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Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 12:20 pm
by markof
I'm mulling over changing out my Martin Logan-EM/ESL speakers in the near future.
Since moving them to a different room in the house (mandated by work from home) I have not been able to position them optimally due to room shape, furniture etc. - essentially they are too close to the corners and the front wall for the bi-polar design.
I have been considering Harbeths as a replacement, but lately I am intrigued by single driver/no crossover speakers such as the Sibelius by Pearl Acoustics.
I've never heard this type of speaker so any informed opinions on this category of speaker, especially in tonal range and sensitivity to room position, would be valuable ?
Mark
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 3:16 pm
by paulb
Not a lot of experience at that level but i had eclipse td 307 and 508...great speakers for difficult rooms.If you are ok with losing a bit a bass and treble they work great.Also playing at the moment with a pair of Anthony gallo micro and while also limited at extremes what they do with voices and imaging is amazing.i would Say that with bigger full range speakers positioning and distance to corners and back wall is more important.
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 11:00 pm
by markof
paulb wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 3:16 pm
Not a lot of experience at that level but i had eclipse td 307 and 508...great speakers for difficult rooms.If you are ok with losing a bit a bass and treble they work great.Also playing at the moment with a pair of Anthony gallo micro and while also limited at extremes what they do with voices and imaging is amazing.i would Say that with bigger full range speakers positioning and distance to corners and back wall is more important.
Thanks for the reply Paul.
You sure have an exotic taste in speakers.I've never seen or heard anything like them. The design looks fantastic.
The corners and distance to the wall are an intractable issue here, so it may be best to stay away from the Sibelius floor standers.
They have a 30 day trial but the shipping costs are on the expensive side.
Regards, Mark.
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:01 am
by Maciej
Hi Mark,
I used to have FRUGAL HORN mk3 from Electric Beach.
http://electricbeachaudio.com/.
These are based on MarkAudio Alpair single drivers.
https://www.hifipig.com/electricbeach-f ... udspeaker/
Since I sold them to a friend of mine in Poland, the company moved to another version which seems to have additional tweeter on the top of the cabinet.
Speakers do not go overly loud, but enough to fill the room with sound, but do not expect extremely high volumes as the cone on the driver can be damaged. For normal listening levels those are excellent speakers, with very clean , well controlled, without coloration, and direct sound.
I modified the crossover after a while with better quality caps at the end, and the speakers moved to another level. As the crossover there, is very simple and it can be done easily, or perhaps you can ask the manufacturer to use better components right away.
Those are basically like Sibelius, just do not use solid wood cabinet, and possible Sibelius uses better crossover components, but EB are way cheaper.
The only problem now its that Electric Beach are based in UK.
Regards
Maciej
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 9:37 am
by markof
Maciej wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:01 am
Hi Mark,
I used to have FRUGAL HORN mk3 from Electric Beach.
http://electricbeachaudio.com/.
These are based on MarkAudio Alpair single drivers.
https://www.hifipig.com/electricbeach-f ... udspeaker/
Since I sold them to a friend of mine in Poland, the company moved to another version which seems to have additional tweeter on the top of the cabinet.
Speakers do not go overly loud, but enough to fill the room with sound, but do not expect extremely high volumes as the cone on the driver can be damaged. For normal listening levels those are excellent speakers, with very clean , well controlled, without coloration, and direct sound.
I modified the crossover after a while with better quality caps at the end, and the speakers moved to another level. As the crossover there, is very simple and it can be done easily, or perhaps you can ask the manufacturer to use better components right away.
Those are basically like Sibelius, just do not use solid wood cabinet, and possible Sibelius uses better crossover components, but EB are way cheaper.
The only problem now its that Electric Beach are based in UK.
Regards
Maciej
Thanks for the links. I was unaware of this speaker company - very interesting.
Re: Sibelius - I believe that they use a modified Mark Audio driver which is specific to Pearl Acoustics and that there is no crossover in the design.
Mark.
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:59 am
by Fran
Mark,
If you can build yourself, there are many many horn designs out there, but few commercial offerings (probably because of that). I have some fairly large ones I built a few years back (google sachiko double mouth horns) which sound very good indeed, and frugal horns like Maciej mentioned as well. If you do go this route, for many designs, you need to match the size of the horn to the room.
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 1:18 pm
by Maciej
Fran wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:59 am
Mark,
If you can build yourself, there are many many horn designs out there, but few commercial offerings (probably because of that). I have some fairly large ones I built a few years back (google sachiko double mouth horns) which sound very good indeed, and frugal horns like Maciej mentioned as well. If you do go this route, for many designs, you need to match the size of the horn to the room.
Frugal horns that Fran has build while ago also sound amazing. I had them for a demo, and can certainly recommend.
If you can find them second hand, which I believe is not that easy as only limited quantity was build will be absolutely perfect choice.
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:15 am
by Georgi
I built a pair of Frugal horns and Cyburgs Needle with some modification, like adding second mid/low driver, few good years back and got a very good results.
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:38 pm
by markof
Fran wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:59 am
Mark,
If you can build yourself, there are many many horn designs out there, but few commercial offerings (probably because of that). I have some fairly large ones I built a few years back (google sachiko double mouth horns) which sound very good indeed, and frugal horns like Maciej mentioned as well. If you do go this route, for many designs, you need to match the size of the horn to the room.
Hi Fran,
Thanks for the reply.
I’m afraid that a self build is way beyond my capabilities.
The speakers appear fabulous to me but as my listening room is now a shared space they may be grounds for divorce :-).
Mark
Re: Single driver, no crossover speakers
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 12:40 pm
by markof
Georgi wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:15 am
I built a pair of Frugal horns and Cyburgs Needle with some modification, like adding second mid/low driver, few good years back and got a very good results.
Fantastic work. They look very smart.
Mark