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Listening comments
Ok, this is sort of a BS part, where the designer talks about how it sounds, how close to the "target" he thinks it comes, and maybe why it does that or why it falls short, if the case. It's pretty hard to be objective at this point, but in my defense, it's not like I'm the only person posting on this board that likes the combination of Accuton Midranges and the SS illuminator tweeters. Just ask Jed or CurtC. :yesnod:
The overall performance in my opinion confirms the driver choices, including the midwoofers- the low end is strong and quite articulate. Cuts/albums really illustrating that included David Garfield's "Giving Back", including the title cut and "Josie" (yes, he played with Steely Dan); also Hirom Uhera's "Spiral", from the similarly named album- piano and bass were very well delineated from each other though working in similar frequency bands at times, and her bass players very fast plucking never was blurred together.
Another impressive recording was Bela Fleck's "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo", from the similarly titled album- though the very low frequency material was down in level due to the port blockage, the overall transient characteristics and attack was very pleasing. I suspect that the very low DCR of the Jantzen C-Core 4 mH inductor on the LF section played a hand, as well as the low DCR of the 0.400 mH 12 AWG NorthCreek inductor in the second stage of the LF filter. Obviously, a stiff cabinet doesn't hurt either. It sounded like there was more at work than just two 7" midwoofers- I say that as someone familiar with what double 7" midwoofers sound like in more than a few systems. Hat's off to Seas and the ER18RNX. :T
It hardly seems necessary to mention the qualities of the C79- it's smooth response and very low distortion are certainly evident in all instruments, handling as it does significant output from 200 Hz to 8 kHz. Whether it was Rory Block's "Last Fair Deal" with her interesting voice and amazing slide guitar playing, or piano and bass overtones on Hiromi's "Spiral", or the brass on "Corner Pocket" by Harry James, or the choral voices of Cantus "Against the Dying of the Night", this driver has a deserved reputation for high resolution, and seems to deliver as hoped in this design. I'd say all those 22 uF Clarity ESA caps seemed to be doing their thing pretty well also.
The Scanspeak D3004/662001 is very clean and transparent; as ColoradoTom commented, cymbal sound was rendered very naturally and clearly. My opinion listening is that it may still be about 1 dB hot, but ThomasW thinks it's just right as is. I'll be upgrading the pad resistors later and burning in and listening and measuring some more after I get home, so there's time to assess and make some adjustments if needed. It is flattest at about 15-20 degrees off axis, so the room power response holds up well, and they sound surprisingly good in the next room or even behind them.
"Private Investigations" by Dire Straits was a treat for both dynamics and the re-creation of the acoustic space through a seemless midrange to top end.
The really weird thing is how the drivers all sum together- if you do the test sweeps listening just to the mid, the woofer, or the tweeter, you could get the impression they are not so loud and don't cover that much range, but then with all drivers running the sweep at the same level sounds quite different and more powerful- clearly the summing seems to be working audibly as intended for a Duelund style crossover, not just by measurement. The mid to tweeter blend holds up well both above and below the midrange axis, even a bit better than predicted by LspCAD- so standing doesn't change the tonality significantly as is often the case with higher order designs. This probably contributes to a solid power response behavior. I didn't bring a turntable out with me, so more detailed testing will have to wait until I'm back in California and have some time.
They've been a lot of work, and there's lots left for finishing and veneering- also deciding whether to put the crossovers internal or create an external crossover cabinet (I'm leaning towards the latter as updates and tweaking are much easier, though I've built all the boards so they will go in the box in specific locations). The Woofer zobel has been reduced by 200 uF with the final box impedance data, and the midrange zobel was modified to do some response shaping in addition to impedance control.
Compared with the NeoD CC in the standard box, the Ardent has a much more dynamic presentation at the frequency extremes, and a considerably more powerful and articulate bass, more visceral and articulate. Starts and stops faster, and obviously very low distortion. The midrange presentation is somewhat different, probably because one driver handles a wider range, and the integration with the presence range may be a bit better or more transparent- I suspect the capacitor choices contribute to that, as well as the contributions of the D3004/662001 in the lower part of it's operating range.
Of course, I'd say that finalizing the levels and getting some burn in time may also change the presentation- as I say, I'm leaning towards dropping the top end by 1 dB. Maybe the midrange, too.
