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In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: Constructing LF modules to the limits
Post Subject: Diminishing returns?Posted by Jorge on: 9/24/2011
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The other day I was listening to a friend´s system with nice Avalon speakers, only one 10" seemed to be enough, of course it seemed we were playing house when listening to music, everything was small and very nice and pretty...

Now when matching to the big size of horns I am looking first of all for speed, if the concept can be applied; I like to define it as ease of playing, clear and transparent, well defined bass when all the notes played are present on the frequency they should be (hard to find sadly).

Now the Decay of each note played by the instruments can change according to the topology of the bass "box".  Here is where the "nebulous softening" of BR does better, nice decay tones, long sounding.  But lacking a bit in precision, some notes played might get lost in there... (great use of words Paul S.)

Sealed cabinets are good place to go with good precision and a good decay.

I find a better tone comes in when the other channels perfectly match bass in phase and size.

When designing a water pressure vessel, cylindrical shapes and domes are a must.  A pipe ¼” thick of steel can hold as much pressure as a “box” of steel 1 ½” thick!   Cylinders are much better for any pressure system; alas our system has no pressure accumulation. I just find out round sounds better than square.

What we are using is more of a BLH, transmission line thing where the back wave of the driver joins in with the front wave.  The drivers are actually 6.5 inches and there is a peripheral ring around the driver where the back wave comes out.  We made the same cabinet for 12” drivers and, besides being huge, sound was cleaner coming from a 6.5 inch driver and with a better lower extension.

I still like the tone of an Altec 416 inside a modded Karlson.

I have never found the law of diminishing returns to apply to audio!  Going crazy always sounds better, well implemented things are always better and the better your system gets, the more sensitive to upgrades it becomes, and better stuff becomes not only a better solution but a necessity.  With a good system a bad implemented tube amp will kill your ears!  The magic of nickel and M3 cores becomes so noticeable...


About the rubbery after taste, I am afraid all that Grenache might have washed it all down!

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