a new reference system

hello

i finished in the last few days my new full frontloaded 5 way hornsystem. It took over 5 month to make them.
Fortunately i moved from a apartment to a house, so i do not have to fear trouble with my neighbours. Even if i have not made any fine tuning yet, i can say this is by far the best sounding system i have built so far.



suwoofer : Aura 1808 in a vented cab > 50hz
bass : JBL 2206H 50hz -150hz
midbass : Fane Studio 8M 150hz - 700hz
midrange : Vitavox S2 700hz - 10khz
tweeter : Coral H104 < 10khz

sub and bass is crossed 24db, the rest first order, 6db.



so how do they sound ?

I had yesterday my first listening session , and i enjoyed it a lot. Big sound. The room is rather small for this kind of speakers. i will play with damping the room, to see how it will be, if improovement will be possible. I think i hit the nail with positioning the satellites and the basshorn. I will not change anything. It is perfect the way it is . The bass sounds articulate, clean and tight, and integration with the midbass horn is flawless. I have never heard a better, more accurate mid-bass reproduction so far. Absolutely natural, effortless, distortionfree, it creates a sound stage, which is phenomenal. It's a level far above any other hornsystem i had before. The dynamics and speed are breathtaking. The S2's with LeCleac'h horn sound crisp, neutral , no horn honk at all, and it combines flawlessly with the Coral tweeters. These speakers recreate the recorded event i an way, that it seems the musicians are right in front of you. Not too big, not too small. I played some Chesky CD's, Sheffield lab instrumental recordings, and B & C Audiophile Test CD Vol.1 & 2. The next couple of days, listening will continue, and i will start to try some tweaks. Certainly there is still a lot of room for fine tuning, but that will take time. I guess i found my Audio Nirvana, no further search needed. I will have a lot of fun ahead......

some more pictures at my forum

http://www.audiovoice-acoustics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=405

Angelo

 

Nice work, just wish I had the space. Those look ace.

 

Great work Angelo and nice drivers too! I checked out your links - very interesting stuff I must revisit soon. What do the middle and side speakers do, as living in a small flat and used to fitting a lot in a small area (and getting grief off the girlfriend) I'd be tempted to just keep the big pair of horns in free space, and screw the plasma to the wall. Just thinking, does it need the other cabinets? seems a shame to hide them!...

 

Great work. Well done Angelo.

 

the side speakers are the basshorns, and in the middle, the subwoofer. i was thinking about solutions, to incorporate the bass in a way, that only the satellites would be needed. I have drawn some ideas, i do however not now, how the result would be.

http://www.audiovoice-acoustics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=384

http://www.audiovoice-acoustics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=322

 

Quality !

I take it they do not come in kit form from Maplins

 

what part of these things did you make? I made an ashtray in school that collapsed when i put it on my table!

 

i use MDF and plywood, no rainforest wood....
all development, design, cabinets, horns and Waveguides are made " in house " .

 

wow really impressive work it must sound amazing

 

IMPRESSIVE! Angelo.... you need a medal.

 

Excellent work from one DIY'er to another

 

what amp(s) you are using?

is it a passive system?

 

I'm guessing that either you are not attached/married/co-habiting or these are in the garden shed?

 

top stuff, especially the horn construction. Wish these were a bit closer, would love an ear-wig!

Cheers
Chris

 

yeah, angelo is a garden dwarf - check the pics of him standing next to these

 

hi Gordan

the sub and basshorns are active.
For the satellites i use still the Viva Solista integrated 845 SET amp, and passive first order crossover. The midbass horn runs free. I tried first a lowpass at 700hz, but without, the integration to the midrange is better. I am waiting to arrive paper in oil caps, and i will high-pass it at 100hz. The S2 i use a 3mF cap, and for the Coral H104 1mF. I am waiting measuring instruments to arrive, so i can take further steps to fine tune everything. The result is quit impressive so far. It beats all systems i had before...


Angelo

 

fantastic, can't believe you've made it working good with such a simple filtering

 

hi Gordan

remember that the Avantgarde Trio uses only one cap to high-pass the tweeter, the midrange and midbass runs free.....
I had people from Salvador da Bahia here, which came to listen my system. They brought some classical and piano cd's, quit demanding stuff. The main interested guy never heard horn's before. He has Revel floorstanding speakers, and a sofisticated room treatment for his listening room. What he most praised was the soundstage and 3d imaging of my system. In this regard, he liked it better than a system, that he heard, with B & W caracol speakers ( the bass dampend like a shell, i don't remember the name ) and jeff rowland multi amplification, a us$ 200.000,00 system. What he liked more with the B & W system was detail and resolution, but he thinks, with the right room treatment, i will get considerable improvement. Also i need to damp the midbass a little more, to have more " punch ". It's a little too soft right now. But these are little tweaks, i will do in the next few weeks, that's normal. Not too far ahead, i will have it right....

 

you mean B&W nautilus? i've heard them today on a local audio show, on the end of korato 4-channel tube amplification. strangely, i loved them in most important areas. i don't think you (or any other horn) can beat them in 3D and soundstage as each driver acts as a spherical source. to be close to them is already an achievement.

 

hello Gordan

i infact agree with the visitor that holographic imaging is one of the strengths of the my system. The instruments can be located spacially surprisingly well , and the distance of each other perceived. I have never heard the B & W Nautilus. But the system he heard and mentioned is installed here in Aracaju, where i live, and the other fellow said he would arrange a visit of the owner to hear my system. So i might have a chance soon to hear his system as well. Interesting that someone else I share in a regular base heard the Nautilus with Jeff Rowland multi amplification as well, and he didn't like it at all.
I think first of all, it is not possible to give a accurate comment about the performance of a system just after a short listening session. And there are a chain of factors, which influence sound. So after all, he was comparing apples with strawberries. I do not agree with the visitor that my system lacks of detail. Actually , this is in my opinion one of the strengths . There are things I need to improve, and for most of them I know the direction I need to take to resolve the issues.

Angelo