If classical is part of the diet, like our Russian friend, full-range drivers by themselves are likely to fail the mission. Next we talk about the difficulties of implementing a full-range driver. This is not so. The plan maybe a start, but there are too many factors. To start, the choice of material influences the sound greatly. For full-range drivers, I have rarely heard an MDF cabinet sound right , and this includes some of the "authorized" Lowther replica cabinet makers I have heard in HK.
None of the reproduction Acousta , Fidelio, not to mention "TP-1" how ambitious! There are people who don't think much of the original UK Lowther cabinets, but they are seriously mistaken - they always sound right, and I have heard them all.
So use wood, which is another big topic I will not go into. Size Matters Understandably, because of space constraints and simple construction, most DIY cabinets take the form of slim line towers , but I personally have not heard many truly successful efforts.
The fact that ports are almost invariably used indicates that bass always needs help. Even then, it is usually not enough, or simply not right. The lack of bass foundation makes the treble stand out too much, especially exposing the problems of "advanced" driver designs.
Baffle Width If we take baffle width into the sonic equation, argument for a full-range driver housed in a slim line tower makes even less sense. The full-range has a built-in advantage of point source and soundstaging, which does not need extra help, whereas the bass does, which means a wider baffle likely helps.
Even if we consider conventional dynamic loudspeakers, most of the ones that impress me with the bass are housed in wide and large cabinets say, Spendor SP, B and W , not to mention Tannoy's. Usually loudspeakers adjust for the baffle "step" effect in the crossover, but the full-range does not have this option.
Not Everyone is an Artist By this, I mean, cabinet making is an "art". Just a simple box likely fails 99 out of times, which is why people experiment with damping materials from cotton wool to bitumen. The repeated tweaks and listening evaluations can be pretty draining and disheartening.
Open Baffle The people who advocate open baffle is evidence that the colorations of the box is a serious challenge. Incidentally, not a few multi-way loudspeakers mount their tweeter and midrange in an open-baffle fashion Alon, Nola , even without baffle Dahlquist, Vanderstein , and, more recently, super-high-end Zellaton actually even has an open-baffle bass but with side panels; open in the back.
Back Loaded Horn I t is my firm belief that full-range drivers sound best with a back-loaded horn design this is in contrast to Audio Nirvana. The problem is it is much more difficult to build hence after-market services , and one still has to choose the right wood etc witness the failures of the MDF Lowther replica cabinets I have heard in HK. They simply haven't heard the real things.
Bookshelves After hearing so many failures of DIY big boxes, I actually think, for full-range beginners, it is better to start with a bookshelf, and augment, as we shall see later. Efficiency Let me spill the beans: No Full-Range driver is as efficient as the spec's suggest. All this with a preamp with gain for the punchiest first-watt.
Not so the 47 Lab alnico full-range, which works better with solid-state here. Also, read this dagogo review of the Voxativ Ampeggio , where veteran Jack Roberts states that solid state actually worked better than SET I believe him.
So not all full-range drivers prefer tube. Dynamic Conditions Under dynamic conditions, the full-range driver struggles to reproduce the full frequency range and, in the process, reveals itself to be not as nearly efficient as under static or test-bench conditions.
It is after all still a driver, susceptible to everything that any driver faces, e. All you have gotten rid of is the crossover, not all evils but you also lose room for compensation. And how that is forgotten! Mind you, I am not at all against the full-range, just questioning some people's quasi-religious attitudes.
Augmentation More often than not, indeed in the majority of cases, if one wants to listen to all kinds of music, some augmentation is needed. In almost all cases, bass augmentation is needed. In some cases, treble augmentation is beneficial too. But I hear battle cries: "What? Pollute the purity of the driver with others? This seems so - I had no need to augment the treble of the 47 Labs or Sparkler Mark Audio mentioned above. Indeed, even back many years ago, the single driver Loth-X Amaze bested its predecessor BS-1, which had an additional tweeter first-order and which I enjoyed.
With older full-range drivers, like Goodmans and Altec, even some Lowther's, adding a tweeter is often beneficial, even mandatory, opening up the soundstage and, believe it or not, tightening the bass. This is true too of many vintage loudspeakers, like vintage Tannoy e. But, why not use a modern driver with better extension, you ask.
Well, judging from what I have heard so far, many modern drivers, in an obsession to improve spec's, lose the soul. Personally, I'd pick a driver that has the best midrange rather than the best extensions, and work from there. Subwoofer In my opinion, the subwoofer is essential with most "full-range" systems, which under dynamic conditions become lean in the bass, especially when driven by flea-powered amps and a passive preamp fashionable in DIY circles. Big Mistake.
