Thanks, guys. I'll check all those sites. |
Marklivia, I've been there and it's a great site. They have a kit for a folded Voigt Pipe that uses Lowthers, but I wanted to go with a straight one to avoid the individual cavity resonances that happen with a folded one. Thanks. |
Pipetman, I'd be glad to keep you updated on the project. I generally run a thread on my results. Regarding the Voigt Pipes performance, they do have issues with some "comb filtering" in the bass and midbass due to wave additions and cancellations from the port/direct radiator interface. This can be dealt with to some degree with appropriate tuning. Regarding the "mid-fi" comments, I can only laugh. Even the earlier Lowthers were considered to be world-class drivers by nearly everyone. Not everyone wanted single-driver systems, but there was little that could do more or better than a Lowther driver. The Voigt Pipe may not be the ultimate cabinet, but it is a good one. There is not a speaker system made that does not have "issues" of one sort or another. This is my way in to the High-End single driver arena. While I am breaking the drivers in, I can evaluate the Voigt Pipes. If I am satisfied, I can stay with them. If I feel the need to move up to some more exotic back-horn, I can then build a pair of them. The Lowthers need alot of break-in time, so it is imperative to get them going in some cabinet right away. |
Yes, I've seen that one and it does look interesting. I am trying the regular Voigt Pipes first, because my ceiling is vaulted, and the Terry Cain upfiring pipes may not get much bass boundary reinforcement from my ceiling. The Cain pipes would gave to give at least 3db more bass in order to compensate for the loss of boundary reinforcement. Also, when I experimented with transmission line lengths in my last set of single driver speakers, I found that at some point, longer line and lower tuning can result in loss of output level. Since the Voigt pipes act as a T-Line and a kind of horn, this may be mitigated somewhat, but the mouth size is way to small for a real horn and would reflect alot back up the throat if pressed into being a real horn, drastically raising the cutoff frequency. Also, they act as a bass-reflex somewhat, and the box volume would be doubled, requiring much tuning of the port mouth. Cain designed his pipes for a smaller Fostex driver that has a significantly higher resonant frequency, and likely lacks the bass output of the Lowther. The Lowther, having a resonant frequency of 36Hz should be good down to 40Hz-50Hz in the traditional Voigt pipe cabinet. This is fine with me. I'd like to go lower, but I can live with 40Hz. If I decide I really need the extra bass, I will build the "Big Fun" horn with a cutoff of 32Hz on the low end. Efficiency of the DX3 in all these back horn cabinets is about 100db with 1 watt input. The only way to go higher is to go with a front horn, which I don't like to do because of colorations imparted to the mids. |
Bishopwill, if the "sound" never reaches my ears, I cannot hear the music. Music is a sonic phenomenon, in presentation, at least. I am not going to take your bait for the analog/tubes vs digital/SS debate. I have stated my points on those issues on other threads. If my speaker design choices, source component choices, and amplifier design choices are not your "cup of tea", then by all means, make your own selections. I use over 30 years of listening,studying, designing, building, buying, and employment in high-end audio shops, as well as being a musician, concert goer, music and record collector and enthusiast, as my basis for my choices. I have listened to virtually every type of music and every type of equipment made for its reproduction. I have a strong background in music, its theory, practice, and performance, and a strong technical background as well. I feel well equipped to make good decisions for my listening needs. I fail to understand why you, and a few others, need to follow my posts around the forum, making sugar-coated insinuations about your perceived lack of ability on my part to understand music, its reproduction, and technical merits of various designs.If you have additional problems with me, please take it off the forum and email me personally. |
Dekay, it's good to hear that you and others are considering the benefits of single driver systems. I'm sure you know that you needn't "get on my good side" :-) in order for me to try to give you any assistance I can. My main reason for doing this type of post is to help others see that there are some different ways of doing things in audio than the usual run-of-the-mill. And to help them benefit from my experiences, good or bad. Apparently, there are some who would ridicule me for my views. But, they are far in the minority and I prefer to concentrate on my projects and helping any members that may be interested. If I can be of any help to any of you, please email me, and I will give close attention to your needs, and give whatever help I can. I do not claim to be the ultimate authority on these subjects, but I am working with these concepts and products, so I do have some good working knowledge of them. As for the 40Hz cutoff for the Voigt Pipes, I may not even quite get down to 40Hz, but I will try to get what I can without sacrificing any midrange quality. I would love to get to 20Hz, but it's not possible with this design. My efforts are to get the most from the least and typically that will entail some trade-offs, in this case, the deepest bass is REDUCED but not eliminated. While some may consider this "sacrilege", I feel that all designs are limited and one has to pick their weak points as in all engineering and design work. My preference is to accept lower output in the 20Hz-40Hz region, in order to get the advantages offerred in the rest of the spectrum by single driver designs. There are more exotic cabinets available that will give 32Hz cutoff for the same drivers. Maybe, down the road, I will build them. I feel honored that Albert, in particular, is interested in my efforts in this area, because of my great respect for his knowledge, experience, and integrity. At the end of this road, we will know more than when we started, and that, in itself, is worthy of the effort. |
Bishopwil, I remember our previous discussions, and I am not in conflict with your statements regarding the proper reproduction of very low bass frequencies and their effects on the composer's intended sound. As I posted above, I am simply making a conscious decision to accept this weakness in order to get benefits in other areas. We may not agree on the "sacrifice" of flat response in this octave of the spectrum, but I think we will agree that no product is perfect, and we all "sacrifice" something with every audio product we buy, so we can get the things that we do want out of them. Upon looking back to my statements on other threads, this may apply to the other diagreements we may have had on the other topics. Perhaps I should have been less forceful with my statements. While I may have been rather "absolutist" on the vinyl topic, I am not nearly as "absolutist" on this topic. However, I have selected a path, and I am traveling it. Things will be learned on the way. Others may benefit from my experience. Ultimately, my conclusion may, or may not, support my premise. We shall see. If I misinterpreted your intentions in your post, I am truly sorry, and have no desire for conflict. I do have certain sensitivities, as does anyone, and can react defensively. |
Clueless, don't be concerned about me not posting my results. I will make sure that anyone who wants the information, will have it. Thanks for your support of my thought processes regarding equipment design, and your eloquent descriptions.
I remain, |
