So what  I am processing is a sound which is rather dry, yet very clear and highly detailed.  And yes, even with a wall that close in front of me, with my eyes closed, I was convinced of a setting many times larger than what my audio room really is.  The music did not come from the direction of the speakers. The music was alive within the room without restraint. I was experiencing a soundscape expansion which made me believe I was in a very large space.  There was no directional point source. You could not determine exactly where the sound was coming from.

 There was now a presence of holographic projection which made my perception of time and space much closer to reality as one hears in nature. What I did not like, was that the lower frequencies which I hoped to be strong, were indeed, nowhere near what I expect. On a positive note, the bass notes were very clear and well defined. There was none of that "one note bass" which is so common in untreated rooms. I was fascinated by the superb control in which the bass response provided. The more power fed into it, and the better it sounded. It was as if you could visualize the bass player in front of you, imagining each and every note as the player's fingers manipulate the strings, providing a new course of vibrato that is simply mesmerizing with how clean and detailed the progression of chords are as they unravel.  The perception of pitch is indeed solidly intact in a way that was never revealed this well before.

But, the level of dynamics were just not what I expect to feel. Visceral response is where the music takes on a life with physical involvement. I need to feel the music, as well as hear it for the full experience. Good music should provoke an emotional response in order to become truly involved within the music and its depth.  This factor is largely the core motivator for experiencing a strong degree of emotion as you connect to the music as one.


I had to advance the volume in order to get a reasonable sense of bass that I like. At that level, the decibel factor can be a bit harmful to one's hearing, so not wise for long term listening.. I did not feel that this level of amplification should be necessary to get a good low end response. I believe at that point, this amplifier was being pushed to its limits of output. The Visaton woofers that I used are not very efficient, so they did limit that situation to a large degree. They produce nice low end when given enough power, but that huge array of eight 10 inch woofers just did not meet my expectations overall. As I said before, there could have very well been some heavy bass cancellation going on as well.

After extensive listening, I decided to reverse the sitting arrangement and move backward to the 38 percent area from the BACK wall. This placed me about four feet from the rear wall binary/ternary diffusers. Now I am listening at far-field and things have changed in some aspects. I would not say that I noticed any bad changes to the sound quality, but as I recall, the bass extension seemed to be stronger and more even with the rest of the system response. My perception of space as how we gauge separation of instruments and position was somewhat different, perhaps a bit more restricted as a result of increased reflections which occur  at the back section of the room.  By dialing in the right placement of the sidewall diffusers, this does actually make a noticeable difference in tailoring the perceived width and depth of the soundstage.  With that readjusted, the balance of the room response became more natural, and focus became favorable.

As for high frequency response. Overall, the high frequency response had a very open and clean presence. I have used these same HiVi drivers in other designs with great results, so I am very familiar with their performance characteristics. There were details that center upon cymbals and high hats that was not as clear as I have heard in the past on some recordings. Something was a bit off and I knew it could be improved upon.

Now as for the lower midrange. I was not feeling that physical connection to  where percussion can have a strong impact upon your senses. Something seemed to be lacking. It became apparent that some changes will need to be made within the crossover networks. With some tailoring, I wanted to see if this could be improved to give the midrange more body.

So the next step is to completely disassemble the crossover networks and start from scratch with Xsim.  I came up with a revised design which should make a difference. This time, I upgraded to much higher quality parts. Very expensive close tolerance foil inductors were used along with 1 percent tolerance high grade capacitors and resistors.

I will show you those upgrades and then get back to the evaluation once the upgraded networks are in place.

The updated version for rebuilding the new crossover networks.






































































So with the newly revised design with upgraded parts, it is time to reevaluate this system.

Sorry about the bad quality of the graphs. When I reduced the size for posting on this forum, it really degraded the image. Part of it was cut off. I will try to repost a better image if I can.


This graph represents the frequency response after the revision from 30 Hz to 20 kHz.















That came out a little better, but still not clear enough. That is the best I can upload. Hopefully, you can read the data and make sense of it.

JB,

With X-sim, I get real world results instantly. It doesn't always sound as good in reality as it does on a graph, but then again, the sound system, room acoustics, and quality of recordings will absolutely be the main factors in which to convey what this really sounds like as a whole. If it isn't right, back to the drawing board and remain disciplined until the correct answer is found.  As I say, it is all about discovery and process.


No, absolutely no padding!  That would be like introducing negative feedback within a refined SET amplifier!  Would become rather pointless in the end.

Circuit boards have their place, and they certainly make things easier during production, but you know, it is all about the end result. The quality factor is always the most important thing to consider when building audio projects.  Point to point soldering keeps things direct and short. That is proven to make a significant difference with high end audio.

