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

[Ali Tait]

Full range cones on open baffes do tend to be very revealing,in fact more revealing than anything except statics to my ears.Having heard Al's on several occasions I can confirm how good they are,so it may be that the problem lies elsewhere if they are sounding so good with some material Ian.

[evozero]

Hi Ali,
They sound much better Bi amped to get the bass level about right. I have a valve pre with the volume on about number 3, The valve amps are mono block with no controls. My sand amp volume is on number 8. Then I have plenty of volume and bass power. I not sure what the levels mean as i don't know the input sensitivity of the amps.
My valve amps are push pull 8 watt. the sony 40w.
If i was using only the valve amps, the volume is very loud set to 3, but with no real bass output. If just using the sony, 3 is loud and if I turn the bass control up to 10 I get good bass. If I Bi amp I get great bass. I can even set it for too much bass.
Hope this makes some sense, I'm getting dizzy swapping it all about.
Cheers
Ian

[aquapiranha]

Great to hear you are happy with them, makes me want to start ine right now....but I dont have the wood yet! I have everything but - drivers, crossover, amps at the ready....

[SPS]

Full range cones on open baffes do tend to be very revealing,in fact more revealing than anything except statics to my ears..

mmm.... static's can sound very good.. but it does depend on what your comparing them too....

steve

[Ali Tait]

Just what I've come across Steve.F'r instance,on Nick's OB's,there was very little difference between his DAC and my Audio Note.On my system (with his amp) there was a HUGE difference which showed up how much better his DAC is than the Audio Note.OB's would be my preferred choice,but for the fact that to my ears statics soundstage and image better(yes smaller sweet-spot tho),which is important for me,and also are more transparent IMHO.Kinda have to be I think,given the difference in mass of a driver cone and the mylar film in a static.YMMV.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi Ali,
They sound much better Bi amped to get the bass level about right. I have a valve pre with the volume on about number 3, The valve amps are mono block with no controls. My sand amp volume is on number 8. Then I have plenty of volume and bass power. I not sure what the levels mean as i don't know the input sensitivity of the amps.....

...........if I Bi amp I get great bass. I can even set it for too much bass.
Hope this makes some sense, I'm getting dizzy swapping it all about.

Can I wade in?
There is something really special about a mixture of valve & solid state power amps in the correct proportions & in the right system.

I used to use (& still own) a pair of SD Acoustics OBS's. The best incarnation of that particular system was with them being driven with a Radford STA15 on the mid-range & a Mark Levinson ML11 driving the bass & treble.

The soundstage was truly holographic, only bettered in my experience by well set up electrostatics - but this layout had proper bass. It was magical & I suspect that my Audio Research preamp was contributing a lot to the soundstage.

(For more on the OBS's, see this place: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...?t=2175&page=2)

[evozero]

Hi Chris,
Love the system pictures. The SD speaker have already caught my eye, but my partner said no effin way, too big and ugly. Just managed to get my OB's approved by using fabric of her choice. I think they look great, and now they are more of a feature in the room. Sarah also doesn't like the sony amp sitting on the floor making the place look untidy, but she likes the valves. So Bi amping is not a long term solution for me.
Cheers
Ian

[Giant Haystacks]

im just not convinced about diy speakers as i said in my youth i saved by going diy and ended up unhappy and poor
anyway some of my thoughts i can not live with lowther and il leave it there , someone was mentioning open baffle i think this is not a good job for the big 15 inch such as altec it would be impossible to control the cone as they can sound wolley because of this , with very tight amplification they can turn from a good pa sound to something very good
i have tryed a lot of the more modern crossoverless designs fostex and john blue they are critical at times it is a case of try and try againto get an answer
some of the speakers i like quad electrostatic 57, reference 3a de capo, klipsch horn, spendor bc1 ,spica tc50, allison cd6 i ultimately prefer the quad but i have no space at the minute all for now

[alb]

i can not live with lowther and il leave it there , someone was mentioning open baffle

This whole thread is about.....................................OPEN BAFFLES.

I'm busy fitting new basin and bog in downstairs cloakroom (little cupboard under the stairs).
Plenty of time to think about this, but not very much in the way of answers yet.
Beginning to think that the point Ali made, might account for some of the issues.
Different gear, different ears, different preferences etc.

Also beginning to think from your descriptions Ian, that these speakers are perhaps nearly there, and not the sonic disaster that i originally thought i was dealing with.

[Ali Tait]

Well it was just the thought that having heard yours a few times Al,they are so transparent that small differences upstream will make a large difference to the resulting sound.Agreed also about different ears and preferences etc.After all,with the likes of OB's and statics,changing just say a resistor is makes an easily audible difference.Does to my ears anyway.