Living Voice Vox Olympian

Hi,

I just seen this write up about the new Living Voice speakers. It also deals with aspects of his past horns and speakers.

I've ordered my pair for the spare room.

Vox Olympian

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Wonderful stuff, nice one Dean.

I'm looking forward to details on the bass horn that Kevin will be using with the Olympian, as eluded in the 6 Moons article.

If it wasn't for Kevin Scott and his work on these speakers (and their prototypes and predecessors) I wouldnt have the horn speakers I'm listening to right now.

People speak about all sorts of famous designers - but Kevin Scott is the person who has had the biggest impact on my audio life, by a significant degree.

I owe him a great deal - and when I need something 'new' from a dealer (rare..perhaps like a cartridge or whatever) Definitive Audio is where I'd go, as a thank-you.

 

Chris Hi, what do you make of the 'Pinocchio' horn, I can understand using two tweeters ( Ralph does something similar in the Gamma) and even crossing the 703 over so high, 'pipes' are usually used for more spl?
Keith.

 

It was interesting reading Kevins thoughts on that in the 6 moons article above.

I couldn't understand the use of such a long/thin horn on this element of the HF, with what seems to be a more common 40x90 type dispersion on the ET703 and S2.

As you say, it will effect SPL and of course provide a very narrow dispersion - which he must prefer.

I know from speaking to Kevin he has tried many different horn shapes, and that he makes many decisions based on what he feels sounds best. He speaks quite a bit about this brass horn in the thread.

I suppose its a case of not following conventional wisdom, and going with his ear and sonic preferences.


Visually I'm quite taken by the single tweeter Olympian prototye. Visual preferences are very personal though.

 

Here from the site -


This driver is loaded with a long bronze horn which has two functions. On the one hand it provides a strong and assured coupling of the driver to the room, something I find musically important.

"On the other hand it provides a low-pass acoustic filter which helps us achieve a seamless integration with the super tweeter above it.






A low pass filter blocks the high frequency components of an acoustic wave, and passes the low frequency components... would the effect of a long thin horn not therefore act as a 'high pass filter' rather than low?

I am not an engineer, so perhaps someone else can elucidate.

 

Hi Chris, yes, that's why it's called a low pass filter because it passes lower frequencies and blocks higher frequencies. A high pass would pass the high frequencies rather than block them.

A long, narrow exponential like that will curtail the top end of the frequency range, for sure. I wouldn't have thought to do it like that, but who knows. Most drivers' frequency responses are artificially extended by resonances at the very top end, so low passing them and using a super-tweeter could be a good solution.

You wouldn't necessarily have to do it with a horn though, I expect you could do it electrically. The horn approach would also make the treble beam somewhat, and perhaps controlling the dispersion like this helps. I dunno. I would expect some undesirable diffration effects from the poor mouth termination.

Just some random thoughts.

That said, when I heard the prototypes, they were very good and I know Kevin spent a hell of a lot of time and effort getting them just so. I would like to figure out what makes them work as a design, though. I have most of the bits to build meself a pair!

 

Hi - you should go for it

A long term goal I know you've had for a long time.

Hearing the prototypes I was most especially struck by how amazing the speaker sounded (all the frequency range), and yet how unacceptably bass-light they sounded without the huge Lab subs kicking in underneath.

This I feel is the achiles heel (of the prototype, haven't heard the Olympian).. the whole package including the bass bins is just HUGE!... and few living rooms in Britain could swallow that kind of ...construction...

Mind you to be completely fair, when I heard them without the subs, it was in Kevin's demo room.. which in itself is ..at a guess.. something like 16 x 20 with high ceilings.. so whether the prototypes or indeed olympians would sound bass light in a more typical british 16x12 living room (with low ceilings) is unknown to me...

Those are my thoughts on it..

 

Yeah I can imagine the difference with and without the labs subs. A direct comparison would highlight that quite markedly.

I have heard some similar sized folded horns in a domestic setting - pushed into corners they sound just fine and didn't lack any bass at all.

I can't really see the Lab horns fitting in with the average room! You could always use a small sub, but then if you can afford buy these, it's assumed that you can afford a room to do them justice.

 

Hi!

'Horn Bass' is a real problem isn't it? -

I mean firstly theres the size of the cabinets necessary to produce it - even folded you end up with coffins in the room...

then, all that bass energy - ''neighbours from hell'' springs to mind.

Ever since I saw the converted Victorian mill that L.V. use as a demo room I've said ''I want one too !!'' - but I may aswell ask for the moon.. such property doesn't appear in 'rightmove' ! - at least not in my budget.

Of course most horn loaded bass acts as a direct radiator at a certain point, so I guess the question becomes 'how low do you go'... and that depends .. again I would suppose, on the amount of real estate you are prepared to give to this holy grail of bass.

Having heard this 'ultimate' system in it's prototype form I can say that I think it's lack of accessability has less to do with the price of the components, and more to do with ''can I find an acoustic space suitable for it'' ?

After all 'DIY' is an option for the real-world (non-super-rich) consumer.

I've been all over 'right move' in the last month or two. I can quite categorically say with a real world budget of under £250k, your average british living room has a low ceiling and is around 13 or 14 feet, and squarish.

''standmount territory'' in my book..

'rabbit hutch britain' has the smallest rooms in Europe apparently

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/10/rooms-private-housing-too-small

This article certainly reflects my own findings - which shows that 'private stock' housing is actually smaller than 'council housing'. What a ridiculous crazy turnabout that is.

Excuse me my rant...

 

Hi,

There is a review in Hifi Choice The Collection 2009. It sells for a price of £190,000. The reviewer, Ed Selley, likes them.

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p - p - p - pardon?

 

Hifi Choice The Collection 2009 sells for a price of £190,00?

 

Hi Dev,

That is correct. You get a free pair of Vox Olympian speakers thrown in.

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If one of you guys buys that collection, I'd very much like to buy it off you when you're done. They are not distributed over here.

 

wow, ....bare in mind this is a friday night and I've had a skinfull...but that's a 'take the piss' price...

Usual formulae - take the build cost, look at a multiple of 3ish.

£30k would be nearer.

absolute bunch of arse .... sorry....... and this is a huge fan speaking...

 

Looks like a 'what do the most expensive speakers sell for, we'll match that' type of price rather than a multiple of material cost.

Still, hollow out the speakers and put them side by side and you could rent them out as a student flat.

 

Hi Chris,

Why do you have to muliply by 3? We live in a comsumer society. Things are priced to what price they can sell for. If Kevin can sell some of these speakers at that price, then so be it.

There are many things that are priced at a lot more that they cost to design and build. If he can sell them at that price, good luck to him.

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Hi Dean

My views aren't that of a free market society.

I don't subscribe to the view that greed is good.

If someone wants to spend the best part of £200k on a pair of speakers then of course I can't stop them. I can however voice a complaint at the lunacy, and that equally is my right.

 

How much do the drivers cost? £10k all in? Then maybe £5k for the metalwork and cabinetry. £15k per + development costs over a couple of years.


I'd say that's a 100k speaker.

 

back in the days - before the invention of a "price per performance", it used to be a multiple of 5.

now all hells break loose.