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Upcoming Tom Danley Hifi speakers

MattHooper

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Great to see Tom Danley posting! Admittedly I was unfamiliar with Mr. Danley's designs so this thread has been enlightening.

It is my observation that the less of these extra things speakers do, the more you can make it sound like and even have people get up to look for a center channel speaker to find where the voice in front of them is coming from.

I believe that is what audiophiles are talking about when they talk of a good speaker "disappearing." People not in to subjective descriptions of sound scratch their head, but it means "disappearing" as an apparent source of the sound and the more of the sound that doesn't seem to be directly coming out of the speakers - including hard panned information - the more a speaker is "disappearing."

The speakers that did this the most in my room where the MBL omnis I owned.

But recently I've had a fascinating experience in placing some fairly cheap spring-based footers under my floor standing speakers. They are on a wood floor in an older house. The idea was to try decoupling the speaker as some have noted impressive effects in doing so.

When I placed the springs under the speakers I could no longer feel any vibrations to the floor beneath the speakers even with loud bass-heavy music. But the most fascinating effect was in how the speakers "disappeared" as sound sources much more. Everything seemed to take place behind and beyond the speakers. Even harder panned instruments and voices didn't seem to "stick" to the speaker but rather just floated free, often further behind than before. Neat stuff. My layman's inference is that - absent the spring footers - something about coupling the speaker to the floor, having the floor vibrate (and perhaps pass back up to the speaker?) produced some form of distortion that helped "locate" the speakers as sound sources. (Though I didn't love everything about the effect of the spring footers).

Anyway, I'd sure love to hear your new speaker design some day!
 

HammerSandwich

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...it means "disappearing" as an apparent source of the sound and the more of the sound that doesn't seem to be directly coming out of the speakers...
Dunlavy SC-IVs set up on long wall in 13'x18' room, playing CG's & @John Atkinson's Fairfield Four recommendation. After hearing a few tracks in 100% audio room with 1x damping panel, listening to 6' towers, asks, "Where are the speakers?"
 

MattHooper

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Awesome, that was a really fun listen, hardisj! It's great to see you have such enthusiasm for a speaker, given how you spend lots of time investigating speakers for flaws :)
 

tomtoo

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Thx a lot Erin&Tom!

I realy wonder how the sh50 measures on the klippel. Its a PA speaker. Hopefully Erins garage get not damaged. ;)
 
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Stu Pidasso

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Thx a lot Erin&Tom!

I realy wonder how the sh50 measures on the klippel. Its a PA speaker. Hopefully Erins garage get not damaged. ;)

You may think of it as a PA Speaker but they sound remarkable. In fact, they sound good enough to get over the negative WAF factor normally included with such large boxes in ones living room.
 

tomtoo

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You may think of it as a PA Speaker but they sound remarkable. In fact, they sound good enough to get over the negative WAF factor normally included with such large boxes in ones living room.

Oh, thats why i like to see them on the klippel. I mean its a PA speaker that can easy hammer your brain on the back wall. Iam crazy enough to like that. ;)

Edit says: Reading your equipment is like phanthasy land for grown ups for me. Far far away from my possibilitys. But yeah great toys to play with iam absolutly shure.
 
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kyle_neuron

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You may think of it as a PA Speaker but they sound remarkable. In fact, they sound good enough to get over the negative WAF factor normally included with such large boxes in ones living room.

They make fairly good computer speakers too…

I do need to make time to go back and ‘fix’ those visible t-nuts sometime.
 

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tomtoo

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'
They make fairly good computer speakers too…

I do need to make time to go back and ‘fix’ those visible t-nuts sometime.

Haha thats the way of crazynes i like!!

Edit says: Yeah thats the real (crazy) think!!
What are the subs?

Haha its funny.

Friends.: Hey we need some speakers for a not so smal gardenparty, any idear?
You.: Shure we could use my computer speakers.
Friends: ?????
Haha
 
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pozz

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They make fairly good computer speakers too…

I do need to make time to go back and ‘fix’ those visible t-nuts sometime.
Dude, that's dedication.
 

tomtoo

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Just imagine you feed them with 1Kw rms each.
No..nono....nonono..nono :)

Dont think that tom had this picture in his mind while developing them? :)
 
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Mnyb

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Amazing ideas put into these speakers :) the most obvious is to make a very large and expensive high end speaker that actually also is a good speaker not justa gaudy luxury item . good luck with the projekt.
 

bo_knows

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Here are my thoughts on the Hyperion (prototype) I heard. :)