I had my reservations about implementing a Zobel circuit to stabilize the impedance. I know that this can degrade the sound quality, but I felt it was important to this design. After testing it, I do not regret doing so. I like to keep things as simple and direct as possible, but this array is complex, so there was no short and easy solution to maintaining such a smooth frequency response. This response is nearly ideal when all things are considered. This is not an easy thing to achieve.  The only concern that I have is how it sounds. If I like it, then I am satisfied.

We shall have a discussion concerning this graphene project.  I do want to find out more about this.  I try never to downplay what I cannot prove.

Now just where did I put that mixture of deuterium and tritium!




I am not getting your email messages. After your first one, I never saw anything else. Not sure what is happening with my account, but for some reason, yours does not come through. Try sending again. If that does not work, then try a text or PM me here. I checked the spam folder and everywhere else, nothing shows up.

As for that listening session, After the intense and SO gratifying listening experience I became enthralled with last night, I thought about how you are going to react once you have experienced this. I intend to stir up some real emotion within your perception of music so that you won't stop thinking about it for some time to come.  If this does not somehow become something special for you, then I give up....everything is going to Goodwill! If you experience what I did last night, I guarantee that you are in for a real epiphany.



Anyway, get back with you later.

I am now going to resume posting. I am near the end of this phase.

Quote:


This has happen to me before. If you replied using my e-mail contact  info embedded in this forum it adds an additional identifier to your e-mail address line which causes what you describe. When I replied to those e-mails the responses most likely ended up in your spam folder.

I will text my e-mail to Val. You then should copy it from the text and paste it in your e-mail application that you use and send me an e-mail message. I will use the address from the sent e-mail for future communication.

I have just hidden my e-mail in this forum to eliminate this from happening again, hopefully anyways!

Quote:


Replied with your request in the e-mail.

Thanks mrchipster, I certainly did go to great lengths to find the answer to that experiment. It was worth it while it lasted. But things change, and sometimes we have to move in different directions then what we set out for.

It is a good thing that I had my reference speakers on standby. Once that I put them back into service, I instantly knew that this was what was meant to be.

As for the equipment, not only do you get what you pay for, but also, the results are the sum of the correct parts working together in the right combination as you pointed out. It only makes sense that if you focus upon the parts that are used in the higher end models, then you should effectively mimic the performance characteristics of that selection. That is a good thing about audio forums all over the internet. Eventually, one gets valuable information from other peoples projects which end up with great acclaim.

Had I never read so many rave reviews concerning the Zero DAC, I would have never bought one. That unit is the best purchase I ever made in audio. The guy who designed and built this unit makes them to order much like Decware does.  Choices of DAC chips were optional so that you get the ones that you prefer. Having a choice of Burr-Brown DAC chips made this an easy choice. That particular DAC chip is well known as a great sounding choice. I am extremely pleased with the sound quality it produces. This unit stands out over the stock Tascam with 24 bit 192 kHz dual D/A conversion. The difference is better dynamics, better sound-stage, and better clarity. The transport in the Tascam unit goes straight out, bypassing everything directly via fiber optics. So between the great TEAC CD-5020A transport and the Zero DAC, this makes a combination which is very hard to beat, let alone equal.

 Unfortunately, since the COVID 19 period, he is no longer selling this unit online. He just disappeared and his store is not to be found. I have no idea what happened to him, but apparently, this unit is no longer available. It is a shame when you consider the quality factor at such a low cost. Just an unbelievable value to say the least!

Again, this is something that must be heard to fully understand just how good this combination sounds.

As for the old stock Philips rectifiers that I swapped for a short while to test, well let's just say that they are not right for this amplifier. Those tubes got high acclaim from users who left reviews on the Upscale Audio website. Those tubes are hard to get now, and command a high price. They are of no value to me.

After I swapped the Electro Harmonix ES rectifiers for the Philips, I noticed that the smooth full bodied sound that I had was now brittle and somewhat harsh sounding. The dynamics clearly dropped off, and the sound-stage just seemed to collapse. I never thought that rectifiers could make or break the sound quality of the amp to any large degree, but this was clearly an undeniable case. I can tell you, that rectifiers absolutely make a difference within the sound signature of these Torii amplifiers.  Just goes to show how influential the power supply really is as a crucial part of the amplifiers sound.

I put the Electro Harmonics ES tubes back in, and PRESTO, everything was restored back to normal. The funny thing is that the Electro Harmonics ES rectifiers are inexpensive, while the old stock Philips are now demanding huge sums of money if you can find them. My advice is to stay clear of these and save your money.

So, glad you are enjoying my audio adventure. I think that you will find the next segments very interesting and most likely quite entertaining.

I will start advancing into the next phase shortly. I have been extremely busy, so finding time to be here is not easy. I am usually so exhausted from working all day that I just start to nod off when I get online. I am making great progress, and hope to have this house project completed within the next three weeks if weather permits.

