Erland
-
Posts
148 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Forums
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by Erland
-
-
Signal unit inside
-
1
-
-
Powersupply innside
-
1
-
-
-
Both powersupplies mounted
-
1
-
-
Plenty of wires to keep track of........
-
1
-
-
One powersupply complete
-
1
-
-
Then started to mount transformers
-
1
-
-
I built four low cabinets measuring 22 x 9,5 x 2.7" (d x w x h)
-
1
-
-
Hi,
In this thread I am going to show you some pictures of how the new monobocks for my Khorns came to "life".
-
1
-
-
I just like to show you my new DIY Borderpatrol 300B with the massive psu's to go with them.
You have not heard SET before you have heard this!
The two cabinets in the center are the valve rectified powersupplies with choke filters
The cabinets on the side are the amps itself. The round, rather large "pot's" are the Hørning" torroid output transformers.
This may be the ultimate way to "feed" a Khorn.
Anyone on this forum passing through Norway, are welcome to drop by and experience Khorn as I think it should be!
-
SaraK and Cris Jones - Live - "are we there yet"
Stockfish records
There are vocals aswell on this record, but the sound quality and recording Gunter Pauler has done here, are something way out of the ordinary.
It has been written that the Stockfish records are the best and cheapest upgrade you can make to your system. After hearing one, I think you will agree!
-
Sounds like a real mess of cables!
My advise would be to make an attempt to locate the "humm and buzz" by unplugging all components, straighten out any "birds nest" of cables and plug in just one source, the pre and the tube amps. If the disturbance is still there, I would look at the tube amps. Tubes get old and may need to be replaced.
The disturbance may also be related to other items in the room, or electical components connected to the same circuit, so make sure before you start ripping the tube amp apart. I had a light dimmer that sent "rays" of disturbance through the room. I ended up buying Synergistic research speaker and signal cables with active shielding to get rid of the problem. (when looking back, a new digital dimmer would have been much cheaper, but we all need exuses[
] )If the system plays without disturbance when all the other stuff are gone, you probably have better arguments when trying to convince your friend. If he still insist on keeping it all hooked up like before, there are some reasonalby good "pads" out there that does not cost to much. Ask around and get some reccommended ones (I have no idea of what's on the US market) preferably without any fancy lights or cheap switches on. Some of these pads are equipped with pretty good shielding, and may be enought to seperate the different components the can affect each other. Make the best out of it, and try to seperate the different systems from each other by using seperate pads.
When thinking of it, I do not even remember how the std. US electrical socets are like, but if there is an option, try to turn the connection 180 deg. Believe it or not, but a simple thing as changing the phase on a component that creates disturbance, can make it quiet.
Rearding the metal rack and the cables:
If the cables are so badly insulated that they get afected by the rack, unplug them and throw them away. You may safe the life of your friend and his family! -
Nicely done Erland, nicely done! Did you pretty much leave the folded bass horn in tact and add the new front? Your mid horn looks very tall, wide yet shallow, what is it actually ? Looks like you are in a log home??
Warmly,
Gary
Gary,
The Bass horns are a DIY-copy of the Khorn. On the front board I put a layer of birch veneer - then put three layers of chestnut woodstain.
The mid horns are as as wrote Al Klappenbergers Trachorn (made of layers of plywood with some dampening material between). The depth are similar to the K401 but the shape and size are perfectioned to the frequency of the mid driver. For the sides of the top section, I made a "sceleton" of precisely cut plywood pieces that I covered with loudspeaker cloth.
As you can see, I gave a lot of room for the tweeter. The reason for this, are that it will give me room to try out different tweeter types without rebuilding my entire top sections.
The C125 tweeter from Bob Crites are indeed a good tweeter. Some time in the future I have intentions of trying the very fine GOTO tweeters, and eventually a complete set of drivers from GOTO. I will spare no cost or effort to get the best out of this horns!
The ongoing upgrade-project are only indirectly related to the khorns. I am building new valve amps. As for the horns, a lot of thinking, investigating and planning has taken place, and the internal components are selected for its quality only.
