I'll answer the easy question first. I generally mount ports on the back or bottom of enclosures for the simple reason that any port noise or resonance will be less noticeable if the port isn't facing the listening position, so that rationale carried through to this build. The PR could have been rear mounted as well, but I preferred the look on the front. I considered using 2 PR's and eliminating the port, but it proved unnecessary, as the rear port doesn't seem to suffer from any noise or resonance issues.
As for how the ESS sounds, I'll give my impression, but take it with a grain of salt, as it's just my opinion. For me the ESS has a "planar driver" type of sound. It has a lifelike quality, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I'm not sure what I expected, but to be honest I generally am not thrilled with dipole or bipole sound, not that they're bad, or unlistenable, just not my preferred radiation pattern, but I am enjoying these guy's quite a bit. The soundstage is large and not super precise, which is to be expected, but still enjoyable, see there's that word again...enjoyable. They have good detail without sounding harsh which is a priority for me. I don't do harsh. I bought them quite a while ago, and I believe that I paid $250 for the pair, which is a bargain as far as I'm concerned.
I've got some 1/2" felt ordered to try on the top of the cabinet. I wasn't going to even finish these. My plan was just throw them together for Indy, but I can't do it, they're getting veneered and grilled.
This may not be dead accurate, but it's the best guess that I could make. I made a near field centered between the woofer and passive and then summed the rear port.
I've been working on them a few minutes here and there, but I managed to blow the measurements. My plan is to cut a section out of the middle and glue them back together.
@ugly_woofer said:
I've been working on them a few minutes here and there...
I see you tend to build ~waveguide grills, vs the picture frame style > better control of the diffraction, I'd expect. The small floor stand-er you had at Iowa was a very interesting design (as the tweeter grill was an integrated waveguide).
This one is looking at having some weight to it, so I'm guessing magnets are out of the question. Will you be going with plug system and/or have you used/considered velcro which may be less prone to vibrations against the baffle?
Thanks- as I may to try your approach with my next build (if I can figure out how best to design around my tweeter waveguide).
Andy, I generally build grills that are meant to be in place while listening, be it a built in wg or functioning as the baffle, but this time it's just for cosmetic reasons. I actually tried adding wrap around side pieces to the AMT, but it actually made the response worse in this situation, so the tweeter stays naked. Gotta cover the ugly woofers though. The grills aren't very heavy, they are made of 3/8" mdf, and I plan on using neo magnets under the veneer. I've never had any issues with magnets not being strong enough to support a grill in the past. I seriously need to get going on these....Indy will be here before I know it.
Looking at your speakers has me revisiting a box with the full-ranger mid and 8 in, and placing the superTw on top, vs a single box MTW 3way. I really like the look of the naked ESS - but thinking of ways to make my beyma slot tweeter (with its new waveguide) a bit more ’acceptable’ for the living room. Maybe a simple sock- grill. Anyway- your design work has me looking at trying your style of grill (vs the picture frame).
Thx
I'm not thrilled with the ESS mounting system for the Heil, so I set out to make something different. I'm not completely certain how this will pan out, but worse case scenario I just go back to the original mounting system.
I made these out of 5/16 round stock with 1/4-20 threads on one end and tapped 8-32 on the other.
I haven't decided whether to use aluminum cone washers on top or make a 1" wide aluminum bar to go across the top. The rods screw into tee nuts just like the "factory" set up, allowing me to go back to stock if this doesn't look any better.
Comments
Hey Nick....How does the ESS sound?
Would you elaborate on why you picked front mounted PR and rear port over the other possible combos of locations?
I'll answer the easy question first. I generally mount ports on the back or bottom of enclosures for the simple reason that any port noise or resonance will be less noticeable if the port isn't facing the listening position, so that rationale carried through to this build. The PR could have been rear mounted as well, but I preferred the look on the front. I considered using 2 PR's and eliminating the port, but it proved unnecessary, as the rear port doesn't seem to suffer from any noise or resonance issues.
