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My system
Loudspeakers _______ My loudspeaker philosophy I have experience with planar speakers & paper cone loudspeakers Conventional & not so conventional in both categories. Dec13/09 As those of you who've been coming to this site all know I've been a follower of the single driver point scource theory of loud speaker design. To the purists this means 1 driver to cover the full audio range (20hz to 20khz). To me this is absurd because of the limitations of cone speaker design...the difficulty of extracting realistic bass out of a small speaker. Typical mini/monitors use a 5" cone. The opposite problem of extracting extended treble from a typical bass driver 8" to 12". The solution has been to combine a small driver for the treble mid/range & a larger driver for the bass in one enclosure.(sometimes a 3way wth. mid driver). What we gain in frequency response is countermanded by inaccuracy in phase and in time. Because the voicecoils of the treble & bass drivers aren't on the same vertical plane the sound arrives at the ear at different times. even though the timing error is in milliseconds. Also because the treble driver is off axis from the bass driver, the sound from each driver modulates the other. The old Tannoy adds showing the pictures of of one stone thrown in a pond versus 2 stones. The second pic showing how the ripples from one affect the other. To put it in a simple way the single driver has more prominent imaging & soundstaging. Sometimes the crossover in a 2 or 3 way design can also interfere with the music being played, an example is chestiness in male vocals if the x/over point chosen is in that range or strident female vocals for the same reason. I've had
the priveledge of having some friends in the audio
business who've given me an opportunity to listen to some interesting
single driver designs as well as experiments in solving some of the
problems single drivers have. The creation of multi-driver designs
using an extended range driver betwn 1k & 14K for example using
minimal x/over
manipulation for integration with a super tweeter & large woofer.
You can check my Kickwood Audio link for pics of some
of experiments. Now to some facts: 1.single driver full range cross/overless designs have correct phase response and seem to image the best! in a nut shell (better imaging, better sound stage,no crossover anomallys) higher efficiency easier to drive. 2.Speakers with more than 1 driver seem to have a more extended & balanced freq. response. in a nut shell (deeper bass, higher hi's) can typically play louder. some designs quite power hungry. I liked the way full range x/overless designs sounded. I also like the sound of large multi-driver designs. It wasn't until I discovered that it was possible to mount a tweeter in the same basket as the woofer that I realised one could have their cake & eat it too. Some designs based on this theory are Altec(the 604) Tannoy(the HPD and many more) Kef(the uniQ) & emminence bla bla bla bla etc. With proper x/over design the chestiness & stridency issues can be dealt with satisfactorally more to the point that I've owned & been happy with two different types of Tannoy loudspeakers, 635's (8"plastic cone driver) and Tannoy HPD'S(12" paper cone)as well as owning Altec 604's. I am currently listening to Tannoy Gold's(10" paper cone). My only complaint about the Golds is that they need some work on the x/overs!! |       |
| Amplifiers & Pre/amps: S.A.R. LABS- The amplifiers pictured on the left from top to bottom. -the Little Wally -the Mos 400 -the Mos 450 are the culmination of 40 + years of experimenting with mos fet designs,that Walter Romanyshyn of S.A.R. LABS has been engaged in! The 1st. tube amp is a modified hybrid Dynaco ST-70 with a mosfet driver stage using 6L6 power tubes giving an output of approx. 45 watts per channel. The second tube amp uses either 2A3 or 45 out put tubes. The last amp is a custom push pull design using the 6336 out put tube. The amp was custom built with a nickel plated chassis with gold plated accents on the front panel!
|  LITTLE WALLY  MOS 400  MOS 450  S.A.R. LABS Custom 6336 amp |
| Power: The problem of electronic interference rfi, mains borne noise, noise from switching power supplies in micro/waves, fridges,t.v.'s etc. and what to do about it!!! |
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