An odd collection...

[hoopsontoast]

Started to play around with some room correction in the form of some Foam Bass Traps, very cheap upgrade (£90 for the 2-pairs) and has noticably made it more even in the bass response and some improvement in the soundstage definition.

Sort of asking, why I never thought of trying it sooner! :wall:

I think I will look into some of the GIK panels at some point in the future, eyeing up the Antimode Dual Core at the moment :type:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoopsontoast/sets/72157628426961607/

 

[hoopsontoast]

Some further developments.

Some perminant stands were added, of Heybrook vintage.

And a new Pre-Amplifier in the shape of a Doge 8. Its a Chinese Tube Preamp, pretty well reviewed in the USA. Will be partnering the Decware Zen when its finished.

Sounding very good indeed and plenty of scope for Tube Rolling with 4x 12AX7 and 4x 12AT7 inside! Lovely build/remote too.

 

[toyota man]

Some further developments.

Some perminant stands were added, of Heybrook vintage.

And a new Pre-Amplifier in the shape of a Doge 8. Its a Chinese Tube Preamp, pretty well reviewed in the USA. Will be partnering the Decware Zen when its finished.

Sounding very good indeed and plenty of scope for Tube Rolling with 4x 12AX7 and 4x 12AT7 inside! Lovely build/remote too.

Its looking good and sounding good

 

[hoopsontoast]

Getting the greatest hits assembled slowly, just the Decware to go now.

May look at another Subwoofer in the future depending on how I get on, and of course a TT as well but thats not a priority.

 

[hoopsontoast]

The Zen is progressing:

 

[hoopsontoast]

Progress as of last week:

Hopefully might have it finished by the end of the week!

 

[hoopsontoast]

All other components wired in..... just waiting for tag board:

All complete and testing:

Up and running:

 

[CarlDW]

Good job!!

Looks great,how does it sound?

 

[hoopsontoast]

I think, much the same as the previous Decware built Decware Zen although different CDP/Pre and Speakers!
Only had it on for 3hrs so far last night and enjoyed it but that was 3hrs from being built.

 

[toyota man]

I think, much the same as the previous Decware built Decware Zen although different CDP/Pre and Speakers!
Only had it on for 3hrs so far last night and enjoyed it but that was 3hrs from being built.

what agreat job you have made of that you are a very clever guy first class if it sounds as good as it looks I want one :clap: :clap:

 

[hoopsontoast]

I think, much the same as the previous Decware built Decware Zen although different CDP/Pre and Speakers!
Only had it on for 3hrs so far last night and enjoyed it but that was 3hrs from being built.

what agreat job you have made of that you are a very clever guy first class if it sounds as good as it looks I want one :clap: :clap:

I cant take all the credit, a friend and member on another forum did all the design/layout and planning, I just copied his prototype.

This is the amp its based on:

http://www.decware.com/newsite/SE84CKC.html

Its a slightly different earlier revision with uprated power and output transformers.

 

[kevin7.1]

This is my favorite thread on this site. I have just finished reading, I can't wait for the next instalment. Very interesting, addictive in fact. Thanks for sharing and letting us into your HiFi world. I think my favorite portion was the way you documented the progress of the decware. I hope you continue to enjoy your hobby for many years to come.

 

[hoopsontoast]

Thanks, well whats coming up next?

Not sure, a nice rosewood surround/case for the Decware to finish that off, and maybe some tube rolling on the input tubes (and the Doge 8 Pre).

Speaker wise, I am really happy with the Veravox drivers, I may/may not still go down the OB route with active bass, not sure yet.

A Turntable will be added at some point, when I get round to deciding what I want.

I dont foresee any changes in the Pre/Power combo or CDP at any time in the near future.

 

[hoopsontoast]

No changes, still need to get the Rosewood surround for the Decware done, and looking at finishing off the speakers, possibly build a new cabinet for them. And still need to sort a Turntable.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoopsontoast/sets/72157628426961607/

 

[hoopsontoast]

Well, I was set up for no changes and what has happened?

A few years back I had some massive horns with Fostex FF225K drivers in them, I found a pair of the drivers for sale locally and decided to give them another go. The plan was for a corner horn or similar but whacked them in OB to see what they were like and they are sounding really good at the moment, I have some tweeters to take over from them at around 6-8kHz.

They are around 96-97dB so perfect for the little Zen!

I also seemed to have bought myself a Michell Gyrodec :dance: I already have an RB300 and Ortofon MC 10 Supreme Cartridge to go with it when it arrives in the next week or so.

And compared to the Veravox drivers:

And the Fountek JP2.0 Ribbon tweeters:

And the test baffles:

 

[Tear Drop]

Hey hoops, I spotted the denon PMA 2000 in one of your early posts to this thread. What's your take on it?