I will take pictures as the project proceeds, and I will post a thread on this forum for the "tube amp freaks" to see how my black 4-box 300B amplifiers was born.
My home -
Yes, I am living in Norway, and the the house are 107 years old and it's made of logs. When moving there the logs was covered with several layers of boards and faded wallpaper, but we took it all off in some of the rooms, sanded the logs and painted them. It gives a cozy atmosphere, and I believe that the uneven shape of the walls has a positive effect on sound reflections.
Best
Erland
-
What a fine thread with so much advise and experience. I have learned a lot by reading through it!.
Thanks!
Last year some of you may remember that I posted a thread with a sequence of pictures and experiences from building and installing a pair of DIY khorns.
Summary:
As I believe in the original woofer section without the 60th ani. modification (and have corners to place the horns in), I built my horns without this mod.Under the woofers, I glued a solid piece of 2mm thick natural rubber. When placed on a wooden floor, the speakers literally suck themselfes to the floor. The only way to moove them, is to tilt and get some low friction material under the rubber. Recommended!
As you see on the picture, I made the top section as a seperate piece not tied to the woofers. The top section stands on Soundcare titanium superspikes to reduce vibration.
The internal xo's is again placed on 15 mm thick anti vibration mats.xo's are Alkeng ES 400/5800, All the capacitors are bypassed by a Vishay Rodenstein 0.01uF/100V cap. This is a tweak Tony Gee has come up with and it adds speed and clarity to networks. Woofer K33E, Mid driver K55V - mid horn Alkeng trachorn, Tweeter Crites C125. Internal cables 2.0 mm cryothreated 99.99% silver.
Does it work?
OOOOOOyes!What's the advantage of a loose top section?
In my opinion;That one can let the woofer take full advantage of the rooms cornes and angles, and still control the soundstage. My experience are in line with what most of the others heres writes.
I have aimed the top section slightly in front of my listening position (that means toed out a bit more than the 45 deg of the wooferhorn. The result of this was a much deeper and wider but yet more precise soundstage. On good live recordings one can not only place the musicians in the wide perspective, but also notice how they move backwards and forwards on the stage.Conclution:I love my khorns!
I am not saying;
"Go and rip your khorns to pieces and rebuild them, but hopefully some of my experiences may help you to get the best out of your horns.I notised someone had a comment regarding choice of capacitors earlier;
When building the ALK xo's I stuck to Al's recommended parts list and choose Solen caps. First of all because I find it sensible to start of with the designers recommodation, but also because the high number of large caps would have made the xo's extreemely expensive by using highend caps like Duelund or AudioNote. I will go there eventually, but there are other upgrades that will gain more to my system at this stage. -
Ok, so we have 4a/8ohm/128W instead of 4a/8ohm/64W now...your getting close....but the Khorns are not 8 ohm speakers....
Al K states on his website that the Khorns with his ES400/5800 xo gives an almost flat load of 6 ohm.
What are ohm are actually the original Khorn?
(for the record, I am not questioning your statement. I am just asking out of curiosity)
-
Literature:
Morgan Jones - Valve Amplifiers
Well written - most be the closest thing to "Tube amps for dummies"
-
Maybe I am just picky when it comes to electronics, but I did not think what I saw on your picture, look like something that's made by a pro repair or a manufactorer! It looks more like the first DIY project that I did some years back (that I took apart and remade at a later stage due to the mess,humm ea.
From the picture I can not point out anything in particular that seem wrong, but it looks like at least two leads parts from another, for then to go back together again (with not component between, and for no particular reason). Is that so? If yes, in theory it should not matter, but in reality it does! I have experienced that such things sometimes things like that creates kind of an anthenna-effect, or the litle "loop" causes humm. As said, hard to tell from a pic.
In my opinion and excperience, NO internal components should touch each other.I have been stugling with humm at different occations, and it's rearly easy. The most difficoult is when the humm is related to the ground that due to the design of the different components (source/pre/power) comes at different levels (i do not know how to explain this one better). I have experienced that to run the preamp "hardground" and the rest of the compoents floating, makes the most stable and silent system for me.
