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Well, the wife was out for a half hour today so I was able to turn things up to decent listening volumes for a change. Recorded a little video. Here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZXGv6xmE4E0smCZsuLEP0bBQG5KAjg-C/view?usp=sharing

 

You'll have to forgive my little one squealing through it 

Edited by MattyW
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Thanks.  It's my end game system.  My wife will allow no further changes  :)

 

That said,  if I can sneak a Samson SXD5000 in to replace the Behringer KM750 powering my woofers, that would improve things a bit allowing me to tweak crossover points etc

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7 hours ago, MattyW said:

Recorded a little video. Here it is:

Thanks @MattyW, system looking good and I can imagine sounds great (phone recording and iPad playback has no chance of doing it justice).

 

Would you mind letting me know the first piece of music that was on your recording? It wasn’t an Arvo Part composition was it?

 

Cheers

 

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12 hours ago, MattyW said:

Well, the wife was out for a half hour today so I was able to turn things up to decent listening volumes for a change. Recorded a little video. Here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZXGv6xmE4E0smCZsuLEP0bBQG5KAjg-C/view?usp=sharing

 

You'll have to forgive my little one squealing through it 

@MattyW Congrats on a fine looking system ?. I'm sure it sounds exceptional.

reminds me of those days when I had kids that age, toys bloody everywhere!

My eyes were drawn to the unicorn, then the potty, then back to the unicorn and back to the potty......Then I thought, I just gotta see that smiling unicorn sit'n on that pink potty! ?

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7 hours ago, muon* said:

I understand the limitations of a phone but it sounds nice so looking forward to that mini GTG :)

 

Sadly I'm not sure when it will happen.  Lately, every time we're due to have visitors or catch up with a mate the little lady explodes for a day or two.  :(

 

6 hours ago, KRSDarwin said:

Would you mind letting me know the first piece of music that was on your recording? It wasn’t an Arvo Part composition was it?

 

 

Strangely,  I don't know what that was. Roon was set to shuffle.... There's a little over a thousand tracks in that playlist  :(

 

1 hour ago, Mushroom01 said:

@MattyW Congrats on a fine looking system ?. I'm sure it sounds exceptional.

reminds me of those days when I had kids that age, toys bloody everywhere!

My eyes were drawn to the unicorn, then the potty, then back to the unicorn and back to the potty......Then I thought, I just gotta see that smiling unicorn sit'n on that pink potty! ?

 

 

Ah, that's actually a baby seat. Not big enough for potty training just yet. She does love that unicorn. Rocks away on it  :)

 

I noticed the wind chimes were working overtime during that too. I don't notice it so much here though it's rather clear in the video.

Edited by MattyW
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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I had a real "f#ck me dead" moment last night. I changed my Johnandchris1 eBay seller pure silver speaker cables for a pair of Aurealis Litz 201 cables which I'd been using in my second system and got an immediate large improvement in terms of dynamics, body, and overall detail (and by extension imaging) though also seemed to be getting some distortion in the treble which almost sounded like my tweeters weren't integrating with the rest of the speaker.

 

I had a think and figured that perhaps the more revealing nature of the speaker cables was simply allowing me to hear clearly an issue I was previously unaware of. I suspected the issue lay with the Robertson Audio Cables Diamond and Sapphire interconnects I was running between my two power amps.

 

Well, I switched those for a pair of Aurealis Audio R1 Dragon Litz mixed strands copper& silver RCA's I had previously used and not only did the distortion go away but there was a further improvement in those area's I'd previously mentioned though with an overall more natural presentation.

 

I had previously tried all these changes and not liked it back before I moved to the Crown XLS1002 for the woofers so I'm guessing that the inability to set a low pass on my woofers really obscured things previously. Either way, it looks like I'll have to record my system again at some point. It's now like an entirely different system.

Edited by MattyW
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  • 4 weeks later...

Thank s @shailesh.

 

The Speakers are shallow open back cabinets..... Technically this still makes them open baffles though many open baffle enthusiasts seem to want to argue that point.  I've speaker cloth on the back to keep my toddler out.

 

I've Lii Audio Fast-10S fullrange,  Lii Audio W15 woofers,  front facing Aurum Cantus G3Si ribbons and a ceiling facing Skar Audio VX1ST bullet tweeter per speaker.

 

The tweeters have a 2.2uf Duelund Cast Cu-Sn in front and are wired in series,  though in parallel with the fullrange driver. Internally Duelund DCA16GA tinned copper wire is used back to the terminals. The woofers run off their own amp with 3mm Van Damme LC-OFC speaker wire going straight into the back of the woofer. Each voice coil is wired in parallel using Duelund wire. The low pass filter on the woofers is set to 300Hz.

 

The finish is a bit rough but for an IT geek with no prior woodworking skills I'm pretty happy with the end result.

 

I've not taken any measurements.  It's just tweaked to make my ears happy.  ;)

 

The Wavebourn Edelweiss-3 which previously drove the fullrange and tweeters has currently been replaced by a Pass Amp Camp Amp,  and that will eventually be replaced by an Aleph Mini. Not much power is needed for them so I can simply concentrate on the best sounding 10W or so I can afford.

 

I've come to realize that even though my Wavebourn is fantastically linear and detailed, it still rounds the leading edge of sounds which while fantastic with not so well recorded music such as some older rock makes better recorded music nor quite reach its full potential. It's why I'm enjoying the Pass amps now. They've everything I like about tubes and none of the downside....  Unless you count heat and power use.  Then again,  I want 10W as solid state amps just don't clip gracefully. A little extra headroom should prevent damage to my speakers  :)

Edited by MattyW
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Hey @shailesh, the speakers took about 12 months thinking about it and Googling everything I could about open baffle design. The build of the cabinets took about 2 weeks as I'm not skilled in such things.

