Anyone here into loudspeakers?

[blakeyboy]

Just an idea, what with more time on hands etc.

i've been going through my driver stock and wondering what to make next...

[Chingford]

Met brian blessid a couple of times, 😊

[blakeyboy]

True story- a friend of mine has a mate in London,

who has a wife and a daughter.

The daughter went to school with Brian Blessed's daughter, and got invited

to their house for tea.  Brian Blessed came home, and upon entering the kitchen and seeing this new girl in the room,

bellowed  "Who the f*** are you?" really loudly....!!

[Chingford]

He is as loud and outspoken in real life as you see him on TV, I helped out at a few Showmasters Autograph fairs with my Brother a good few years back,  He was signing Star wars and Flash Gordon memorabilia

[1949threepence]

1 hour ago, blakeyboy said:

Just an idea, what with more time on hands etc.

i've been going through my driver stock and wondering what to make next...

Woofers, sub woofers or tweeters?

[blakeyboy]

1 hour ago, 1949threepence said:

Woofers, sub woofers or tweeters?

Today, my stock of ATC 3" mids - a crazily expensive collection..

 

[blakeyboy]

I'm trying to make the smallest active 4-way system...Volt have a nice 2 inch dome midrange that I want to pair up with their special paper doped

lower mid 6 inch, I have Scanspeak Revelators for the top, then it's just which big Volt bass unit on the bottom...

[Paddy]

1 hour ago, blakeyboy said:

I'm trying to make the smallest active 4-way system...Volt have a nice 2 inch dome midrange that I want to pair up with their special paper doped

lower mid 6 inch, I have Scanspeak Revelators for the top, then it's just which big Volt bass unit on the bottom...

He speaks English but I understand little...

 

[jelida]

I have many sets of speakers, but have never made my own. I have a dozen Quad electrostatics, the ESL57, and it’s a pair of these on stands I always end up going back to; I have a pair of ESL63’s I must re-panel soon,  I have the materials, they have been sitting in my study, partly disassembled, for months but something else always crops up. My next favourites are a pair of Castle Harlech, the polyester coned ones from the late ‘90’s.

In the workshop, awaiting their turn but working, are a nice pair of Lowther Accousta PM7a’s, B&W DM3’s and the massive B&W P2’s with the ionofane tweeters (serviced, you can still get the electrode and quartz chamber from the USA). Also Kef Concerto’s, Spendor SA1’s (really nice BBC LS 3/5a competitors, and others I can’t remember at the mo. I have had several Tannoy red and gold speaker pairs, but they have ended up in the USA and the Far East.
 

Much of my HiFi has been sold on to generate cash for pennies.

Jerry

 

[Peckris 2]

I remember when I was Student DJ in the early 70s, and the equipment I worked with was Quad. About the best you could get at the time.

[blakeyboy]

15 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

I remember when I was Student DJ in the early 70s, and the equipment I worked with was Quad. About the best you could get at the time.

Oh what....DJ'ing with Quad?

When I started out, I worked for a guy who turned into my mentor, and we used all the gear that local DJ's didn't use in the West Midlands.

My favourite pub system was a part of Altec  'Voice of the Theatre 15" bins, with Vitavox horns built into them.

Phase Linear 700B on the bass, and a pair of Quad 50's on the horns.

Sounded HUGE.

Everyone else was using WEM columns or crap from the local disco shop.

No competition!!

 

[blakeyboy]

23 hours ago, jelida said:

I have many sets of speakers, but have never made my own. I have a dozen Quad electrostatics, the ESL57, and it’s a pair of these on stands I always end up going back to; I have a pair of ESL63’s I must re-panel soon,  I have the materials, they have been sitting in my study, partly disassembled, for months but something else always crops up. My next favourites are a pair of Castle Harlech, the polyester coned ones from the late ‘90’s.

In the workshop, awaiting their turn but working, are a nice pair of Lowther Accousta PM7a’s, B&W DM3’s and the massive B&W P2’s with the ionofane tweeters (serviced, you can still get the electrode and quartz chamber from the USA). Also Kef Concerto’s, Spendor SA1’s (really nice BBC LS 3/5a competitors, and others I can’t remember at the mo. I have had several Tannoy red and gold speaker pairs, but they have ended up in the USA and the Far East.
 

Much of my HiFi has been sold on to generate cash for pennies.

Jerry

 

That's extraordinary. A dozen Quad electrostatics!

I still have a pair of Martin Logan panels somewhere...

I'm sure I sold a pair of those ionofone tweeters years ago....God knows where I got them from.

I sold a pair of early Tannoy 10 inch a few years back. They sounded lush. Rich and warm, but faster than the big ones.

I sold my Mackintosh 2015 and 240 a few years back- just not using them. Small lounge, so wasted.

I'm coming to see you when we can  next travel!

[jelida]

27 minutes ago, blakeyboy said:

I sold a pair of early Tannoy 10 inch a few years back. They sounded lush. 

I'm coming to see you when we can  next travel!

You would be very welcome!

I had some Tannoy 10”, I lent them to a mate to run with some Quad II amps I sold him, and his wife promptly kicked him out and he bu**ered off to America to another woman, taking his HiFi with him.  She subsequently booted him, and now he lives on a yacht on a lake near Atlanta. Last saw him two years ago, neither of us talked HiFi. Sad, good speakers, my pair came from one of Van Morrison’s roadies. I still have a Radford  amp that I bought from Tommy Hoy of ‘70’s band Magna Carta!
 

Jerry

[blakeyboy]

Here is a picture of the main studio monitors I put together two years ago.

