SET and Fostex BLH Speakers

just like any excellent speakers, source and amps must be excellent.
I used with my fullrangers 6b4g DHT amps.

Im a bit against EQ/DSP in my chain.

I must admit I have never played with lowther/voxativ but the FR response measurements of those drivers doesnt make me too interested. maybe with eq to tame their rising HF and crossed at 300hz they can be very good. I did experience with my alpair 12p and fe127en crossed at 300hz with minidsp but didnt like the result.

I should probably try the totl fullrangers like lowther/voxativ then!

 

I definitely was in the WTF camp when first playing with single driver speakers. After hearing some Teresonics and Omegas though I knew that like any speaker type, there was some great stuff being made.

 

found your problem. use Jriver DSP suite, it's way more transparent.

 

I also like the idea of no xo in the mid. but I dont see 2khz, where most 2-ways xo mid o tweeter, as midrange...

I guess my forey into fullrangers was a cheap attempt in that I have not tried the best fullrangers available like supravox, lowther, voxativ. Probably should revisit but in order to get the ebst of them, you have to highpass them so it makes them a 2 way anyhow.

sorry for my OP observations, happy listening!

 

how can you feed 2 amps (one for bass and one for mid/high) using only jriver dsp suite? with a pre amp?

 

You need to have two dacs.

 

can jriver run two identical dac. I have two HRT MS 2...

 

Probably not if they're both USB devices with their own drivers. Some of us use dedicated multi-channel PCI interfaces that are part of a larger investment with our pricy 4-figure DACs. Feel free to ignore us here. I actually agree with some of your sentiment with regard to 2-ways having serious advantages over wideband stuff.

At the end of the day, I find that a wide-bander will respond better to equalization (active, passive, digital, no matter) which will probably be necessary if you are a stickler for tonal balance. And if you're a stickler for maximum rezolooshun, micro-dynamics, and immediacy, the choice is already clear. There are other aspects of reproduction that only the multi-way stuff does, mind you.

 

I have a 4 figure dac but for my main gig. my diy big 3 way is for my living room so I use a cheap dac.

Im not sure id agree that widebander allow better micro dynamics nor resolution. I have not tried lowther/voxatif but did try some very well considered fullranger and they were embarrassed in every way possible by 2-ways. curious to know what you, Ojneg or marvey have had like speaker before trying widebanders. I began my journey in hifi with diy widebanders, then dy 2 ways, then 3 ways, but then heard commercial offerings that simply embarassed every effort so went with commercial.

 

My drivers handle 45-12kHz with a tweeter for the top-end (single cap filter), and a sub for the low-end. I really enjoy that setup.

 

Here's just a quick mini impression.

Mind you, I've been up since 4am and have consumed 15 beers over the span of 3 flights, I like beer.

@struggles mentioned to me that he would like to maybe do an enclosure for the 6.5" Fostex Sigma driver. I already had the Madisound BK-16 which he had already heard. I asked him how much the material would cost for a plan I had saved on my computer ,and we came out with a $200 estimate.
Done deal, Sunday night a week ago from today I said let's get 'er done. Monday afternoon we were cutting 5x5 sheets of 18mm Baltic birch. The original plan called for 15mm, but I found a plan for the beefier 18mm. Usually the plan calls for you to just glue the pieces to each other, but @struggles being the perfectionist he is said we should do this right and carry the spirit of Nagaoka-san's original design of glue and wood only. Some other plans use screws and nails to hold the maze of baffles and walls together, but not ours. All glue and "biscuits."

Not only on the wide surfaces, but on the 18mm edges. Without question this build was made to spec and held there. Right angles remain square and true, zero slop period. Below are biscuits, I should have taken pics of he biscuits edges too, but f**k I was tired, I hope you get the idea. This wasn't a slap together, hope and pray build.

Early mockup below. You can see where I missed a board and we mocked it up.


We got very close to finished late Friday night, and came in Saturday morning of the meet to finish up.

Lessons learned : don't give me a belt sander

: don't give me an orbital sander

: don't give me a spray gun with shellac


We played a little with the bottom mouth as you can see with the pic above. It went from very boomy in the mid- bass to lean and light. We found a compromise and went with it. The mouth we used was a hybrid of the original Nagaoka D-37 enclosure and an updated mkIII version another fellow from Japan has come up with.

