Erik Mandaville Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 I tried our Lowthers downstairs after some major furnishing and flooring changes, along with my Moth 2A3 si amplifier, and the Heresies that were there before are now our rear channel speakers for HT. No inductors or capacitors in the signal path on the speaker end; no coupling capacitors in the amplifier. I reconfigured the Moth output transformers to their 16 ohm setting for a better power transfer with the Lowthers, and love the sound. It's been a long time since they have sounded so good, but former interior design issues prevented their use. The drivers I have are not inexpensive, though. They are about $1700 just for the drivers without the enclosure, which is a large, rear-loaded horn. For scale for those of you who haven't seen them before, this is the picture I took when they were next to our former La Scalas. Removing the grille makes an obvious difference in HF clarity. Never been aware of any 'shouting' that some claim, but they took literally hundreds of hours to break in -- mechanical break-in of driver surrounds, not of capacitors. I'm a non-believer as far as the break-in of passives like caps, resistors, and inductors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 I had a pair of mint Loth-X Audio Amaze fullrange single-driver/crossoverless monitors in 1/2" solid cherry cabinets (no MDF). They were transmission line loaded, with a Stefan Stamm-designed, Fostex-custom built 6" single unit tri-coned paper driver with an inverted cloth surround (the paper was impregnated with a proprietary polymeric resin for lightness/stiffness). In the center of each driver was an aluminum alloy phase plug, and they each had a 23,000 gauss Alnico magnet. These 8 ohm monitors had a frequency response of 55Hz-20kHz and sensitivity was 96dB @ 1 watt/1 meter. Best of all is how they sounded...in a word, awesome! Highs were extremely clean and shrill-free, and they had a midrange to die for! They obviously lacked bass, but my subwoofers took care of that and they mated perfectly with the Amaze. I wish I could've kept 'em, but I wanted to buy a pair of cherry RB-75s more and needed to cash in the Amaze to help finance them (sucks to be poor). Still, the discontinued Loth-X line made outstanding single-driver loudspeakers, and they're definately worth looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 I also tried them using my grounded grid (not Transcendent sound) 6SN7 preamp into the digital Teac, and the combination was superb, despite the higher impedance voice coils of the PM2A Lowthers. I'm leaving the Teac in for awhile. The sound is incredibly fast, with great transients (some prefer the term FR), while not being edgy or harsh at all, as I found the Monarchy SS amplifier I got to borrow from another forum member, which was sort of 'dry' sounding to me. Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Well, I feel those Tekton Design monitors with the 6" Fostex drivers must be pretty good since several Klipsch owners use 'em too...I miss my Loth-X; maybe someday when my finances allow I'll look into these single-driver loudspeakers and give them a shot with my 8 watt per side SET amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nu2toobs Posted November 8, 2007 Share Posted November 8, 2007 Well, I feel those Tekton Design monitors with the 6" Fostex drivers must be pretty good since several Klipsch owners use 'em too...I miss my Loth-X; maybe someday when my finances allow I'll look into these single-driver loudspeakers and give them a shot with my 8 watt per side SET amp. Most people here use the 4.5 Tekton's. I sold mine due to financial reasons. I'm buying another pair as soon as I can though as they are an amazing sounding speaker regardless of their very attractive price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cut-Throat Posted November 9, 2007 Share Posted November 9, 2007 Well, I feel those Tekton Design monitors with the 6" Fostex drivers must be pretty good since several Klipsch owners use 'em too...I miss my Loth-X; maybe someday when my finances allow I'll look into these single-driver loudspeakers and give them a shot with my 8 watt per side SET amp. Most people here use the 4.5 Tekton's. I sold mine due to financial reasons. I'm buying another pair as soon as I can though as they are an amazing sounding speaker regardless of their very attractive price. Nu2toobs - Can you explain your avatar with the bunny to me. - Just curious what on it's head and why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Cut-Throat, this site explains the story of the now-deceased bunny with the pancake (and other objects) on its head: http://www.syberpunk.