https://www.htguide.com/forum/ HTGuide Forums en Thu, 25 Jun 2026 22:33:27 GMT vBulletin 60 https://www.htguide.com/forum/images/misc/rss.png https://www.htguide.com/forum/ https://www.htguide.com/forum/primetime-a-v/digital-audio/960990-fidelia-2-0-is-a-most-unexpected-but-satisfying-surprise Sat, 20 Jun 2026 02:45:47 GMT This will be of interest only to a small number of music lovers, but was a most pleasant surprise to discover today, as regards the impact for my own listening in environments with a modern MacOS computer... Some upgrades come very slowly... especially from firms whose main focus is relatively... This will be of interest only to a small number of music lovers, but was a most pleasant surprise to discover today, as regards the impact for my own listening in environments with a modern MacOS computer...

Some upgrades come very slowly... especially from firms whose main focus is relatively high end specialty tools for recording studio work... in this case, I am talking about AudioFile Engineering, and FIDELIA, their digital music player, introduced many years ago for MacOS. This is not a streaming app emulating source like ROOT or Spotify. This is just a very high fidelity player, seemingly designed to even higher standards and with surprising new capabilities, though perhaps not in light of the general market this company serves, professional audio studio work.

To this end, a number of techniques are employed to achieve bit perfect playback using exclusive mode, bypassing the normal MacOS audio mixer with a signal path that prevents interference from other audio devices, and maintains bit perfect performance with advanced sample rate following or conversion, and processing modules for Headphone processing with frequency-dependent cross-feed modeled on real head acoustics, sample-rate conversion, and final-stage dither sit in the listening path. Needless to say, nearly any digital format you may have heard of is supported, including AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, DSF/DSD, APE, and the standard formats used in the Apple Music Library. Support is provided for setting up a Library of local and remote files under the FIDELIA LIB heading, but the local existing Apple Music Library is also available as a separate choice.

No DAW or outboard processing required to shape the chain, resulting in an experience not like the sonics of a good PC or Mac, but that of boutique Hi-Fi components- my first reaction was to wonder how it could be possible they could have incorporated the equivalent of a Brainstorm DCD-8 with external Rubidium reference oscillator in the signal path...

Furthermore, those doing mastering review and typically using 3rd Party DSP solutions will find that this player has "slots" to support adding these professional tools in for professional tasks, or... just because.

Every organization these days seems capable of producing luridly optimistic prose to promote their products, but from the opening bars of Animal Logic (Stanley Clarke, Steward Copeland, Deborah Holland) "There's a Spy (in the house of love), my first reaction was who upgraded my speakers while I was installing this software? Tonal purity and transient definition mirrored what I would expect were a Brainstorm DCD-8 clocking system with an accessory rubidium oscillator in the digital signal path. Startling, not subtle.

A number of cuts from Eric Johnson confirmed the perplexing phenomenon- including the recent favorite of Jon and Steve, "Texas". Superb transient and tonal resolution... Eric Johnson "Gem" fully lives up to the title...

The monitor speakers used for this evaluation are Tuk Kantos, which do incorporate an air motion transformer treble unit and a carefully designed ported enclosure with a woofer that looks suspiciously like one of the inverted dome cone Peerless drivers... with the built in USB amplification which accepts a wide range of sample rates.


https://audiofile.engineering/fidelia/




Of interesting note for some, an iPhone based remote control application is available.

THE FORCE AWAKENS....
]]> Digital Audio Evil Twin https://www.htguide.com/forum/primetime-a-v/digital-audio/960990-fidelia-2-0-is-a-most-unexpected-but-satisfying-surprise https://www.htguide.com/forum/mission-possible-diy/build-stories/960956-smj-s-modula-is-combined-with-a-phenolic-cabinet Wed, 17 Jun 2026 02:28:47 GMT Hello, After having been a rather silent reader or only built speakers, now I would like to try my hand at a small project. I have built myself and share the progress with you guys, I would be very happy to receive feedback and help welcome The adenture to build a new loudspeaker began with a... After having been a rather silent reader or only built speakers, now I would like to try my hand at a small project. I have built myself and share the progress with you guys, I would be very happy to receive feedback and help welcome
The adenture to build a new loudspeaker began with a clear targets:
1. Based on SMJ's Modula design for the MW19P and DA25TX, the cabinet was redesigned into a rectangular box, primarily to reduce the speaker's depth to better fit my family's living room.


2. I've always felt the front panel of the DA25TX is flimsy and not very sturdy, so I plan to modify it. The goal is to reduce the diameter while maintaining the front panel shape; and increase the thickness of the screw mounting area.

3. Creating a rigid, resonance-free cabinet that would let the drivers perform at their best. The initial concept centered on using Phenonlic for the enclosure walls, chosen specifically for its exceptional stiffness and inherent damping properties to significantly reduce unwanted cabinet vibrations and coloration.
Inside the enclosure, an elaborate network of strategically placed internal partitions and braces was designed to improve the dynamic performance while maintaining proper volume for the bass alignment.




