Visit to Audiophile Bill to hear his horns project

[spiritofmusic]

I meant those crazy fellas on the DIY blogs, Far East and Russian super duper installs, those guys whose whole house is a horn.
For those who want to keep their sanity, there's always Bill's horns Lol.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Big sigh. I had gone relatively silent on a more recent field coil notion because I like to sit with ideas just for a little before committing… but yesterday’s big reveal of your horns really has lit a bit of a fire in me. However seeing these pics has put the fear of DIY back in me … that is amazing (almost scarily so) Bill. I thought I might get lost down that tungar psu rabbit’s hole and there you go joyously sailing and freefalling through it. Wow. I take my hat off. Fantastic.

Hi Graham,

I have partially and inadvertently misled you on the Tungars. Those in the pic are the ones made by the engineer of my motors (same as Alexander) but belong to Alexander.
That said, I am already sailing down that mad route (unsurprisingly lol) - been retrieving all manner of schematics from various folks so will be building my own.

 

[morricab]

Big sigh. I had gone relatively silent on a more recent field coil notion because I like to sit with ideas just for a little before committing… but yesterday’s big reveal of your horns really has lit a bit of a fire in me. However seeing these pics has put the fear of DIY back in me … that is amazing (almost scarily so) Bill. I thought I might get lost down that tungar psu rabbit’s hole and there you go joyously sailing and freefalling through it. Wow. I take my hat off. Fantastic.

Is it clear that field coil sounds better than Alnico? The cost of Supravox drivers are the same for field coil or Alnico. The BD4s were what? Alnico before and now Bill will make them field coil. Just wondering if someone here has heard the same driver with Alnico and field coil (Supravox or Voxativ)?

 

[morricab]

Hi Graham,

I have partially and inadvertently misled you on the Tungars. Those in the pic are the ones made by the engineer of my motors (same as Alexander) but belong to Alexander.
That said, I am already sailing down that mad route (unsurprisingly lol) - been retrieving all manner of schematics from various folks so will be building my own.

What power supply would you use in the mean time? I heard WE replicas from Line Magnetic that were all field coil. First of all the sound was incredible but interestingly, i heard them in Konstanz, Germany at the factory of AcousticPlan, which makes their own amps and speakers. What was interesting was that the owner of AcousticPlan, Klaus Jaeckle, had designed and built his own tube based power supplies for the field coils and we compared that to the standard supplies from Line Magnetic. There was no contest that the AcousticPlan power supplies were much better. So, it really seems to matter even for magnetization of the speaker.

 

[christensenleif@msn.com]

when you enter fieldcoil territory, you open up another can of worms, whether for carts or speakers.....

 

[bonzo75]

I have heard the acoustic plan 16a. The system did not sound as good as the WE 16a at silvercore. But at silvercore he was using GIP at that time and I also got to try the LM and his own drivers. The LM was disappointing. The power supply was his own

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Is it clear that field coil sounds better than Alnico? The cost of Supravox drivers are the same for field coil or Alnico. The BD4s were what? Alnico before and now Bill will make them field coil. Just wondering if someone here has heard the same driver with Alnico and field coil (Supravox or Voxativ)?

Hi Brad,

AER motors are neodymium.

I will start a thread on all things field coil separate to this as I would like to discuss.

My field coil motor faceplate is super flexible and drilled so I can fit them to many different drivers. I will be testing AER, Lowther, Voxativ and Stamm. A field coil Stamm keeps me awake at night lol.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

What power supply would you use in the mean time? I heard WE replicas from Line Magnetic that were all field coil. First of all the sound was incredible but interestingly, i heard them in Konstanz, Germany at the factory of AcousticPlan, which makes their own amps and speakers. What was interesting was that the owner of AcousticPlan, Klaus Jaeckle, had designed and built his own tube based power supplies for the field coils and we compared that to the standard supplies from Line Magnetic. There was no contest that the AcousticPlan power supplies were much better. So, it really seems to matter even for magnetization of the speaker.

Because of the nature of design and the inherent flexibility of altering the driver t/s parameters to match your system (or horn), I need a variable dc voltage/amp supply so will be using one of those boring medical / lab supplies - 1 for each channel. This allows me to tweak to hearts content before moving to Tungar madness.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

when you enter fieldcoil territory, you open up another can of worms, whether for carts or speakers.....

