BD Designs Horn Speakers

[Audiophile Bill]

Yep, in Leamington Spa Bill.

My preference for the Animas over both the Swings and Orelos is mainly down to how well they seem to suit and work with my room. I had a couple of guys over last week - one owns my previous pair of Orelos (which I bough new from Bert) and the other a pair of slightly smaller Orelinos (which he also bought directly from Bert). Both agree that the Animas are very special speakers. But the speaker/room interaction still seems to be the most important factor at play.

I've tried the Animas with a pair of very nice gainclone monos that Bert made up for me, and they sound pretty good. But the Animas really start to sing driven by my First Watt F5-cloned monos - a truly superb pair of amps.

Mani.

Mani - please can you send me any links you have to the amps you have been talking about.

 

[manisandher]

Bill, the official website is: http://www.firstwatt.com/f5.html. But my amps are monoblock clones of the stereo F5 amp, built very nicely by a local guy. I paid £1250 for the pair, which is a total bargain for the level of performance they deliver. (Nelson Pass, the designer, has released all the details of the F5 and the circuit boards are readily obtainable.)

HTH.

 

[shakti]

What did you have below that for bass, Shakti? That sounds very very good.

I had 2 versions of BD Design speakers, both with external bass amps and crossovers.
1 version was front loaded bass as well

 

[Audiophile Bill]

I had 2 versions of BD Design speakers, both with external bass amps and crossovers.
1 version was front loaded bass as well

View attachment 48277View attachment 48278

They look great, Shakti. How was the larger pair above?

 

[bonzo75]

What amps did you use on them

 

[Tango]

View attachment 48277

I really like the space and casualness of you room Shakti. What a lovely environment to be in. Add a view of Liechtenstein like Christoph's or an ocean view of Phuket and I can rest in peace in this room.

Tang

 

[morricab]

They look great, Shakti. How was the larger pair above?

Which BMS coaxial compression driver is in your speakers Bill? I think I would prefer that concept with a good horn over the single driver with horn version...just my experience between these driver types so far...I actually own both technologies but lean more towards compression driver/horn based systems.

 

[shakti]

They look great, Shakti. How was the larger pair above?

The larger pair was very nice, at least an early version of the Swing.
Performance was depending on the AER driver used, BD 3 over BD 2 over BD 1.I had an active and a passive crossover, I preferred the active crossover with class D for the bass and tubes for AER

 

[shakti]

What amps did you use on them

The lower bass section was Hypex Ncore 400 .
For the upper section I followed a recommendation, telling me, that the Owner of Opera is (was?) using BD Design speakers and that the Opera Consonance 300b mono amps were voiced with AER and Oris horns.

I even had the chance to buy a pair of those mono Amps with the wooden side cover in exactly the same white as the Oris Horns are painted.

 

[spiritofmusic]

118dB eff Bill? Any owner of these better have whisper quiet amps. Bill, I know your Mayers are deathly silent, but not all tube amps are similarly blessed.

 

[audioquattr]

Congratulations!
The speakers are looking very good, like they are designed for you room.
And what a beautifull turntable!
What amps are you using?

Happy listening!

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Which BMS coaxial compression driver is in your speakers Bill? I think I would prefer that concept with a good horn over the single driver with horn version...just my experience between these driver types so far...I actually own both technologies but lean more towards compression driver/horn based systems.

Hi Brad,

It is a BMS 4592ND coaxial compression driver that Bert mods to even it out some.

To be honest I have been very impressed when it indeed.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

118dB eff Bill? Any owner of these better have whisper quiet amps. Bill, I know your Mayers are deathly silent, but not all tube amps are similarly blessed.

Yep - here is link to said driver albeit not modified version but you can see indeed 118dB...

http://www.bmsspeakers.com/index.php?id=coaxial_neodymium_compression

In terms of noise - yes for sure. I haven’t got my system quiet yet so need to play around with cables / grounding.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Congratulations!
The speakers are looking very good, like they are designed for you room.
And what a beautifull turntable!
What amps are you using?

Happy listening!

Hey Audioquattr,

I heard really great things from Ked about your new system - you must be really happy!

I am using the Mayer 10Y hybrid silver preamp and the Mayer 46 stereo power amp. I use a NVO Spa II SE phono stage with various mullards etc. Cartridge is Madake. TT is the Vyger Indian Signature.

 

[audioquattr]

Hey Audioquattr,

I heard really great things from Ked about your new system - you must be really happy!

I am using the Mayer 10Y hybrid silver preamp and the Mayer 46 stereo power amp. I use a NVO Spa II SE phono stage with various mullards etc. Cartridge is Madake. TT is the Vyger Indian Signature.

Hi Bill,
Yes i am very happy with my new system. Discovering and learning new things each week.
Sort of work in progress at the moment.
Wow you have assembled a nice system. Would love to hear it someday .

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Hi Bill,
Yes i am very happy with my new system. Discovering and learning new things each week.
Sort of work in progress at the moment.
Wow you have assembled a nice system. Would love to hear it someday .

If you come over to UK, let us know. We can arrange a little tour.

 

[audioquattr]

If you come over to UK, let us know. We can arrange a little tour.

Thank you, will do. Would be nice .

 

[DaveC]

You known I actually thought that same thing this morning. My Mayer 10Y preamp might be be enough to power them. I will need to ask Thomas whether he thinks could be viable. Basically I would create some cables that are rca at one end and spades the other lol.

You'd probably need to replace the output trafo (I'm guessing it has one, or a cap) with one that is suited for an 8 ohm load. Or place an autoformer type device between the pre and driver to match impedances. But yes, it should be possible...

 

[adamaley]

@Audiophile Bill did you ever explore using the preamps to power your speakers further. I'm interested in your findings for academic reasons. Also, any further updates to the system?

 

[Audiophile Bill]

@Audiophile Bill did you ever explore using the preamps to power your speakers further. I'm interested in your findings for academic reasons. Also, any further updates to the system?

Hi Adamaley,

I didn’t get around to it in the end.

I have been (and continue to be) very busy building another horn based system so that has taken up most of my hifi time of late.

That said I do now have 3 pairs of Sablon Bocch platinum ICs that have been most welcome in terms of insight, making tonal colours more vivid, and lowering my overall system noise.

Best.