Linkwitz Orion design

[marquis]

I have recently read a fair amount of very positive commentary regarding the Linkwitz Orion Dipole speaker design. I would certainly like to hear the opinion of those with a good deal of experience in the DIY end of the audio hobby.

Is this particular design pretty widely revered as amongst the best of it's type or are there a number of tried and true dipole designs that would likely compete with it significantly?

Thanks to all who might take the time to reply!

Mark

[john k...]

The Orion is a very good speaker, if you like dipole sound, with some limitations of max SPL at low frequency. At the risk of seeming self indulgent you might want to also look at my NaO II design. Of those who have heard both it seems to be a toss up. Some prefer my NaO II, some prefer the Orion. I know of one individual who has auditioned the Orion, my NaO II and Geddes Abbey. He felt the NaO II was better than the Orion, but ultimately choose the Abbey as he seemed to prefer the sound of the wave guide system. To augment the bass response he used two U-frame woofers as the Abbey does need to be coupled with a woofer system since its ranges extends only to about 100 Hz or so.

[JonMarsh]

The Orion system is an excellent reference for neutrality and one for which most of the systems I see and hear at shows like CES and RMAF come up woefully short.

It's well documented and well supported, and depending on how you want to get it kitted out (minimal to complete) potentially suited to constructors a wide range of skill levels. Unless you've done PCB assembly, and have equipment at home like a scope, I wouldn't recommend building the active crossover boards yourself.

Some folks find they aren't really seeking neutrality or don't like the diople sound, so it's a good idea to check on SL's web site and see if you can find someone local where you can audition them, at least briefly- SL has a long list of folks willing to do that.

[Drew Eckhardt]

It's well documented and well supported, and depending on how you want to get it kitted out (minimal to complete) potentially suited to constructors a wide range of skill levels. Unless you've done PCB assembly, and have equipment at home like a scope, I wouldn't recommend building the active crossover boards yourself.

If you get the boards wrong a volt meter and enough technical aptitude to follow the schematics would be needed to diagnose issues your self. The Orion circuit boards include a number of test points and associated values for a given input are listed for a few frequencies off SL's Orion test CD so you'll know where problems are without having to figure out how the circuits are supposed to be working.

To quote SL's web-site,

"Alternatively, for $60 we will test and, if necessary, repair the crossover/equalizer that you loaded yourself using the ASP circuit boards."

I wouldn't recommend learning to solder on your Orion boards, although it's definitely doable with some supervision. Through-hole soldering with leaded solder is not a hard skill to learn.

One of my co-workers came over, heard my Orions, and ordered the plans+ package. After his parts came from Digi-Key I set him up in a spare cubicle, demonstrated on a few resistors, and supervised on a few with spot checks after that. With that working well I tacked the corners down on a couple of sockets, demonstrated on one, and him finish the rest. The boards came out fine.

Some folks find they aren't really seeking neutrality or don't like the diople sound, so it's a good idea to check on SL's web site and see if you can find someone local where you can audition them, at least briefly- SL has a long list of folks willing to do that.

Here's the official Seeking Orions Auditions Thread at the Orion/Pluto Users Group:

http://orion.quicksytes.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3

PS: Yes, they're awesome. Other narrow-baffle 3-way dipoles have good reputations and should work well, where with the notable examples are the NaO and Arvo Part.

Attempting to obtain bass using larger baffles does not result in natural sound due to the polar response problems above the dipole peak. Simplifying to a 2-way with good baffle dimensions for polar response does not provide sufficient bass output.

[twest820]

The Orion is the reference design for a point source dipole. It's also the speaker that got me into all up audio DIY rather than just modding. So I owe SL (Siegfried Linkwitz) a lot and would definitely say the Orion's the standard for tried and true dipoles. As John K observes, people hear differently, and I've found it useful to contrast his Nao designs and JonMarsh's Isiris and Arvo Parts against SL's selection of design tradeoffs.

I'm personally interested in pushing the technology harder than these designs do. Ironically I started with cost reducing the Orion and arrived at a four way, minimally baffled, isolated driver approach with a linear phase crossover independent of StigErik's no baffle without Beyma TPL150 build thread on DIYAudio---the thread was running but I hadn't seen it. There are no proven designs in that space but the engineering progression is logical and I know of at least three StigErik inspired builds going on right now.

[marquis]

Much thanks!

Hey guys,

Thanks for taking time to respond to my query regarding the Orion speakers. It's been around 20 years and a few lost hairs since I've taken a shot at any DYI stuff (a stand mount with Dynaudio drivers and hand made crossovers complete with etching my own printed circuit boards) so I'm kinda' excited about the idea of dipping my toes in again.

Im sure many of you, like me, have spent years laying fairly large bets on the ol' speaker of the year/magazine editor's choice/voice of God stuff that's always coming down the pike from various manufacturers. it might be fun to at least put a bit of merit badge aspect back into the search for the holy grail of audio transducers, acknowledging of course that I will to a large degree have to stand on the shoulders of giants in the course of it.

Thanks again to all for taking time to share your thoughts!

Mark

P.S.

I think it's likely I'll take a spin with an Orion kit in the near future, as Sigfreid offers up quite a generous serving of supportive info in the pursuit of things... I'll keep ya' posted!