Fleetwood Sound - Deville speakers

[Goodman]

Many people do not trust their own ability to pick quality... in any area. This is why people buy name brand fashion, buy expensive wines, and in our case here, expensive speakers and electronics. If you have a good story, there are people who will buy the story and will happily believe they made the "right" decision.

Even their story is lame.

 

[Donovan]

These speakers are out of my price range, but they are oddly interesting. There are quite a few folks devoted to these speakers. I didn’t know about these until I saw Steve Huff’s video.

 

[Donovan]

After reading this in the Sterophile review, I had to get online and read opinions on this:

"MDF is compressed sawdust in glue. It is a horrible, cheap material for a speaker, sounds dead, has poor structural integrity, and is something we never use for cabinetry," Weiss said.

"Loudspeaker manufacturers in general have moved in the wrong direction over the past decades, in a race to the bottom, trying to make the deadest, heaviest, most nonresonant enclosures," Weiss replied. "This is a foolish exercise. The rear-wave energy produced by speakers has to go someplace, and with extremely dense, heavy enclosures, this energy is first absorbed by the enclosure, stored, then released in a delayed fashion which results in heavy, sluggish sound that characterizes so many speakers today. Wood in general has a very natural sound, which is precisely why it's still used to make musical instruments despite all of our technological innovations."

Fleetwood Sound Company DeVille SQ loudspeaker

Oswalds Mill Audio's products espouse a sort of steam-punk-meets-modern visual style, but the company's philosophies are straight from hi-fi's '50s and '60s glory days, an era when idler-drive turntables, low-power tube amps, and horn-loaded loudspeakers were the norm. That history and hi-fi's...

www.stereophile.com

As a complete layman, this sounds believable. But also knowing nearly all speaker manufacturers do the opposite, I realize most will probably dispute their claim. I’m happy with my nonresonant enclosed Revel speakers, but like many audio enthusiasts, I’m curious about what’s out there and if I’m missing anything!

 

[thewas]

As a complete layman, this sounds believable. But also knowing nearly all speaker manufacturers do the opposite, I realize most will probably dispute their claim. I’m happy with my nonresonant enclosed Revel speakers, but like many audio enthusiasts, I’m curious about what’s out there and if I’m missing anything!

That is the problem of such oversimplified statements, they sound plausible but aren't sufficient. Ideally a loudspeaker enclosure should be as stiff and at the same time as damped as possible (and one typically opposes the other) which can be approximated either with very heavy and/or expensive materials or with clever engineering like damped embracing.

 

[Penelinfi]

I recently slapped together some speaker drivers in old cabinets with no bracing and some absorber material. They are surprisingly enjoyable; you can of course hear where my heavier MDF speakers with more advanced drivers are technically better.
It's interesting that "all sorts of wrong" can still be nice to listen too.

 

[sdrichard]

I recently slapped together some speaker drivers in old cabinets with no bracing and some absorber material. They are surprisingly enjoyable; you can of course hear where my heavier MDF speakers with more advanced drivers are technically better.
It's interesting that "all sorts of wrong" can still be nice to listen too.

Thin wall with some absorber material, that's the design of the old BBC speakers. Today, Harbeth and a few others still have that design with great results. On the other end of the spectrum, you have companies like Diapason that use solid wood to build their cabinet, also with surprisingly good results (I used to own a pair of Adamantes). Each of these cabinet design probably add some personality/coloration to the sound. But like many here already know, coloration/distortion can often sound quite pleasing.

 

[Jim Taylor]

Thin wall with some absorber material, that's the design of the old BBC speakers. Today, Harbeth and a few others still have that design with great results. On the other end of the spectrum, you have companies like Diapason that use solid wood to build their cabinet, also with surprisingly good results (I used to own a pair of Adamantes). Each of these cabinet design probably add some personality/coloration to the sound. But like many here already know, coloration/distortion can often sound quite pleasing.

Some people are quite taken with the fact that a physical construction can create recognizable sound, like this. We can all be proud when we create magic.

Jim

 

[MattHooper]

Some people are quite taken with the fact that a physical construction can create recognizable sound, like this. We can all be proud when we create magic.

Jim

Sounds very “organic”

 

[Mr. Widget]

Sounds very “organic”

So is dung...

Paying a premium for "roasted" wood and audiophile caps? This seems to me to be putting lipstick on a pig... and not even a nice shade of red.

 

[AudioResurgence]

I heard the Devilles at a local dealer, in a mostly ARC setup. They sounded very good indeed. Big, bold, dynamic presentation, far more refined and pleasing than other horn designs I’ve heard.

I don’t much care for the styling on the Devilles but some of the Oswald Mill higher end gear is a work of art (subjective I know).
That said, the chief bloke comes off as a bit of a pompous knob.

 

[sdrichard]

That said, the chief bloke comes off as a bit of a pompous knob.

It's a necessary trait when you sell something that is a bit more than just a product, especially when that something is heavily based on unique aesthetics/design.

 

[sdrichard]

I heard the Devilles at a local dealer, in a mostly ARC setup. They sounded very good indeed. Big, bold, dynamic presentation, far more refined and pleasing than other horn designs I’ve heard.

There aren't many chatters about these speakers online. The the few I've seen were all quite positive.

 

[Holmz]

Here, perhaps, is …

View attachment 257195

I see some similarit with this deVille.

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