On Wed, 11 May 2005 19:44:45 GMT, "Wally" wrote:

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

OK, in that case you have a genuine option going for you. Most of the
best box speakers I've heard have been active designs. Proper ones,
that is, not the Linn/Naim skamkrap.

I'm currently looking at a mid/top cabinet in 18mm birch ply (because I
happen to have some). The sides slope inwards at the top, the back panel
slopes forwards, and the top panel slopes down towards the back. Volume is
about 7 litres. Would you say that this is on the right track?

No, the right track is to buy a commercial speaker. There is
absolutely no way that the home-builder can match KEF, Mission, B&W
etc. for matching of drivers to cabinets, and final voicing of the
crossover. This has been proven in several blind trials, where £2-500
commercial speakers totally blew away much more expensive homebuilds
in 'all comers' challenges.

The only area where the homebuilder has a genuine advantage is in
subwoofers.

What are your thoughts on this driver time alignment malarkey? Depending on
how critical this is, the mid/top cabs would either be on their own stands
(for easy moving around), or mounted onto the bass cabs (which I'd prefer to
have out of the way).

Theoretically, it's a good idea, and there was a big fashion for them
in the early '80s, but that seems to have died away, so it seems not
to be a critical factor for most listeners.

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Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering