Renewed Orphean MkII filter (Orphean)

by Bert , Friday, September 21, 2007, 10:47 (6061 days ago)

Done and decided that the renewed filter for the Orphean is final now. It took me quiet a while to get this optimised further while exploring and trying almost any technique possible in creating filters to find out what sounds best. The first filter was hard to beat but did have some flaws…

Even the choice of materials and alignments of the used parts have their influence!

Working on the filter in between work is not the way to do things as it becomes too confusing after a while so I have worked the last 4 weeks continuously on the filter (minimal 12 hours a day!) which turned out to be a better approach in the end.

I do not want to come up with an MkIII version in the future and I am sure that you all are not waiting for that either.

I did neglected customer services during that time though, sorry for that, but in the end this resulted in a very fine sounding Orphean with no options left for further improvements (I have tried every possibility I could think off!).

Here it is…(still needs a sticker on top showing how to connect things)

As you can see it has become an external filter (for DIY and Upgrade), for completed systems the filter will be built inside the Orphean as before. This new filter can’t be upgraded in a way as done before (by simply exchanging parts) but it can be traded for a complete new upgraded filter. Customers using Duelund capacitors for their MkI filter can send me those parts which I can implement within their new MkII filter if they want to upgrade.

I will first need to calculate the costs for this new filter with the available options before I can give a quote though, when done I will add the information to my website and post a link here.

What did change and why was it needed to make a new filter for the Orphean?

During time it turned out that the MkI version of the filter was not optimal and I like to improve things in general which were enough reasons to work on the filter.

1) First problem is its sensitivity to amplifiers where tube amplifiers and switching amplifiers react weird to the impedance connected to them. This is the same for all loudspeakers but most loudspeaker manufacturers do not care about that and simply blame the amplifiers when their speakers do not sound optimal.

The new filter does not give this problem, they will make the Orphean sound optimal regardless what type of amplifier you want to use on them!

2) The Orphean as it was has a typical “honk” in the lowest frequencies which is caused by the filter but only when used with some amplifiers (impedance issues), that problem is solved with the new filter plus a smoother curve in that range for optimal integration with the bass system which should have a total curve - acoustically and electrically combined(!) - of 24dB (Linkwitz) with its -6dB point at 270Hz…

3) Not a problem but an overall improvement over the old filter in terms of smoothness, transparency, detail, higher sensitivity and clarity with highly reduced edginess. The Orpheans now completely disappear when playing good recordings and using a decent front end….

The new filter is casted in resin to protect all the work done (of course) but also to prevent that the used parts resonate affecting the sound in a negative way and as extra bonus being very solid (nothing can happen to the filter during shipping or if you accidentally drop it on the floor), you can place it anywhere you like as vibrations don’t hurt the performance of the filter at all.

Next project will be to finish the CrazyV’s….

Bert

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BD-Design - Only the Best!

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