PoorboyMike's NatP thread

**wkhanna** · 28 April 2007, 10:48 Saturday

Hey Mike!

I have only had time to take a brief look at your xo, so I’m not 100% sure on your wiring, but I didn’t see any issues.
It’s hard to see in your pic, but make sure you have good solder flow/coverage on all your joints. The joint on L2 to R3 seems like there might not be flow, but it’s hard say from the pic. Otherwise, I would say you did a fine job for your first effort!
FWIW, make sure you put lots of hotglue on your xo components, you don't want them falling off some day when you have these babies cranking!

It is easy to test things out, when you have your speakers mounted, you can run jumpers to your xo out side of the box, and connect them to your system. Be sure to set volume VERY low, and see how they sound. If there is a problem, you will know right away, and at low power, it’s unlikely you could hurt anything assuming your system has protection from a dead short across your speaker leads.

I once accidently reversed the leads for the tweeters and woofers on my Nat P's, and it was very obvious, but did not hurt anything.

Hope your veneer turned out OK!

**PoorboyMike** · 28 April 2007, 11:21 Saturday

That's good to hear on xover! I'll just re-do that joint to make sure it's good. Thanks for looking these over and now I can get going on the other one. I didn't want to start it if the 1st one was screwed up. 8)

I should have at least one of these fired up today so wish me the best.

**PoorboyMike** · 28 April 2007, 23:01 Saturday

I got one of them up and running tonight. The local hardware store didn't have enough screws for me to finish both of them though so hopefully I can get into HD tomorrow and pick up some more.

The sound is excellent. Not quite as deep as my Infinitys but very close. Considering the Infinitys are towers with dual 8's, I'm pretty surprised how close the NatP's are. As far as detail, the NatP's walk all over the Alpha 50's. I played Angel by Sara McLachlan and her voice sounded incredible. My wife, who has listened to this song hundreds of times, said she heard things that she had never heard before. :T When I get the other one done I'll hook them up to my newly purchased A500 and see if there is an improvement over the Pioneer 1014.

Big thanks to JonMarsh for all his work on this fantastic design. ;x(

**PoorboyMike** · 28 April 2007, 23:11 Saturday

Not the greatest pics but here it is. I'll be staining the oak with antique cherry urethane gel stain. I tried it on a small sample of veneer and I really like the color. Thanks for looking.

**wkhanna** · 28 April 2007, 23:25 Saturday

That's great Mike!!!!!

After they brake in, and with some experimenting with positioning, you may find the bass improves.

One thing that initially fooled me was that the bass was so tight and controlled, I didn't realize how much better it was. We get used to mushy loud, and have too recondition our selves to good LF. I first realized it when I was in another room, and said 'holy crap! is all that low end coming from my Nat's?'
And yes, you will start hearing all kinds music in your CDs you never heard before. Have fun, this is just the begining!

**PoorboyMike** · 28 April 2007, 23:26 Saturday

I forgot to include something in the pictures. Don't mind the dirt, I've been in the garage all day.

**WillyD** · 28 April 2007, 23:40 Saturday

I'll hook them up to my newly purchased A500 and see if there is an improvement over the Pioneer 1014.

It should almost certainly be an improvement. And the bass response should be pretty dang good..maybe when you have both set up and they break in a bit....

**Gir** · 28 April 2007, 23:48 Saturday

I forgot to include something in the pictures. Don't mind the dirt, I've been in the garage all day.

Your feet?

**JonP** · 30 April 2007, 02:02 Monday

It's a Speakerbuilding Tradition... the foot in the pic shot!! :T

**Gir** · 30 April 2007, 02:29 Monday

Originally posted by JonP

It's a Speakerbuilding Tradition... the foot in the pic shot!! :T

Heh, guess I'm still new to that! Better fix up some of my pics... :T

**technimac** · 30 April 2007, 13:33 Monday

Originally posted by PoorboyMike

As far as detail, the NatP's walk all over the Alpha 50's. I played Angel by Sara McLachlan and her voice sounded incredible. My wife, who has listened to this song hundreds of times, said she heard things that she had never heard before. :T When I get the other one done I'll hook them up to my newly purchased A500 and see if there is an improvement over the Pioneer 1014.
Big thanks to JonMarsh for all his work on this fantastic design. ;x(

:agree:
Several cuts from her Afterglow Live DVD (if you have it) will show-off the capabilities of your NatP's to give new, previously unheard elements to voices like Sarah's. Try "Answer" and "Dirty Little Secret" to hear more of what you liked in "Angel". :W
I have the Modula MT's (Seas 27TBFC/G version) and noticed that instruments like horns, strings and piano are also crystal-clear. The vocals of singers like Sarah and Diana Krall have unbelievable clarity and depth (I'm not exactly sure how to accurately describe this etherial quality of female voices).
I hope you don't mind the suggestion, but here are some other "test tracks" to try with your NatP's:
Guitar and Sax? Larry Carlton Collection "Blues For TJ" & "Hello Tomorrow" ...WOW!... 8O
...And the Eagles - Farewell 1 Tour - Live From Melbourne DVD will give your NatP puppies a fairly good workout as well. :B
For male vocals, Boz Scaggs - Greatest Hits Live DVD has some excellent renditions of his classic hits from albums such as Silk Degrees.