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?page=oolong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 wow. that is about as random as it gets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kentamcolin Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 I have Moth Cicada speakers in my living room powered by a restored Fisher 400 receiver. They sound good; really good considering I paid only $300 for them. I also use an Axiom sub to bolster the bottom; not using much volume from the sub, just enough to heare the bottom of the music and for some added bass impact. The Axiom sub was under $200 and the Fisher around $400, so for around a grand it's a great system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 kentamcolin: The Cicada is supposed to be a good speaker. It's also a sibling of my favorite amplifier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Just for further interest or curiosity on some more comprehensive single driver appliactions: The first here from Neslon Pass. http://www.passdiy.com/speakers.htm Carefrae horns: http://www.carfrae.com/pages/frameset.html There are many applications for both Fostex and Lowther. Some prefer BR enclosures, which one friend described as dreadful compared to a horn. There are also BR camps that find rear-loaded folded horns 'colored.' Then again, some buy Klipschorns and then throw out the top sections for something completely different. Still again, there are those who find 3 watts suitable and very musical, and others who.... http://www.vt52.com/diy/diypage/hedlund/hedlund.html'> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted November 14, 2007 Share Posted November 14, 2007 Here is a 1.5 watt/channel amp that is the antithesis (in terms of efficiency) of the Teac Digital I'm experimenting with using our Lowther horns. This single-ended Transcendent OTL was a marvelous match, and something I remember well. I don't want another kit, though. The designer offers the schematics of many of his products openly, and they are superbly designed components. Some of you with the Fostex drivers might like the OTL sound with your single rangers. OTL gets rid of the output transformer (which many believe to be a necessary compromise) in a way similar to the single driver's lack of any crossover, passive or active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTLongo Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Cut-throat's speaker picture reminded me of one I built when I was first getting into this hobby at the age of around 14 in 1956. I read up on "speaker baffles" and such at the Boston Public Library. Went back home and build an enclosed infinite baffle box about the same size as Cut-throat's speaker and slapped a nondescript cheapo 4" radio speaker in there. Gawd that box was ugly. But I was kid-AMAZED at the relatively better sound quality. A little later on I plagued my Dad for a Radio Shack "Realistic" little speaker that featured a perhaps 4" driver in a compact sealed box for $29.95 or $39.95 (gasp) and finally pried one out of him. With the box's rounded corners It looked good and sounded relatively fantastic, too. And thereby began my descent into this lifelong pleasure resulting in what you see in the profile below : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 Some of you might be interested in the Voigt Pipe. Many speaker DIYers have constructed this fairly simple (as far as required wood-working) design. Drivers have included quite a few, including Radio Shack (save your chuckles....), Fostex, and Lowther. Erik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kentamcolin Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 kentamcolin: The Cicada is supposed to be a good speaker. It's also a sibling of my favorite amplifier. I've got the same amp, and Si2A3H, switchable for 2A3 & 45 tubes. I use mine with Cornwalls and Grado GS1000 headphones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homemadeheresy Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 My uncle came across a set of Heath Kit as-173(s) a few years ago. He had these drivers setting on a shelf in his garage for about a year. One afternoon, we were sitting around trying to figure out what type of cabinet we could build for these. After scavenging around for about ten minutes, I came across a few 14" tires and a 1/2" piece of plywood. After some measuring and head scratching I talked him into letting put them into the tires. In about an hour, a couple of dozen screws, and a tube of silicone we had them up and running. Although not so much in the WAF department, these things sounded amazing. His neighbor, who happens to be a lawyer, that doesn't give out compliments too often was on his way down to the garage one evening. About a third of the way down the hill, he sits down and absorbs some of the sound originating from the garage. Upon his arrival he makes a comment saying that it sounds like the local ampitheater. So the crew that had gathered in the garage that night for conversation, music and a cold one or two proceeded outside. He was right the sound was something that you wouldn't expect from parts that come from a DIY catalog from the mid 60s. The life of those were short lived though. Another one of my uncle's friends was up during a bon-fire, which are behind the garage, decided he wanted to obtain the same decibel levels back there as in the garage. Only problem was the sound had to make its way through a 2' x 2' window with the speakers pointing the other way. Big mistake, the voice coil on the woofers got fried. Since then I have obtained a set of these as well as a set of as-183(s) and have mine in a Voight tube. They are currently paired up with my Admiral tube set up from a console stereo of the same era and for the money I have in them I couldn't be more pleased. Anyhow here is a picture of the first run with the Heath Kits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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