Final Destination System? With Pictures

[Poultrygeist]

Folks, I may have arrived

http://gallery.audioreview.com/data/audio//500/P9160016.JPG

[Poultrygeist]

http://gallery.audioreview.com/data/audio//500/P9160017.JPG

[Poultrygeist]

These are Martin J. King designed open baffle speakers with 8 inch Tang Band 1808 full range drivers over 15 inch Eminence Alpha full range bass drivers.

The Tang Bands are powered by Paramour 2a3 monoblocks of 3.5wpc while the Alpha bass drivers are powered by Emo/Dayton monoblocks of 150 wpc with built in crossovers set at 80hz.

I'm using a Conrad Johnson preamp to control the four amps in this system. Signal is from an Integra DPS-7.2.

[Poultrygeist]

I've tried several OB's over the last few years and while the mids and highs were great they were lacking in low frequencies. Several months ago I came upon Martin J. King H-frame designs and decided to give them a try. MJK BTW is a true genius in speaker design and has a cult like following on DIY Audio. I built the H-frames and added the Tang Bands in an upside down T arrangement and I'm here to tell you these things are beyond amazing. Now my OB has a great bottom end to go with to die for mids and highs. The H-frames are not like plodding subs that can't get out of their own way, they are musical and reproduce the low end of a string bass better than I thought possible.

[frenchmon]

Nice Poultry....we need a good picture from head on. To bad I no longer live in Carolina....I'd be visiting your place for some good sounds.

[poppachubby]

Wow, just wow. Looks awesome and I am certain it must sound magical. Congrats poultry, you have worked hard at it and deserve to arrive.

[Poultrygeist]

http://gallery.audioreview.com/data/audio//500/P9160015.JPG

[Poultrygeist]

Open baffle speakers don't sound like box speakers. They sound more spacious and unencumbered. Getting the midrange driver out of the box brings a seductive openness and clarity to the sound that makes voices and instruments sound "there". Dipoles need to be pulled out into the room so that you get all that great sound coming from the rear of the drivers which is lost in box speakers. The upside to pulling them out into your listening space is that they are intoxicating in nearfield. You don't have to worry about driver integration as you can get as close as you like and lose your self in the midrange yet they will also capable of room filling sound.

OB bass, which I thought not possible before building the H-frames, sounds natural and un-sub like. Unlike conventional subs OB bass is neighbor friendly and your wife won't be disturbed when she's reading a book in another room.

Another feature of this system is that it avoids all the evils of passive crossovers. Each of the drivers is directly connected to it's own amp and runs full range. You could say they are quad amped without the need for filters and bottlenecks in the signal path. The advantages of this multi-amplification approach ( per Pass Labs Owner's maunal ) is higher power, better use of power, higher damping factor, lower distortion, more control /flexibility, and the ability to tailor amps to individual drivers. The Emo/Dayton amps are actively crossed over at 80hz and seamlessly integrate the low frequency drivers with the high frequency drivers.

These OB speakers would be inexpensive to reproduce if not for the recent price increase of the Tang Band W8-1808 which is not up to $500 per pair. There are other less expensive drivers that work very well in this design. The cost advantage enjoyed by DIY vs commercially built speakers is said to be around 10 to 1. To achieve this level of performance from a commercially produced speaker would cost many thousands of dollars.

[E-Stat]

Folks, I may have arrived
Neat system. I've always preferred the sound of dipoles for musical reproduction. Your OBs remind me a bit of Nelson Pass' experimentation with them and his First Watt amps found here. (http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/firstwatt10/j2.html) Note that his are situated just a bit higher and seem to be tilted back to improve the vertical image size.

rw

[Poultrygeist]

The DIY experts use complicated formulas and math cad programs which simulate how a given driver will respond to an enclosure/baffle based on it's specs. In this case I was careful to replicate every dimension of this proven design even down to the slight off set and placement of the Tang Band on the upper baffle. Except for cosmetics there is little room for originality. Given the advances in technology available to the masses speaker building has progressed from a black art to a science.

