Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

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simon
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#91 Re: Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

Post by simon »

Thanks for the updates both, very interesting. Which Faital units are you using. I've only heard one Faital as far as I know, a 6", and was pretty impressed on vocals particularly.

The Behringer amps used for the bass units have some kind of DSP built in I think? Do you use any DSP for the Faitals? Apologies if I've missed this - I'm considering the merits of this approach, particularly for my bass drivers, but know very little about it and wonder if there might be issues with delay if the mid/treble units didn't use DSP.
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Ali Tait
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#92 Re: Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

Post by Ali Tait »

Vangelo wrote: Fri May 01, 2020 8:24 am Hey Ali!

During this lockdown I decided to be productive and try out alternative to the PRV's. Blue Aran had stock of Faitals, and they were relatively cheap, fairly efficient and very smooth.....on paper anyway.
Of course, singly they would not match the PRV for SPL (220W & 94db) which makes using multiples (or more than 2/side) a waste, but with the much lower power handling Faitals it would make sense. I decided on a 4/side array of their 3 & 4" units.

The 3" sounded superb. Smoother than the PRV which could sound raucous when certain frequencies were hit. The Faitals sailed through everything, gave extended highs vs the PRVs, but also retained dynamics and sound staging where the PRV excelled. However....having a blast with Man Machine I could smell burning :x
Well.....they are rated @ 20W each.

Next I tried the 4" Faitals (30W). The retained much the same character as the 3". They passed the Man Machine test, but I missed the highs of the 3's. So I combined the array utilising 2 x 3" on top. Ahh.....this gave me everything. No crossover, and a combination of series/parallel wiring gave me correct relative volume outputs padding down the 3's.

Image

Not trusting my ears, I sent some 3" arrays to John to test. Something tells me I am not going to get them back :cry:
I should add I am rolling off output to the Faitals @ 200hz using the DEQX, but John is happily running them full range.
Also, the total cost of this array is about the same as a pair of PRVs!
Hi Vic, good to hear from you, hope you and yours are keeping well.

Thanks for the update, looks mad lol. But, if it’s sounding better than the PRV’s, it must be very good indeed.

Not getting much time for audio, still at work keeping the lights on. :-)
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#93 Re: Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

Post by Johnj »

Simon
Vic uses the DEQX to control cut off to the Faital drivers. The bass drivers are being controlled by the Behringer and would be cut off in the upper bass. Cables are all the same length. I just use the Behringer to cut off the upper bass and power the Faitals from my Balanced Temple Monos with no issues
simon
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#94 Re: Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

Post by simon »

Thanks John. I've just had a look at the DEQX units, they look the business but a bit out of my price range.

It sounds like you're doing similar to what I'm contemplating. My wide band drivers are run without any crossover by a GM70 SET, the bass drivers from cheap ebay class D amps which work surprisingly well. But I've been wondering if they might benefit from some DSP to shape the lower response as dial in the low pass filter. A miniDSP would do this I think, and allow me to filter the supertweeters too. But I'm not convinced by the absolute quality of the miniDSP units from what I've read, and the Behringer amps seem to do the biz.

But I've read there can be delay issues by processing the bass but not the main drivers. Seems like you don't find this?

Do you also run the Faitals without any baffle? If so how far down do they go, and do they really not need any correction?
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Ray P
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#95 Re: Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

Post by Ray P »

Simon, you could use miniDSP to find your crossover settings and then configure something like the DIY Audio crossover kit with the same 'curves' to improve on the absolute SQ that the miniDSP would constrain.

https://diyaudiostore.com/collections/k ... er-network
Sorry, I couldn't resist!
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Ali Tait
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#96 Re: Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

Post by Ali Tait »

Simon, I went from the small miniDSP unit to the 4x10HD, which was better, but I reckon the small unit will be fine just for bass duties.

Were you there at the Owston where Nick used one to compare to a speaker crossover?

Don’t know about anyone else, but I struggled to hear a difference.
simon
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#97 Re: Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

Post by simon »

That's an interesting link Ray thanks, need to have a good read of that later.

I have a vague recollection of Nick mentioning it at Owston but I don't think I heard it. The perils of words written on t'Internet...
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#98 Re: Ali Bastanis OB testing & results

Post by Johnj »

The Behringer is good for Bass I would not like to use it as a full range amplifier, however. EQ controls are simple and you can adjust whilst you listen to music.
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