Sub Sonic

Wow, you work fast 🙂 Looks like you have a nice little system. Regards, SS

I’ve also simplified recently. I’ve put some 12” wide range drivers in some 50 y/o cabinets. Amp is a small class A 8wpc kit. Source is the iPhone. DAC? See pic 😄 i do have the Rythmik subs hidden away behind the speakers, just using the speaker cables as an input. And it sounds great! 🙂 Speakers: Amp: DAC: Cheers, SS

Some “speaker scammers” (as mentioned by @DarkNark) even have a nice looking website with all their products and inflated prices on it, to give them some credence. No real addresses or concrete contact info though. When I was an apprentice years ago, a couple of the other apprentices got scammed, one of them brought his speakers in to show me. I opened one up, and there was nothing quality about it, thin chipboard, the barest of crossovers to just stop the drivers burning out. They even had some nice adjustment knobs on the front to help it look fancy. I still remember the brand name, it was “Jelich Audiofile”. I was accosted by the same guys at the shopping centre car park where they were peddling their wares, but fortunately was audio savvy enough at a young age to be suspicious. The apparent (scam) “brand names” often sound similar to known, legitimate names, and often have phrases like “Reference”, “Studio” or “Monitor” as part of the description. Sometimes they also come up at Cash Converters or on Gumtree, as people who have been scammed try to recoup their losses on some other unsuspecting person. Sometimes they are just a pair of speakers, other times a complete package with projector and electronics. Buyer beware.

No, I didn’t run them from the bass module. There was no issue blending with my subs, it’s just that I know the upper limits of the subs probably won’t quite make it to the little speakers’ lower limits. Subjectively there was no real problem. Cheers, SS

I inherited a set of noise cancelling Bose in ear earphones from my late father, and they are actually very good, I was surprised at how good they sound for general listening. They are definitely not as resolving as the Grados but are again very easy to listen to.

I was perusing our local second hand shop the other day and came across a Bose Lifestyle 25 system, complete with Acoustimass 25 II woofer module and 5 direct/reflecting speakers (pic only shows 4). The setup would be 18-20 years old. I would not purchase a Bose System new, but at the very low second hand price, I just couldn’t bring myself to leave it there. As it turned out, the CD player console part was on the blink, so I had a play with the little direct/reflecting speakers. I didn’t do anything fancy with them, just sat them on the top of the subwoofers (not the Bose one) pointing at the listening position, checked distances were all even, and hooked them up directly to a little 8wpc Pass ACA amplifer. No high pass was used, no EQ was used, listening levels were lowish and they didn’t complain. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised! Sure, they don’t go all the way up to 20kHz, and probably don’t quite go low enough to meet the subs, frequency response was not subjectively perfectly flat, but they were very pleasant, natural and easy to listen to. Soundstage was very wide, deep and high, with a somewhat laid back (depth) presentation, which I rather like. I could listen to them for hours. The cubes disappeared and no sound appeared to emanate from the little speakers. I did try the direct/reflecting method instead of firing all drivers straight forward, but the stereo illusion suffered greatly. I have previously played with another set of older Bose cube speakers and they sounded terrible (again, no EQ), they were quickly moved on, but this current set are keepers. They are not the last word in fidelity, or high resolution, but they certainly give musical enjoyment and are nice and compact. My wife loves them as she can hardly see them. She is going to get a big surprise when the new 120 litre full range cabinets come out J I’m going to play with them further, probably put a high pass on them and see how they go. Meanwhile, I’ll probably be banned from Stereonet for mentioning the “B” word… 😂 Cheers! SS Edit: I wonder if some of the negative comments about Bose come from their usual placement against walls and in corners? It would certainly play havoc with the soundstage which I so liked.

Ok I’ve found some sites with formulae, just need to have a go at it now 🙂

I wonder if playing with the speaker system Q would be a possible option to help offset baffle step? (I’ve no idea how to calculate baffle step...) The sealed enclosure Q is guaranteed to be above “flat” as the drivers have a relatively high Qts. https://www.fane-international.com/view-product/SOVEREIGN-12-250TC I have 120litre sealed enclosures at home I plan to try initially, but plan to eventually end up making something specifically for the drivers. Cheers, SS

I was also looking at Audio Nirvana, amongst others, but their prices seem to increase in a linear fashion with cone area, and then shipping is also very expensive from the US. I also found varying opinions on the sound. The Fanes are more reasonably priced, and comments about their sound seem to be more consistent so I thought it worth a shot. I was very tempted to go for the 15”, but the enclosure size would have needed to be considerably larger for a similar low end response. I do have DSP and measurement gear but I would like to do this the simple “pure” way - 8wpc class A, direct to the driver, then add subwoofers for the very low end. We will see. Cheers, SS

Out of curiosity, in what areas do you find the Zu’s beat the other speakers?

Thought I’d revive this thread. Recently I’ve been playing with some Richard Allan CG10T and really enjoying them. I’ve spent some time over on a DIY audio site and a lot of people have good things to say about Fane wide range pro drivers. Two drivers in particular are the 12-250TC and 15-300TC, 12” and 15” diameter respectively. Sensitivity is around the 100dB/W/m mark, and top end extension goes to around 17kHz. A pair of the 12” version arrived in the mail today, I’m looking forward to mounting them in a baffle or cabinet. They show promise just operating in free air. The amplifier will be 8 watts per channel which should be more than enough 🙂 Cheers, SS

Item has sold elsewhere, thanks for looking.

G’day Anton, Rob doesn’t look on the forums often, it would be better to give him a call. Did the panels arrive safely btw? 🙂 Cheers, Matt

Now sold elsewhere, thanks for looking.

They’re inside, just need to get the driver out to find them 😁