Simple 2-way small floorstander

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Toppsy
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#1 Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Toppsy »

Not sure anyone will be interested but thought I'd post some photos of my and Scott's latest speakers.
They are a pair of small floor standing speakers that were a commission build. The client wanted a small 2-way speaker and is a great fan of the ProAc range but his budget wouldn't stretch to the price of these fine sounding speakers and so his brief was can we design a ProAc inspired speaker within his quoted budget and with a downward firing port? To keep costs down the drivers are some of our favourite budget range of Monacor drivers; a 6½" mid-base unit coupled with a Magnetostatic tweeter. The speakers overall are 940mm tall x 190mm wide x 190mm deep. I have just the XO'ers to install and then it's down to fine tuning.
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During the build of these speakers Chris (Stratmangler) came over with some new vinyl records for us to listen to and really liked what he saw of these speakers. He thought the proportions were just right for small modern listening rooms of today and I have to agree with him. Scott did good with the design of these speakers. So taken am I that it has been decided to add these to our new range of speakers and offer them in 3-variants. A budget, mid and high-end version. More on this another time, perhaps.
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pre65
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#2 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by pre65 »

They look superb Colin. :)
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Toppsy
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#3 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Toppsy »

pre65 wrote: Mon May 29, 2017 2:18 pm They look superb Colin. :)
Thanks Phil. The look of the speakers has much to do with Scott's design skills as my own at cabinet building.

Well I must confess these have turned out far better than I had originally thought. Scott has really done a superb design job of these speakers. I must give credit where credit is due. Having played a couple of CD's now I can't fault the design of the XO or the cabinet port tuning, it's spot on. Nice one Scott. :thumbleft: The client is going to be well pleased with these.

I might try and hang on to these for a couple of weeks and have AndrewL take them to Owston for me so you guys can to make judgement and give me feedback. It'll be interesting how they compare to the NVA Cude2's as they will be at a similar (if not cheaper) selling price point in this configuration. Must go and continue listening with some vinyl.

To give perspective to their small size here is a photo of them alongside the NORGE speakers.

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Mike H
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#4 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Mike H »

Very nice! :thumbright:
 
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#5 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Michael L »

If they sound as good as they are handsome they will be very popular.
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#6 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Cressy Snr »

Fookin' 'ell Colin, that veneer is gorgeous. :D

Now that's what I've been banging on about, until I'm blue in the face: simple speakers that don't need to be in the middle of the room and that look absolutely gorgeous. I've just shown these pics to my wife and her friend Ange; they swooned over them. On that evidence, you and Scott have cracked it. I know the sound bit of the equation will have been sorted, now the visuals will match up.
I wish you all the best with them!
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#7 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Scottmoose »

Blimey! They look stunning Colin; the finish has really brought out the grain. :) All credit to you mate, I know just how much effort it takes to produce.
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#8 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Lee S »

Nice bit of diversity there..... Genesis' "Wind and Wuthering" and Ed Sheeran's "Divide"... 8)
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#9 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Dave the bass »

Pffffffffffffttttttttttt..... shoddy.
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Ray P
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#10 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Ray P »

Very handsome, excellent.

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Ali Tait
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#11 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Ali Tait »

Lovely job!
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#12 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by gninnam »

V.Nice 8)
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#13 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by The Stratmangler »

I popped around to Colin’s yesterday, to get an earful of these rather lovely looking speakers.
And while they sounded good, I felt that the balance of the mids and upper mids with respect to the bass not quite right, having the effect of muddying the midrange and I suggested perhaps altering the cabinet tuning would be a beneficial change.

I suggested lengthening the ports to Colin, just to see what effect pushing the cabinet tuning downwards would have, Colin agreed, and the tippy uppy game started (these speakers are bottom ported).

After multiple up-endings, lengthening the port, and listening to the effects each time, we reached a point where we didn’t hear any improvement, so we took a step back on the port length, and didn’t change anything with the ports from there on in.

Sitting back and listening to more music, we both felt that by lowering the cabinet tuning, though the sound of the midrange had improved considerably, and bass had become tighter and more tuneful, the speakers now lacked just a little bit of top end sparkle, and could maybe do with the tiniest bit of a lift.

This led to a minor adjustment of the crossover (this “minor” adjustment involved taking the drivers and crossovers out of the box, changing the L-Pad shunt resistor and then all the bits put back in reverse order). Thankfully our efforts (mainly Colin’s efforts) were not in vain and this minor XO modification did the trick were we then settled back for what was a final period of listening.

I’m very impressed with the way these speakers sound – they’re very musically engaging, rhythmically adept, and are an entertaining and enjoyable listen.
Chris :happy3:
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#14 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Max N »

Just seen these Colin. They are gorgeous, lovely job with the veneer. What wood is it? And what did you finish it with?
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#15 Re: Simple 2-way small floorstander

Post by Toppsy »

Max N wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2017 10:25 pm Just seen these Colin. They are gorgeous, lovely job with the veneer. What wood is it? And what did you finish it with?
Max, the veneer is Santos Rosewood. The finish is 3-coats of General Finishes High Performance water based top coat varnish. A mixture of 50% Gloss and 50% flat.
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