Sparkle Posted October 28, 2016 Posted October 28, 2016 At the recent Hifi show in Melourne I spent a fair bit of time in the Telos Designs room listening to unfamiliar music through their DIY Backoaded horns.. Strangely since then I have developed a desire to build a pair.. I doesn't seem completely logical for me as I'm happy with my system.... In my favour, I work for a plywood company and have access to a CNC machine that could take most of the hard work out of the job.. Do I need a flea power valve amp to make them sing? Am I going to later wish I had never bothered? Was the Telos designs room full of smoke and mirrors? All good questions anyone with answers?
Keith_W Posted October 28, 2016 Posted October 28, 2016 The Telos room had the German Physiks omnidirectional speaker. I think the room you are thinking of is the Audio Heaven room, with the French field coil single driver DIY backloaded horn speaker Was it white, by any chance? You don't "need" a flea powered valve amp per se. This type of speaker design is friendly to flea powered amps. You can use a higher powered amp if you like. 1
Sparkle Posted October 28, 2016 Author Posted October 28, 2016 Thanks Keith, yes it seems I may have got room names mixed, yes they were white! I have seen some designs for Fostex Fe 206 EN which is a reasonably easy driver to source.. Does anyone have any first hand experience with these things?
Keith_W Posted October 28, 2016 Posted October 28, 2016 Yes, there are plenty of people on SNA with experience with these things. Just off the top of my head, there's Craig from Audio Heaven, Keith from Wyndham Audio, and then there's a whole bunch of people in the Melbourne Lowther Club. Most of them are on SNA. I'll leave this thread to you and them, since I don't know too much about these things
Upfront Posted October 28, 2016 Posted October 28, 2016 At the recent Hifi show in Melourne I spent a fair bit of time in the Telos Designs room listening to unfamiliar music through their DIY Backoaded horns.. Strangely since then I have developed a desire to build a pair.. I doesn't seem completely logical for me as I'm happy with my system.... In my favour, I work for a plywood company and have access to a CNC machine that could take most of the hard work out of the job.. Do I need a flea power valve amp to make them sing? Am I going to later wish I had never bothered? Was the Telos designs room full of smoke and mirrors? All good questions anyone with answers? In my experience, it depends on the music you listen to. I find fullrange a very good way to go with simple music. But not the last word when it comes to more complicated passages or genres. I found the problem with having a fullrange system that i pigeonholed myself into acoustic, folk type music. 1
Sparkle Posted October 28, 2016 Author Posted October 28, 2016 Thanks Linc.. yes I'm sure music choice is an important consideration,, I tend to listen to R and B and similar ..
mwhouston Posted October 28, 2016 Posted October 28, 2016 (edited) @Sparkle if you really want a flea power tube amp, I have one. PM me if interested. Edited October 28, 2016 by mwhouston
Sparkle Posted October 29, 2016 Author Posted October 29, 2016 Thanks for your kind offer Mark.... Deciding if I want to go down this road is the challenging part.. If I could surround myself with the Victorian wisdom about how to create great Back loaded sound I would be super keen.... Having to go through all the R and D by myself to get decent sound, well I'd rather put up with the miserable sound from my panels! I know there are no free lunches out there, so starting from scratch has little to recommend it..
Upfront Posted October 29, 2016 Posted October 29, 2016 There is a pair in the FS section. Lowther acoustica. Bargain. Cant remember where they are located though
Upfront Posted October 29, 2016 Posted October 29, 2016 https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Estereo%2Enet%2Eau%2Fforums%2Findex%2Ephp%3F%2Ftopic%2F113347-FS-%3A-Relisted%2C-Lower-Priced%2C-Lowther-Acousta-115-%2F-DX2-Unit&share_tid=113347&share_fid=46070&share_type=tFS : Relisted, Lower Priced, Lowther Acousta 115 / DX2 UnitMelbourne. For 600 bucks, they are a bargain for the drivers alone.
Sparkle Posted October 30, 2016 Author Posted October 30, 2016 thanks linc! yes it looks like a bargain for a piece of hifi nostalga! sadly shipping to Qld would cost more than they cost! It's always difficult to decide whether to go down a different road or just throw more money at electronics for ones existing system,,
Upfront Posted October 30, 2016 Posted October 30, 2016 thanks linc! yes it looks like a bargain for a piece of hifi nostalga! sadly shipping to Qld would cost more than they cost! It's always difficult to decide whether to go down a different road or just throw more money at electronics for ones existing system,, They haven't sold yet. Maybe an offer for drivers only!?! Much easier in the post!What about smaller drivers? 3" maybe. A little backloaded horn. There are also some cheap 8" drivers around.
THOMO Posted October 30, 2016 Posted October 30, 2016 I have built and used a few back loaded horns. The problem with them always comes down to the negative phase coming out of the back of the driver and exiting out of the horn which then interacts with what is coming out of the front of the cone.So they can sound a bit strange. Some people seem to be very sensitive to phasing issues like that.Others apparently not. 1
Upfront Posted October 30, 2016 Posted October 30, 2016 I have built and used a few back loaded horns. The problem with them always comes down to the negative phase coming out of the back of the driver and exiting out of the horn which then interacts with what is coming out of the front of the cone.So they can sound a bit strange. Some people seem to be very sensitive to phasing issues like that.Others apparently not. How did you find them with complex passages mate?
