cool. i bet they do sound good, such a full sound from big woofers. i am just starting a smaller build based on the LS3/ 5a monitor using the highly regarded aurum cantus 5-1/4 inch woofer and the also highly regarded scan speak illuminator soft dome tweeter. looking for ultimate transparency and livliness with an 89db sensitivity. going for a butterworth 3rd order high and low at 3000 hz to keep the drivers out of trouble without additional filtering. this is a fun part of the hobby. i think we need to have a strong audiophile background to understand just how good ( or not ) these projects compare to the best oem designs.
Looking forward to your posts on this build. Ever since I turned my back on SET's 5 years ago for my current amps (and couldn't be happier) I've added hundreds of small drivers to Carts without ever buying any . Could be something I'd like to try when the snow melts on the deck.
me too. the cash outlay for this project is for woofers, crossovers, grille material, terminal cups and finish. already have the tweeters and cab material. very excited to start them.
Hello all. I've been away for far too long. Sorry about that. Anyways, I'm back with my A36 (à la A26) clones. I've made one change: the speaker was far too damped fully sealed, hence I decided to install a vent in the woofer's chamber to the rear of the speaker. Bass improved and the woofer is still well behaved. Internally, it's built like an old A35 with a (now) second internal vent: the speaker is split in two parts with an aperiodic vent between the tweeter and woofer sections. The cabinet is by default, heavier and better braced. So tonight I listened to Dave Brubeck's Take Five. I compared the speaker to my Dynaudio S40. Well! Get this: the A36 clone outclassed the Dyns! Woah! Dynamics were far more impressive. The piano was equal, but the sax is in another league altogether. There is shimmer to cymbals that are quite unique and don't resonate bad at all...almost live like. Ok, it's not perfect, but for this album, it's sublime. It's not a rock n roll speaker at this time, but I'll continue to tweak it. I'll be playing with stand height and toe in. I wonder if an upgraded CAP would help. ??
In my Seas A26, it came without any foam in it. only white fluffy stuff that didnt seemed to have a impact on sq. the midrange lacked some resolution and seemed a bit forward. When i installed 4" Roxul safe and sound on the entire back wall of the cabinet, the midrange improve ps: you can also use some denim insulation that works just as well to absorb the mid back wave. I'm building a speaker right now and I plan on using this stuff to cover my inner walls. easy to install with simple hot glue gun https://www.amazon.ca/Ultra-Touch-Denim-Insulation-12-Bags/dp/B00G5KJ15Y
Oh hi ! I just built these speakers this weekend. Anyone around still messing with these or anyone recently new to them ? I used the madisound kit and cabinets. Very happy so far but wanted to see if anyone has any cool tricks/improvements to try, like certain caps or damping materials.
I would experiment with back wave damping before installing the woofer gasket. A couple inches of damping material on the interior rear baffle improves the midrange considerably. The woofer is a real bear to remove once the gasket is installed.
Well to late for that now, woofer and gasket installed already obviously. What material do you use and are you cutting out an area where the binding posts are ?
no need to cut out an area for the binding posts. Just put the damping over them and route the cabling through or around it.
I used some of the foam supplied with the kit. Though I also covered most of the interior surfaces with GR Research No-Rez material. I added about 1.5” of foam in addition to the No-Rez against the entire rear panel/baffle.
The actual speaker kit you mean ? After going over what's out there in the same price range even though they cost more now. No brainer for me. Not about to spend 3k-5k on something similar from harbeth or the like. Totally tired of tower speakers with multiple smaller drivers and cheap tweeters, and they are all assembled in China.
For starters a 10 inch woofer, natural roll off without crossover. Pristine highs with adjustment and just a better sound than any tower I've heard generally. These have really tight bass as well. Very fast which was a big surprise. Not home theater speakers !
I have been following A26 threads since picking up a pair of A25s a number of years ago. I finally took the plunge in March and purchased the kit from Solen here in Canada. The tweeters turned out to be out of stock, so ordered them from Madisound. Great service from both places. Had a local speaker cabinet maker build the boxes out of birch ply and install the drivers. Really happy with the results. First attempt to post pics here, so hopefully it works.
How’s the bass? How did you go about choosing the cabinet dimensions and venting, which obviously differ from the kit prints?
Read a bunch about the drivers deserving a bigger box (something close to the O/93s) and the builder suggested 2 sizes (40”x18”x15”) and something somewhat smaller, but said the larger box would be better if I had room. So I bit. The bass is fantastic.
songforyou, The speakers look great! Congrats! Can you tell us the dimensions of the bass reflex tube and the x-over? Kind regards, Sam
You need to tag that person or else they'll never be alerted. Put a @ and start typing their name afterward, next time. @songforyou He hasn't been back in 7 weeks so doubtful you'll get a (quick) response.
@Sammy005 Bass reflex port is 4” wide and 3.5” deep. Here is a pic of the crossover. The drivers and all kit parts were set directly to the speaker builder.
better late than never, bass should definitely be deeper, i calculated a large enclosure volume that brought the f3 down to 25hz. a future project i am considering. true devore and AN competitors. use this calculator by enteting in the woofer driver values found on the madisound site. Speaker Box Enclosure Designer / Calculator
