being equal.
-AMT or RAAL type highs appear very capable for this type of music. It certainly works in my small eve audios.

I generally stay away from speakers that are poor off-axis, are difficult to place or only perform decent enough at raised volumes. The listening space for my main system is ~14x12’, although it is part of an L-shaped room twice that long. So the max speaker size is small floorstanders, all else is overkill. Speakers have to be placed close to the wall.

Two designs that look interesting to me on paper are:
-Philharmonic Audio’s BMR Monitors, e.g. https://salksound.com/model.php?model=BMR+Monitors
-Selah Audio’s Ceramicas http://www.selahaudio.com/ceramica-kit
I obviously haven’t heard either, I hope to visit a couple of audio events to listen to all sorts of gear once circumstances permit.

[system7]

Those are two excellent companies that I follow.

No expense spared on scanspeak drivers and ribbons.

Very nice indeed. I have heard some wallmounted MTM 6" scan plus ribbons with a bass subwoofer, and it's as good as it gets. LR4 electronic filters. Doubling up the mids makes for that lovely PA sound.

A lot of dream speakers at Troels Gravesen's site too:

http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Diy_Lou...r_Projects.htm

Some of his 3 ways look excellent.

[Barry]

Greetings Max.

Does a liking for Classical music require a different sort of loudspeaker?

The great expert on that topic is Mr. Lynn Olson:

http://www.nutshellhifi.com/library/

His notion is that Classical music is spectrally dense. Hence requires steep crossovers and drivers that avoid breakup.

Possibly the Harbeth or Spendor approach. Which is derived from the BBC monitor idea. Hope it helps.

The Quad 57 electrostatic is often considered to be very good for Classical music. The crossover network consists purely of resistors which combine with the inherent capacitance of the 'drivers', so are single order, that is 6dB/octave.

That said speakers designed by and for the BBC major on the faithful replay of speech as well as music. The later BBC designs were made to allow monitoring at high SPLs, so are possibly better at reproducing the full dynamic range of orchestral music than can the Quad 57s.

Welcome to AoS Max,

Enjoy the Forum
Barry

[system7]

I've heard those Quads. Beautiful sound. Piano was exquisite.

This is unusual and interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja9BJn0lMxI

Alan Shaw probably builds the best mid basses in the world. Plastic.

Uses his daughter's voice as a reference for accuracy.

[walpurgis]

Hello Max. Welcome to AOS.

Join in the chat and get to know the members, there's a lot going on here.


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[JohnJo]

Hello Max, welcome to the forum.

I can recommend Wharfedale Evo 4.4s. I run a pair in a slightly smaller room than yours. They are 3 way with AMT tweeter and 2” domed midrange and have superb drive unit integration. They are wonderful with classical, very refined yet expressive and in my room go down to 34hz in the bass.

Great value for money speaker that work well with all genres in my experience.

[maximax]

Thanks all for the warm welcome.

-Troels Gravensen... there is a bit of a barrier to entry with his designs: the woodwork tends to be complex and the crossovers are pricy. I’m reluctant to go along without having heard such a design, as the built cost is comparable to good used speakers, or even new ones, and resale values of diy products rarely meet costs.

-I will aim to demo some wharfedales but I’m surprised that this speaker works for you in such a modestly sized room.

-Electrostats - I have thought of those but never heard them. Must audition. The size of most models puts me off though. Do electrostats wear/decay over time? I mean, those quads are not exactly new...

[Barry]

Thanks all for the warm welcome.

Electrostats - I have thought of those but never heard them. Must audition. The size of most models puts me off though.

Do electrostats wear/decay over time? I mean, those quads are not exactly new...

Virtually all electrostatic speakers have a dipole polar pattern, which means almost as much sound radiates from the rear as it does from the front. Thus dipole speakers need to positioned about 2m from a rear wall. That, coupled with the large radiating surface area, means they are not especially room friendly.

Quad 57 electrostatic speakers are remarkably reliable. The power supply will use components that can be 50 or 60 years old, which means that the polarising voltage level can fall with time, reducing sensitivity. Other problems can occur if the protective covering plastic splits (either through rough handling or continual exposure to sunlight), allowing dust to accumulate on the stators which will affect performance. Otherwise they 'wear' very well - I've had mine for over 45 years without problems.