I have ideas waiting to be built and tested in this audio room. I am looking forward to having time devoted to working on these ideas. So you can see that things never really stop. I will eventually be experimenting with new additions (acoustical treatment) to the room, and that means continuing into another phase for this thread. I am certain that this is going to continue for an extended time into next year. Winter time means more time in the shop. Something is bound to come out of that time period.  I do plan this winter to begin building my next set of speakers with full range 8 inch drivers based upon the rear loaded horn concept.





Check this out. As I was writing this post, this warning was directed to my attention.

Error: Posting this fast is considered spamming, you are warned!
You are only allowed 6 more attempt(s) after which you will be banned as spammer!


WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ABOUT???





If I get banned for something this stupid, I am going to be really upset.



Anyway, I will get back to this next audio phase.  (that is if I don't get banned)

This is the beginning of the second stage. The in-wall speaker array has been removed and the wall is now solid again (at least in appearance).  Just remember, you can't see the built in midrange bass absorbers that make up a huge part of this wall.  This wall may look normal, but it is anything BUT normal! A good portion of that surface is actually metal for the face plates of the diaphragmatic absorbers.
































So now we will focus upon what is going to fill that space for audio speakers.

Steve,

The funny thing is, I was not posting anything in rapid succession.  I was simply writing and refreshing to see changes that I made to the pending post. I had not even posted anything yet at the time of that warning.

I completely understand the problem that these AI bots are creating here. I would love to hunt down the source of this code and be the one to terminate it's presence with MY form of persuasion. Behind that code is a sleaze bag who doesn't deserve the oxygen given that POS!

People need to wake up and be aware that the rise of AI is going to be the total downfall of humanity. There will be a point of no return.

I had discussions about this 30 years ago concerning the potential of this very thing. We knew back then about the warning signs, and being part of the military with a high level security clearance, I was aware back then of more than I cared to know about the impending future, and what will become of technology. This is just another reminder of how mankind simply feels the need to self destruct.

I hope this can easily be rectified to get me back on if this ever does ban me from the forum.

I will be aware of this, but as I said, I did nothing wrong to trigger this response.

Sometimes I wish that I could hit the reset button and restart life again around 1978. Life was so much better then.

And life goes on in this world of uncertainty.

I've had the "System" lock me out also.

It ended up that I was previewing my posts too quickly as I was editing them.  It counts the preview button the same as the posting button.

Just slow down! Don't preview more than once a minute.

So here we go with the start of the new speaker system. What you are about to see are the basic details and build images of my reference grade models which I designed and built. These are the Qforce speakers which I am currently using in the audio room.

The entire cabinets are built at a de-greed rate of rake. Not just the front, but the entire unit front to back are slanted equally. Just as if the entire assembly was warped backward. Of course the top and bottom are on perfect horizontal level to the floor.


These are built using high grade Baltic birch plywood. The crossover networks were designed using the Xsim simulator software. Actual driver testing was completed to create the necessary FRD & ZMA files for the design. The final result of the frequency response is not only efficient, but extremely accurate and very well balanced across the entire spectrum from 40 Hz to well past 20 kHz. There is still a very strong presence down to 30 Hz with an Fs of 27 Hz.  I enhance these with an external bass reinforcement system which blends in perfectly to produce really tight low end response which boosts the lower end enough to equalize everything out.

These speakers are a two part design which mates a transmission line enclosure to a passively enhanced rear loaded horn concept. This design allows for adjust-ability between the two sections which allows for fine bass tuning in any room.

As I stated before, I am being careful not to divulge technical details in order to protect my design from being copied and manufactured. Even though the images themselves show much of the detail behind this design, it will be tough to copy without actual measurements. I put way to much time, effort, and cost to just give this information away freely. My purpose is not to instruct someone on how to build these. This is only to give you an idea of what I am using now in this room.


Here is a view of the blueprint for the Qforce design.  Again, NO measurements.  








This view shows the layout for the front grill covers which are machined from hardwood.





The bass extension housings are made from .75" MDF which you see drawn out here.





The following images of the primary speaker enclosures are not the actual images of this build, but they are nearly identical. I did not have images of this internal view, but just happened to have images of another set of speakers which used the same design. My actual speakers as seen here have more reinforcement, plus the top and bottom are constructed with double layers of .75 inch Baltic birch.  The following images will however give you an idea of how these are constructed.

Here you see the internal view showing the front part of the enclosure forward of the T-line.




And here you see the rear portion of the enclosure where the passive radiators will couple with the bass extension section.





And this image showing the DADO joints for very strong structural integrity.












This shows the back of the primary enclosure where the passive radiators are being machined to fit.






This is a fit check for the passive radiator surrounds and grills.










I will be back to continue this build review soon.  There is much more to come.