I know this post is a few years old...
Hi Cavink ... No worries, glad to hear from you. Good questions, all of them! I will take them one at a time:
Are you still pleased with these speakers?
Yes, I'm still pleased with them for most of what I listen to. I don't crank up the volume as often as I once did, but I occasionally want a little more out of the system than it can give for stuff like Steely Dan and Talking Heads. Is the limiting factor the amps' power? The speakers? Both? I can't tell. But everything else I throw at them sounds very pleasing: classical, jazz ('50s and newer), folk, soul (St. Paul and the Broken Bones), new psychedelic-ish (Skyway Man), pop (Paul Simon's
Graceland; Joni Mitchell's
Court and Spark) etc etc.
It's all subjective. Given the option, I would favor the Heresys hands down over my DIY OBs. But it's not likely I'd ever have a pair of those. (Unlikely...but not impossible. A Garrard 301 and Altec 604-B dropped out of the sky into my possession a few years ago. So who knows!)
What was the final dimensions of your speaker? I know you were playing around with some sizes and discussing of set wings when the thread ended.
Something like 21" high and 17" wide. I will post the exact dimensions later. No wings yet! Arguably, they would improve the bass and be quick and easy to install.
Did your crossover design change?
No. I'm pretty happy with it. I set it at something like 2,750 Hz (I forget...maybe 3 KHz), based on the R of the drivers (measured at various frequencies using an iPad tone generator app) and my budget at the time. No doubt optimization could do a lot for them, but I don't have the time or the gear to experiment. But that would all change if I had a couple of miniDSPs, a calibrated mic, and some software.
Did you keep the 2 way set up or go 3 way, I know you were contemplating 3 way at first. I am trying to determine if I should stay 2 way or add a tweeter and make the horn a mid.
Yes, I kept the two-way, and I will be there for the foreseeable future. I suggest that if you have the $$ and time, start with two-way and learn from that. 3-way adds a new layer of complexity, driver and design options, and cost that might be easier to deal with after gaining some experience. Use what you have, obtain and try different things, and enjoy the ride!
If I were to do a quick, cheap mod to mine now, it would be to add L-pads so I could dial back the horns. I seem to recall that previous posters to this thread said they thought these horns to be too forward. This is true...when I sit in my preferred sweet spot 8'-10" from the speakers, centered. But it seems just fine when I'm wandering around the house. And someone suggested adding damping material to attenuate the physical "ring" of the horn's metal throat. I can't hear it all the time, but it's noticeable sometimes. I am still considering options that would damp the metal throat and be reversible without damaging the original finish.
3-way? Eventually. To my ear...in my system...3-way would be a big improvement. Again, time and budget come into play. Settling on a mid-range driver has not been as easy as I had hoped. OB designs want dipole speakers, so moving the horns to mid isn't my preference. I will leave mine in the HF slot. I"m thinking a diameter of at least 6", preferably 8", maybe even 10", to move lots of air. I also want something to match the efficiency of the 15" driver and horn. Someone recommended Saba greencones, which seem ideal for this application...but not for my budget yet. Once all that is settled, there's a lot to consider for baffle design. 3-way would seem to require a much larger baffle than I have room for!
Does this help?
--Michael