As for how the ESS sounds, I'll give my impression, but take it with a grain of salt, as it's just my opinion. For me the ESS has a "planar driver" type of sound. It has a lifelike quality, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I'm not sure what I expected, but to be honest I generally am not thrilled with dipole or bipole sound, not that they're bad, or unlistenable, just not my preferred radiation pattern, but I am enjoying these guy's quite a bit. The soundstage is large and not super precise, which is to be expected, but still enjoyable, see there's that word again...enjoyable. They have good detail without sounding harsh which is a priority for me. I don't do harsh. I bought them quite a while ago, and I believe that I paid $250 for the pair, which is a bargain as far as I'm concerned.
So where (frequency, and order) did you cross these enjoyable ESS dipoles?
And, at what distance did you measure (for the earlier post) ? Thx
These are crossed about 1K at somewhere between BW4 and LR4, and the response measurement was taken at 30".
Check out the fancy ass diy stand.
Caution! Wet paint!
Shits dope, dude🤘🏼
I've got some 1/2" felt ordered to try on the top of the cabinet. I wasn't going to even finish these. My plan was just throw them together for Indy, but I can't do it, they're getting veneered and grilled.
Maybe I'm having math issues, but the roll-off, interestingly, looks less steep than either a ported or PR design.
How did you take the LF FR? Is it near field on woofer - how did you sum the port and PR response?
This may not be dead accurate, but it's the best guess that I could make. I made a near field centered between the woofer and passive and then summed the rear port.
I believe the low end response you're seeing on the distortion graph is due to the long sweep that onmi mic uses.
Any design / progress on the grills?
I've been working on them a few minutes here and there, but I managed to blow the measurements. My plan is to cut a section out of the middle and glue them back together.
That's unfortunate. At least it's just the grill. In the end nobody will ever know but you....and us.
I see you tend to build ~waveguide grills, vs the picture frame style > better control of the diffraction, I'd expect. The small floor stand-er you had at Iowa was a very interesting design (as the tweeter grill was an integrated waveguide).
This one is looking at having some weight to it, so I'm guessing magnets are out of the question. Will you be going with plug system and/or have you used/considered velcro which may be less prone to vibrations against the baffle?
Thanks- as I may to try your approach with my next build (if I can figure out how best to design around my tweeter waveguide).
Tome. I share my mistakes and how I repair them. I figure we all fuck up, might as well show the solution.
Andy, I generally build grills that are meant to be in place while listening, be it a built in wg or functioning as the baffle, but this time it's just for cosmetic reasons. I actually tried adding wrap around side pieces to the AMT, but it actually made the response worse in this situation, so the tweeter stays naked. Gotta cover the ugly woofers though. The grills aren't very heavy, they are made of 3/8" mdf, and I plan on using neo magnets under the veneer. I've never had any issues with magnets not being strong enough to support a grill in the past. I seriously need to get going on these....Indy will be here before I know it.
Thx for the info.
Looking at your speakers has me revisiting a box with the full-ranger mid and 8 in, and placing the superTw on top, vs a single box MTW 3way. I really like the look of the naked ESS - but thinking of ways to make my beyma slot tweeter (with its new waveguide) a bit more ’acceptable’ for the living room. Maybe a simple sock- grill. Anyway- your design work has me looking at trying your style of grill (vs the picture frame).
Thx
Here's another way of making a functional grill.
Fixed.
Magical!!
Got these covered in veneer, but I'm thinking about ordering some lighter colored veneer, mainly because I have a lot if speakers in this basic shade.
Looks great (of course). Any issues with the bending around the baffle to the sides ?
No issues with a radius that big. 1-1/2". On small radius bends I use veneer softener
I really like that color of veneer Nick but if you want to go lighter you can't beat the beauty of curly maple.
So much fer ugly
Must have been the day for veneer I finished my boxes as well.
Look great!
I'm not thrilled with the ESS mounting system for the Heil, so I set out to make something different. I'm not completely certain how this will pan out, but worse case scenario I just go back to the original mounting system.
I made these out of 5/16 round stock with 1/4-20 threads on one end and tapped 8-32 on the other.
I haven't decided whether to use aluminum cone washers on top or make a 1" wide aluminum bar to go across the top. The rods screw into tee nuts just like the "factory" set up, allowing me to go back to stock if this doesn't look any better.