Very loud....they only really work in a very big room.

 

[Peckris 2]

On 4/17/2020 at 2:40 PM, blakeyboy said:

Oh what....DJ'ing with Quad?

When I started out, I worked for a guy who turned into my mentor, and we used all the gear that local DJ's didn't use in the West Midlands.

My favourite pub system was a part of Altec  'Voice of the Theatre 15" bins, with Vitavox horns built into them.

Phase Linear 700B on the bass, and a pair of Quad 50's on the horns.

Sounded HUGE.

Everyone else was using WEM columns or crap from the local disco shop.

No competition!

The electronic geeks who ran the SU audio would hire out the equipment for the smaller bands whose PA wasn't up to it.

I remember they'd set the volume on my amp to quite a modest level using one of the disco 45s. So I learned to give them an Elton John single for that purpose that was a particularly quiet recording, and so I had more to play with than they intended. Luckily they never caught on. 😀

[Diaconis]

Blakey's speakers reminded me of the Protectorate composite columns found on some of Ramage's patterns so I thought I'd design some to play the music I sort coins to

 

[Diaconis]

I was at a loose end...

[ozjohn]

Perhaps the days of "good" speakers is over. The approach now is to use fairly ordinary speakers and enclosures and compensate for their defects using

digital equalization where the venue is scanned by a microphone its response logged and the equalization calculated to compensate for the defects of the speakers and the venue.

I first saw this demonstrated when I was at Uni where one of the student projects did just that using  a basic PC,  and an isotropic microphone plus 

an 8 bit ADC  and DAC to digitize the test frequencies  and the response of the system to them.  I can remember thinking what a good idea it was.

 Of course the speakers would have to be able to handle the power and not saturate which would generate large amounts

of harmonic distortion. The enclosure has always been an important part of improving speaker performance. For example the base reflex enclosure

which was effectively a mechanical equalization system to improve the base response of loud speaker systems.

Speakers have always been the weakest link in the chain because of the non linear nature of magnetic circuits due to the effects of hysteresis  and

saturation. Hence the Quad electrostatic speaker which employed an electrostatic transducer to convert the electrical signal into audible sound

which is linear and does not saturate..

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by ozjohn

[bagerap]

Around 15 years ago I went to an auction somewhere near Oxford to buy a set of medals that went eventually for a stupid price. With me was a former Mrs. Bagerap and her sister at whose house we were staying that night. Upon retiring early from the auction SIL suggested a visit to a nearby "Outlet Park" where you could buy branded goods cheaply. New concept to me at the time but, what the hell, if the sisters go off shopping together I'd get a bit of a rest. When they eventually returned two and a half hours later, they were predictably miffed to find that the seating space had been reduced by a pair of B&W Matrix Studio Monitors. It would have been a sin to leave them behind at that price. I kept them for a long while but now they're doing sterling duty in a bar in Stavanger.

 

[Diaconis]

A nostalgic diversion from loudspeakers:

 

[jelida]

Splendid! I have a several old tellies that I rebuilt a few years ago, Bush TV22 and TV62 from either end of the fifties, and an early ‘50’s small Pye set. I also have a couple of ‘60’s sets as future projects. And a 1940’s HMV that needs a new 10” tube- anybody got an Emiscope TA10 spare? I have an Aurora standards converter, used to watch old Tom and Jerry cartoons in B&W, it’s the only way!

Jerry

[copper123]

On 4/6/2020 at 10:21 PM, blakeyboy said:

True story- a friend of mine has a mate in London,

who has a wife and a daughter.

The daughter went to school with Brian Blessed's daughter, and got invited

to their house for tea.  Brian Blessed came home, and upon entering the kitchen and seeing this new girl in the room,

bellowed  "Who the f*** are you?" really loudly....!!

You sure that was not Roger daltrey?

[blakeyboy]

5 hours ago, jelida said:

Splendid! I have a several old tellies that I rebuilt a few years ago, Bush TV22 and TV62 from either end of the fifties, and an early ‘50’s small Pye set. I also have a couple of ‘60’s sets as future projects. And a 1940’s HMV that needs a new 10” tube- anybody got an Emiscope TA10 spare? I have an Aurora standards converter, used to watch old Tom and Jerry cartoons in B&W, it’s the only way!

Jerry

I your TA10 tube aluminised or not? - there is some confusion as regards yes or no, between Pye and Marconi models....

[blakeyboy]

On 4/16/2020 at 2:57 PM, jelida said:

I have many sets of speakers, but have never made my own. I have a dozen Quad electrostatics, the ESL57, and it’s a pair of these on stands I always end up going back to; I have a pair of ESL63’s I must re-panel soon,  I have the materials, they have been sitting in my study, partly disassembled, for months but something else always crops up. My next favourites are a pair of Castle Harlech, the polyester coned ones from the late ‘90’s.

In the workshop, awaiting their turn but working, are a nice pair of Lowther Accousta PM7a’s, B&W DM3’s and the massive B&W P2’s with the ionofane tweeters (serviced, you can still get the electrode and quartz chamber from the USA). Also Kef Concerto’s, Spendor SA1’s (really nice BBC LS 3/5a competitors, and others I can’t remember at the mo. I have had several Tannoy red and gold speaker pairs, but they have ended up in the USA and the Far East.
 

Much of my HiFi has been sold on to generate cash for pennies.

Jerry

 

Had Ionofanes years ago-bonkers .

Must come tp Darkest Herefordshire with a bottle of something good when the balloon finally goes up, and talk old gear.

[copper123]

And back to the who

Still sounds great after all these years