THE Audio thread ! 06/07/08/09/10/11/12/13ers move along..
05-16-2009, 12:21 AM
#4882
05-16-2009, 10:38 AM
#4884
trunk is super sick. love the idea.
Whooooops!
05-16-2009, 11:52 AM
#4886
Originally posted by Fast1one
I went ahead and got everything hooked up...
First of all, the FF85KeNs sound absolutely phenomenal. I haven't been listening for long, but one thing is for sure that these things are VERY revealing. I was expecting them to have this characteristic, but not at this level. I'm not completely sure if I want to keep them yet simply because they have brought out the worst of mediocre recordings in my collection. I am not quite ready to simply abandon half of my music
They have an incredible sound stage. Also very good micro and macro dynamics for such a tiny speaker. In addition, they are not fatiguing or do they have the imfamous fostex "shout" that I have heard about. Extremely smooth sounding, and I suspect its because of Dave's treatment. Also, suprisingly they handle genres like rock very well.
He wasn't kidding when he said they can rival quality tweeters. They definitely have wonderful sparkle to them, and nothing seems to be missing on the top end.
As far as the woofers go. I definitely need more power in the future. Currently they are each receiving only 30 watts each. I will be upgrading eventually to 100 watts each for head room. The FRs don't seem to be straining at all at higher levels with the 400hz crossover point. The woofers have great bass with a little EQ, enough for my tastes. Cone movement is controlled with music, only reaching about 2-3mm P-P with heavy bass passages.
However, they do leave a bit to be desired on the top end. Crossing them over above ~150hz simply doesn't sound very good. So right now I have a small gap in the frequency response. Not too big of a deal for my tastes. Over all the performance of the woofers is very good for the price, with great impact. The higher crossover point doesn't really steer the sound stage down as many led me to believe.
One more thing I forgot to mention. They are currently operating WITHOUT the wings because of a mistake I made when cutting. Being a college student, I only had access to a circular saw and router. I got a little careless with the circular saw and screwed up on one of my cuts. Needless to say I didn't have any more wood. However, I like the configuration very much and will likely keep them wingless for now.
I went ahead and got everything hooked up...
First of all, the FF85KeNs sound absolutely phenomenal. I haven't been listening for long, but one thing is for sure that these things are VERY revealing. I was expecting them to have this characteristic, but not at this level. I'm not completely sure if I want to keep them yet simply because they have brought out the worst of mediocre recordings in my collection. I am not quite ready to simply abandon half of my music
They have an incredible sound stage. Also very good micro and macro dynamics for such a tiny speaker. In addition, they are not fatiguing or do they have the imfamous fostex "shout" that I have heard about. Extremely smooth sounding, and I suspect its because of Dave's treatment. Also, suprisingly they handle genres like rock very well.
He wasn't kidding when he said they can rival quality tweeters. They definitely have wonderful sparkle to them, and nothing seems to be missing on the top end.
As far as the woofers go. I definitely need more power in the future. Currently they are each receiving only 30 watts each. I will be upgrading eventually to 100 watts each for head room. The FRs don't seem to be straining at all at higher levels with the 400hz crossover point. The woofers have great bass with a little EQ, enough for my tastes. Cone movement is controlled with music, only reaching about 2-3mm P-P with heavy bass passages.
However, they do leave a bit to be desired on the top end. Crossing them over above ~150hz simply doesn't sound very good. So right now I have a small gap in the frequency response. Not too big of a deal for my tastes. Over all the performance of the woofers is very good for the price, with great impact. The higher crossover point doesn't really steer the sound stage down as many led me to believe.
One more thing I forgot to mention. They are currently operating WITHOUT the wings because of a mistake I made when cutting. Being a college student, I only had access to a circular saw and router. I got a little careless with the circular saw and screwed up on one of my cuts. Needless to say I didn't have any more wood. However, I like the configuration very much and will likely keep them wingless for now.