You need the Jump Factor, the precious First-Watt. Or else it is just a stagnant pool. Actually the suffix "sub" is a misnomer - what the subwoofer does, more than adding the missing octave s , is supplementing the inadequacy of the woofer! And under dynamic conditions, the so-called "full-range" leaves a lot to be desired. My own 47 labs is a good example, as it benefits greatly from addition of a subwoofer here. Crossover Point There are people who believe in spec's, so dial in the subwoofer at or below where the woofer supposedly rolls off, but that is too low in most cases, as in real-world and dynamic conditions the woofer rolls off much quicker.
Let's say your loudspeaker is supposedly -3db at 50 Hz, start at Hz and go down. I personally find better integration at higher crossover points but lower subwoofer volume rather than vice versa. Lastly, if you ask me, the subwoofer benefits most bookshelves and, if set up properly, is more than competitive with tower speakers of similar footprints. Keep in mind, the larger the cabinet, the more the coloration problem, particularly in the bass. Take Home Message Dial in your tweeter or sub by making sure you just cannot hear it, but can just feel it.
If you can hear very clearly the contribution, it's already too much. Purists will reject all of this, because they claim the raison d'etre for using a full-range is not to have any crossover. In the idealist vacuum, I agree; in reality, more often than not, no. The aforementioned Loth-X BS-1 is a budget and overachieving example. Even more shining examples are the older Reference 3A 's. At the higher-end, you may be surprised to learn that many of the classic not now Sonus faber loudspeakers call me a fan utilize first-order.
Just one cap. How much sonic degradation is there, you ask? Don't forget, whatever the compromise, we only may hear it in the treble frequency, whereas the midrange driver derives much benefit from being able to concentrate on the bottom, where most 'full-range" falter.
Mind you, I don't necessarily think a capacitor is bad, as it may just temper your wrong choice elsewhere. Too many factors, too many theories, too little critical listening. The Best Driver? Lowther Call me conservative, but to me the best is still Lowther preferably heard in their own UK cabinets , whose classic PM series offerings are evergreens. As with woofers, my preference for paper is absolute - they just sound more tactile, with greater PRaT.
There are many imitators like AER , but they almost always sound more sterile. A well done Lowther just has soul. The gap between the voice coil and magnet is less than 1 mm, and that is great trouble. The paper doesn't respond well to humidity and deform, and then you get a rubbing problem that necessitates a repair. Truing the cone is not a simple task and few can manage. The foam surrounds are problems too in humidity, necessitating periodic repairs. A little known fact is that early Lowther units have rubber surrounds, which is likely to last longer and which Lowther still repairs!
Call that service! Others There are numerous Lowther imitators like expensive AER but, as mentioned, I usually find them sterile sounding, not worth the money. I have heard the ridiculously expensive Voxativ Ampeggio twice, but it was just good enough, not spectacular I detest Jonathin Valin's rave review in TAS of its subwoofer'ed brethren; what does JV know about full-range, I ask and certainly would not hold a candle for my departed Lowther TP-1 original.
But I do support the budget driver sector: both Fostex and Mark Audio, to name just two, make superb value-for-money drivers. In terms of sound I'd think Fostex is very neutral and listenable, but I prefer Mark Audio for its consideration of rhythmic savvy, shown to stunning effect in the Sparkler S link above.
Audio Nirvana I have never heard their offerings, so I cannot comment. But the hyperboles on their website makes me feel highly uncomfortable. They say " Are you tired of all the hype from advertising driven websites, magazines, and dealers just out for your money?
Tired of '4D' speakers? Dead, dull, dark, and distant. Ready to be amazed? Mind you, Lowther, which has lasted more than half a century, and is likely to go on forever as a proverbial foil, is almost incognito, and has never said similar things.
Mind you, hype can be everywhere, but it is imho actually more prevalent online than in trade magazines. Worst are the head-fi forums touting every new DAC and headphone.
Now, problems can also be due to other system issues, which we will analyze below. But first, this Audio Nirvana's amplifiers all said "Factory-built", but let us look at what factory that is. Our Russian friend is using their older 6V6 amplifier. This Polish site curiously juxtaposes Audio Nirvana with Tonewin, and one of the links included is actually the manufacturer's commercial information.
I am sure you could have bought this from China for less. There is no question the Audio Nirvana 6V6 amp is basically the same as the Chinese Tonewin amplifier. But, there are differences in the 2 pics. A limited number of components have been added or removed, and the wiring is slightly different.
It is possible Audio Nirvana did modifications on the Tonewin unit and gave it a different faceplate and knobs. It is also possible that Tonewin itself had different versions not uncommon and Audio Nirvana only changed the external look front plate and knobs. Whatever, it is safe to say the so-called US Audio Nirvana "factory built" 6V6 amp was designed and built in China, at most slightly modified. Tonewin itself appears to be defunct, so Audio Nirvana is no longer selling their 6V6 model.
