HELIOS Speaker Kit

Helios test run:  (Pine boxes in previous post)

I knew my boxes weren't perfect but I couldn't wait for my birch to arrive.

I figured at least test if the pre-assembled crossovers and speaker drivers were working without any problems.  Maybe get an idea what the Helios sound like albeit in an inferior box.

Everything worked great. Meniscus Audio did a Great Job with the crossovers, with answering questions, with getting me Satori OEM magnetic grills at the last minute, helped me out whenever I needed anything.

Initial impressions - Bass is Enormous, tweeters are a bit rolled off.

But have to keep in mind, with my triangle boxes directly on the floor, center of tweeters were only 15" off the floor.  They did have 30 degrees backward tilt.  The tilt helped to get the sound up higher, but at the same time it's probably voiding all the intentions of the crossover designer.

The bass is probably being reinforced by being too close to the floor.  Once again, contrary to the designers intention.   Bass was also a little bit too boomy for my liking?  I figure the thin pine boxes with no damping were guilty here.

After some time listening I can say that even my poor execution of this speaker kit sounds great!  Bass is approaching the performance of my (2) Focal 12" woofers.  With no actual data, I am thinking everything the 12"ers could do at 25hz, the Helios can do at 30hz.  Moving up to mid-bass, the Helios is even more Grippy than my old Dynaudios.  So when you consider all of the lower end, under normal operation, the Helios is equal to my home built 6 cubic feet Focal/Dynaudio monsters.  

The tweeters have done nothing wrong so far.  They are not too bright.  I am making the reasonable assumption that when I get them into the as-designed box, and as-designed elevation they will only sound better and better.

As they sit right now, they can sound like musicians are actually in the room.  They are outperforming or at least matching anything I have ever had.  I am expecting after I control the bass just a little bit with heavier boxes and damping material, I will have more to say about the tweeters shining through...

And ONE DAY after the Pine boxes are functioning, I get the call, BIRCH material is ready for PICK UP!!   😆

@rop45 Glad to hear your Helios kit is living up to the hype!! It’s always refreshing and reassuring to know that I wasn’t crazy when I fired mine up and realized they were better than some $10K commercial speaker designs I have heard recently. Keep us posted on the final build. I used either a 19” or a 21” Pangea Audio stand for mine and it definitely smooths out the tweeter response and widens the soundstage. Vocals should be centered just above the tops of the speakers which a very spooky affect that gives the impression of a singer elevated on a stage with you in the first or second row! Truly magical!

@mijostyn You are correct that the Helios crosses the woofer higher and the tweeter lower to overcome the usual challenge of a 2 way design using a larger woofer for bass extension at the expense of linearity. With that said, Jeff Bagby has managed to overcome that challenge with careful use of the PR to control woofer excursion while also adding a little to the low bass response which with my setup, the sub comes in at 40hz and is barely noticeable because the Helios digs quite deep before needing help! Jeff said he tested them to 113db and the distortion was so low that it boarded on immeasurable! That is why you use a $500 tweeter and $400 bass driver. 

@boostedis Wrong strategy. The ONLY way a small woofer has of making more bass is by increasing it's excursions. Price has nothing to do with it. Longer excursions create more distortion, much more distortion in the most sensitive part of the midrange. Read up on Doppler distortion. Systems set up like you suggest are only good at very low levels, turn them up and they become painful to listen to. If Jeff handed you that line of garbage I suggest you sell them, he has no idea what he is talking about which means he has no idea how to design a loudspeaker. 

If you want to clean things up and add some headroom you get a digital two way crossover and cross over to your subwoofers at 100 Hz. If you only have one buy another. There is no other way to make a small loudspeaker sing at high volumes. Right now you are croaking.