I would like to say @struggles isnt a craftsman, he's a Master Craftsman. No question about it, constantly striving for perfection. This was a great learning experience for me, and life lesson in perseverance.

I hardly spent any time in the headphone rooms at all. Even with the best of the best gear at SBAF meets disposal. Listening to @struggles horn system has turned me into a 2 channel convert, his horn system is a true beast.

I enjoyed each speaker system at the meet. Marv's rich warm, low end tilted powered by Schiit system, to the mid focused Marten analog rig. Man that was some awesome stuff. I wish we had brought some more caps/ crossovers parts etc, and had all 3 systems working together in a huge array powered by that VPI TT. That would have been epic...

Thanks guys for putting on the show, thanks @struggles for putting together the enclosure with me, transportation of the gear to and from, the amazing Fostex T500 mkII super tweeters that really brought the Sigma's to a higher level, building the lunch pail L-pads, along with the modded Nagaoka D-37 enclosure. Providing the amazing lean and clean Almarro SET amp. Thanks @shaizada for bringing the Almarro to our attention. Truly an underrated mighty might.

Materials approx $200. Master craftsman to help cut assemble and plan... PRICELESS !!!

What a truly great feeling of community. The pizza party in room 1678 hosted by the crazy analog Canucks (I'm a member as well), and the boys from NYC, Portland, Maryland, and local organizers, it was great, actually words can't describe. Too many thanks to go out, but I wish everybody that was there in body and spirit, a happy listening experience.

Rock on SBAF 2016 super meet !!!

ADDED INFO:

I forgot to mention during the show we pulled the drivers and added Acousta-Stuff in the are behind/below the driver. When we were testing and taking measurements back at the shop, we found adding more stuffing reduced a mid-range bump @ apprx 120hZ, leaning out the sound somewhat. We started the show with zero stuffing, and the first track we played was Dire Straits "Money for Nothing", the full 8+ minute version. I have fond memories of that track when I was a youngster, when my Dad would visit Hi-Fi shops in the 80's, more often than not that was one of the test tracks the salesman would play. At the show, it actually made my hair stand on end when the guitar riff kicked in... That's when I knew we had created something special.

Each lunch pail on the floor behind the cabinets contained a simple L-pad and 1.2uf capcitor, to help keep the Super Tweeters playing nice with the Sigma drivers. We took measurements at the shop, and tuned the final portion by ear. Sorry, we didn't save the ARTA FR graphs, but I think the results blended everything together very nicely.

I also need to add that @struggles made multiple templates and spacers to ensure a uniform build between both enclosures.

Here are the plans and links we worked off, just in case anyone wants to tackle this project or a similar one.

Below is the D-37 mkIII we took the lower stepped horn mouth from. The original D-37 lower mouth looks somewhat unrefined:



The original D-37 below:



Here's the special upgraded cut sheet for 18mm material. The stock D-37 uses 15mm material


and a few links with tons of plans and the motivation of completed projects:

Step by step photo guide of assembly :http://www-eng.diyloudspeakers.jp/2000html/2500speakerseisakurei/2521d-37-1.html

Sketchup file for 18mm D-37: http://tzaudiocrafts.web.fc2.com/D37.htm

Completed D-37 mkIII finished with veneer: http://spida.art.coocan.jp/pag9-0-28.htm

The site with tons of info on many of Nagaoka-san's enclosure's: http://spida.art.coocan.jp/framepageeng-9.htm

Hope this helps as a resource for future projects.

 

Wow - super impressive work @JK47 and @struggles. Thanks for putting up all the information. I might actually have a go at this!

So many pieces - They must be pretty damned heavy right? Did you guys feel that 15mm ply would not be strong enough?

I think they look really beautiful by the way.

 

Oh yeah, each enclosure is very heavy. No real reasoning behind going with the 18mm over the 15mm Baltic birch, just that the 18mm plans were available, and we wanted to try it out. They are a BIG, BOLD, and ROBUST enclosure with the sound to match.

They will end up getting painted at the end of the month when I return from work, just haven't decided on the color yet.

 

What do you guys think of the design below.
It's open from the top. I'm not very familiar with this type of design. It's made for the Fostex FE127.
Regardless, it seems like a somewhat 'easy' first or second project as there are few parts.

 

The design shares similarities with @shaizada 's notorious Blumenstein nagas (I'm sure the nagas have a more intricate labyrinth though).

Man, now I want to build a pair too! @ohmaigulay: future DIY project???