I can not tell what's wrong or right, and what I have written above, is definately not textbook electroics. I just like to forward whats been working in my system.
-
All I can tell you is what's recommended in the Alkeng ES xo's. The woofer fuse is a 1.5A fastblow.
I use no fuses in the other xo's.Regarding the 4A I can not tell, as I never had the stock setup in my horns. Regardless 4A sounds a lot?
-
In my opinion (and ears) most of these mid prized tubes cd players does not make much difference - if any!
To heat up and run some tubes in a component does not neccesary makes ut better. A good sounding tube circuit that makes it's "footprint" from source level in a system requires serious stuff.
My recommedation vould be to use a reasonable good cd-player as transport, or to get hold of a dedicated transport (like Tentlabs DIY transport) and hook it up to a tubed DAC.
I have done some A/B tests/listening with the AudioNote kit DAC 2.1 (5687 output tubes), and this DAC really makes a difference! As a kit, I consider these DAC's a bargain!Note:
I have been told that some of unknown reasons has experienced communicaton problems between Sony CD players and AN kit DAC's when connecting via the digital cable.
This is not a impossible taks to overcome, but worth knowing. -
I am very satisfied with my DIY Khorns with the C125 tweeter, K55V mid and K33E drivers/woofer.
However, a while ago I read about the GOTO horn drivers on a website for "horn enthusiasts".
I guess we all know the feeling;
You are pleased with the sound you have, but when you get aware that there is something potentially better out there, it is hard to get it out of your head.They are very expenceve, and probably not something most people buy just out of curiosity, but I still can't get it out of MY head. Some day I want to know.........
My question;
Have anyone on this forum tried these drivers, or heard of anyone who have tried them? -
No, I do not have any measuring equipment at hand. But I think I sould be able to get hold of some in a few weeks.
I have actually been thinking about this, but have sort of suspended the whole idea until the horns got more "burnt in".
-
Yes, everything is hooked up according to the schematics.
Both channels are identical,and the way the XO's are set up, it should not be possible to go wrong.
Anyway, it does not hurt to change the phase of the woofers and give it a go.Another thing that crossed my mind;
Could it be that it's just my ears that is being tricked by the better mid and treble when sitting "on axis"?
You are correct that the bass should not be directional like this in such a small room. -
Thank you for your comments.
The room is what I think you would call small for this type of speaker. (14 x 16 ft) with the horns placed in the corners of the 14 ft wall.
You are correct about the "on axis" comment. There are obviously more midrange and treble in the center. But regardless of this, the bass is better "off axis".
However, I suspect that with some more hrs of music, and with the new and considerably better monoblocks coming up, this will improve?
-
My DIY-Khorns (Erlands Khorn project) have now around 3-400 hrs of "burn in time", and is starting to loosen up and they sounds great!
However, I notice that the bass responce along the walls are considerabely better that in the listening posistion in the midle.
I have taken all advises regarding placement and sealing off corners into consideration. I have tried with different tube amps, and as you all know, the horns response to different amps are easy to recognice. But the general impression is the same. More bass along the walls to the side of the listening position than in the midle.
I wander if this is a natural result of being placed directly in front of the side-opening of the bass bin, and that it will stay thios way?
-or that this is related to the fact that the horns still need some hundred hrs of "burn-in" (i am using the Alkeng ES xo's with all the big caps that probably requires plenty of hrs before stabilize).Maybe some room treatment will be required?
I am quite obsessed to avoid any of this fancy modern room treatment devices, as the horns is located in one of our living rooms. However, "natural" stuff like funiture placement, carpets, curtains can possibly be used.I am not complaining about the bass responce, but if I possibly could get the same bass in the center listening position as I hear alont the walls, that would be great.
] )
7w SET DIY
in 2-Channel Home Audio
Posted
DIY dummy 8 ohm amp load for testing purposes. No reason to blow any diagrams on the speakers......