Sounds like you're in for some mighty fine listening......... :T
Cheers

**PoorboyMike** · 30 April 2007, 13:56 Monday

Thanks for all of your suggestions technimac. I really need to upgrade my CD and dvd music collection so the tips are much appreciated. My daughter has a huge collection of MP3 music, but most of it isn't the highest of quality. These fantastic speakers deserve much better. ;x(

**Gir** · 30 April 2007, 14:19 Monday

Perhaps a Denon SACD player? You can get the 3910 at some really nice prices used.

**Bent** · 30 April 2007, 14:24 Monday

Several cuts from her Afterglow Live DVD (if you have it) will show-off the capabilities of your NatP's to give new, previously unheard elements to voices like Sarah's.

I don't have afterglow - but her "Fear" song from the Mirrorball DVD is the one that does it for me.
She actually looks like it's the last time ever that she can hit the high notes in "Fear" everytime she performs it.

**PoorboyMike** · 30 April 2007, 15:29 Monday

Originally posted by Gir

Perhaps a Denon SACD player? You can get the 3910 at some really nice prices used.

I plan on getting something but not right away. I have a low end Sony DVD/SACD player and an older Kenwood CD player that was pretty decent when it was new. Nothing special but I have to keep the spending somewhat down until we get our new house built. And I get the entire basement to myself, so there will be a dedicated theater and a bar/listening area in my future.

**technimac** · 30 April 2007, 20:36 Monday

Originally posted by PoorboyMike

Thanks for all of your suggestions technimac. I really need to upgrade my CD and dvd music collection so the tips are much appreciated. My daughter has a huge collection of MP3 music, but most of it isn't the highest of quality. These fantastic speakers deserve much better. ;x(

Oh yes, the MP3's....I'm afraid that once you listen to some lower bitrate stuff on your NatP's, you'll be searching for music with flac tags or some other "lossless" form. I have a bunch of MP3 files and only very few of them sound good through the MT's.

But well-recorded & produced material played on your NatP's will leave you breathless...for now your Sony and Kenwood should be able to do the job. :W

Hey Bent, thanks for the pointer to Fear on Sarah's Mirrorball CD :T

**Raptor550** · 03 May 2007, 03:01 Thursday

I am new to DIY building, but computer audio I have been into since the invention of MP3's

computer music/format suggestions:
I have been very pleased with recordings in .ape (lossless monkeys audio),
L.A.M.E. Mp3's, I back up my CD's with those two. Dts/.wav audio files are good if they are honestly multi channel, all you can find on isohunt.com. currently i am rocking out to the sacd greatest hits of the police. I-tunes may require "tinkering" for these files to run. Winamp is a champ.

Technimac is right. Even on mediocre speakers I can hear a difference between 160 and 192kb, don't even bother with 128kb's. with your new speakers you should be able to hear a difference in 256-320kbs.

If you go onto isohunt.com you can search for the B&W and marantz audio test CD's they are encoded at 700+(beyond what I can hear the diff on my so-so speakers) and the songs very recorded well, so are the more popular classic rock, led zep, etc. they don't do heavy compression for radio brodcast.

for dynamics, might I suggest "pictures of an exhibition", or John Williams ?Jurassic park end credits"

**PoorboyMike** · 05 May 2007, 08:32 Saturday

Originally posted by technimac

:agree:
Several cuts from her Afterglow Live DVD (if you have it) will show-off the capabilities of your NatP's to give new, previously unheard elements to voices like Sarah's. Try "Answer" and "Dirty Little Secret" to hear more of what you liked in "Angel". :W
I have the Modula MT's (Seas 27TBFC/G version) and noticed that instruments like horns, strings and piano are also crystal-clear. The vocals of singers like Sarah and Diana Krall have unbelievable clarity and depth (I'm not exactly sure how to accurately describe this etherial quality of female voices).
I hope you don't mind the suggestion, but here are some other "test tracks" to try with your NatP's:
Guitar and Sax? Larry Carlton Collection "Blues For TJ" & "Hello Tomorrow" ...WOW!... 8O
...And the Eagles - Farewell 1 Tour - Live From Melbourne DVD will give your NatP puppies a fairly good workout as well. :B
For male vocals, Boz Scaggs - Greatest Hits Live DVD has some excellent renditions of his classic hits from albums such as Silk Degrees.

Sounds like you're in for some mighty fine listening......... :T
Cheers

I just ordered Afterglow Live, Mirrorball DVD, Eagles Farewell 1 Tour, and Pink Floyd's Pulse DVD for good measure. Can't wait to give these a try!

**Gir** · 05 May 2007, 13:54 Saturday

Just curious, where did you order your music from?

**PoorboyMike** · 05 May 2007, 14:16 Saturday

Originally posted by Gir

Just curious, where did you order your music from?

Amazon. I think it was about $70 total. 8O

I tried to find it locally, but nobody here carries any type of concert DVD.

**geno742** · 06 May 2007, 00:11 Sunday

Originally posted by Gir

Just curious, where did you order your music from?

Try deep discount dvd.
Lots of concert dvds

PoorboyMike's NatP thread

PoorboyMike's NatP thread

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