Single Driver Rear Loaded Horn Speakers

[corElement]

oh nice, looking forward to hearing impressions

 

[avidyarthy]

Intimidating (height) dimensions of the speakers! :clapping:. It would be interesting to own such a pair, if ever possible. I see, that an A/B comparison with Hari's BS TL is also expected to come up here. Two totally different sound signatures too ......

You ... the 'speaker' man, Denom!

@ satyaki ... could not help not commenting on your wooden table / rack too .... antique 'Kolkata' well maintained 'original' or a very well made copy? Stupendous design!

 

[soulforged]

Looks nice! It is similar to the Sachiko design (also from Frugal) meant for FE206e. FM Quad has built that one...also on my wishlist...

 

[satyakibanerjee]

Yes, the rack is a very old 'original' designed to provide a stable vibration free base for a turntable. The top is a sandwich structure of 5 ply boards.

 

[satyakibanerjee]

Hi soulforged, this design is very similar to Sachiko. The second generation of the Olson Nagaoka style manifold horns were designed by Scott Lindgren and were published on the frugal horn website in April 2012. These horns were designed for the Fostex En series. In my adaptation, i have modified the volume of the driver chamber and the compression ratio of the throat to have a balance between the horn efficiency and bandwidth suitable for my listening room.

 

[denom]

Passion is key to anything that 1 needs to have if pursuing an aim that is very close to 1's heart. I have witnessed this when I met Satyaki & subsequently realised when I interacted with him for a couple of hours in between the listening session that took place yesterday.

The fact that he had vivid memories of his childhood, listening to music on varied set-ups owned by his family had left some indelible impressions in his mind & probably set him off on a search to acquire a pair of speakers that would play his music the way he wanted to. He finally decides to make a pair of speakers based on a horn loaded design in December 2011(the date also which he remembers vividly!) & slowly but surely began to execute his build from May 2012 onwards. It reached completion about a month back. All this occurring as his 1st hands on DIY effort clearly is not visible in his Speakers at all! The fact that 1 would easily be fooled into thinking that these are boutique speakers made by a pro is very much what 1 would think them to be. Keep in mind also that he has no electronics/mechanical background is even more astonishing as this first effort at making speakers is really unbelievable!

The first thing that hits you in the face is the sheer size of the speakers, I estimate them to be about height of 6.5', 1' wide & about 2' depth. Satyaki informed that each speaker weighs 150 kgs

He has used walnut laminate for the external finish & painted the innards with paint over the bitumen sheets used for eliminating the cab resonance. He has used felt to line certain parts of the internals. He also showed me the picture of the internal of the speaker during the build process & it sure looked intricate.

The 2A3 lyrita audio amp used is with the stock tubes provided as of now(the details of which am sure everybody is aware of), but maybe he might start tube rolling when he feels the need to experiment in future.

The speakers were placed about 6' feet away from each other with the table holding the amp, DVDp & TT in between. Details of that odd looking table may be further highlighted by Satyaki. I was also amazed by the condition of the LP's he had, mighty fine might I say & was really looking forward to hearing certain LP's that I selected out of his modest collection.

Satyaki started playing some audiophile CD's on his DVDp, highlighting certain aspects of the music & the things that we should look out for during the passage of the tracks. He is saving up for purchasing a 'deadly' DAC which he might acquire in the near future. 1 made by a certain Antelope Audio
I was quite impatient to listen to the LP's played on his Project TT, but every time I requested him to shift to analogue, he would bring out another CD & plead to give a certain track a listen A friend of mine who accompanied was also getting restless to hear the LP's & was on the verge of leaving when Satyaki finally relented & switched over to analogue :yahoo:

The first LP played was Joan Baez's Diamonds & Rust & immediately we were all engrossed with the performance of the set up! She was playing right in front of us :licklips: The whole magic of Full range single driver with horn design cab & tube amp + Vinyl just got us lost in the moment. WOW, fantastic. I have heard the track a million times but NEVER had I felt it! This time I did! :licklips:

Satyaki is a big fan of Joan Baez & has quite a few of her Albums. He then played us an album of hers called 'Farewell Angelina', which he said is a rare one. Again, we were transported to another world, just cannot describe the feeling! That contributed in us staying at his place for 5 odd hours & in the bargain delaying lunch which we ate @ 4pm

We also repeated the same tracks played on the TT with Hari's K-100B TL's, which we did immediately, by interchanging the Wires from Satyaki's Speakers to Hari's. Again we got real good insights mainly on the synergy aspects w r t a low powered tube amp with Horn & TL Design speakers.

Without beating the bush any more, I should now write what I liked about Satyaki's Speakers & overall System, so here goes:

I felt a lot of intimacy with the music that I heard, it gives you satisfaction to no end, you will be lost in the magic it weaves around you. With the lights dimmed, a nice drink in hand & good music will transport you to another world altogether. The music played is delivered in a very natural way, giving you warmth & sense of well being. A good way to relieve your stress & just get lost in the music.

There are a couple of area's that need to be looked upon as well, which we discussed with Satyaki, but then he has certain factors to consider also prior to start fiddling with the speakers. As per my opinion, the room needs a little treatment & also the drivers need to be burned in more + play around with speaker placement slightly. If the above factors still do not give him the results, then he should look at doing certain adjustments to the speaker damping.

