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Build of Carmody S2000

Rick Sykora

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Order arrived yesterday and unboxed today. I ordered the works and so here is a pic and my initial impressions:

7B0F7564-F9BA-4CF4-B429-D973F8BDEC45.jpeg

So this one is a bit different than I expect (in general and from Paul Carmody). For one, unlike most of his work, it is not on his website but there is good information about it on diysoundgroup.com. I was thinking it was a bit bigger than it is but in itself is not a negative.

The Baltic birch flat pack seems nice and the woofer is a real surprise. Since I left some wrapping on, the item at the top is the an adjustable port tube. At its shortest length, it is ready to go. Just under it are the inductors. Both are air core. The woofer one is a Jantzen and the smaller is a Dayton. Just under that is a Wavecor dome tweeter that have not used before, but the datasheet indicates it is pretty good.

Since I ordered the crossover pc board, did not get a schematic, but the overall topology is 2nd order electrical for the woofer and 3rd order for the tweeter. The 4.5 inch Denovo carbon-fiber woofer is just above it and is very substantial for a little woofer and hopefully has minimal break up as the it carries most of the midrange duty as crossover is at 3000 Hz. Did not find a datasheet for it, so will do some measuring myself. The chassis is cast and motor structure is impressive. Here is a pic:
54239A20-44B5-493B-BF75-4425C6BA78FD.jpeg

Above that are some terminal blocks and the screws. Likely will skip the terminal blocks and solder external wiring directly to the board. On the right is the bag with quick-connects, caps and resistors. The woofer caps are Audyn (red ones) and the rest of the components are Dayton brand. Not to big a surprise as PE is just up the freeway from diysoundgroup.

Not pictured are the other tweeter, woofer and port tube. There is also a single sheet included with the details about crossover component placement. Other instructions are available on website. Not included are the damping, binding posts or any wire (have them all anyway). Preferred damping is light polyfill or foam lining. Will probably use foam, but will see what works best when cabinet is together and crossover mounting location is chosen.

Am still wrapping up second XL-S Encore, so these parts will likely sit for the rest of the week. Looks like really straightforward build so expect will not take much more than a weekend to assemble. Stay tuned!
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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First of two crossovers soldered...

image.jpg


Forgot how much easier the job is when you have a pc board. Used a little butyl rubber to get components to stick in place (and serve as dampening) and then just turned board over and soldered away!

Also found standoffs and mounting screws packed with the terminal blocks. :cool: Really needed as my usual method uses much larger and longer screws than is needed for this kit’s thinner plywood.
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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So, while I really like the supplied pc boards. they do pose a challenge in a cabinet this small. Between a nice size magnet woofer, space for the port and the height of the center inductor, there are very limited options on where to mount this crossover. I like to pick a location where I the wiring is cleanest and I can readily swap the crossover in and out.

I had already eliminated the typical bottom spot as it was way too cramped. This speaker is pretty deep and so the side panels are the largest ones. The wiring is better from the right side. As for ease of access, a more centered location put the inductors too close to the woofer magnet for comfort, so moved as far back and down that would still allow me to add foam lining if needed. Given this will make the access really tough, am planning to mount the crossover BEFORE I glue all the panels together and plan to test it sooner too.

In hindsight, may have been better to forgo the pc boards and split the crossover into 2 boards. If you are a beginner or not electrically-inclined, stick with the pc boards. Otherwise, you may want to take 2 part crossover approach. :cool:
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Since I wanted to solder the driver connections to the crossover board, had to make the holes big enough for 16 gauge stranded wire. This ends up being about a 3/16 inch hole. There is plenty of pad available, but need to be liberal with solder to make a good solder joint. The board fit was even tighter than I thought as you can see below. The crossover board is about a .5 inch from the panels. I temporarily put the bottom and port tube in just to use as a guides and to illustrate just how cozy things are...

image.jpg

Honestly this might be the only place the board fits. It could slide more towards the front, but will still be close to the bottom edge anyway, so just made it even.
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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All sides on...

image.jpg

After quick impedance check with drivers connected, all looks good, so will close up and let glue set overnight.
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Good news is that first one is built and it sounds decent In a very short listening session. Bad news is cannot find any posted measurements for the design, so cannot validate. Guess will have to complete the second one and see how well they match...

F1D93EF2-089F-44D8-B0A1-58D672EFD8E5.jpeg
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Interested to see how this turns out.

@Rick Sykora have you seen the new DA-Wave MT Bookshelf Speaker Kit from Parts-Express?

Not until you mentioned and shortly after their monthly flyer arrived in the mail...

Looks promising, but give it some time and will see how popular it is. Like that it has flat pack and the damping included. Instructions look pretty good except where the need to edit out the Passive Aggressive reference. :facepalm:
 
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mtmpenn

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Looking good!

An aside about the DA-Wave kit. In the assembly instructions there is a measured frequency response. It seems to have a pretty significant downward tilt. If that is an anechoic or quasi-anechoic measurement wouldn’t the in-room response likely be way too tilted?
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Looking good!

An aside about the DA-Wave kit. In the assembly instructions there is a measured frequency response. It seems to have a pretty significant downward tilt. If that is an anechoic or quasi-anechoic measurement wouldn’t the in-room response likely be way too tilted?

Maybe, but rooms are really different, so not sure it is a big concern. Can always eq it too. My CBTs use a small full range driver and its response and ragged around the top end. with eq is a lot better and my (admittedly aging but decent hearing) do not sense a lack of highs. :)
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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The second S2000 is wrapping up.

Was not sure I entirely liked what I heard, but had some high expectations. I changed amps recently and so changed back.

Will see when I have another to compare. :cool:
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Have a stereo pair now and can attest that they are almost identical from an impedance perspective. :) The boxes are tuned to around 62 Hz and are around a 4 ohm load into the lower midrange.

Will not have time to do a FR measure as having guests over the weekend, but how to get some listening in and will update when am able.
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Did not get any stereo listening done, but here is the FR. The 2 speakers are closely matched (usual conditions, on-axis, ~1m, gated at 3 ms, 75 dB)...

Carmody s2000 FR.png
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Carmody s2000 impedance measurement...

carmody s2000 Z.jpg
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Did a bit of listening of the the stereo pair. Will share a bit more opinion than usual as it may be a while before Amir can test.

My usual listening setup was used. Amazon Music HD via Macbook Pro to Topping E30 to Proton A1150 to s2000s. No room eq or other eq. Simple straight wire with gain sort of arrangement...

Have found the S2000s to be articulate and able to produce bass beyond my expectation. However, can see am pushing the little woofer to its limit in a medium size room. The room is a bit lively compared to my primary room so may be more output challenged in a more damped environment. All in all, I would recommend them. :)
 
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Rick Sykora

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IMG_20190602_131625.jpg


I use a pair of these as nearfield computer speakers and have no complaints. The cabinet dimensions (and flatpacks, other than the front baffle) are identical between these and the Overnight Sensations. I agree with Rick, if I wanted to go loud with these I'd cross them with a sub so the highpass would keep the woofers out of trouble, but with them 2 feet from my head it hasn't been an issue.
 
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Rick Sykora

Rick Sykora

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Shipping one to Amir today!
 
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