Westminsters

[skydog]

Dave hello,

Another Westminster addict is joining. Need your advise as to HPD filter you use in WM. In mine newly made I installed Golds 15" and immediately LF overwhelms all. Can you help with your experience how you altered the filter to avoid such unbalance?

Vlad

[daveskis]

Hi Simon
No problem lets just keep it going it may end up being a sticky. What with 18k in hits, there is no denying the interest.
However nice build love your work Simon. Bracing is not needed in my opinion around the horns at all. I have braced as you can see with my photos inside the driver box with triangular blocks. Damping(carpet or such) is required on the rear baffle top and bottom. And bracing most recently applied on the panels outermost to help reduce a very slight boom to the bass. As I indicated sand helps where you can fit it. Use bags in case you ever have to remove it. And Simon Happy New Year mate

[daveskis]

Dave hello,

Another Westminster addict is joining. Need your advise as to HPD filter you use in WM. In mine newly made I installed Golds 15" and immediately LF overwhelms all. Can you help with your experience how you altered the filter to avoid such unbalance?

Vlad

Hi Vlad and welcome to the very small club of WM Builders. I am surprised that 15" Golds(my drivers 15" HPDs)would be lacking in mids and highs, however we rebuilt the Xovers to restore some treble and midrange, with remarkable results.

[simonms]

Hi Simon
No problem lets just keep it going it may end up being a sticky. What with 18k in hits, there is no denying the interest.
However nice build love your work Simon. Bracing is not needed in my opinion around the horns at all. I have braced as you can see with my photos inside the driver box with triangular blocks. Damping(carpet or such) is required on the rear baffle top and bottom. And bracing most recently applied on the panels outermost to help reduce a very slight boom to the bass. As I indicated sand helps where you can fit it. Use bags in case you ever have to remove it. And Simon Happy New Year mate

Happy New Year to you to Dave, looking a bit warm over in your neck of the woods.
I had some damping in the areas that you identify but ended up with none at all, on the new pair that i am building i have used 3mm cork down the whole of inside of panel that sits inside of the sides-the one with the least possible bracing to see how that may influence things but its all removable.
Once i am settled on the best sounding cabinet materials i will build my final incarnation in some fine veneer. I am hoping the slightly tweaked baffle/horn area will improve things further.
I have had a lot of different amps in and out of the system and found that the KT88 worked very well especially on the lower frequencies and hope to try a New Audio Frontiers amp finally before i take the plunge and buy something. I am using a 22wpc pp design as it stands which is great for the time being.
Vlad, there is a lot of discussion at the moment on the Tannoy Yahoo Groups site regarding cross overs for HPD385's and MG's, have a look in. Also there are some great threads on here, one by Blackadder about his experiments with cross overs and Tannoyman's thread regarding upgrades for the Westminster is excellent.
Am machining up the trim in Maple today so will post when thats done but here are the Birch ply cabs as they stand.


DSCN1024 by simon ms, on Flickr


DSCN1025 by simon ms, on Flickr


DSCN1020 by simon ms, on Flickr


DSCN1019 by simon ms, on Flickr


DSCN1010 by simon ms, on Flickr


DSCN1011 by simon ms, on Flickr


DSCN1026 by simon ms, on Flickr

Cheers Si.

[MartinT]

I just can't believe the craftsmanship of some of our members. Outstanding work, chaps!

[The Black Adder]

Simon... They are looking absolutely smashing!!

I can bet the ply version to bring much more solidity in the sound. I can also imagine that the amount of internal wadding may need to be altered/revised slightly to accommodate the more rigid build.

[simonms]

Simon... They are looking absolutely smashing!!

I can bet the ply version to bring much more solidity in the sound. I can also imagine that the amount of internal wadding may need to be altered/revised slightly to accommodate the more rigid build.

Cheers Joe,

I ended up with no internal damping on the first pair after much experimentation and waiting for the drivers to settle in. They sound really nice the way i have them, the originals had no damping so i thought this may be the outcome. I suspect the same will be the case for these. Ferenc, the fellow who's build gave Dave the inspiration to build these used a lot of internal wadding but i found i preferred the sound on my build without...i have about £150 worth of various damping materials that are now redundant but will try them again on the new pair and do some measuring again.
I hope that the more solid curved sections and the ply will be a nicer sound through these but will have to wait and see...must chat re. cross overs at some point again, will be in touch in a few months

One reason for the curves being built outside and not into the cabinet is that veneer can be vacuum pressed onto them so a nice veneer needs to be chosen for my third and final pair.

Cheers Si.

[The Black Adder]

Cheers Joe,

I ended up with no internal damping on the first pair after much experimentation and waiting for the drivers to settle in. They sound really nice the way i have them, the originals had no damping so i thought this may be the outcome. I suspect the same will be the case for these. Ferenc, the fellow who's build gave Dave the inspiration to build these used a lot of internal wadding but i found i preferred the sound on my build without...i have about £150 worth of various damping materials that are now redundant but will try them again on the new pair and do some measuring again.
I hope that the more solid curved sections and the ply will be a nicer sound through these but will have to wait and see...must chat re. cross overs at some point again, will be in touch in a few months

One reason for the curves being built outside and not into the cabinet is that veneer can be vacuum pressed onto them so a nice veneer needs to be chosen for my third and final pair.

Cheers Si.

No probs matey... Just let me know.

No internal damping?... woow!... There must be plenty of air in there to compensate, that is swish!

[daveskis]

Cheers Joe,

I ended up with no internal damping on the first pair after much experimentation and waiting for the drivers to settle in. They sound really nice the way i have them, the originals had no damping so i thought this may be the outcome. I suspect the same will be the case for these. Ferenc, the fellow who's build gave Dave the inspiration to build these used a lot of internal wadding but i found i preferred the sound on my build without...i have about £150 worth of various damping materials that are now redundant but will try them again on the new pair and do some measuring again.
I hope that the more solid curved sections and the ply will be a nicer sound through these but will have to wait and see...must chat re. cross overs at some point again, will be in touch in a few months

One reason for the curves being built outside and not into the cabinet is that veneer can be vacuum pressed onto them so a nice veneer needs to be chosen for my third and final pair.

Cheers Si.

Hi Simon
Yes I can see where you are heading with this, I also removed all the dampening from all the horn paths. With the result that the music opened up considerably. Over some months also experimented with various equipment.
With no obvious path to follow(we don't have concise and proven plans for covers, drivers or cabinets)it is very much feel your way along. For this reason I think it is a great idea to share our knowledge as to individual results with this experiment.
I filled the space above the driver with sand bags and the enclosure on either side as well. Attach carpet squares to the rear baffle directly behind the driver enclosure and the enclosure below. The cabinet has much less resonance now particularly with the addition of stiffening the outer panels.
The xovers have without a doubt had a very significant change to the sound. I can't stress enough how important this is.
Of course the addition of an Audio Research PH5 Phono Pre made a huge difference to the result as well.IMG_1458.jpg

IMG_1881.jpg

[steviej233]

Guys, these speakers look AMAZING . I saw some at a show and i am so jealous that i do not have a set of these in my life....