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75.100.17.3
So I have a factory restored set of Tympani IVa's that I was able to finally unbox and set up. Love the mid/high end, but the bass leaves me cold. Also, these things are not making the significant other happy with their cut the room in half size. So, I am considering the following options:
1. I can ditch the 2 bass panels per side and build a set of h frame woofers run up to say 250hz or so. I would convert the mid/tweeter panel to actively tri amp the woofers, mids, and tweeters. I have 2 AE dipole 18 woofers factory new in boxes I bought to use for subs but could use them instead of the bass panels.
2. I also have 6 24" neoplanar drivers made by ATC with B&G. They are said to cover 180hz to 20,00hz. I would make a baffle with 3 per side and use these with h frame 18" woofers as above.
3. I would make a baffle and use the Magnapan tweeter with the ATC neoplanar ribbons as mids, woofer as above.
4. I have 20 neo-8's I could use as mids along with the Magnepan tweeter in baffle, along with the woofer as above.
5. I understand that Magnepan is now upgrading the mid panel to a foil mid. I would replace the Tympani mid with the new foil mid and use it along with the Magnepan tweeter and AE h frame woofer in an active 3 way.
Any suggestions appreciated. I know that several people here have converted the Tympani mid to neo-8 or neo-10, rd-75's etc...Thanks!
Follow Ups:
OK, so --
I'm not sure why you aren't happy with the bass. In my experience, it's superb, but I guess it depends on whether you're interested in realism or slam -- planars don't do well in the slam department (though mine do chest thumps -- they're in a small room). But dynamic dipole woofers would work and give you more slam than the panels, though they're never going to give you the slam of a sealed woofer.
The smaller drivers sound best, but won't plumb the depths like a larger woofer will. If I were ambitions, I'd use the dipole 18 woofers in an H-frame baffle and use a line of small woofers for the upper bass/midbass. You could make a line down the edge of the baffle, like in the new 9.5 ESL's, or a compact "V" woofer of the kind Magnepan has been showing. If WAF isn't an issue for you, I'd try running them down the side.
Neo 8's -- as you say, several of us have replaced the midrange with Neo 8's, and it works quite well. They fit right into the existing tweeter slot. You'll have to pad them down some because they're more efficient than the tweeters. The foil rebuild is also a possibility -- I haven't heard that.
You need an analog HPF on ribbon tweeters so you don't gain much by tri-amping. Oron Schuss, who came up with the Neo 8 mod, triamped originally but went to biamping because it wasn't buying him anything.
I don't know about the neoplanar drivers, but they go deeper than the Neo 8's, more like a Neo 10, and might be easier to blend with dynamic woofers.
Here's my question, though -- if you aren't going to use the bass panels, and you're going to replace the midranges, what is left of the Tympani? Just the ribbon tweeters, and you can always buy those from Magnepan. The Neo 8 is an easy mod since they slot right into the existing baffles, but if I were going to replace the bass panels as well, I think I'd sell the IVA's, buy new ribbons, and build a couple of line sources from scratch.
Thanks Josh for your considered reply.
Yes, I have thought of just getting rid of the tympani's, getting a Magnapan driver, and building a new baffle, etc.
I will probably just try the tympani mid/tweeter panel with the AE dipole 18's in h frames. That may well be good enough. I will also probably make a test baffle with the neoplanar 24's and neo-8's and try that with the h frame. It may be the case that that is as good or better than the tympani mid/tweeter.
Why would I need an analog HPS with the tweeter if I am doing all the crossovers in DSP? Why wouldn't I just do it with dsp?
Again, thanks for the reply.
True ribbons are easily damaged by low frequencies. A turn-off thump, DC, or a mistake with a digital filter can fry them. So you need at a minimum a series capacitor. Once you've protected the ribbon, you can use a digital XO for lowpass and whatever's left of the highpass (to make it higher order), but it seems to me that at that point you've reached the point of diminishing returns -- it's easier just to make an analog crossover and leave it at that, unless you're going to be playing a lot with crossover points and slopes.
I think you'll find that a Neo 8 line is a significant improvement over the original Tympani mids -- greater clarity -- and since all you have to do to try it is take out the old mids and stick the Neos in the slots, it's worth trying. But a Neo 8 won't equal the ribbon at the high end. It wants to be used with a real tweeter.
If I were making something from scratch, I'd use a Maggie ribbon, Neo 8s, and a line of small dynamic woofers, with a sealed sub for the bottom octave where room modes aren't an issue in all but the largest spaces.
3.7i
Exactly what I was going to say. And some tape to mark the floor so you can move them out of the way when not in use.
If you (or your loving wife) think the TIVas impose too much on the room ... I suggest you should sell them. People always snap up T-IVas ... especially a factory re-furbed set.Then you can make your own active 3-ways, using:
* your H-frame woofers
* either 1x 24" neoplanar driver each side for mids - or 3x Neo 8s
* and then 1x SB Acoustic Satori AT60NC-4 tweeter each side.I moved from large Maggies to my own OB spkrs, last year, and do not miss the true-ribbons when I have the AT60NC-4s!
Andy
Edits: 12/13/22
Be patient, the bass panel has to break in all over again. I am on my third set of maggies and they all sounded sub par until they broke in.
Thanks for the reply.
Even if they break in and the bass appears, they are taking up too much space...
Break in is only after new Mylar. If the Mylar was okey, Magnepan keep it and just replace the wiring.
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