Markaudio CHN 110 building and comparisons with Genelec 8340 SAM monitors

[Tangband]

Yes. They do feel nice in hand. They are 10x overpriced, but not 100x or more like some of the competition.

Im no friend of very expensive cables and most of those , if one can hear a real difference , are mostly worse sounding than an ordinary 1,5 mm ofc cable . But in this case, in my opinion the k20 makes a difference soundwise for the better, just like the Rega dac does, clearly better sounding than the Yamaha dac .

Something thats hard to explain when looking at the measurements

 

[Tangband]

Comparison with a very expensive speaker today ( at a different location ) shows that for similar sound with chn110, one will need the passive line bafflestep correction , 3 dB at at about 600 Hz shown at page 5. This is also ofcourse very room and loudspeaker placement dependent. If the DIY speaker had been 30 cm wide at the front baffle , any baffle step correction would be much lower in frequency and maybe not needed.

This is the price to pay for building a slim, narrow speaker that is 19.5 cm wide.

Ofcourse one could use a good digital eq to get the same result as a passive line correction.

 

[Tangband]

…. And a WiiM pro can be used to do that baffle step correction, together with some mild peq . No need for a passive one.. My Yamaha wxc50 is sold.

Im happy to discover that the WiiM pro with the peq funktion on, is fully transparent for the ear. No worsening of the sound, no digital glare, no resampling going on. No lost transparency to the sound , like it was with the Dbx pa2 I used with the hybrid project when using the peq function.

 

[Tangband]

The sound is optimised now , and the peq is slightly changed . With good recordings everything sounds wonderful.
Using the WiiM pro PEQ does not worsening the transparency of the sound, and this is highly unusual.

 

[nowonas]

Thank you for a very interesting thread! I have also built a few fulltone speakers, and your approach and findings is aligned with mine. I find a fulltone using DSP has a superior sound compared to conventional passive speakers. I do not think most people understand how much a passive crossover is affecting the sound negatively. And as you say, it is affecting the sound in the most sensitive part of your ear.

The Mark Audio drivers are great, but I have also built a pair of speakers using the Seas fulltone speakers.. They are a bit harder to get right (needs more dsp), but they sound amazing and in my opinion far better than the Mark Audios.

 

[Tangband]

Thank you for a very interesting thread! I have also built a few fulltone speakers, and your approach and findings is aligned with mine. I find a fulltone using DSP has a superior sound compared to conventional passive speakers. I do not think most people understand how much a passive crossover is affecting the sound negatively. And as you say, it is affecting the sound in the most sensitive part of your ear.

The Mark Audio drivers are great, but I have also built a pair of speakers using the Seas fulltone speakers.. They are a bit harder to get right (needs more dsp), but they sound amazing and in my opinion far better than the Mark Audios.

Thanks !
yes, - I will probably never go back to a passive or active multiway loudspeakers . I also share your experience with passive and also active crossovers - they are never perfect.

 

[Tangband]

Comparison with the good sounding Genelec 8030C .
The sound quality with the chn110 loudspeaker with Hypex ncore and WiiM pro with PEQ is clearly superior, big difference. Much better bass, dynamics and spatial details with the chn110.
The Genelec 8030 is really good, and its in direct comparison they fall short.

Here is the latest inroom frequency response from the chn110 with 4 PEQ . Line audio om1 mic with audiotools, 1/6 oct smoothing, 1 meter away from one speaker, 15 degrees off axis.

 

[Tangband]

I have changed my speaker position in the room . Using the average fuction in audiotools, the measurements done with line audio om1 between 200-20000 Hz is 1 meter from one speaker, on axis and 15 degrees off axis . This resulted in slightly different corrections in the midrange and a better sound from listeningposition.

In the bass, learning about dsp extension has made me use a shelving filter with a Q higher than 1 at the tuning frequency to both gain bass output and lowering cone movement below the fB frequency, for this speaker at 36 Hz .

https://audioxpress.com/files/attachment/2721