We like worms

 

[the sound of Tao]

Hi Graham,

I have partially and inadvertently misled you on the Tungars. Those in the pic are the ones made by the engineer of my motors (same as Alexander) but belong to Alexander.
That said, I am already sailing down that mad route (unsurprisingly lol) - been retrieving all manner of schematics from various folks so will be building my own.

If you look to the spirit of your gear already as some kind of precedent then it follows that the idea of going to field coil will engender ultimately that same level of response as a flow on in the development of the Psu. You certainly have the gleam of perfection in your vision… and there’s probably more than a few chapters involved in this journey.

But I also see how it’s a trip worth signing on to. We all are invested in this hobby but you’re certainly teasing out those boundaries… I do love the way you’re heading.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Its the steady flow of perfecto 2°C chilled Craft that fuels the insanity.
God help us if he was a coffee man.

 

[bonzo75]

Its the steady flow of perfecto 2°C chilled Craft that fuels the insanity.
God help us if he was a coffee man.

I did introduce him to freshly grounded beans with v60 filter but he didn't bite

 

[Audiophile Bill]

If you look to the spirit of your gear already as some kind of precedent then it follows that the idea of going to field coil will engender ultimately that same level of response as a flow on in the development of the Psu. You certainly have the gleam of perfection in your vision… and there’s probably more than a few chapters involved in this journey.

But I also see how it’s a trip worth signing on to. We all are invested in this hobby but you’re certainly teasing out those boundaries… I do love the way you’re heading.

Thanks Graham. All fun and games. Just feel totally compelled to explore the inner madness.

It is pretty consistent with my general life philosophy of “go hard or go home.”

 

[jeff1225]

Thanks Graham. All fun and games. Just feel totally compelled to explore the inner madness.

It is pretty consistent with my general life philosophy of “go hard or go home.”

I think "full madness" would be to have Thomas Mayer make your power supplies.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

I think "full madness" would be to have Thomas Mayer make your power supplies.

Thomas does make some field coil supplies on his website although they are solid state I noted. Am sure he would brew some Tungar as a bespoke request though. Alas my budget has been obliterated over last year in hifi so I will diy for now. Plenty of schematics online although not sure of their sound quality.

 

[microstrip]

Because of the nature of design and the inherent flexibility of altering the driver t/s parameters to match your system (or horn), I need a variable dc voltage/amp supply so will be using one of those boring medical / lab supplies - 1 for each channel. This allows me to tweak to hearts content before moving to Tungar madness.

The problem with such power supplies is that you will not be able to control the damping (output impedance of the power supply) . Tube power supplies usually have much higher output impedance than solid state ones. What is the voltage and current you will need?

 

[Audiophile Bill]

The problem with such power supplies is that you will not be able to control the damping (output impedance of the power supply) . Tube power supplies usually have much higher output impedance than solid state ones. What is the voltage and current you will need?

Hi Micro,

The voltage will be from around 9v to 17v, current is 3 amps

 

[morricab]

If you look to the spirit of your gear already as some kind of precedent then it follows that the idea of going to field coil will engender ultimately that same level of response as a flow on in the development of the Psu. You certainly have the gleam of perfection in your vision… and there’s probably more than a few chapters involved in this journey.

But I also see how it’s a trip worth signing on to. We all are invested in this hobby but you’re certainly teasing out those boundaries… I do love the way you’re heading.

If you went field coil what compression driver are you then looking at? A replica WE?

 

[morricab]

Because of the nature of design and the inherent flexibility of altering the driver t/s parameters to match your system (or horn), I need a variable dc voltage/amp supply so will be using one of those boring medical / lab supplies - 1 for each channel. This allows me to tweak to hearts content before moving to Tungar madness.

Someday I will likely try some field coil drivers... The Supravoxes are my first Alnico drivers...me likey..

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Someday I will likely try some field coil drivers... The Supravoxes are my first Alnico drivers...me likey..

I really like Supravox drivers too. I have been using the 285 Supravox drivers in my mid bass horn. Lovely tonally.