 

[hoopsontoast]

Hi Yes, I really liked the PMA-2000AE, if I had more normal speakers that would be where I would look for a full-feature integrated amplifier, its up there with the BIG Sony ES amps IMO.

 

[drummerman]

Hi Hoops

Posted a question/thread over on the hifi section to you about Kef's 104.2.

I can get a pair reasonably cheap and wondered what your take is on those in the greater scheme of things, downfalls, strengths etc.

I've noticed you didn't keep yours for long.

Thanks

regards

 

[hoopsontoast]

As mentioned in the 104/2 thread, main reason I did not keep them long term was just they had a few bass issues in my room, other than that they were pretty spot on, one of my favourites of the few many speakers I have had! :rofl:

Some new toys:

Klipsch Heresy II

I really liked what the OB speakers did, but not sure if I could live with them so far out into the room, much like the Magnepan MMGs, not sure my room is the best shape/size to really take advantage of them. I have had the Heresys on my radar for a long time, and a pair came up for a good price and I thought it would be a good chance to try some more speakers on my long-term to-do-list.

I only picked them up yesterday so no real impressions other than I thought they sounded a little dull/closed in until I realised I was listen at around 10dB lower than I would usually (~55-60dB) acording to the rough SPL meter on my phone, which I have used a lot before. They certainly dont have such a bright treble as some have described, so far anyway.

The cabinet is not the best, I can hear some colouration from that, and possibly some from the bass drivers top end (Lower range of female vocals) but moving them a little away from the walls helped a fair bit.

Plenty of experimentation to be had I think! They have already had the 'upgraded' crossovers and some new Mid-Range compression drivers.

The overall plan is to try and downsize the visual impact of the system, tidy it up a bit. :?

 

[hoopsontoast]

Well played with the Heresys a bit, but they were just not doing it for me, so embarking on a new project that builds on the strengths of them. A full active DSP speaker with horn mid-tweeter. Should be fun.

So back to my Veravox speakers for the moment, and a new toy was collected today and another Ikea peice to tidy it up a bit:

 

[matt49]

Stunning photos; beautiful deck. Any plans to upgrade the wooden chopping board? :O

Matt

 

[hoopsontoast]

Stunning photos; beautiful deck. Any plans to upgrade the wooden chopping board? :O

Matt

Nope

 

[hoopsontoast]

Correct VTA on the RB300 now with the Michell VTA adjuster:

Starting to gather bits for the BIG speaker project:

Volt BM251.3 Mid-Bass drivers:

With my current Veravox 5S wide-range drivers:

Using the MiniDSP board, I will create a modular system with a variety of configurations:

2-way as Below

Volt BM251.3 ~50Hz-800Hz

Radian 850PB / Stereolab 400Hz Tractrix ~800Hz-20kHz (drivers/horns being collected next week)

Or 2/3-way Active Hybrid

Volt BM-251.3 Mid Bass ~50Hz-300Hz

Veravox 5S Wide Range ~300Hz-10kHz

Fountek JP2.0 Ribbons ~10kHz-20kHz (passive supertweeter)

I also have the option, with another MiniDSP 2x4 board to go fully 4-way active in the future too.

 

[hoopsontoast]

Ribbons installed into the veravox cabinets:

And had a lazy weekend, did a bit more CAD on the 3-way idea as above. Not the most detailed models but only spent an afternoon on it.

 

[hoopsontoast]

An update:

I will be using a MiniDSP board for the crossover: http://www.minidsp.com/products/minidspkits/2-x-in-4-x-out

It allows me to do real-time advanced crossover funtions, parametric eq, control over input/output limits etc and a wide variety of plug-in software.

There will be two main configurations:

V1 - 2 way using a Volt BM251.3 Mid-Bass (<800Hz) and Radian 850pb compression drivers in a 400Hz Stereolab Tractrix horn (>800Hz)

V2 - 2.5 way using the Volt BM251.3 Mid-Bass (<300Hz) and the Veravox 5S wide range driver (300Hz-~8kHz) with a Fountek JP2 ribbon (passive >8kHz) on top.

First up, the bass cabinet build. It was a flat-pack from Wilmslow Audio based on their 'Tornado' cabinet designed for the 8" and 10" Volt Bass driver. It comes with the cutout/rebate for the driver, and I have changed the port tuning to optomise it for the Volt driver.

Test fit:

Other cabinet and ports:

Halfway:

Almost....

Assembled and with the little Kolts for size:

Now, V1 will be using the Radian drivers, they are big beasts:

Comparison with the V2 drivers/cabinets:

And this is what it will look like (possibly also on the floor instead of the stands, if that measures OK)

And the V2 cabinet as per the renders:

And showing the test layout with the MiniDSP software, which I have just got working this morning:

So there we have it, now the hard part starts, getting a cohesive design!