Janos, I want to make sure I fully understand what you say in this video .... if one wants to experience 90% of VOL, the La Grande is a closer to it than the Cube voihgt pipe? Also if VOL is a speaker you listen to once a month due to its impact on you, will the La Grande enable longer listening sessions like the Voihgt pipe or will the La Grande, being that its 90% of VOL, will be listenable twice a month for you?

@realworldaudio

Жыл бұрын

No, it is not. The CA Voigt pipe is quite a bit more capable in every respect - but at x10 the price!!!! If one can afford the CA drivers, I would recommend that speaker over the LaGrande in a heartbeat, PROVIDED you have room to support the Voigt pipe. If the room is too small, or very unbalanced acoustically, the La Grande might be a more sensible choice as there the CA VP can not shine. However, all being said, if I had either of La Grande / Cube Audio Voigt pipe / Voice of Lancelot, I would be a happy camper who only wants to focus on music, and be done with audiofilia nervosa. All three play MUSIC, tears in the eyes, goosebumps, bring back old memories so vividly they hurt, burn or burst me with joy. That's what matters to me the most, and all three got that.

@EduardBroekman

Жыл бұрын

@@realworldaudio Your paragraphs here make for a great introduction to a building series (videos), who is it for, emotional impact (and after a month..!), type of amp. I get the strong sense that transistor / digital / EQ people tend to make wholly different choices than people going the DHT / high efficiency path and this speaker seems to hold some kind of middle ground... ~90-92dbB is generally to low for low wattage, but nice for first watt class As or parallel push pulls / pentode tube amps? I would say the context is important before anyone embarks on a journey...

unfortunately there is no 20mm spruce/pine in my region, the cost "economic" spruce is generally in 18mm (other woods too) only with optional costs there is 21mm or 22mm. I enjoy the show, János! 😊

@realworldaudio

Жыл бұрын

Hi Jürgen, thank you for this important feedback! 18,21,22mm all work well, just need to adjust the outer dimensions by those few mm-s. I knew you that you will love these adventures :) Cheers, János

Hi Janos, congratulations on the La Grande, happy to hear it is sounding great, very intriguing construction! Can one generelize and say that the softer the wood, the more live the cabinet will be? And what would broadly be the expected sound results of a not so lively cabinet compared to yours made of pine? I think this might help people to choose the wood, besides availability of course. I will buy the plans soon even if I cant build it now, who knows what tomorrow will bring😊

@realworldaudio

Жыл бұрын

Hi Thiago, yes, the lighter the wood, the faster the acoustic energy can move it. Also, depending on the density and grain structiure of the wood, thy either are able to transmit resonances over a wide spectrum (spruce being the widest, followed by pine, then maple.) Denser woods do not transmit as much midrange energy, but low and highs. (eg ebony - lots of bass and lots of highs, but little midrange). I had a series on how to choose wood about a year ago. You are right, people should look into those videos at this point. ; ) . 😎😎✨👍

Hi Janos, thanks for the first look at your build plans! You wouldn't believe how excited I am to build speakers that may be made of almost any type of wood, except MDF. MDF is dusty, it stinks, and it's a dead material. I'm looking forward to the rest of this video series. One question: no matter which version of the La Grande we build, it's always the Fostex FF125 WK chassis, right?

@realworldaudio

Жыл бұрын

Hello Thilo, yes, they both use FF125WK. Also, the basic version can be upgraded to the refined version with more work! So, it's the same speaker, just the basic is the rough & minimal form, and the refined is when more work is done... the more work can be done upfront, or later on.

But why have you departed from your beloved Voigt pipes !

@realworldaudio

11 ай бұрын

Hi Leo, oh no, I have not departed from them! I have them singing in my upstairs system, and the LaGrande is in my office that is too small for the Voigt pipe ; ). Also, I created the LaGrande as a budget loudspeaker that is easily accessible to beginner loudspeaker builders for smaller rooms, and on the side for more acceptable box-speaker like looks. (The No1 reason most people do not get into building a Voigt pipe is because of its looks...)

Hi Janos, Nirvana Audio has stated in the past that the TS parameters are actually resulting in sub standard BR speakers, and the better designs disregard them (I actually have a few old speaker design books that don't even mention TS parameters at all, and feature BR design concepts). This seems to be the case here as well, as the volume is way bigger than what you would get with the TS based calculations. Also the BR port (or dual port in this case) has a much bigger opening compared to the port length you would get with TS based calculations. I would be interested to get your thoughts on that, perhaps using La Grande as example for comparison.