Hi Erin, thank you for the video!
Now, you did speak about a very interesting subject which is ear fatigue. Just like you, I have an issue with my right ear and have fought the ear fatigue all my audiophile carrier. In order to combat it or diminish it, I've spent a lot of money on different gear and built God knows how many DIY acoustical panels, tube traps, diffusers and etc. To this day, I don't have a clear answer as to what is the cause of it but my best guess (besides lack of speaker engineering) would be the room reflection in the upper mid and high frequencies. Since you heard these speakers in a large space, these early reflections maybe didn't have the same intensity as they would in a small room. Ear fatigue and tinnitus are formidable opponents.
 

hardisj

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It's a novel theory but I have to say that it doesn't seem to matter the speaker I listen to; after a while ear fatigue sets in. Even with very wide radiation patterns as well as more narrow radiation patterns. The thing this speaker clearly does differently is high output with no (or very little) distortion. I'm of the mindset that it has something to do with distortion and/or compression ... Geddes - I believe - mentioned that group delay is a possible culprit. Though, I'd need to double check my "interview" with him to verify his stance on this.
 
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Tom Danley

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Here are my thoughts on the Hyperion (prototype) I heard. :)

Hi Erin, folks
Hey Erin thanks for making the Drive over to hear the speakers and visit.



I know what you mean about the size of the image, the first few times i listened to them in my living room, i kept thinking "my couch is front row center" and that name FRC was something the group considered.

We haven't done much formal marketing in commercial sound so we are still figuring that out here. I am an inventor not a marketing guy and I am glad you, a measurement interested listener came out.


Lets see, those are the 2 x 15's you mentioned in a low tuned vented alignment with a very large area port and exiting at the bottom where the area expands exponentially to the outer edges. Flow noise can be (often is) an issue at higher outputs with sub woofers (and the noise can radiate speaker "location"= bad ) so this transition of the area greatly reduces that.


The LF corner (the knee) on those guys was around 25Hz, I like low bass, maybe a little less level than at the demo, but that corner F couples in with my living room and measured -3 at about 14Hz.



In making the crossover etc, was able to use an FIR filter to correct the phase of the sub woofer to around zero a good ways down in F (dependent on DSP Taps and how much correction down low is needed). This then allowed the sub woofer to mate seamlessly without phase shift to the upper section.


On that SH-50 (that was cool there was one of those in the demo shelf), these are normally used in large spaces and outdoors, eq'd to suit the use so in a living room "a house curve" is normally in order.



When you get an anechoic response curve, go ahead and correct with that target shape smooth. If we make a hifi passive version of the 50, it will be as flat as i can get it out of the box. It's too bad you don't have two, well two would have been a tight fit haha. These image really well too but are missing the bottom octave.


A fun thing from trade shows, works on all of the synergy horns. Play a quiet voice through the speaker and move closer and closer moving your head up and down and side to side until you have your head inside the horn. The Driver spacing and addition into one source means you never hear a separate hf, mid or bass drivers even when your head is inside the horn mouth. With your eyes closed, playing a soft voice you may notice it's not that easy to "hear" / triangulate how far away it is. This is (I think) a factor in "if" the speaker disappears in the stereo image or not.


Let me see about getting a Studio2 or a pair for your next trip :) We were making those for a while before the amplifier supply situation popped up or maybe one with the new amplifier. These image very well too but aren't as powerful as the Hyperion.

Here is how those came to be;



https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/recording/tweed-recording-goes-all-in-with-danley



Best

Tom Danley
 

Stu Pidasso

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They make fairly good computer speakers too…

I do need to make time to go back and ‘fix’ those visible t-nuts sometime.

I love this - did you apply a layer of laminate over the horn to get that effect? You had to remove the drivers certainly. My speakers are far more plebian in appearance. Here's a link to photos of disassembly of my powered and unpowered pairs of SH-50's. I'd love to modify my passive set for better WAF. You're using the pair of inverted TH-115's for your low end, too bad you're not with a DTS-10 for super low extension. I'm sitting mine on a pair of ContraBass. I'm looking to build a DTS-10 from kit, I just have to see if I can talk Danley into selling me a kit.
 

hardisj

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I love this - did you apply a layer of laminate over the horn to get that effect? You had to remove the drivers certainly. My speakers are far more plebian in appearance. Here's a link to photos of disassembly of my powered and unpowered pairs of SH-50's. I'd love to modify my passive set for better WAF. You're using the pair of inverted TH-115's for your low end, too bad you're not with a DTS-10 for super low extension. I'm sitting mine on a pair of ContraBass. I'm looking to build a DTS-10 from kit, I just have to see if I can talk Danley into selling me a kit.

Do you mind if I use a few of those for my review (when/if I wind up publishing it)?
 
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