RIBBON   SPEAKER  DIY  PROJECT                        ARTISAN MODEL 457                                                             " The great white shark"                                                                             Designed by                                                             Russell  Storey

 DRAFT 1     10/6/2010   "Under Construction"

Hello Mr. Storey,

I have found your homepage over the  fountek.com.au page and I am really Impressed. And I have some questions and a suggestion.

 First the RAAL tweeters are simply perfect; I heard them in a German Speaker. But they are too expensive for me.

I like your Artisan HD260 Ribbon Speaker Kit, but I don't understand why the tweeter is so far away from the mid-woofers? I heard that it sound better if they come

closer together. Since a long time I and some other Germans wait for a bigger brother of  the HD260. We think that a MTM with two Peerless HDS 830875 and a
Fountek JP2.0MB/Neo CD2.0 or Focal TC90 TD5B would perform perfect. In addition a speaker like these would need a subwoofer for the deep bass but the mid and

high frequencies would extremely clear and strong. Maybe you like to develop a speaker like this?

Best regards

Mark 

Germany

RIBBON SPEAKER   PROJECT                                               CONCEPT                                                    DRAFT 1     10/6/2010

ARTISAN MODEL 457_V1 Crossover and  box   design  is  based on  the  Artisan R880    (level 3) special edition   MTM  ( woofer  / tweeter  /woofer ) box  shape .
 The  inner baffle front  has  round   45 deg radius  bevels  placed  above and below  the ribbon tweeter  to minimise  the effect of cabinet diffraction and improve the vertical and horizontal

dispersion  and widen the  sound stage  and imaging .       ARTISAN MODEL 457  

The bass mid  drivers  are mounted  on the  outer front   top and bottom baffle  . The outer front baffle is around 36mm thick   to enable

acoustic offset  front baffles  for the   bass mid and tweeter .

Why acoustic offset  front baffles on a speaker enclosure  see  >>>     http://stonessoundstudio.com.au/stone/acoustic_driver_offset.htm

                                                                              SPECIFICATIONS  VI

ARTISAN MODEL 457    ( Version 1 )  

Sensitivity                                                                  93.5db @ 1M 

Frequency range                                                        42Hz to  33Kz   +/- 2db

Impedance                                                                 4 ohm Nominal

Crossover  Frequency                                              1.8 KHz  

Low pass  Filter                                                          12db /octave 

High pass  Filter                                                         18db /octave 

Dimensions                                                                210 W x1150 H x 365 D   #( outside )

Weight:   40kg each                                                   Fully Finished Weight  may change with Box Timber   material used

Bass Mid                                                                      Peerless  830875  (Nomex)                6.5"  x  2      Stones Level matched  to crossover ,phase pulse tested , doped Cone

Tweeter                                                                        Fountek  JP3.0 Ribbon                         3"   x 1        Stones level  matched  to crossover , phase pulse tested

                                                                                                  BOX  CONSTRUCTION                            DRAFT 1     10/6/2010

                                                                                                    SPEAKERS                                               DRAFT 1     10/6/2010

PEERLESS 830875 6.5'' 

Peerless HDS-164  Nomex diaphragm, 33 mm coil, AL

General description

The High Definition Sound (HDS) NOMEX Series offers highquality solutions for both multi-way speaker systems and vented box applications. Featuring "shorting rings" for low distortion and coils offering perfect linear compatibility with NOMEX cones, these audio transducers are characterized by their very open, very rich sound character.

FOUNTEK  JP2.0  RIBBON TWEETER

NeoCD2.0M SS

Fountek ribbon tweeter 9.6cm2  ribbon silver aluminium faceplate

General description

NeoCD2.0 ribbon tweeter is a high-performance component which is probably the best choice to building/upgrade your loudspeaker.

Feature
Super strong Neodymium magnet for high efficiency
Build-in impedance conversion transformer
Effective from 1,200Hz upwards due to the large diaphragm area and low self-resonance.
Thin enforced sandwich ribbon diaphragm
Low distortion factor, good power-handling capabilities, high linear impedance and amplitude frequency response and the broad frequency response range.
Flat impedance from 1,000 to 40,000Hz

  Note 

 Ribbon tweeters should always be used with a passive crossover!
Do not test without a capacitor.

