My New Speaker Project

Here is another photo

Hi David,

They sure are pretty BIG.
Not having too much bass ?
(since you room doesn't seem to be that big, according to the picture)

What kinda system is placed on the floor,
in between the speakers ?

regards,
Alco

Well done David ..they sound really good even without the fine tuning etc that has to be done.

Be interesting to hear them on the end of my CDS3/552/500 when you have finalised them.

Dear Alco,

The room is approx 5m x 4.3m with a 3m ceiling.

There is also a bay window.

This sounds very good and has a fabulous bass performance. The new speakers do 20hz with power and control.

The amp is a Kelvin Labs 18w pure class A mosfet and the cd is a SONY SCD 680 SACD player. I used these to check that the speakers work. They do. Have ordered the sexy inductors and caps for the x over as i am using junk to make sure the x over is ok.

When my main amp CARY 2A3 pse has new valves i will go back to my SONY SCD 777es and CARY pre and power amp. 7w of pure joy.

regards David

Thanks Mike,

As i said today would love to take them round.

But i aint strong enough to lift them, and they will not fit into my car.

So need two burly stong men and a tranny van.

Hope to do this when i have finished the x overs in the next 2 weeks. May even have done the interconnects to go active with my active x over.

2 x 300 w for bass
2 x 150 w for mid
2 x 150 w for tweeter.

with x over at 300hz and 3khz

regards David

That's right, I'm bad!



*I'm sorry, I just coudln't resist that*

quote:

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They sure are pretty BIG.
Not having too much bass ?
(since you room doesn't seem to be that big, according to the picture)

---

I think they are producing too much bass, they seem to have shaken the wallpaper off the walls in places.

Dear Omer,

They are a 3 way comsisting of:

Bass cabinet which is a ported enclosure having 2 off Eton 8" bass drivers in parallel.

Separate satelite which is a sealed box having 1 off Eton 5" bass/mid and a 3/4" Eton tweeter.

The xover will use 1mm and 1.25mm air cored inductors with Solen and ICW polyprop caps.Currently using junk caps and inductors .

Cabinet is a sandwich of 30mm MDF and 18mm pine board.

I have a behringer 3 way active x over that i hope to use instead of the passive xover.

I will be using :
300wpc on bass
150wpc on mid
150wpc on tweeter

via both a passive and active x over.
It will interesting to see whether i prefer the active to the passive x over.

I can also use with a CARY 2A3 pse 8wpc valve amp and the passive x over.

They do sound very good. I hope that when i have redone the x over with the new componenets that they will improve further.

regards David

Hello DAVOhorn,

I upgraded the crossover on a pair of small Audio Physic speakers, putting the new crossover in a larger external plastic box fixed with velcro to the rear of the speaker stands.
I used Alpha Core Goertz copper inductors and Hovland capacitors.
I didn't alter the design or value of the components but the end result transformed the speakers for the better.
A whole layer of distortion was removed.

I think it pays to use the best components available when doing upgrades. After all it needs the same work!

Regards Robert

Well i received the last of the caps on thursday this week.

Started to build the sexy x overs yesterday and finished them today.

It is amazing how painful it is to dress the cables for the x over.

So i have 1.25 mm air cored inductor on bass.
1.00mm air cored inductors for mid and treble.
And a combination of Solen and ICW caps for mid and treble. All hard wired and no solder used but screw terminals , hence the painful fingers from the cable dressing.

So what does it sound like ?????????

A dramatic improvement.

Faster much more dynamic and far more expresive.

Much greater information and detail coming through.

The mid and treble are now as special as the bass was previously. The sound balance has leaned off a little giving a better balance between bass and mid.

Well worth the investment in the upgraded components.

These speakers are now superb .

I hope to have a local HiFi dealer round soon to slag them off.

It will be interesting to hear what they think of them.

Will be having a couple of HiFi buddies round next weekend for a listen. It will be interesting to see what they think of the changes in sound quality.

I really do enjoy listening to these speakers. They are easily my best project to date.

Already working on the next project. It will be less ambitious, a 7" ETON with the 3/4" ETON tweeter, in a sealed box.

Will start getting the mdf cut next month.

This is a fun hobby.

I will get a couple of photos to compare the new and previous x overs so that you can see the difference in size of the components.

regards David

"It is amazing how painful it is to dress the cables for the x over."

Aye, you're right there.

"And a combination of Solen and ICW caps for mid and treble. All hard wired and no solder used but screw terminals , hence the painful fingers from the cable dressing."

Hard wiring is much better than PCB use for XO's, but why not just solder everything together? Screw terminals are OK, but not as good as soldering IMO.

"This is a fun hobby."

Kinda grows on you doesn't it? After spending months working on the E-III's, It feels a bit strange not nipping out to the garage when I get a spare hour.

Mr Tibbs

GARAGE ????????!!!!!!!!!

I do not have a garage, so built them in my dining room and kitchen.

The mess was amazing.

Fortunately i am divorced so no:

ER INDOORS

to shout at me while i beavered away.

regards David

come on J.N. when are you going to come over to hear the new speakers?

Would love to hear your comments.

Mike is coming over again soon to hear the upgraded x overs.

regards David