Originally posted by Fast1one
I am currently listening to the self titled album Nouvelle Vague. Bossa Nova music...Her voice is absolutely beautiful.
Here are some quick pictures I took. They are currently in my bedroom until I make room in the living room
I am currently listening to the self titled album Nouvelle Vague. Bossa Nova music...Her voice is absolutely beautiful.
Here are some quick pictures I took. They are currently in my bedroom until I make room in the living room
Originally posted by Fast1one
These woofers are definitely sounding better by the hour. I gave them a little exercise while I was at the library studying for about 6 hours with a 15hz test tone at low volume.
I don't think the crossover point is going to budge for now. Currently its set at ~140hz and I am enjoying the blend they have with the FRs. I don't really feel like I am missing much from the recording in that range. After all, its a crossover not a brick wall
Also, the bass is really nice even with no EQ. I haven't played anything that really made me miss deep bass yet. Even playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album was quite satisfying from beginning to end. The track with the clocks going off (Time?) is eerily life like. "Money" also has that same quality with all the registers going off in the beginning.
I think I may have some wiggle room as far as the FF85s go. They don't really move at all even with heavy music crossed over at ~350hz now. I will slowly bring the crossover point lower once I am confident that I they have the mechanical head room.
One final note for now. I think I am going to end up keeping the Fostex and just listen to good recordings with them. After all, I have other rigs for the rest of my collection ( *cough* car).
These woofers are definitely sounding better by the hour. I gave them a little exercise while I was at the library studying for about 6 hours with a 15hz test tone at low volume.
I don't think the crossover point is going to budge for now. Currently its set at ~140hz and I am enjoying the blend they have with the FRs. I don't really feel like I am missing much from the recording in that range. After all, its a crossover not a brick wall
Also, the bass is really nice even with no EQ. I haven't played anything that really made me miss deep bass yet. Even playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album was quite satisfying from beginning to end. The track with the clocks going off (Time?) is eerily life like. "Money" also has that same quality with all the registers going off in the beginning.
I think I may have some wiggle room as far as the FF85s go. They don't really move at all even with heavy music crossed over at ~350hz now. I will slowly bring the crossover point lower once I am confident that I they have the mechanical head room.
One final note for now. I think I am going to end up keeping the Fostex and just listen to good recordings with them. After all, I have other rigs for the rest of my collection ( *cough* car).
Originally posted by Fast1one
UPDATE
First off, I upgraded to two Dayton plate amps, which do 170 watts at 8 ohms and 240w at 4 ohms. I spent a couple hours doing some minor modifications to the bass drivers. I did two things:
1.) I added some Cascade Audio engineering VBMAX sound deadening to the frames. A car audio vibration dampener Being stamped steal, they had a significant amount of ringing to them. I added some to all the spokes and added some around the perimeter where the magnet joins the frame. Just knocking it with my fist I could I already tell it was going to make a big difference; Very solid and no ringing whatsoever. I started playing music and WOW. What a difference, the upper response (150hz+) of the drivers was cleaned up quite a bit to my ears. Was surprised at how significant it was. DEFINITELY recommend it! This should be the very first thing you should do before you even play them. But this was only part of the equation. I turned off the music and did the following.
2.) I added 10 ohms (two 20 ohm 20 watt resisters in parallel) in series with each driver. To raise QES, and therefore QTS.
All I can say is, WOW. HUGE difference. Before since there as a rising response, it really brought out the worse of the Pyles, particularly when crossed over high as previously mentioned. Now that the bass is more full and extended (easily to ~40hz to my ear), the pyles sound MUCH better and are now crossed over higher at about 160-170hz with no issues. Interestingly enough, I found my self pushing them a lot less, mechanically, since the presence of the low end allowed me to turn the gain down. Not to mention the amplifiers are now running a at 8 ohms, so they run cooler.