 

Research showed shallow open back cabinets would improve bass and reduce cancellation due to reflections cancelling out frequencies.  Basically the same effect as running much wider baffles. I didn't have space for wider baffles and needed to childproof them somehow.

 

I originally built with vintage 10" Zenith 49CZ924 fullrange and 15" Magnavox alnico drivers and just the upfiring Skar Audio VX1ST bullet tweeter. Didn't work for me. The Lii Audio are quite a lot better despite the Zeniths being sought after by the open baffle crowd.

 

I was still missing the fine detail I loved in my previous Aurum Cantus F620 speakers so added the Aurum Cantus G3Si ribbons. Played around with cap values and caps for another year or so before finding 2.2uf optimal but still couldn't quite get the tweeters to integrate. Then the Duelund Cast Cu-Sn were on sale half price so I snapped up a pair. The integration issues went away and it's now seamless and completely transparent.

 

The next best combination I had tried was a 2uf Duelund RS-Cu with 0.22uf Arizona Blue Cactus in parallel with it. The Cast are far better though. 

 

My understanding is that the newly released Silver 10 go high enough that helper tweeters are not necessary.  If I were to build today I could have forgone the expensive capacitors and tweeters and just run the Silver 10 and W15 woofers.  Such is life right?

 

But yeah, it's taken about 2 years to get to this point.  The high efficiency of the fullrange and tweeters meant my existing amplification wasn't suitable. Likewise it's so detailed and revealing that sources and preamp changed. Really no part of my system exists from before I built them. The system is so revealing that getting the best possible DAC and phono stage is critical to getting best performance....  As is quality RCA and speaker cables. Just changing cables shows a night and day difference.

Edited by MattyW
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On 22/12/2020 at 11:51 AM, MattyW said:

Well, I had a real "f#ck me dead" moment last night. I changed my Johnandchris1 eBay seller pure silver speaker cables for a pair of Aurealis Litz 201 cables which I'd been using in my second system and got an immediate large improvement in terms of dynamics, body, and overall detail (and by extension imaging) though also seemed to be getting some distortion in the treble which almost sounded like my tweeters weren't integrating with the rest of the speaker.

 

I had a think and figured that perhaps the more revealing nature of the speaker cables was simply allowing me to hear clearly an issue I was previously unaware of. I suspected the issue lay with the Robertson Audio Cables Diamond and Sapphire interconnects I was running between my two power amps.

 

Well, I switched those for a pair of Aurealis Audio R1 Dragon Litz mixed strands copper& silver RCA's I had previously used and not only did the distortion go away but there was a further improvement in those area's I'd previously mentioned though with an overall more natural presentation.

 

I had previously tried all these changes and not liked it back before I moved to the Crown XLS1002 for the woofers so I'm guessing that the inability to set a low pass on my woofers really obscured things previously. Either way, it looks like I'll have to record my system again at some point. It's now like an entirely different system.

good choice matty,the Aurealis cables do good things,i use the 303 speaker cable and R1 dragon litz both single ended and balanced in my system and very happy with the results?

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12 minutes ago, ray4410 said:

good choice matty,the Aurealis cables do good things,i use the 303 speaker cable and R1 dragon litz both single ended and balanced in my system and very happy with the results?

 

I've a used Bill's boutique speaker cable on the way too so if I ever get around to it I may be able to compare with the Aurealis Litz 201 cables.... I'm not expecting higher gauge wiring to be of benefit in my main system though as I run amps of 10WPC max in this system. The speakers are too sensitive to use anything higher.  :)

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10 minutes ago, McCvinyl said:

Have you dyed your Lii audio drivers?

No, not at all. I merely have a black metal grille over them to protect from kids and pets. I wouldn't change a thing about them. Gorgeous drivers with beautiful appearance and even better sound :)

Edited by MattyW
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 01/12/2020 at 12:04 AM, MattyW said:

Thanks.  It's my end game system.  My wife will allow no further changes  :)

Famous words heard times a many and quoted by my missus as well ....yet fate dictates more is yet to be explored in one's system... i wish you the same as happened to me. :)  On another account, i follow your journey closely - smashing system overall!!

Edited by MrBurns84
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Yeah, I know I've an Aleph-M in the works but I'm incredibly tempted by a First Watt SIT-3 for $8,800.... From everything I've read it would very much be something I'd enjoy. 

 

Question is though,  would it be $7,800 better than what I already have? 

 

Even with a full recap and Neotech 26AWG gold plated silver hookup wire the Aleph-M won't be $1k in cost.

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As mentioned earlier...  Latest arrivals...

 

Picked these babies up yesterday, for the princely sum of $50, on Gumtree...

 

Energy Speaker Systems

Connoisseur Series

C-5

Canadian design, Chinese build.

IMG_2021-01-28-11-19-17-595.jpg.c73d07500d98224db7322c87c8c7950e.jpg

 

IMG_2021-01-28-11-15-46-091.jpg.ae88c5dc810494db81274c4d46066e27.jpg

In fantastic condition...  from a similar aged, fellow metal head, and bass player.

Very nice sound and look...  lacking the presence of higher end speakers, of course... but I'd have been happy to pay $200 to $300 after hearing them.

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Well, here's my system as of last night with a Chinese made 5WPC Amp Camp Amp in the chain. It's certainly behind the Wavebourn in terms of overall transparency and insight into the music though that's to be expected seeing as it's full of fake Chinese caps. Can't wait to get the Aleph-M into my system when it's complete.

 

Keep in mind it's a 45 minute video though for those that like electronic music skip to around 39 minutes.

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