 

RAAL   140-15D  RIBBON TWEETER 

General description

It comes easily for the 140-15D to "fool" the human brain in such a way that, all of a sudden, makes everything sound right and just as it should. The brain has no option but to interpret that there are real living people playing real musical instruments, playing in the very room in which, a millisecond ago, contained nothing more than your stereo system. The sensation of hearing "natural" sound is overwhelming. The exact size of all the instruments and vocals, their perfect position within the sound stage, and the clarity of air between the instrument's positions are all instantly recognizable

FEATURES: - Special FLATFOIL® pure Aluminium ribbon - Special SYMMLEAD® low inductance signal path - Special EQUAFIELD® NdFeB magnetic structure - Special “non-wave-guide” INOX front plate - Exceptional vertical dispersion - Super-fast settling time - Flat frequency response - Low nonlinear distortion - High signal power handling - Highest reliability SPECIFICATIONS: - Ribbon material: aluminium - Ribbon dimensions: ( 140 x 15 x 0.004 ) mm - Ribbon mass: 0.022 g - Ribbon area: 21 cm sq. - Gap induction ( mean value over gap width): 0.51 T - Frequency response: 500 Hz ~ 100 kHz - Sensitivity: 95 dB / 1 m / 2.83 V - Impedance: 8 Ohm - Program power handling: 200 W* - *Recommended crossover: 4th order L-R @ 1600 Hz

PEERLESS 830883 6.5''

Peerless HDS-180  EXCLUSIVE  Nomex diaphragm, 33 mm coil, AL, CU, LS, Phase plug

General description

This High Definition Sound (HDS) line of products push the performance limits of Mid bass audio transducers in a range of sizes - from the standard 205mm (8-inch) model, down to the very small 106mm (4-inch) model. Feature-rich and utilizing copper for the lowest distortion possible, the high-end HDS Exclusive Series takes maximum advantage of over 80 years of R&D experience to help systems designers build the world's best audio products

                                                                                                 SPEAKER    MEASUREMENTS

Movie >   Running in the  speakers at Stones Sound Studio   Laboratory     STONES   TEST EQUIPMENT >   Loudspeaker System & Driver Measurements

The Peerless  830883   6.5''   speakers   are  wired in  series /parallel  to an amplifier  and  driven by a    20 Hz  sine wave  for  around 8 hours   before  any measurements
are carried out .  Running in the drivers  helps free up the new  surround , spider and lead out wires  and also  reduces the resonance   frequency  and enables  changes  in
 driver  mechanical compliance to that of a "real world working speaker " .Running in the drivers  insures  more accurate   frequency    Impedance  and  '' Thiele/Small"
 electromechanical parameters that define the specified low frequency performance of a loudspeaker driver  result in more accurate modelling  of  the  crossover and
enclosure design .Running in the drivers in  also  aids   listening evaluations and  improves the  speakers  bass  mid  depth and detail

                                                                                                  SPEAKER   PLOTS  830875                                                      DRAFT 1     10/6/2010

                                                          DIY  RIBBON SPEAKER  KIT  (  ALL  COMPONENTS )                          DRAFT 1     10/6/2010

                                                                          " the great white shark  "

Kit is supplied  with

Russell's   hand built and tested  crossover boards hardwired with bi wire speaker terminal plate  and all internal cable    ,  4  x hand doped and matched

( 6"  bass/mid ) drivers 2x  Crossover Boards  fully finished  

Speaker Kit V1    Features :

Peerless 830875-SS  6.5"    LMS Analyser matched in pairs ,   drivers cone  doped  to lower distortion  using  FFT vibration Analyser 

,silver soldered terminals

Option 1   Fountek JP3.0   3"  True Ribbon tweeter with matching transformer , QC  Phase , pulse tested , in matched pairs,

Version1  Crossover V1 &  Enclosure V1  design  Kit"

Speaker Kit V2

Option 2   JP2.0   5"  True Ribbon tweeter with matching transformer , QC  Phase , pulse tested , in matched pairs "sold with Version2

Crossover V2 &  Enclosure V2 design Kit "

Speaker Kit V3

Option 3   RAAL 140-15D   6"  True Ribbon tweeter with matching transformer , QC  Phase , pulse tested , in matched pairs"

sold with Version2 Crossover V3 &  Enclosure V3 design Kit"