WONDERFUL macro and micro dynamics , dear God this is music. Eric Clapton Unplugged in particular was breath taking. The speakers are complete. Or should I say, what speakers? They completely disappear into the room!
Cheers!!! Long live music!
UPDATE
First off, I upgraded to two Dayton plate amps, which do 170 watts at 8 ohms and 240w at 4 ohms. I spent a couple hours doing some minor modifications to the bass drivers. I did two things:
1.) I added some Cascade Audio engineering VBMAX sound deadening to the frames. A car audio vibration dampener Being stamped steal, they had a significant amount of ringing to them. I added some to all the spokes and added some around the perimeter where the magnet joins the frame. Just knocking it with my fist I could I already tell it was going to make a big difference; Very solid and no ringing whatsoever. I started playing music and WOW. What a difference, the upper response (150hz+) of the drivers was cleaned up quite a bit to my ears. Was surprised at how significant it was. DEFINITELY recommend it! This should be the very first thing you should do before you even play them. But this was only part of the equation. I turned off the music and did the following.
2.) I added 10 ohms (two 20 ohm 20 watt resisters in parallel) in series with each driver. To raise QES, and therefore QTS.
All I can say is, WOW. HUGE difference. Before since there as a rising response, it really brought out the worse of the Pyles, particularly when crossed over high as previously mentioned. Now that the bass is more full and extended (easily to ~40hz to my ear), the pyles sound MUCH better and are now crossed over higher at about 160-170hz with no issues. Interestingly enough, I found my self pushing them a lot less, mechanically, since the presence of the low end allowed me to turn the gain down. Not to mention the amplifiers are now running a at 8 ohms, so they run cooler.
WONDERFUL macro and micro dynamics , dear God this is music. Eric Clapton Unplugged in particular was breath taking. The speakers are complete. Or should I say, what speakers? They completely disappear into the room!
Cheers!!! Long live music!
05-16-2009, 03:52 PM
#4888
05-17-2009, 10:13 AM
#4890
The amount of extension from the bass drivers is dependent on the area of the baffle. That's why its so big. Dipole setups sound like they do BECAUSE of the back wave. Without it, it wouldn't be dipole. There has to be sufficient spacing to the back wall to work properly, usually on the order of 1m or more, which is what I have.
Since there is no enclosure, the music is very pure and natural sounding, with no colouration whatsoever. Since the back wave is delayed, the result is ambience, giving a sense of spaciousness which is non-existent in regular boxed speakers. Finally, since the bass speakers radiate in dipole form, room modes ( or areas where there is severe bass cancellation and ripples) are vastly reduced. Usually this is the biggest problem in rooms and the most difficult (expensive) to solve.
Obviously the down fall is for lower frequencies, you need a lot of cone area to compensate for the lack of a box. Think Infinite baffle. However, since higher QTS drivers exhibit more favourable (IE extended) response in a dipole, and since higher QTS drivers are generally less expensive ( weaker motors) this isn't particularly difficult to achieve. Two 15s are sufficient, I have four for headroom
Hope that answers some questions. You should try it with some cheap speakers. Wood is cheap
05-30-2009, 09:39 PM
#4903
05-30-2009, 10:06 PM
#4904
05-31-2009, 10:05 AM
#4905
I tend to get a bit irritable
iTrader: (151)
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Central Jersey
Posts: 17,674
Oddly a measly lil Billet 475 (paper say 75 X 4, 150 X 2) kicked the ever living crap out of my clients PDX4.150. Go figure ...
:sigh: deleting again...
06-02-2009, 02:55 PM
#4912
06-02-2009, 03:09 PM
#4914
Orlando = no beaches. Do Ft. Lauderdale/Miami instead.
06-02-2009, 03:31 PM
#4918
I'm going on vacation with my family. Going to Washington DC to tour the white house then stay at my aunt's place in NY for like 5 days.
Last edited by The Law; 06-02-2009 at 03:33 PM.
06-02-2009, 03:49 PM
#4920