Introduction new member (BD-Design)

by Jelle, Tzum, The Netherlands, Monday, January 14, 2019, 12:45 (1901 days ago)
edited by Jelle, Monday, January 14, 2019, 12:50

Hello, my name is Jelle and i live in the Netherlands. I am working with audio equipment for the last twenty years, and have had different setups. Since the mid 90s i have a tube amplifier class A which has been build by a former collegea of mine. This one is still working, and has had several tubes spent.
I have begun with that tube amplifier with two 2-way speakers also build by that collegea, and until 2008 has done his job perfectly. In 2008 i moved to another house, with more space, and was able to experiment with different speaker configurations, primarily full range in an open baffle configuration. After having tried almost all of the Phillips full range speakers i could buy the Tangband 1808 speakers, which in my opinion are (compared to their pricing) very good speakers.
I then began to experiment with bass support to the full range 1808, and was able to buy a suitable open baffle casing for 2 15inch speakers (per site). With it was a bracket to put a horn on. Never thought i would get a horn, i bought the casing, and after a month or so 2 Oris 150 came on the market, so i immediately bought them.
In order to have enough power to handle all those speakers my Class A 13watt amplifier didn't seem enough anymore, so i decided to update my set with Hypex plate amps. I also was able to buy two Lowther PM4A full range speakers to replace my TB1808. That is what i am playing on today.
Underneath this article is a sum of my set.
I am still experimenting with settings/configurations, and i believe i still have plenty of room for improvements. Two parts i am focussing on at this time are:
1. configuration of the Hypex filter settings
2. improving bass output (Hypex filter settings and maybe box in the open baffle.
I have a bit of an odd setup at this time, my source goes into the plate amp (one each site), then the plate amp first amplified channel is for one bass speaker, the second amplified channel is for the second bass speaker, and i use the subwoofer not amplified channel to go to the the tube amplifier, which drives the full range in the Oris 150 horn.
Setup:
Source: sacd, cd, minidisk, turntable, usb input spotify
DAC: Schiit Bifrost with Uber Analog and USB card
2 Hypex AS2.100
Filter: Bass speakers LPF 150hz with +6Db, Lowther HPF 120Hz with 0db
Selfbuild Tube amp with 4 RCA JAN807 (and other manufacturers) and 2 12AU7 ecc82 pre-amps
4 Eminance Alpha 15A bass speakers
2 Lowther PM4A full range
2 Oris 150 horn
Ideas, opinions and so on are most appreciated, always willing to learn and better my system so i can enjoy it even more.
Tks Jelle
[image]

Introduction new member Tube amp

by Jelle, Tzum, The Netherlands, Monday, January 14, 2019, 12:51 (1901 days ago) @ Jelle

[image]

Introduction new member Tube amp

by Jelle, Tzum, The Netherlands, Monday, January 14, 2019, 12:51 (1901 days ago) @ Jelle

[image]

Introduction new member

by teigetje @, Duiven, NL, Monday, January 14, 2019, 20:25 (1900 days ago) @ Jelle

Very nice!:yes:

--
Finally everything will be all right...

Welcome!

by Bert @, Tuesday, January 15, 2019, 09:54 (1900 days ago) @ Jelle

Hi Jelle,

Welcome to the forum!

1. configuration of the Hypex filter settings

Very important

2. improving bass output (Hypex filter settings and maybe box in the open baffle.

Huh? 2x 15" per channel does not give enough output? Must be something in your settings, or you just play way too loud (neigbours complaining)...

I use OB for a while now myself and boxing them will be the worst for the quality of your setup.

I have a bit of an odd setup at this time, my source goes into the plate amp (one each site), then the plate amp first amplified channel is for one bass speaker, the second amplified channel is for the second bass speaker, and i use the subwoofer not amplified channel to go to the the tube amplifier, which drives the full range in the Oris 150 horn.

Indeed, weird... :clever:

Why not bypass the whole plate amp in this configuration? Source directly to the tube amp and from the output of the tube amp to the input of the Hypex?

A simple passive Xover for the Lowther will clear up a lot of issues as well and still protecting it very efficient for too much cone movement.