Capacitor options 
SCR-SOLEN  Fast cap  400 V DC  or  
Mundorf M cap supreme  800V or Silver in oil   800V   
Resistors    Mundorf   Non Inductive Resistors  10W
Inductor      Solen ,  Stones LA

Speaker Terminal Plate twin 4mm
Crossover Board ,fully tested  with speakers connected on  the  LMS  Loudspeaker Analyser

KIT  PRICE :  $ POA                          #  NO SOLDERING REQUIRED 

                                                                                     CROSSOVER  and ENCLOSURE      DESIGN                         DRAFT 1     10/6/2010

 Description 

Crossovers are designed and developed by importing the actual driver SPL & IMP   ( frequency impedance and phase ) measurements   into
LEAP 5  and LspCAD Pro 5.25  loudspeaker analysis  programs  to enable the  Crossover and Enclosure to be designed together . 
Leap 5 Enclosure  Shop  3D diffraction analysis is used in conjunction with the Box ( Actual Shape )(xyz)  and size ratio  HxDxW  +
Front baffle shape &  edge  step (xyz) size + drivers (xyz) location on baffle + port (xyz) location  are analysed for best performance .
However  the  cabinet and crossover react with one another so both have to be taken into account in a  when designing  a  loudspeaker system.
The Speakers  acoustic location  in space and  Crossover Phase coherency  interact with one another and play  a dramatic effect on how dynamic
and detailed  speaker system can sound .Acoustical  off setting drivers on the  front baffle will  reduce the demand on the  crossover circuit  to
correct time delay and phase errors ,thus Acoustical  off setting drivers also reduces  speakers distortion and enables a more realistic sound image
Phase  linearity and  minimum error  is  very important to enable good a sound stage  , dynamics .increase dynamic range , reduce distortion ,improve 3d imaging and over all depth of field of sounds . Minimum Phase  error is one of the most important functions of a good speaker design but is often
over looked as measuring true acoustic phase of speaker   "in real time "  not  post computed  is a can of worms even when you have very expensive
phase analysers instruments as ambient  noise ( even a quiet air conditioner is a problem causing measurement errors ! 
 
Box  ( enclosure )  standing waves , excited by cross modulation between  Bass to Mid    to Tweeter  Woofer to tweeter ,B M T  to port   + driver to port
are taken into account in the enclosure design  . Also modulation  distortion  created  by internal box dimension ratio' , Internal bracing  shape  size location  and the roll  port location, Port size,  Port air mass loading  has  the drivers at low and high power levels  is  also taken  into account  .
The  use of  multi layers of  acoustic damping materials  with different density  properties are important in reducing standing waves and can and do
improve the  sound quality radiated towards the listener .  

Finally  the speakers boxes  are assembled ,damping materials fitted , measured extensively  and then a  listened to with  high quality music  to fine tune  
the values of the crossover  to enable  not just good but  excellent  sound  quality on any kind of program material .
Any of the Artisan  DIY speaker KITS or Projects are  designed to  provide an easy load  any kind of amplifier  valve , Tube , Solid state , with power levels from 3 watt to 250W  .
The program material  used to evaluate the sound reproduction of these speakers involved the use of  both a low cost $200 Mini Music  System  and then   top  High  End  equipment playing 2  Channel Music ,  CD ,DVD , Blu ray .  High End  Multi Channel  Home theatre , TV ,  Movie and Music .

Fig  A                                           LEAP 5               3D  Diffraction Analysis 

FIG 1                            ARTISAN MODEL 457_V1              Frequency    Response   Crossover    82db   SPL @   3.2M

FIG 2                                               ARTISAN MODEL 457_V1             Impedance   Response   Crossover   ( with out Box)

FIG 3          ARTISAN MODEL 457_V1                                                    Crossover  Schematic               Bass / Mid Network  

FIG 4        ARTISAN MODEL 457_V1                Crossover  Schematic               Tweeter  Network  

 FIG 5       ARTISAN MODEL 457_V1        SPL  Frequency Response  93.5 db SPL  with 2.83V @  1 M  (830875  x 2  Box Response )

To Be Continued       >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>    With   PLANS  and CONSTRUCTION  PHOTOS