Ian McP Posted November 2, 2016 Posted November 2, 2016 here's a simple to assemble back loaded horn from Tang Band http://www.tb-speaker.com/products/d4-1 http://diyaudioprojects.com/Speakers/Tang-Band-D4-1-DIY-Horn-Speaker-Kit/ some of the Fostex designs https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/fostex-plans Fostex Hand Craft Book has many more http://www.eifl.co.jp/index/book/index-export.htm I have many designs done by a friend who was really into the tractrix horn expansion. This was built from one of his original sketch designs, original speaker was to be a Fostex 208 regards Ian 1
muznuts Posted November 2, 2016 Posted November 2, 2016 On 28/10/2016 at 6:35 PM, Sparkle said: At the recent Hifi show in Melourne I spent a fair bit of time in the Telos Designs room listening to unfamiliar music through their DIY Backoaded horns.. Strangely since then I have developed a desire to build a pair.. I doesn't seem completely logical for me as I'm happy with my system.... In my favour, I work for a plywood company and have access to a CNC machine that could take most of the hard work out of the job.. Do I need a flea power valve amp to make them sing? Am I going to later wish I had never bothered? Was the Telos designs room full of smoke and mirrors? All good questions anyone with answers? Hi Mr Sparkle, i was quite literally in your position and frame of mind about 9 months ago, i too had a desire to DIY some speakers and I also have the means with CNC and other manufacturing machines at my disposal after some research i decided to build some @atilsley designed rear loaded horn cabinets, a layered ply/mdf design with tang band 8" drivers, absolutely love them, i have a lowish (24W/channel) powered SET valve amp that was driving 89db conventional 3.5 way speakers which was nice but the horns were an absolute revelation, i have since built a centre and rears to match happy to help with any queries murray 2
darth vader Posted November 2, 2016 Posted November 2, 2016 I was impressed with those little french drivers in the horn cabs. They were pumping out more bass than they deserved to. I have a pair of Troels Graversen DTQWT and I really enjoyed the sound of those white horns (met the constructer of them, his name eludes me atm). The way they delivered the sound is similar to the Troels. I've grown to like the sound. I like the way the bass still gives a good thump, but gently melts into the room. Mids and highs are pin point accurate. Troels (double tapered quarter wave tubes) might be a bit more of a project though, theres a bit in them. Theres a thread in this forum if you want to take a look, or here http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/DTQWT-mkIII-FLAT.htm @Sparkle shame you are so far away, Keith ( @cheekyboy ) has some real nice Tang Band CH1's that he'd let you hear. I think they are transmission line horns. @Martykt has some nice WHT back loaded horns. He could tell you more about them @Ian McP has some good connections too.
Martykt Posted November 2, 2016 Posted November 2, 2016 7 hours ago, darth vader said: @Martykt has some nice WHT back loaded horns. He could tell you more about them Yes I'm lucky enough to have a pair of WHT PR4 which are made here in Australia. They are a variation on a back loaded horn where the scoop acts as a reflector rather than amplifying and accentuating lower frequencies like the usual back loaded horn setup. They also differ in that they are a two way with a 12" woofer and a ribbon tweeter rather than a small single driver. 2
Martykt Posted November 2, 2016 Posted November 2, 2016 7 minutes ago, balk2117 said: Great looking WHT speakers! Thank you @balk2117.
Guest atilsley Posted November 3, 2016 Posted November 3, 2016 For $600, I'd grab the Lowthers...as new pairs expensive. Ditch the cabs. If CNC access, then look into various designs around. The pics are a couple of mine....the brown/goldy one is Muznut's from the kit, using excellent Tang Band 8 incher. Great bang-for-buck driver...one of my faves. In order: 1. Alfredo (Lowther) 2. Big Fun (Lowther, Ketil Parow design) 3. Carfrae Little Big Horn "Lite" (no sub) (Jim Carfrae design original, Lite mine) 4. C-horn (mine) 5. Tang Band BLH (mine) 6. Petite Mini for 4 inch driver (mine) Also check out Spawn/frugal/Dallas/Bruce designs from Planet 10. Fostex have a few kits from Madisound. Andrew
Newman Posted November 3, 2016 Posted November 3, 2016 If you are not used to Lowther 'flavour', some of the Fostex or Tang Band options might be attractive alternatives.
Upfront Posted November 3, 2016 Posted November 3, 2016 If you are not used to Lowther 'flavour', some of the Fostex or Tang Band options might be attractive alternatives. People rave about the fostex but its only because the either haven't heard or can't afford the Lowthers.
Newman Posted November 3, 2016 Posted November 3, 2016 Lowthers have their fans, but you don't want to give the impression that everyone who hears them prefers them to the alternatives. That would be to misrepresent quite a few.
Guest atilsley Posted November 3, 2016 Posted November 3, 2016 For the same price, I'd put Tang Band over Fostex 206E. The TB's have more xmas (better bass), while slightly less harsh in the mids/HF. Until the TB's came on the market a couple of years back, I promoted the 206E as the best bang-for-buck FR driver. http://www.parts-express.com/tang-band-w8-1772-8-neodymium-full-range-driver--264-893
Recommended Posts