Overall,

1) He has done a fantastic job, right outta the blocks - Kudos to him :clapping:
2) The speakers are daunting & work well with a 2A3 design amp
3) Get the DAC ASAP :lol: so that I can play my music on flac.
4) Try out a SS Amp to see what sort of synergy is derived with the speakers
5) Make his next pair of speakers soon, so that I can hear them

Satyaki is already onto his next set of speakers build, that too a different horn design, which he said would be much smaller that his current speakers. These are being made for a friend of his. Looking forward to Satyaki making more Horn Loaded Designed Full Range Speakers for more friends/clients in the near future.

PS: He is sticking to Horn Designed Full Range Speakers as his USP.

 

[corElement]

Nice writeup, With an enclosure like that I can definitely imagine feeling the sound.

Do let us know how hari's TL BS's compared against them (granted size is an issue but still, relatively)

 

[denom]

Nice writeup, With an enclosure like that I can definitely imagine feeling the sound.

Do let us know how hari's TL BS's compared against them (granted size is an issue but still, relatively)

Read here:

http://www.hifivision.com/speakers/29081-review-krypton-audio-k-100b-tl-speakers-21.html

Post #204

 

[satyakibanerjee]

Dear Denom,

I deeply appreciate your gesture of coming over for the audition. Thank you for your encouraging words. Apologies for the late switch to analogue; however that gives us a reason for another session. I would ensure that it would be a LP only session the next time.

I completely agree with you on the points that you have suggested. I will start with the acoustics of the room while the drivers break in. In case it does not work, I would work on the damping as suggested by Hari.

Thanks to the Trio once again for sparing time for this session. Looking forward to similar weekends in the future.

 

[prem]

Hi satyakibanerjee

I would avoid taking the damping route. IME, with low powered amps, SPL is very low, hence damping kills the liveliness. Incidentally i also use Viren's 2A3 amp so have some experience with low powered amps.

Room treatment would be better. Only do high frequency absorption on the wall behind your listening position. On the wall behind the speakers try diffusion. Also try using plants behind the speakers. Definitely add a rug/carpet between the listening position and the speakers. The rug/carpet should be made of natural fibre like cotton/wool/silk.

 

[prem]

Hi satyakibanerjee

Pull the speakers out as much as you can. Fire the speakers absolutely straight and see how it sounds. Spike the bottom and use ebony wood footers under the spikes. I can see some rubber/plastic footers under the speakers.

 

[corElement]

Fostex full rangers by default are already dampened to a certain degree,
you can probably consider a carpet or another chair in the room to absorb the reflections if there are any.


Every enclosures has their individual traits, imo just enjoy it Don't worry about it unless there's something glaringly wrong

 

[Hari Iyer]

Hi satyakibanerjee

I would avoid taking the damping route. IME, with low powered amps, SPL is very low, hence damping kills the liveliness. Incidentally i also use Viren's 2A3 amp so have some experience with low powered amps.

Room treatment would be better. Only do high frequency absorption on the wall behind your listening position. On the wall behind the speakers try diffusion. Also try using plants behind the speakers. Definitely add a rug/carpet between the listening position and the speakers. The rug/carpet should be made of natural fibre like cotton/wool/silk.

I would suggest a 100 gm to 150 gm low density Dacron polifill damping in the chamber right behind the driver to avoid some odd harmonics which is clearly evident from the terminus when you put you ear at the terminus opening. These spikes in mid-range are standing waves and needs to be tamed a little bit to remove the harshness in the mid-range. The trick is to damp at the wave-length where the odd-harmonics lie but taking care not to damp the fundamental note. Room-treatment is always welcomed after the speakers are tuned perfectly w.r.t. balance between various harmonics.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Passion is key to anything that --- WOW, fantastic. I have heard the track a million times but NEVER had I felt it! This time I did! :licklips:

-----He is sticking to Horn Designed Full Range Speakers as his USP.

Wow, a well written post and nothing missed out. And also a big WOW for the horn speakers and giving me a perspective of how the Fostex will sound for my TL designs too. The sound stage was huge and the low freq response smooth with no fatigue. The entire sound appeared to be lively as much as being present in midst of the performance. Certainly not like being heard from a player. Great design and great build quality. Only if the size (and weight) of the speakers were small (which is going to be in his next build) there were nothing which i could find fault with. Full marks from my side - 10/10.

 

[prem]

Hi Hari

Sorry. I misunderstood damping as damping of the room. What you are saying makes sense.

 

[denom]

Dear Denom,

I deeply appreciate your gesture of coming over for the audition. Thank you for your encouraging words. Apologies for the late switch to analogue; however that gives us a reason for another session. I would ensure that it would be a LP only session the next time.

I completely agree with you on the points that you have suggested. I will start with the acoustics of the room while the drivers break in. In case it does not work, I would work on the damping as suggested by Hari.

Thanks to the Trio once again for sparing time for this session. Looking forward to similar weekends in the future.

Thanks Will surely be in touch with you & look forward to future listening sessions :yahoo:

I also request all FM's interested in having a listen to Satyaki's Speakers, to pls get in touch with him. Am sure you will not be disappointed

Wow, a well written post and nothing missed out. And also a big WOW for the horn speakers and giving me a perspective of how the Fostex will sound for my TL designs too. The sound stage was huge and the low freq response smooth with no fatigue. The entire sound appeared to be lively as much as being present in midst of the performance. Certainly not like being heard from a player. Great design and great build quality. Only if the size (and weight) of the speakers were small (which is going to be in his next build) there were nothing which i could find fault with. Full marks from my side - 10/10.

I for one thoroughly enjoyed interacting with 2 speaker builders of different design philosophies. It enhances my knowledge a great deal through the insights shared by both of you. We should definitely meet more often & have such listening sessions & the intermittent discussions in between :clapping: