Full Range Horn & system build

[rajan-]

its been a sometime that I have taken up the courage to build another one after my last system.

This will be a 2 channel system including horns, Amps and preamps.


My previous set up: incase anyone is interested.

2 way speaker build, with Horns..

am not an audiophile. I am a music and audio enthusiast no, I dont fancy exotic audio and power cables I havent measured anything yet, which mean I must be a subjectivist.!!! but am I ? after reading the below, some clarity on the true definitions were made easier. I think I must...

www.hifivision.com

Time change, location / home changed, life moved on.
If I had the option to move my previous setup I probably wouldn't have been attempting this.

So, the plan is:

15W Matched pair, Class A, Single Ended Amps: Done, completed, waiting for the speakers to be completed.
Can be used as Balanced mono or Single ended Bridged Mono.
Thank you, Nelson Pass / DIYAudiostore.

Bride of Zen Pre-amps: 75% completed. have to build Power supplies.


Future:
1) Integrate the Lyrita Le cleach horns from my previous build, and a super tweeter to augment this cabinets, and have a switchable platform for different genre of source material.
2) build Tube amp.

Speaker Cabinets: here we are. 3 full weekends, with measurements, saw, dremel and an angle grinder, wood glue and back breaking work...
For now, thanks to lockdowns in Melbourne, I cant do anything else to distract me.

 

[Kannan]

That is a beatiful and surreal location

So you built the AmpCamp? Lovely

 

[rajan-]

So you built the AmpCamp? Lovely

I did. they are great.

That is a beatiful and surreal location

my backyard ? Surreal ?

 

[Kannan]

I did. they are great.

I have their 1st version, though not built by me but purchased from a member. It has been my staple since 3 years.

 

[Kannan]

my backyard ? Surreal ?

That kind of backyard is for a city-bred like me living in a concrete jungle, fantasy .

 

[rupy]

Great job.Waiting for the audio reviews of your set.

 

[Bloom@83]

That kind of backyard is for a city-bred like me living in a concrete jungle, fantasy .

Echo the sentiment.

 

[baswamin]

I did. they are great.

Rajan, nice build and would be waiting to see the outcome.

Is ACA capable of giving 15W ? I thought it was 10W or so. Can you clarify ? Some pics of amps and preamps would be nice.

Thanks
Balaji

 

[rajan-]

Rajan, nice build and would be waiting to see the outcome.

Is ACA capable of giving 15W ? I thought it was 10W or so. Can you clarify ? Some pics of amps and preamps would be nice.

Thanks
Balaji

The later versions with the 24V 5A power supply are capable of 8W/channel. balanced mono and bridged mono, 15W.
I may do a Torroid power supply in a separate chassis. Later.

Check out the different operation modes here:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1006/5046/files/ACA_Monoblock_Operation_RevA.pdf

Preamps:

Right now I am making unbalanced Pre-amps.
Circuit: Modified Nelson Pass "Bride Of Zen", Dual mono.
Not to get distracted from the cabinets, I have packed them away with all parts including torroid transformers.
Boards are packed, I just need to finish the Power supply and a volume POT.

Found a DIYer who is making fantastic Circuit boards for BOZ

Pardon our interruption...

along with those, I also got a modified Pass Aleph Power amp boards from him. Capable of minimum 60wrms, can do more when used with 45 Vdc rails.
Thats a future project, once I fully explore the Amp Camp Amp. but with the efficiency of the horn speaker, I would not need this kind of power, but who knows, I may get another speaker project later.


later will also do balanced pre-amps,

 

[rajan-]

The Bride of Zen pre-amp work progressed further over the weekend. the power supply completed.
Initial testing is very very good.

 

[rajan-]

Gareth from Australia, puts all his heart and mind in his custom boards. He has come a long way. His creations are top class.

Very friendly guy too. Always available on FB to discuss anything and clear all questions.
He has some insane builds going.
Where did you come across him ? DIYAudio ?

What I can tell you is that his boards are top quality, and worked without a single issue straight up.

the cascode BOZ preamp seems to have excellent gain and speed/transition. Electric guitar sounds very very good, even on an open driver sans any cabinet.

Cant wait for the cabinets to get completed, happened to hur my wrist riding mountain bike. cant lift the heavy cabinets for finishing them. so worked on electronics again.

Thinking of a chassis and remote controlled Alps Pot. All ideas are welcome.

 

[rajan-]

they stood up !!

Took them out to the deck.

started work on sanding down edges on the horn path. slow progress.

 

[sktaliyan]

they stood up !!

Took them out to the deck.

started work on sanding down edges on the horn path. slow progress.

@rajan- Great DIY work. The cabinets look awesome. They are huge too. Seeing the size I am guessing that they must be around 5.5 ft-6ft. So paired with those monos n lovely preamp, I guess the listener would be fully qualified to given definition of what is audio-musical heaven!

 

[rajan-]

@rajan- Great DIY work. The cabinets look awesome. They are huge too. Seeing the size I am guessing that they must be around 5.5 ft-6ft. So paired with those monos n lovely preamp, I guess the listener would be fully qualified to given definition of what is audio-musical heaven!

It is not that tall.

it is exactly 1M tall.

I plan to integrate a very fine Lecleach wood horn (pic attached) on top of it. that will add another ft and little in height.

add a isolation base and speaker pikes. all in all under 5ft.

about the sound quality, I know the amp and pre-amp sound good in initial shakedown, but never tried them on these horns, if it works out then -good, if not, will match the speakers with tube gear which is known to work very well.

but no, IMHO is that no one get qualified enough to define where musical heaven is.
each person make their reality, and then crave for more.

 

[adas]

Absolutely fantastic

 

[rajan-]

with my improving hands post the riding injury, I got a long weekend to spend some time,

took lot of effort to getting the internal horn path to the best of my abilities, (wood putty, expanding filler, glue, additional sheets, cutting, grinding, sanding, and sealing the joints)

Speaker wiring and terminal install, hot glue them, again had delays, as Auspost is having terrible delivery delays.

The fickle Melbourne weather stayed good for the long weekend and also could do in-store shopping after covid restrictions were removed, and gave me the opportunity to sit on the deck and glue both cabinets with the last big side sheets. Here I am using one of the cabinet as weight for the other one.

It takes 2 people to lift each of these cabinets.

next,
run a pilot run with driver installed
cosmetic work, putty joints, sealer and paint.

 

[rajan-]

I had a sacrificial tangband W8-1772 to give a trial run on a 90% finished cabinet.
The driver was very slightly damaged during shipping , and I got a free replacement for. So kept the damaged one for trial fits etc without risking good ones.

so I got impatient and played one single channel.

I am still smiling ear-to-ear at the results. just a full range driver.


lot more to come.
finish second box
Get some hardware / pointed speaker spikes
12AWG speaker wires / banana plugs

finish pre-amp
need chassis & alps motorised dual gang pots

decide the compression driver for Le-Cleach horns

 

[reubensm]

amazing!!

 

[rajan-]

Let there be Music !!!

 

[rajan-]

trying out the lecleach horn position. they are not yet wired.
Any suggestions / recommendations for a matching 1" compression driver for the tang band W-1772 is appreciated, and in return every time they play more karma will be directed at them

in order to speed up burn-in the pre-amp, amps and the speakers, hooked them to to TV optical Out with a DAC
otherwise optical or USB out from the macbook.