If you ask me, all their current amplifier offerings are dead-ringers for made-in-China offerings. There is nothing wrong with selling made-in-China stuff, but it would be better if the seller would say so. Having heard tons of lower-end Chinese amps, I'd say the quality of the transformers is definitely not a given, and that is a real consideration for good sound.
Tube "Integrated" Amp Most people equate an amp with a volume knob and maybe source selector as an integrated amp. This depends on how you define an integrated amp. If anything that allows you to adjust volume and connect more than one source is an integrated, then it is. But, for me, an integrated amp has a preamp section that has gain, wedded to an amp section.
This is actually very rare, particularly in the budget sector. Most tube "integrated" amps are just amps with a passive volume knob. There is no preamp gain stage. Sun Audio, Elekit, and innumerable other Japanese and Chinese amps. Likewise, many solid state "integrated" amps, like Densen, are also just amps with a passive volume. I do not have the circuit of the Audio Nirvana Chinese amp in question, so I do not know whether it actually has an active preamp stage.
Even if it does, it is a rudimentary one. Audiophiles are divided into the pragmatics and the theorists. The former will try anything if it makes the system better.
The latter believes in numbers and have strong beliefs on many issues. There can be no more contentious issue than whether an active preamp is necessary. Take the standard CD player output of 2V, if you run that directly into your amp, it will be ruinously loud. So the preamp actually attenuates the signal going into the amp.
The classic active preamp has gain, sometimes a lot, but in the end the signal is also attenuated before going into the amp. Many people take this to mean a passive preamp is all one needs. Why amplify and then attenuate? In theory this is correct, but in practice things are very different - the setups I have heard with passive preamps including my own and those with source going directly into an amp with a passive volume easily number more than a hundred, and in no more than a handful of instances did I not long for an active preamp.
Let's look at this in detail. You can easily build one with a cheap volume pot, or you can spend thousands using boutique parts and ultra expensive resistors. My Audio Synthesis Passion V a pic from the net to the right costs a lot, and the cost of the parts add up to more than the second-hand price! Here are some factors influencing performance: Amplifier Sensitivity Amplifiers with high input sensitivity, such as Leak, works well with PVC, whereas those with low sensitivity, like Quad, would not.
I heard it once many years ago in Opera Audio in HK. My vintage DAC-2 here has a monstrous 10V max. It was designed to be able to drive AN amps those with volume knobs directly. Signal Loss and Buffer One reason why preamp with gain drives the amp better is that a PVC by nature can only use a short interconnect. Preamp with gain can drive much longer interconnects. Even more important, many active preamps actually buffer the output, which has a great advantage in impedance matching.
Since a transformer naturally "buffers" the output, it has advantage in impedance matching with the amp. Some can even have gain, which is a plus, especially for those who use analog sources. But TVC's are not without problems: 1 expense - all are very expensive, more so than a very good active preamp; 2 non-linearity - I don't care what they claim; ALL of them cannot be linear across the range due to the compromises in winding; in fact, non-linearity can be severe.
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Sonido fullrange driver thoughts? Thread starter Jeffrey 01 Start date pm. Jeffrey 01 Member. Hello everyone. I am helping a friend with a fullrange project. He wanted some Voxativ drivers but, saw the price and just to much money. The question is can I get enough feedback to make me comfortable buying the drivers and cabinets to give them a listen in my house with my system.
I've read about these awhile back while researching full range drivers. Reviews are kinda thin so definitely interested in what k4star has to say about the Audio Nirvana drivers. Cspirou , Nov 11, If I decide to try these drivers, this is what I could end up with if my local woodworking friend has the time:.
I have heard not so great things about their smaller wide-banders from people I trust cannot mention names. For a little bit more I can get Fostex, a much more known entity.
It's hard to screw up a 15" paper driver for lows, but certain claims from the dude are charlatanism: almost full range from a 15" and "we are bestest".
Bullshit and bold self serving claims turn me off. Bad signs, bad indicators. Good luck. Thanks for the feedback. While I understand what you are saying about the guy and what he has to say, I tend to ignore the marketing whether good, bad, or ugly and focus on the what the product actually delivers. He has been building and selling speakers for 20 years.
He may be a tool and a boaster but he has been in business a good long time under one name. One friend that bought these drivers had such low expectations because of the claims on the web site that he put the drivers in unfinished MDF cabinets with no binding posts instead of plywood and veneer or solid wood. He was positive he was going to be sending the drivers back. He didn't. Now he is going to build proper cabinets. Again, I have no idea what these drivers actually sound like.
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