Erik Mandaville Posted August 8, 2003 Share Posted August 8, 2003 Ye olde battery test revealed a careless error: Couple of weeks ago, take one or two or three, I removed the drivers from the cabinet in order to rotate their mounting positions. The magnets on those things are so large and heavy that they can actually cause a slight distortion of the voice coil, which in turn can rub and cause distortion, etc. Occasional rotation of the mounting position helps to prevent that situation. In any event, the leads from the inputs on the back of the cabinet are not color-coded for polarity like the terminal screws on the drivers are. I had to disconnect the leads in order to rotate the driver, and I accidentally hooked one of the speakers out of phase. So things just sounded pretty odd. With a single FR driver like the Lowther, this situation is maybe a little more pronounced in terms of sound than might be the case with other multi-driver systems. The problem has been solved, and the speakers sound as they should; and alone through the Horus, very much alive and astoundingly clear and detailed. I'm hearing piano pedals softly thump up and down -- something I hadn't really noticed on this CD before. I can only imagine what a good OTL might sound like. Leo suggested a resistor across the terminals to help correct impedance differences with the Horus, and I have one on hand that would work. Sounds very nice as is right now, however. So now I have two very, very good sounding speaker systems. I suppose I might just get or build a high quality speaker selector to choose between them depending on program material. In any case, it's time now to enjoy instead of perform surgery. I have a preamp project in the works for this system, since I think we are going to keep the amps to either side of the speaker and open space in the middle to allow clear viewing to the outside. I can't help but laugh when I think of the idea of putting the Lowther in a toilet seat lid on top of the La Scala to use as an open baffle arrangement. Things written in the past are difficult to erase and change, but the future is still unwritten; and we have the chance to write carefully and meaningfully. Kelly, have you ever heard either the Oris 150 or 200 horns? I'm really curious about those things.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale W Posted August 8, 2003 Share Posted August 8, 2003 Hey bud hows life treating you ? We have a oris dealer localy and i've heard the entire line up , all i can say is the oris has it's place , just have to decide if it's the sound you crave or not. Take care erik and always remember to keep the hot end pointed away from your fingers . lol ( soldering gun , that is . ha ha ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted August 9, 2003 Author Share Posted August 9, 2003 Hey, Dale -- Life is going pretty well, thanks! I hope things are going well for you, too. The one thing about horns in general that is just a little bit of a compromise for me, is the fact that they tend to beam, providing a narrow listening area. I have heard that this is especially true for the Oris 150, which also suffers (driver dependent) from diffraction effects created by the edge of the horn. It's for that reason that I am more interested in the 200. I already have a driver that will work perfectly with it. Many who have the Oris horns have found one ready-made bass module that seems to work very, very well, and has the speed to keep pace with the light weight and really quick Lowther drivers -- that being the La Scala bass bin. This is in fact one of the reasons I bought the La Scalas, and why the crushed corner on one of the cabinets didn't bother me. It would be lopped off, along with the tweeter and midrange horn sections! Given that one downfall (the narrow listening area), the way a horn loads a room is something special to me. I'm not talking about the imaging ability, I'm referring to the kind of pressure that fills the listening are with sound. I have two-way monitor speaker I built several years ago that, because of the type of tweeter it uses, has an amazingly wide off axis response, and can run circles around the Lowthers in the imaging dept. But it does not have the same quality of sound. And a narrow listening area is not really a big deal with me, since serious listening takes place with the speakers right in front of me. Thanks for responding, Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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