@gaborozorai3714

Жыл бұрын

Indeed, I have exchanged several emails with David Dicks of Audio Nirvana (as I build and sell speakers based on AN drivers and their recommended cabinets) and he says the cabinets themselves are tuned - basically irrespective of what drivers you put into them and that Thiele and Small were the worst thing to happen to loudspeaker design. Unorthodox maybe but I actually tried a 0.7+ Qts Lii driver in cabinets designed for approx. 0.3 Qts AN drivers and some adjustment to the port tube length was enough to make the bass pretty good. Despite conventional wisdom suggesting that an OB or a sealed box would be needed.

@hugobloemers4425

Жыл бұрын

@@gaborozorai3714 Thanks for sharing, and nice to read you can make money building speaker cabinets.

@gaborozorai3714

Жыл бұрын

@@hugobloemers4425 I have the cabinets built for me and, I also adjust the drivers' frequency response with notch filters and tune the ports differently to AN's plan. And I never said that it's profitable, more like a mission and an expensive hobby.

@realworldaudio

Жыл бұрын

Hi Hugo, Gabor, this is a really critical discussion topic. I fully agree that T/S parameters are not absolute, they have a limited range of application. While they offer a generic idea what to do with a driver, and be used as a tool to create a cabinet, there is no guarantee at all that it will be the best possible cabinet for the driver, or any good cabinet at all (in some cases). There's also secondary issues coming to make this picture even worse - that published T/S parameters and frequency response curves are less and less accurate, and less and less dependable to the point of they are actually nearly useless or harmful when trying to depend on them. (The FE103NV is a prime example for this...) I dare to go as far as saying that we are entering an age where looking at the T/S and spec sheets might even be counter-productive, and T/S can only be used to a limited degree when you measure the actual drivers you are working with - and measure them after they broke in.... I fully concurr that the ratios, lengths, dimensions make far greater impact than juggling with the T/S parameters. T/S is more important when trying to get bass out of a small cabinet, but once we reach sizes that actually start supporting the low frequencies, the T/S rapidly looses relevance. (Such as with Voigt pipes, T/S goes out the window entirely).

@hugobloemers4425

Жыл бұрын

@@realworldaudio Hi Janos, thanks for explaining that. It actually explains a lot with the main stream trend to get ever more/lower base out of smaller cabinets.

Hi You mentioned in your plan that the loudspeaker could be also placed on the top May I ask what the changes are interns of the sound? Can I use the same case construction Thank you Christian

@realworldaudio

8 ай бұрын

Hi Christian, sorry for the delay I thought I already answered your question... maybe YT ate it or it did not get posted... Regardless the internal position, the internals remain the same! I hope this helps! The internals would only change if we use two drivers, as then we need to adjust the port length to much shorter.

Hi Janos.. I think more diy folk would use Plywood on ALL sides if they could use Zinc Threaded Insert Nuts (Amazon has them) for the back panel, around M4 in size.. Screws would be easier to use that way, and it would not damage the Plywood layers too.. BTW, are slightly rounded over external edges/corners of the cabs still make it a La Grande?

@realworldaudio

Жыл бұрын

Hi Rick, thank you for that suggestion, but I would use the brass insert nuts, nut the zinc ones! The zinc ones would add harshness to the sound. The main reason why I did not recommend ply to the sides is because then you can't upgrade plywood walls to the fully refined version, as the full version entails hallowing out the tops and sides, which cannot be done with plywood. (Maybe I'm wrong, but it's quite tricky to do for sure, but worth a try nevertheless!) The rounded corners: that's part of the refinement , going beyond the basic ; ). The refined version is the same as the basic, just with the finishing touches, optimizing air flow and diffraction. Will share on that later ;

@rickg8015

Жыл бұрын

@@realworldaudio Thanks Janos.. I only mentioned Zinc because of availablity in terms of size.. If one can find popular sizes (like M4 to M6) in Brass, then go for Brass.. Ahh, nice the more refined La Grande with roundovers👍🏼..

Coffee is on its way. For everybody: the plan you get via buymeacoffee is worth every coffee - I would be ashamed of myself if I had paid "only" 7 USD...

@realworldaudio

Жыл бұрын

✨✨✨😇 Thank you Sebastian! You are too kind :)