Cheers,

Bert

--
BD-Design - Only the Best!

Welcome!

by avaarni @, Tuesday, January 15, 2019, 17:03 (1900 days ago) @ Bert

Hi Jelle

Nice looking speaker you have :) :yes:

In my experience 4 Eminence 15 Alpha drivers should provide enough bass. Mine were connected in the way Bert described. But to get them work well enough with quality...I did get them sing "OK" but nothing really special. For the price, they are pretty good though.

Welcome!

by Jelle, Tzum, The Netherlands, Tuesday, January 15, 2019, 17:11 (1900 days ago) @ Bert

Hello Bert

tks for input.
2. I did mean the quality of the bass speakers, power is enough.
Will stay with open baffle for the bass, and take more time to look at the configuration.

The idea of bypassing the whole plate amp, never looked at it that way.
Will give that a try in the coming period. Tks for idea.

Jelle

Welcome, Jelle. The forum needs new members with neWelcome!

by Don Reid, Rural Northwest Georgia, USA, Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 02:43 (1899 days ago) @ Jelle

Welcome, Jelle. The forum can always use new members with new ideas. I too use Oris horns, and I love mine. I use folded corner horns for bass and DSP to make it all work together.

Introduction new member UPDATE

by Jelle, Tzum, The Netherlands, Saturday, January 26, 2019, 08:29 (1889 days ago) @ Jelle

Back again with some information.

My setup has been changed after your advises, and now i have connected the source to the tube amp, and from the tube amp to the Hypex plate amps. So the bass powered from the Hypex units, and the Lowther Oris150 from the tube amp. This is a much nicer and easier to configure setup, thanks for that.

I have the Lowhter unfiltered att, and the bass units filtered at 250hz now. I am playing around with the bass filters, trying different settings between 200 and 400hz. So still many playtime coming to get the sound i like.

The first impression is that the bass is more pronounced and explicit, so very happy with that. The Lowthers are also better to handle, with the latter setup i had the volume wide open, but now directly from the tube amp only 30/40% open.
I have talked with my collegeaus who are also audio minded, and they suggested to put the bass speakers in parallel mode to get 100Watt at 4Ohm. This because of the current 50Watt at 8Ohm and the power rating of the speakers. I will try that the comming time and let you now how that works out.
The also suggested to bridge the two Hypex units, i will look into that because that will have some more explicit changes to the Hypex units, and need to know more about that first.

I also bought the transparent phase plus, and installed it. The sound is much brighter and clearer without being to sharp on the highs. So also a big improvement.
Tks again for the advises/ideas. Every small step a better quality. Not bad!

with regards, Jelle

Introduction new member UPDATE

by Bert @, Saturday, January 26, 2019, 12:47 (1889 days ago) @ Jelle

Good! :yahoo:

Next is indeed to connect both woofers in parallel (should always be done!) as long as the impedance is not lower than 2-3 ohms.

Impedance is something else than résistance and always higher then given values.

And yes, bridge the amps! :good:

--
BD-Design - Only the Best!

Introduction new member UPDATE

by Jelle, Tzum, The Netherlands, Monday, March 25, 2019, 11:01 (1831 days ago) @ Jelle

times gone by, and tested yet some other things.
It seems to be that one of my Hypex AS2.100 has one output channel nog working, so bridging cannot be tested/done att.

I now have the hypexes in 2-channel mode with the 2 eminence bass speakers (each side) in parallel mode. That gives a good bass, still experimenting on the right crossover frequency of course.
I could borrow a Behringer A500 and connected that one through a passive crossover filter, and found that the bass was more detailed and nicer to listen to. This might be because of the power of 300W per channel instead of the Hypex 100W per channel.
So the journey continues.

Introduction new member

by Jelle, Tzum, The Netherlands, Monday, July 22, 2019, 11:00 (1712 days ago) @ Jelle

last week i was able to buy 2 Hypex PSC2.400 plate amps. These will replase my Hypex AS2.100 units of which one of the amplifier of one unit was not working. Very happy with the purchase, will be fiddling around with the settings the coming time. Pleased with the presets, and the way you can switch them on the unit itself.

RSS Feed of thread