How good can D.I.Y speakers really get? - Enter Mr Al Newall

[SPS]

{Moved from Stefano's system pictures thread}

You're welcome, Stefano! And thanks for your comments - we're not big into 'mainstream' anything here; 'outside of the box' thinking is what we promote

Marco.

'open baffles' marco, thats my idea of out of the box

some nice kit there stefano

and a good website.. i've been there before, for 124 info page
good stuff..

[Marco]

LOL. I know, mate - Al brought his ones round last night. I was very impressed, as I think he was with the system and the variety of music we played

Marco.

[Ali Tait]

Let's have some comments then chaps!

[Marco]

Well, Ali, for the £200 that they cost they are hilariously, laughably, good! In fact, aesthetics aside, they would quite frankly disgrace any sub, say, £3000 commercial speakers I've heard in terms of 'disappearing' and communicating the music minus usual box colorations, and they have all the clarity and detail that you could ever wish for (in fact more so), and also very good bass for OB designs - and they were just simply plonked in front of the Spendors without being in any way ideally positioned.

However, I have to say that I've never heard them sound anywhere near as good at the Owston or Chester fests. Al will comment himself I'm sure, but whether it was the room, the equipment, the set-up thereof, or a combination of all three (and perhaps some other things) to my ears Al's speakers have never 'sung' before anything like what we heard last night, as good as they undoubtedly are with his own kit. Even the cones of the full-range drivers he uses (supposedly) solely to reproduce the midrange and treble frequencies were moving (which they don't normally do in his own system - something which has alerted Al that the frequency response crossover point may need further adjusted) such was the sheer bass energy that was being pumped into the speakers, and those big 15" cones were producing effortless, extended bass, with almost the same visceral impact as the Spendors.

There are areas where the Spendors have more refinement, as one would expect, considering that these are £5.5k loudspeakers, and I could still live with the SP100s, as they are remarkably 'un-boxy' for box speakers (as I'm sure Al will confirm) but at the same time there is a magical openness and clarity with OBs which I would definitely like to explore further with the likes of the Bastanis, which I suspect will be into another league again.

But, as I said, for £200 home-made speakers you quite simply will not get audio performance like it for anything approaching that price commercially. It really does drive the message home just how good D.I.Y audio is when done right. I salute Al for his talent and thank him for his company last night. He arrived at 7pm and didn't leave until midnight. We got through some very varied music in that period and also some home-made Christmas cake! He's most welcome again anytime, as is your good self and Mo

Marco.

[twogoodears]

Because the topic has been raised, my one cent about open-baffles and full-range speakers... I collected over the years some speakers which, cheap or noblest they were, reached an high level of sonic refinement.
Axiom 80s, Siemens KL-306 and 405, Coral's 12" inchers, Zeiss-Ikon 26,5 cm, Green Saba's, Philips 9710's... all the above, in my desert island collection, when I mounted on a large baffle gave to me shivers and great satisfaction... limited but uncompressed dynamics, true to life timbres and coherence...
Horns, their complexities and price-tags, seems simply unnecessary after a careful listening session with these old humble masterpieces.
It's not DIY-ing anymore, but a good-taste exercise and a lesson in sound at home.
As I often say... buy a Philips 9710's pair for cheap and you'll blissfully find best musician's friend.
They're well kept secrets of old-timey good workmanship and materials... and freedom from shops and the like... like becoming actors instead of audience.

[SPS]

... ooops... thanx for the compliments, BUT be careful in not being confused: Stefano is a quite common name in Italy, like Etienne in France, Stefan in Germany, Stephen or Steve in England or USA, and in "my" very own (i.e. -Stefano Bertoncello) pages, I never covered 124's related topics.

Still hope I'll deserve (some) compliments, anyway...

sorry stefano, i'm easily confused...read your link to your page and not realised that it was part of the bigger site..

never the less, all very interesting,
i a bit of a collector of hi fi equipment.. and am very impressed with your set up, the more vintage kit i hear ( and own) the more i'm sure modern hi fi is missing something.. well.. missing quite alot really..

i have many of the valves you use, and i've a good idea of the sound that you will be achieving..but thats not like hearing it.. its a shame you are so far away..

Marco, what Al has achieved with quite a low budget is quite remarkable in my veiw.. the costs really start to rise for just slight gains..


steve

[twogoodears]

Hi Steve... so we share same name
I'm jealous about your PX25's... the best sound I ever listened - cost no object - was coming from a Axiom 80's baffles-pair fed by single 71A based amps... also love RE-604 and AD-1's DIY amps using 70's Partridges irons and paper-in-oil caps... In my system: too bad I find single WE300B/Partridges amps and autoformers x-overs MUCH better than (better on paper) multiamping, these days... and 10Y, 71A, AD-1 and 45 or 350's have finesse BUT not guts enough for my actual system... too bad.
I tried yesterday evening a couple disks using a DIY amp using 71A and, airy and poetic sound, it lacked the authority and cojones of 300B...
A friend recently improved his 211 single transformers-coupled amps using WE212... i.e. - 211 guts and filament using the same material of WE300B... AMAZING blend of good qualities... for BIG bucks price-tag.
... but Koji at EIFL-Japan still have plenty of these super-triodes... 'til they last.

[aquapiranha]

IMHO DIY is the way to go. If you can live without the glitzy name tag and the pat on the back from like minded brand hungry forum goers, you can save yourself a bundle and have a fantastic system to boot!

[John]

I love what Open Baffles do to the sound recently heard the Hawthrone Duet and was very impressed
At the weekend I plan to hear some home made open baffles and Vic will lend me his pair

[aquapiranha]

I love what Open Baffles do to the sound recently heard the Hawthrone Duet and was very impressed
At the weekend I plan to hear some home made open baffles and Vic will lend me his pair

The two things I would like to try next would be maybe the Hypex amps and also open baffles. I have here a pair each of Fostex FE103E and modified FE206E - I am sure there may be a design for an OB that I could try them in, preferably the 103's and a pair of big woofers!