We'll see.
Ok, this is sort of a BS part, where the designer talks about how it sounds, how close to the "target" he thinks it comes, and maybe why it does that or why it falls short, if the case. It's pretty hard to be objective at this point, but in my defense, it's not like I'm the only person posting on this board that likes the combination of Accuton Midranges and the SS illuminator tweeters. Just ask Jed or CurtC. :yesnod:
The overall performance in my opinion confirms the driver choices, including the midwoofers- the low end is strong and quite articulate. Cuts/albums really illustrating that included David Garfield's "Giving Back", including the title cut and "Josie" (yes, he played with Steely Dan); also Hirom Uhera's "Spiral", from the similarly named album- piano and bass were very well delineated from each other though working in similar frequency bands at times, and her bass players very fast plucking never was blurred together.
Another impressive recording was Bela Fleck's "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo", from the similarly titled album- though the very low frequency material was down in level due to the port blockage, the overall transient characteristics and attack was very pleasing. I suspect that the very low DCR of the Jantzen C-Core 4 mH inductor on the LF section played a hand, as well as the low DCR of the 0.400 mH 12 AWG NorthCreek inductor in the second stage of the LF filter. Obviously, a stiff cabinet doesn't hurt either. It sounded like there was more at work than just two 7" midwoofers- I say that as someone familiar with what double 7" midwoofers sound like in more than a few systems. Hat's off to Seas and the ER18RNX. :T
It hardly seems necessary to mention the qualities of the C79- it's smooth response and very low distortion are certainly evident in all instruments, handling as it does significant output from 200 Hz to 8 kHz. Whether it was Rory Block's "Last Fair Deal" with her interesting voice and amazing slide guitar playing, or piano and bass overtones on Hiromi's "Spiral", or the brass on "Corner Pocket" by Harry James, or the choral voices of Cantus "Against the Dying of the Night", this driver has a deserved reputation for high resolution, and seems to deliver as hoped in this design. I'd say all those 22 uF Clarity ESA caps seemed to be doing their thing pretty well also.
The Scanspeak D3004/662001 is very clean and transparent; as ColoradoTom commented, cymbal sound was rendered very naturally and clearly. My opinion listening is that it may still be about 1 dB hot, but ThomasW thinks it's just right as is. I'll be upgrading the pad resistors later and burning in and listening and measuring some more after I get home, so there's time to assess and make some adjustments if needed. It is flattest at about 15-20 degrees off axis, so the room power response holds up well, and they sound surprisingly good in the next room or even behind them.
"Private Investigations" by Dire Straits was a treat for both dynamics and the re-creation of the acoustic space through a seemless midrange to top end.
The really weird thing is how the drivers all sum together- if you do the test sweeps listening just to the mid, the woofer, or the tweeter, you could get the impression they are not so loud and don't cover that much range, but then with all drivers running the sweep at the same level sounds quite different and more powerful- clearly the summing seems to be working audibly as intended for a Duelund style crossover, not just by measurement. The mid to tweeter blend holds up well both above and below the midrange axis, even a bit better than predicted by LspCAD- so standing doesn't change the tonality significantly as is often the case with higher order designs. This probably contributes to a solid power response behavior. I didn't bring a turntable out with me, so more detailed testing will have to wait until I'm back in California and have some time.
They've been a lot of work, and there's lots left for finishing and veneering- also deciding whether to put the crossovers internal or create an external crossover cabinet (I'm leaning towards the latter as updates and tweaking are much easier, though I've built all the boards so they will go in the box in specific locations). The Woofer zobel has been reduced by 200 uF with the final box impedance data, and the midrange zobel was modified to do some response shaping in addition to impedance control.
Compared with the NeoD CC in the standard box, the Ardent has a much more dynamic presentation at the frequency extremes, and a considerably more powerful and articulate bass, more visceral and articulate. Starts and stops faster, and obviously very low distortion. The midrange presentation is somewhat different, probably because one driver handles a wider range, and the integration with the presence range may be a bit better or more transparent- I suspect the capacitor choices contribute to that, as well as the contributions of the D3004/662001 in the lower part of it's operating range.
Of course, I'd say that finalizing the levels and getting some burn in time may also change the presentation- as I say, I'm leaning towards dropping the top end by 1 dB. Maybe the midrange, too.
We'll see.
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