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Building Elsinore Speaker
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Author:  David McGown [ October 15th, 2019, 9:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

Yes, the speakers are around 91 to 92 db/1W. A 25W amplifier like my hybrid is perfect for it. I can still use my passive attenuator instead of an active preamp. So no significant impact on my system gain structure.

I better start chillin the beer...

David

Author:  David McGown [ October 17th, 2019, 3:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

Well, I think I have the speakers dialed into my room. My listening room is 27'L x 13'W x 8'H. At first I had the speakers about 8 feet from the front wall, and about 3 feet from the side walls. They sounded pretty good there, but a little loose in the bass. I next tried the Cardas method , which placed them about 5-1/2 feet from the front wall and 42 inches from the side walls. It might be good from spreading room resonances, but they sounded boomy and did not image well. Maybe that works fine in larger room or one that is better proportioned, but is didn't work for me. Anyway, I decided to move the speakers to a position 1/3 of the room length from the front wall (9'). My listening position is already around 1/3 of the room length from the back wall. That was the trick, got good even lower frequency response (funny how just 1 foot made a difference). I played around with speaker separation until the soundstage opened up. The position is basically where I remember my Basszillas sounded best (should have started there). One thing, I used a tape rule and marked the floor (rug) with gaffer's tape to ensure that both speakers were precisely spaced from the walls. It really did not take much time, the source material I used was a recording of Rachmananov's Symphony No. 2 which presents a very expansive orchestral soundstage. With the speakers too close together, the soundstage is small and contained between the speakers, with the speakers spaced apart optimally, the soundstage expands both in width and depth to fill the room at and behind the speakers.

I have heard recommendations about arranging the speakers against the long wall, but is really too tough to do that in my room.

It was really sounding good last night after my amp warmed up all evening. Takes a couple of hours for my hybrid amp to sound its best.

David

Author:  Cogito [ October 20th, 2019, 9:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

This afternoon I heard David’s Elsinore speakers. WOW!!

They are truly one of the best speakers I heard. Everything came together perfectly. No weaknesses, no anomalies. And they disappear throwing deep image. I could not hear the speaker standing about 2 feet diagonally from it. They reminded me of Kharma Grand Ceramique I heard years ago at The Show in Vegas.

You simply want sit and enjoy the music.

Congrats David!

Too bad we did have a room at CAF this year, they would have been the talk of the show.

Author:  David McGown [ October 21st, 2019, 7:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

Shashi,

Thanks for dropping by yesterday and giving me your enthusiastic impressions. And just to make clear to all who were interested in dropping by to hear them, Shashi was over to pick up horns I was selling, including a trip to storage to see the mid-bass horns. Otherwise, yesterday would have been a great day to have people over, my wife was at work, and it was too wet to do anything outside.

I hope to arrange something later in November. Unfortunately, I will be out of the country the weekend of CAF, it would have been tempting to have a mini-meet then.

David

Author:  David McGown [ October 22nd, 2019, 3:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

For a change in pace, I just connected my 20W GM70 SET amps to the new speakers. I first had to deal with a problem in one amp that was creating a loud squeal that sidelined these amps for a while. The amp is so damn heavy, I cannot cart it down to the bench, so had to work on it in situ. BTW, a Portosol butane soldering iron is a fantastic addition to your toolkit, highly recommended. Anyway, the problem seemed to have been caused by a cold solder joint. Looked like I didn't completely solder my ground point. High Gm tubes will really bite you in the ass when something is wrong. Touched up all the joints in the driver circuit and it is quiet again (YAAA!).

Well these definitely work well with the speakers, a little bit more lush and liquid presentation, maybe not a tight on the bottom, but the amps are still warming up after months of sitting idle. I would say that I have two fine amps for the speakers, very happy with the sound of either.

I am looking at my schedule for a possible mini-meet in November at my place. I am on travel to Scotland for work the first part of the month (and will miss CAF), but the following two weekends offer possibilities, as well as the weekend after Thanksgiving.

David

Author:  ratbagp [ October 22nd, 2019, 4:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

If you can hold off until the 16th I would appreciate it. I will be flying home from Australia on the 9th.

Whether it is working or not, I will bring my 45 amp along. I've been playing around with some different ideas including the Waygo lever nuts used as a star ground. I too have had ground soldering issues.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Wago+221+Lever-Nut+Assortment+Pocket+Pack&i=tools&ref=nb_sb_noss

On the health side, I am doing much better. I had a week of IV IG treatment and it has produced a significant improvement. At aqua therapy this afternoon, I was accused of splashing too much.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4629845/

The doctor who wrote the paper was the person who authorized my treatment.

ray

Author:  David McGown [ October 28th, 2019, 9:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

What is the best weekend in November for any interested parties who would like to drop by for a listen? Next weekend is out (obviously), and the weekend prior to Thanksgiving is not possible for me since I will be in Philly playing music. The Sunday after Thanksgiving works for me, as well as Nov 9-10 and 16-17. Please give me an indication what works best and I will try to set something up (after socializing this with my wife).

I am off to Scotland for the next 1-1/2 weeks, should be keeping up occasionally. Wish I could be at CAF.

David

Author:  tomp [ October 28th, 2019, 10:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

The weekend of the 16th works for me.

Tom

Author:  SoundMods [ October 28th, 2019, 12:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

I'd be interested as well and the Nov. 16 weekend is good.

Author:  Roscoe Primrose [ October 28th, 2019, 1:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Building Elsinore Speaker

Any should work for me...

Roscoe

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