Below are pictures of the speaker cabinet design. One detail not shown in the drawing is the placement of the port. Since my living room isn't ideal, it's small. To solve that problem, I need to reduce the distance between the speakers and the back wall while still having good bass. So my idea for the speaker enclosure is a reflex type with the port located at the bottom.
I admit that I referenced the idea from the Purifi SPK16 DIY Kits. The drawings were created for a local CNC service provider to execute. The phenolic panels have been purchased; I will update the progress in the next few days.]]> Build stories letiennam https://www.htguide.com/forum/mission-possible-diy/build-stories/960956-smj-s-modula-is-combined-with-a-phenolic-cabinet https://www.htguide.com/forum/forum/mission-possible-diy/960950-parts-express-clearance-sale Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:54:36 GMT
Peerless by Tymphany NE85W-04 2-1/2" Full Range Woofer
Peerless by Tymphany NE123W-04 4" Paper Cone NE Woofer 4 Ohm
Peerless by Tymphany NE149W-08 5-1/4" Fiber Cone Woofer Speaker 8 Ohm
Peerless by Tymphany XXLS-P835037 10" Paper Cone Subwoofer 4 Ohm​
Peerless by Tymphany XT25BG60-04 1" Dual Ring Radiator Tweeter​

JonMarsh Have you looked at the subwoofer? It has a decently high response (allegedly) but distortion is unknown to me. Curious about it, might grab a pair.]]> Mission Possible DIY technodanvan https://www.htguide.com/forum/forum/mission-possible-diy/960950-parts-express-clearance-sale https://www.htguide.com/forum/forum/mission-possible-diy/960830-mystery-3-5-inch-subwoofer-shenanigans Fri, 05 Jun 2026 13:13:10 GMT


Fs at around 108 Hz. Not very subwoofery, but given the cone is like an inch and a half I suppose we can accept that. I also have never done anything with drivers this small before so I don't have a real comparison. The Kartesian Sub120 is listed as having an Fs of 47 Hz, but that's a bit larger. Anyway, after the test I straight up played some music on it without a box and just resting on a neoprene sheet. Surprisingly, it actually sounded pretty good! Or perhaps this is actually unsurprising, there are dome mids that have significantly more cone area than this thing, heck some cone tweeters from back in the day probably do too. It's small size is probably a benefit for vocals and such. It is, however, extremely inefficient, especially with only one voice coil connected. Unibox says something around 74 dB/1m and I believe it.

Speaking of Unibox, I modeled the driver using the DATS data and a wild guess of xmax at 8mm. I'm not too happy with the closed box and ported was a challenge. I decided to try tuning the box well below the Fs of the driver. We're talking around 70 Hz or so. This is the best I could come up with.



Because of the aforementioned garage situation making a box to actually measure this little guy is a bit of a challenge. Except I'm not really limited to manufacturing outdoors anymore - at least for cute little drivers like this.



​

​

Took maybe an hour of modeling. If this were a serious speaker I'd probably use PETG-CF (I hear the carbon fiber has some benefit to the stiffness of the walls) but for this test sample I'm just using black PLA as I have a fair amount of it and it's inexpensive - it'll be done in 12 hours. This is my first time using a high flow nozzle and higher print speeds so we'll see what kind of quality we get. The baffle I haven't decided on yet, I may print it but I also might try to find an hour or two to make one out of a scrap of plywood. If I print it, I'll use 'wood-like' PLA, probably rosewood. We shall see.]]> Mission Possible DIY technodanvan https://www.htguide.com/forum/forum/mission-possible-diy/960830-mystery-3-5-inch-subwoofer-shenanigans https://www.htguide.com/forum/forum/mission-possible-diy/960782-to-khan-or-not-to-khan Fri, 29 May 2026 21:11:15 GMT
I know that back then, I was also looking at the Statements or Anthologies, but didn't like the off-wall requirements they had. Also, I had already built the tritrix and thought it might be interesting to hear someone else's design. I briefly considered the Swope as well. I have built the Tritrix, Speedster TMM (with my son), Classix II MT, and the Swan HIVI 3.1a with mod 6.

My primary use will be front surround in my living room, replacing my Tritrix. Sometimes I will play music, Alternative and some '90s rap. When I do have music, I want the bass to thump in my chest. I believe I read that it is more the mids than the true low end. For movies, I have a large sub I built in the 20-teens that handles low-end, make-the-house-rattle effects. I like clear highs. I think ribbons have become my favorite tweeters, but I don't have a lot to compare them to.

So I am asking the time-honored question: what should I build? Keeping it under a thousand, but willing to go up to two thousand. I've looked at some of the kits at Madisound, but they all come with pre-soldered crossover, and that is part of the enjoyment I get from building.

Sincerely,

Wil

What's a Khanspire? Here is what Google's AI said

AI Overview
The "Khanspire" is a legendary, high-performance DIY tower speaker design originally developed in the mid-2000s by a prominent DIY audio enthusiast in the Parts Express Tech Talk community. It is highly regarded by audiophiles for offering high-end, clear acoustics at a fraction of the cost of commercial speakers.
Here is a link to the designer's page https://www.divine-audio.com/khanspire/

crossposted to PE and HTGuide]]> Mission Possible DIY WilZirkle https://www.htguide.com/forum/forum/mission-possible-diy/960782-to-khan-or-not-to-khan