Although registered with this forum for some years I have not been recently active. I saw the AudioKarma forum rules which I hope will insulate this forum from the attention seekers who have degraded other forums with their presence and disrespect of those with credible but different views. So I will be an occasional current participant.
My interest in loudspeakers is in the high sensitivity area and I settled on Altec Lansing components as my way to go. I spent a lot of time(years) acquiring technical information and opinions from credible sources in this subject and understanding of the benefits, shortcomings and compromises that should be considered in the design of a loudspeaker system.
My aim was, within the costraints of domestic environment, to achieve accuracy in reproduction. If you get to listen to a trumpet, saxophone or drums in a club at a distance similar to home listening ,they can be very much in-your-face. I didn't want my system to add 'warmth' to soften the sound, I wanted it to be 'accurate - at least as good as it could be when dependant on source material. Of course there was a budget to consider.
I had in the early stages of the project decided upon the Altec A7 500 the suitable project. Upon reflection I realised that this 'small' theatre loudspeaker had serious shortcomings for domestic(smaller) spaces.
I had already cut the panels for the A7 enclosure(called 828) when I decided a Bass Reflex design would better meet my requirements. I designed a BR enclosure using the outer panels of the 828 enclosure and luckily I could effectively utilise the remaining panels with no cutting required. The panels are heavily braced and have automotive constrained- layer damping judiciously applied internally and absorbent acoustic material internally applied lightly to the back, bottom and one side panel. The two 4inch/100mm ports are located low on the front port panel. I have sets of ports in lengths from 1.75 inches to 5.5inches to try.
The net. internal volume is 13.75 cu.ft. and tuning is presently about 30Hz. I love the detail they present, even tt low volume. They are clean at all volumes, limited only by room reflections at the higher(too loud) levels.
I have found that a clean loudspeaker can have you believing it is not operating loudly until you try to talk to someone next to you and realise you can't be heard.
The LF driver is Altec 416-8B -16inch.
HF is Altec 802 compression driver coupled to Altec 511B horn - constrained layer damping treated(zero mechanical ringing).
Crossover is active, as is room compensation.
After problems with an old Sony classic amp and a Sony V-Fet amp I purchased a couple of new amps .
A NAD C326 BEE (50W + 50W plus extra for transients)for system pre amp and HF power amp
A Yamaha XP 1000 PRO power amp(100W + 100W, designed with clarity of vocals as a goal).
These amps are quiet at idle and I am very pleased with their performance.
Sources:
Luxman R-1050 receiver now used for AM/FM on main system and with power section on some Yamaha NS-10 monitors.
CD player; Yamaha - respectable but not esoteric
Multi format player, OPPO: DVD, SACD, HDCD, CD, DVD-A, etc.
Panasonic 4K video recorder, Blu Ray, DVD,CD player.
Turntables( linear trackers):
Pioneer PL-L1000 with Shure v15 IV MM cartridge.
Technics SL-10 with EPS-310MC MC cartridge.
I have no interest in using tube amps for various reasons. I have no issues with the use of tube amps if they suit others.
My interest in loudspeakers is in the high sensitivity area and I settled on Altec Lansing components as my way to go. I spent a lot of time(years) acquiring technical information and opinions from credible sources in this subject and understanding of the benefits, shortcomings and compromises that should be considered in the design of a loudspeaker system.
My aim was, within the costraints of domestic environment, to achieve accuracy in reproduction. If you get to listen to a trumpet, saxophone or drums in a club at a distance similar to home listening ,they can be very much in-your-face. I didn't want my system to add 'warmth' to soften the sound, I wanted it to be 'accurate - at least as good as it could be when dependant on source material. Of course there was a budget to consider.
I had in the early stages of the project decided upon the Altec A7 500 the suitable project. Upon reflection I realised that this 'small' theatre loudspeaker had serious shortcomings for domestic(smaller) spaces.
I had already cut the panels for the A7 enclosure(called 828) when I decided a Bass Reflex design would better meet my requirements. I designed a BR enclosure using the outer panels of the 828 enclosure and luckily I could effectively utilise the remaining panels with no cutting required. The panels are heavily braced and have automotive constrained- layer damping judiciously applied internally and absorbent acoustic material internally applied lightly to the back, bottom and one side panel. The two 4inch/100mm ports are located low on the front port panel. I have sets of ports in lengths from 1.75 inches to 5.5inches to try.
The net. internal volume is 13.75 cu.ft. and tuning is presently about 30Hz. I love the detail they present, even tt low volume. They are clean at all volumes, limited only by room reflections at the higher(too loud) levels.
I have found that a clean loudspeaker can have you believing it is not operating loudly until you try to talk to someone next to you and realise you can't be heard.
The LF driver is Altec 416-8B -16inch.
HF is Altec 802 compression driver coupled to Altec 511B horn - constrained layer damping treated(zero mechanical ringing).
Crossover is active, as is room compensation.
After problems with an old Sony classic amp and a Sony V-Fet amp I purchased a couple of new amps .
A NAD C326 BEE (50W + 50W plus extra for transients)for system pre amp and HF power amp
A Yamaha XP 1000 PRO power amp(100W + 100W, designed with clarity of vocals as a goal).
These amps are quiet at idle and I am very pleased with their performance.
Sources:
Luxman R-1050 receiver now used for AM/FM on main system and with power section on some Yamaha NS-10 monitors.
CD player; Yamaha - respectable but not esoteric
Multi format player, OPPO: DVD, SACD, HDCD, CD, DVD-A, etc.
Panasonic 4K video recorder, Blu Ray, DVD,CD player.
Turntables( linear trackers):
Pioneer PL-L1000 with Shure v15 IV MM cartridge.
Technics SL-10 with EPS-310MC MC cartridge.
I have no interest in using tube amps for various reasons. I have no issues with the use of tube amps if they suit others.
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Lousy photo, the speakers are background to the model shot.
