Ron's Speaker, Turntable, Power and Room Treatment Upgrades

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Nathan Funk followed up with a blessing of the swarm concept:

“I was also thinking about the overall setup and with the controllers your looking at using with variable phase, while not as good as a time “delay” function to properly align all the subwoofers its possible you could get good results with 4 subwoofers placed around the room. It would for sure take a lot more time and effort to dial it all in to maximize the potential but the end results could be better, all comes down to overall room acoustics really. As I mentioned the only downside to each driver having its own cabinet x4, vs 2 drivers in each cabinet x2 is that the cost would be a bit higher. You could always stack them if two locations worked best, but it would give you more flexibility if 4 locations did turn out to work better.”


So the gap between Duke’s view and Nathan’s view has narrowed in this case.

I asked Nathan about the common view as to whether it might be better to use three 15” inch drivers rather than two 18” drivers since the 15” drivers should be “faster.”

Nathan replied:

“The best balance is to have as low of mass you can, while providing the perfect amount of motor “traction” to match the power available. With our ultra series motor the 21” is about the perfect match, the 18” does have a tiny bit lower distortion in the super low end but its starting to run out of “traction” already, the motor is really maxing out the cone area, so going to a smaller cone yet would not yield any benefits at all. For your specific needs, 10-30hz, the 18” is the perfect match and will yield the lowest distortion, the 15” would be only as good for distortion but would have lower output, and or require more of them driving the cost up to get that same output. If you were limited on cabinet footprint, a 3x15” would be a good choice but the 2x18” is the way to go otherwise.”

I still like the height of two 18” drivers in one box. Nathan has decided that he thinks the interior box should be made of aluminum panels, with Baltic Birch panels on the exterior of the aluminum box.

I give Folsom credit for promoting the custom idea for this project. It is nice that Nathan is designing a custom, low distortion, low impedance load solution focused on 10Hz to 30Hz from two 18” drivers using his strongest motor assembly. Throw in aluminum interior panels (thank you for this idea, Magico), and this 400 pound box should be a pretty serious, old-school passive subwoofer.

And all so Jack and Lloyd don’t ask: “Where’s the beef?” :D

Four 18” cones should make a lot of woofing! (Does Spotify list submarine movie soundtracks? Haha!)
Hey Ron...was most curious to read this...having forgotten entirely about it. Very interesting reading. Did you continue to progress this idea at all?
 

Ron Resnick

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No, not at all.

We are just waiting for the repairs to the house to be completed sometime this decade.
 

Ron Resnick

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4B69D1BC-706F-4DA8-AEC8-14C11D339D0C.jpeg


After spending weeks last year researching grey-colored wood stains and staining samples of my actual walnut planks to develop a repeatable technique to achieve an aesthetic result which makes the walnut plank fully grey but still allows the natural grain to show through (so it doesn't look simply like grey paint), I have decided that somehow it does not look right.

So we sanded the grey stain off. :rolleyes:

To my eyes the natural walnut looks "richer" and more "luxurious" than the carefully applied grey stain.


07728D7D-5827-4272-A1CD-D7541E56AF97.jpeg


672436DF-D3AB-4A9C-BF8F-02D674D18032.jpeg

(The section outlined in blue is a plank to which has been applied a clear coating which has been proposed. I think this test plank looks nice.)
 
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Duke LeJeune

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Jul 22, 2013
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I DO NOT claim to have an artistic eye, but imo that clear-coated sanded walnut plank is BEAUTIFUL.
 

bonzo75

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I DO NOT claim to have an artistic eye, but imo that clear-coated sanded walnut plank is BEAUTIFUL.

Yeah, no point adding color over something natural
 

Folsom

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Oct 25, 2015
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That looks really nice.

It’s very hard to get pigmentations to look natural. Most will fail. Choosing wood that looks nice to start with is wise.
 

bonzo75

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We know many who apply tonal greyness to woody timbres
 

microstrip

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I DO NOT claim to have an artistic eye, but imo that clear-coated sanded walnut plank is BEAUTIFUL.

I agree. But in WBF natural means uncoated or coated? ;)
 

Joe Whip

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Feb 8, 2014
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We have two wood plank ceilings in our home, one in the family room which is a triple hip ceiling and a cathedral ceiling in the master. Both are clear coated. Let’s the natural beauty of the wood shine through. Good choice Ron.
 
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Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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Ron, how do you plan to finish your wood floors?

The same as these walnut wall planks -- totally clear and natural. But this photo show an unfinished floor.


6178985A-F23E-4D0D-8641-1D71D78F1658.jpeg
 
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Joe Whip

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Feb 8, 2014
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Wayne, PA
I use a 50-50 mix of Golden oak and Provincal stain for our traditional oak flooring. Gives a nice warm Color but not too dark.
 

Ron Resnick

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Ah, Peter, this photo shows a finished floor.

8B01D6A8-74AA-42A2-AE4B-C13D6ED65D5B.jpeg
 

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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Love the natural wood, stunning!
How about black polished / gloss concrete floors.


Thank you.

The front third of the room will be walnut planks, and the rear 2/3 of the room will be light gray carpet. (I copied this hybrid floor approach from MikeL's listening room. Mike asks rhetorically: "how many orchestra stages do you see with carpet?" In addition, I think it is nicely convenient to be able to roll and slide around heavy speakers and amplifiers on a wood floor rather than on carpet.)

I don't believe in highly acoustically reflective floors in listening rooms.
 

BruceD

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Dec 13, 2013
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In addition, I think it is nicely convenient to be able to roll and slide around heavy speakers and amplifiers on a wood floor rather than on carpet.)

That is surely going to be and amazing Music room alright Ron-kudos to the thought and effort it will be something else I'm certain;)!

If I may add a suggestion that may --or not be of some assistance on your existing choice of Floor.

In the distant past I was tasked with setting up a Pair of X-1 Slamms in a residence in Laurel Canyon Boulevard--with highly polished Floors:(

The lady( read Dragon!) of the house made it perfectly clear my G**nads would be garters if I so much as hairline marked the Floor:eek:

I felt the Wilson Castors would be out of the question and too big risk so here's my take and what I decided was the best course of action:)

Fluffy Bathmats-- the shaggy pinkies with the "Rubberised" bottoms-- I placed the disassembled units on each of ones these --with the Fluffy side

DOWN and the Rubberside UP :D

So reassembled Speakers now sit on the RUBBER with the Fluffy on the Floor and can be slid smoothly and silently around.--:cool:

I found much easier rather than the castors plus no tyremarks/etc and piece of cake to set with the Spikes(then)-simply tilt Speaker slightly

push Mat under out of way of spike placement-- with bases of course--same on other side. I found it worked very well.

Just thought may be a consideration.

Anyway I lived to fight another day--:rolleyes:

Good Listening,

BruceD
 

tima

Industry Expert
Mar 3, 2014
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the Upper Midwest
View attachment 67036


After spending weeks last year researching grey-colored wood stains and staining samples of my actual walnut planks to develop a repeatable technique to achieve an aesthetic result which makes the walnut plank fully grey but still allows the natural grain to show through (so it doesn't look simply like grey paint), I have decided that somehow it does not look right.

So we sanded the grey stain off. :rolleyes:

To my eyes the natural walnut looks "richer" and more "luxurious" than the carefully applied grey stain.


View attachment 67037


View attachment 67038

(The section outlined in blue is a plank to which has been applied a clear coating which has been proposed. I think this test plank looks nice.)

Very nice !
Nothing hunt club about it
The warm natural look of beautiful wood. :)

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...-treatment-upgrades.17901/page-73#post-544522
 

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