High End Audiophile thread

I been enjoying my NFB 15.32 since I got it 2 weeks ago, even more when I found out that it's USB Transfer chip USB-32 supports Full Blu ray audio, which was a big plus. Besides being a Async USB input on it. It been working great so far. It being 32bit/192khz is nice, even tho the usb-32 chip does support 384khz which isnt useable. Tho not like that would matter much. Since it has Native ASIO, I don't gotta mess with ASio4all, like I had to do on the NFB-12,plus I don't have to go thru the hassles, Like I did on the NFB-12.

 

I only started with my audio stuff 7 years ago... but I've been really lucky to find a Cyrus One in mint condition and cheap (300€), still in it's box and never opened!

Here are some pics!







crappy phone= crappy pics :3eyes:

btw: the LS3/5A's are a joy to listen to, I completely understand your dad...

 

Muff, what drivers are in your speakers?

 

The drivers and parameters are on this page
http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/ipl_drive_units_.htm
Mine are mostly Hi-Vi, modified to IPL specs.

The drivers used in the large front speakers (S5tl Kevlar Ribbon) are:
RT1.3b or RT1.3m Ribbon Tweeter £43 / £47
IPL/5/M magnesium Mid £40
IPL/10/K Kevlar 10" Woofer £98

The surrounds/centre use a Fountek Ribbon tweeter £45 and IPL/5/M mid £40 (2 in the centre speaker).


The RT1.3b tweeter looks like a modified Hi-vi RT1.3 on the page below.
The IPL/5/M mid looks like a modified Hi-vi M5A
The IPL 10" woofer looks to be a modified Hi-vi F10, set in a transmission line.
http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/hi_vi_research_drivers.htm

Quoted from the first link

 

Nice!
I wish I could try the Cyrus 1 now.

The only really old solid state amp I've tried within the last 5 years was an upgraded Quad 405 MK II current dumper.
MK I (cos it looks the same and theres more piccys)
http://www.valveradio.co.uk/page15.htm
MK II + specs
http://www.retrohifi.co.uk/quad _405-2.html
Its got a lovely tone but isnt much good for top end detail.
So we built it into a subwoofer with 2x12" cones, it was wonderful.

 

I would love to build my own speakers (and to know how to do it, while I'm at it) but here is Spain there is very little market for parts...

 

It's all I can think about lately. I'm obsessed. Here's a shot of a 2.25 cu ft box with a 12" subwoofer on top of it. The box on the bottom is 4 cu ft. I will be putting an 18" subwoofer in it.

I've roughed up the 2.25 cu ft box and my old speakers in preparation of painting them with Duratex. I can't wait to see how it turns out. :nerd:


(sorry for the low light level!)

 

I found some more specs on the drivers the S5TL front speakers are modded from.
Hivi F10 Hi end woofer
http://www.swanspeaker.com/asp/product/htm/view.asp?id=65

Hivi M5N Bass-Midrange
http://www.swanspeaker.com/asp/product/htm/view.asp?id=77

Hivi RT1.3M Isodynamic Ribbon Tweeter
http://www.swanspeaker.com/asp/product/htm/view.asp?id=449

 

They claim that "Many of the Units here are built by Hi-Vi research for IPL but may have different thiel- small parameters than the standard Hi Vi units."

http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/ipl_drive_units_.htm

 

Interesting stuff. I wonder what mods they do? All the T-S params look the same. Matching is probably well worthwhile though, as these chinese drivers can vary quite substantially apparently.

Metal driver to a ribbon with a 2k5 Fs is going to be a serious compromise on a first order x-over I suspect.

You might get away with it between the mid and bass driver, though. Could run the M5 full range and use the F10 to do the BSC

Any particular reason for wanting to do a first order crossover?

 

Some things he keeps close to his chest.
When I mentioned modding the crossovers, he almost barked at me as he spent a long time getting them to match the drivers well.

Yep, its possible it wont work well.
How it sounds will be the defining factor and wont be resolved for many months!
Cone breakup distortion could be the limiting factor and may require a change of driver(s) if I cant reduce it enough.

The low/mid may be easier to handle, although the F10 extends quite high, the mid/woofer xover is currently 700Hz.
The method you described is how we have run my brothers system.
I may use a second order or a hybrid filter on the woofer and/or a small amount of separation at the xover points (to reduce some peaks and/or increase attenuation without making too large a dip, could be worth the compromise).

I'm interested to see how much more detail can be extracted.
My brother is using 1st order crossovers on his speakers (using the same tweeters as me) and definitely is getting more detail from his Oppo 105 BD/SACD player than I am from mine.

My Minimax Plus DAC is definitely clearer than the Oppo on my amp/speakers.
But the Minimax didnt play at all well on my brothers kit (it simply sounded horrible so we unplugged it! yet its awesome here), we're trying it again next month, so we havent managed a good comparison with that yet on his.
We will be comparing our Oppo players to see if there is a notable difference between them.

My bruv has done many comparisons between 1st and second order crossovers and is a big fan of 1st order for maximum detail retrieval but he found it a royal pita to get balanced without sounding harsh, much trial and error.
He's done a good job though with the oddest mix of drivers.

The xover is the next stage in optimising my system.
My goal is to use as less components in the signal path as I can get away with, although a zobel/lpad will inevitably creep in.
I'll try parallel and series filters to see which is easiest to work with.

 

Ahh, if you would consider changing the drivers there's epic potential! The M5 is a nice driver but looks to have a big breakup node at 9ish k - not a problem on a steeper slope, but you'd definitely hit it with first order. Could notch it I guess, but that's not going to help the goal of low component count.

If you used a 4" full range driver or something for the mid, then you could cross to the ribbon at like 8k or something so it wouldn't have to work so hard. Would be horribly directional, but I guess that's the price of a first order setup (which is saved by not having to buy loads of Ls and Cs )

 

Few days old and not the high-end Genelec, but many of you might be interested and has not been posted before. And even though it's not high-end Genelec, it's still Genelec.

Q&A: Genelec’s Music Creation Series
http://www.prosoundnetwork.com/Default.aspx?tabid=69&EntryId=643

 

Hello my fellow guru's/audiophiliac's

Check this out a very nice peace of software http://www.magix.com/ca/audio-cleaning-lab/detail/

 

My complete System excuse the mess, gonna do some cleaning:

Fronts - Bic America Formula 350watts with Horn
Center - Bose 150watt cube - Still does the job nicely
TV - Samsung LCD LED 3D Smart TV
ONKYO - HT-RC370 Receiver
ONKYO - DVD audio and Super Audio CD player
PC - with X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty pro - running multi ch analog with switcher for DVD/Super Audio player.



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Sub- The famous Polk Audio PSW505 12 inch 460Watt subwoofer
Sides- Monitor Audio Vintage speakers



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Back - Bose 150watt cubes



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Those look nice

I like Genelecs - I think the 8000 series would make great hifi speakers. Never seem overly transparent, but I'd love some to use at home...

 

Man that TV cabinet balancing act looks dodgy as hell. I hope for your sake you don't have an earthquake.

 

LOL, nah, it's fine

 

Should we have some Audio News thread ?

Musik Messe starts tomorrow, anyone fortunate to go there ?
http://musik.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en/besucher/willkommen.html

 

Products Launched at Musikmesse

http://www.gear4music.com/Musikmesse

Check these out.