End Game Speaker Quest - The Final Chapter

[Mr. Widget]

So basically a DIY speaker? Active or passive?

Yes, DIY speakers.
They were designed almost 20 years ago.
They are externally active three-ways with a passive network between the horn and the super tweeter which kicks in at ~12kHz.

 

[MKR]

Yes, DIY speakers.
They were designed almost 20 years ago.
They are externally active three-ways with a passive network between the horn and the super tweeter which kicks in at ~12kHz.

They have clearly stood the test of time … outstanding!

 

[MKR]

First, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Just a quick update … Finally Soundfield was able to ship out the demo speakers with switchable midrange heads (planar vs coax). Took longer than expected due to the hurricane that recently slammed the southeast. Soundfield in Tampa area and sadly they did not escape the devastation.

The demos are expected to arrive week of Jan 6, will keep everyone posted!

 

[kma100]

Congratulations. I hope it meets your requirements!

 

[MKR]

Congratulations. I hope it meets your requirements!

My main concern is I will like attributes of both drivers and not be able to decide which one to go with in the final EG design!

Note a huge shout out to Soundfield for making this happen, was quite a complex design endeavor

 

[prestigetone]

Do you have pictures?

 

[MKR]

Do you have pictures?

Will post them when speakers arrive

 

[MattHooper]

I can relate to your two-year journey and deciding on speakers. Mine took around that long too as I remember from my last speaker binge. Not only is it fun, but it helps satisfy a no stone unturned perfectionist itch.

In my case, only a couple loudspeakers from all the ones I heard really jumped out and grabbed me. And I ended up with the ones that grabbed the most.

After owning the speakers, if ever find myself thinking for a moment “ what if?” about some other loudspeaker, I think “ nah… I heard all the contenders that I am likely to be able to hear, my vetting was extremely thorough, everything’s a compromise, but these ones came out ahead.”

Works for me anyway. I suspect your thoroughness will work for you.

 

[MKR]

Do you have pictures?

As a look ahead, the demo “platform” basically the below (1212s, shown at Flexpo Feb this year), same coax, with other modifications and allow for the interchangeable planar head

 

[MKR]

I can relate to your two-year journey and deciding on speakers. Mine took around that long too as I remember from my last speaker binge. Not only is it fun, but it helps satisfy a no stone unturned perfectionist itch.

In my case, only a couple loudspeakers from all the ones I heard really jumped out and grabbed me. And I ended up with the ones that grabbed the most.

After owning the speakers, if ever find myself thinking for a moment “ what if?” about some other loudspeaker, I think “ nah… I heard all the contenders that I am likely to be able to hear, my vetting was extremely thorough, everything’s a compromise, but these ones came out ahead.”

Works for me anyway. I suspect your thoroughness will work for you.

Exactly, couldn’t have said it better myself

 

[prestigetone]

Did they arrive?

 

[Neekomax]

Just read through this thread, very cool project. I am a very satisfied Soundfield Audio customer, and I can say that the level of 'taking care of the customer' is above and beyond anything I've ever experienced in a few decades of buying stuff. Put that together with knowing how to build speakers that sound great and use sound psychoacoustic and engineering principles, and that's what you get with AJ.

Looking forward to following the design evolution, MKR!

 

[MKR]

Just read through this thread, very cool project. I am a very satisfied Soundfield Audio customer, and I can say that the level of 'taking care of the customer' is above and beyond anything I've ever experienced in a few decades of buying stuff. Put that together with knowing how to build speakers that sound great and use sound psychoacoustic and engineering principles, and that's what you get with AJ.

Looking forward to following the design evolution, MKR!

Very cool! Good to see another satisfied Soundfield customer here on ASR. They do indeed take very good care of their customers

 

[MKR]

Sorry for delayed update folks, busy with life … So the prototypes indeed arrived, but had not had time to set them up, plan to do so this weekend. Will try to post my initial impressions next few days.

 

[prestigetone]

Sorry for delayed update folks, busy with life … So the prototypes indeed arrived, but had not had time to set them up, plan to do so this weekend. Will try to post my initial impressions next few days.

Do an unboxing!

 

[prestigetone]

Did you get them set up?

 

[MKR]

Sorry all for delay … I have spent extensive time now listening to the planar config (midrange + supertweeter) and it is simply superb. Hearing this driver on the Titan line arrays last year Florida Audio Expo I expected it to be good, but it has fully exceeded my expectations. Soundfield’s designs have always done an incredible disappearing act, but these planars are another level. The imaging is spooky real. The artists are standing in front of me. In addition, the resolution/detail is excellent, maybe the best I have heard (and that is saying a lot, I have heard just a few systems past couple years). Strings, horns, piano, human voice, all presented with astonishing realism. Again, best word I can use is spooky. I should add this is with zero EQ whatsoever. I am very surprised other speaker manufacturers are not using this driver! They are missing out on excellent performance.

I should also note, even though not the focus of this activity, that the cardioid base cabs are of course excellent, no surprise there, best portrayal of low frequencies of any speaker I have heard, part of the reason of course I decided to go with Soundfield.

If I had to make decision today, would go with the planar, but I need to give the coax a fair shake. Will listen to planar for another week or so, then switch over to the coax.

A pic for your viewing pleasure. And note these are a bit banged up and hacked up (the coax config was actually at the Florida show last year, so the cabs have some mileage on them, plus they went through a hurricane, literally). Plus the mods to accommodate swapping the heads and they are truly Frankenspeakers . Simply to say, don’t judge a book by its cover, that is not the point of this.

More to come, stay tuned …

 

[MattHooper]

Awesome.

Impressive speakers are always more impressive when you get to listen to them in your own room IMO.

Reminds me of when I was originally considering moving to a project projection based Home Theatre and so I was looking at projection set up in the stores. As cool as it was, nothing prepared me for experiencing an image that big in my own home. That was a true Woah moment.

Likewise, once you get to set up speakers the way you want to maximize performance and then just sit back on your own comfy chair… you just can’t beat that experience.

I’m really curious about what you’re going to think of the coax compared to the planar.

I have my own views of the sound of planars (awesome in ways less so in others), but I’ll keep that to myself and look forward to your report.

 

[mglobe]

Looking forward to the comparison of the two configurations.

 

[prestigetone]

Please post measurements. After all this is ASR. I want to see the best you've heard in action. Which driver is the one you can't believe other manufacturers dont use?