[E-Stat]

In this case I was careful to replicate every dimension of this proven design even down to the slight off set and placement of the Tang Band on the upper baffle.
I'm not suggesting you change the dimensions of the baffle - just get it elevated.

rw

[Poultrygeist]

http://://gallery.audioreview.com/data/audio/500/medium/P9160028.JPG

[frenchmon]

Open baffle speakers don't sound like box speakers. They sound more spacious and unencumbered. Getting the midrange driver out of the box brings a seductive openness and clarity to the sound that makes voices and instruments sound "there". Dipoles need to be pulled out into the room so that you get all that great sound coming from the rear of the drivers which is lost in box speakers. The upside to pulling them out into your listening space is that they are intoxicating in nearfield. You don't have to worry about driver integration as you can get as close as you like and lose your self in the midrange yet they will also capable of room filling sound.

OB bass, which I thought not possible before building the H-frames, sounds natural and un-sub like. Unlike conventional subs OB bass is neighbor friendly and your wife won't be disturbed when she's reading a book in another room.

Another feature of this system is that it avoids all the evils of passive crossovers. Each of the drivers is directly connected to it's own amp and runs full range. You could say they are quad amped without the need for filters and bottlenecks in the signal path. The advantages of this multi-amplification approach ( per Pass Labs Owner's maunal ) is higher power, better use of power, higher damping factor, lower distortion, more control /flexibility, and the ability to tailor amps to individual drivers. The Emo/Dayton amps are actively crossed over at 80hz and seamlessly integrate the low frequency drivers with the high frequency drivers.

These OB speakers would be inexpensive to reproduce if not for the recent price increase of the Tang Band W8-1808 which is not up to $500 per pair. There are other less expensive drivers that work very well in this design. The cost advantage enjoyed by DIY vs commercially built speakers is said to be around 10 to 1. To achieve this level of performance from a commercially produced speaker would cost many thousands of dollars.

Shoot man...my Cantons sound like that!:p

Nice looking set you have there. Thanks for the pic.

[blackraven]

Very nice system you have there!

[Poultrygeist]

I think many of you maggie lovers would also appreciate the open baffle sound and the two have more in common than not. Unfortunately they both need bass help.

If I had a pair of maggies or even bookshelf speakers I would build these simple H-frames ( bottom portion of my OB ) for a lot less money and move those expensive sub(s) to HT where they belong. The H-frames are no larger and weigh much less than many subs but sound so much more musical.

If you're interested in building yourself some H-frames I'll gladly post the easy DIY build instructions. The parts and materials for two including two amps would be around $400. With one amp it would cost closer to $350 and everything except the plywood can be purchased through Parts Express.

[djpnutz]

great job

[JoeE SP9]

I think many of you maggie lovers would also appreciate the open baffle sound and the two have more in common than not. Unfortunately they both need bass help.

If I had a pair of maggies or even bookshelf speakers I would build these simple H-frames ( bottom portion of my OB ) for a lot less money and move those expensive sub(s) to HT where they belong. The H-frames are no larger and weigh much less than many subs but sound so much more musical.

If you're interested in building yourself some H-frames I'll gladly post the easy DIY build instructions. The parts and materials for two including two amps would be around $400. With one amp it would cost closer to $350 and everything except the plywood can be purchased through Parts Express.

I'm interested in the DIY instructions for the H-frames.

[Poultrygeist]

If anyone is wondering these pictures are not of my listening room as the hard surfaces are way too reflective. I use our sun room for pictures as it's so well lite.

I'll post H-frame build instructions on a separate thread.

[Ajani]

Very sweet looking setup btw... Like E-stat my first thought was that it reminds me of Nelson Pass' speakers... So there must be something to the design...

[Poultrygeist]

Nelson Pass is to amps as Martin J King is to speakers.

Quarter Wavelength Loudspeaker Design (http://www.quarter-wave.com/)

[Poultrygeist]

One last thing I forgot to mention is that if you have an acoustically difficult room, OB is the only way to go. OB does not care if you have heavy carpet or bare wooden floors and it matters little if you have windows everywhere or dynamat upholstered walls. All the sound gets through to you without the nasty room coloration you get with monkey coffins.

[Worf101]

While drooling over your system, I realized tht the only thing I have in common with it is the stand holding your components. I had one just like it before I went the self contained furniture route.

Worf

[Poultrygeist]

Thanks Worf,

The slanted stand works for me as I can use a top loading CDP or a TT on the lower shelves.