New Speaker Write-up?

[Frihed89]

When comes the write-up on the new speaker?  OR, have I missed something?

[fullheadofnothing]

Product writeups happen when products get released. This is not a released product (yet).  There is a long thread Dan has been updating as the project has moved forward.

[Sugar Man]

I'm sure the BIG question for many of us Blumenstein owners is how does the new speaker compare to Clark's speakers? 

[Doc B.]

I think they are both very good speakers. I am assuming here the interest is in comparing to Orca/sub combos.

I listen to my bamboo Orca/Dungeness 5.1 surround setup almost every evening. They are perfect in my 10' x 13' home theater, doing a great job both with dialog and music and imaging like gangbusters. And the system does well with FX too, as I have four Dungeness subs, with two on the .1 channel  We also have a pair of birch Orcas that play every day in the workroom at Bottleheadquarters. It's so cool that you can fit them in just about anywhere. The matchup with our stuff seems to be best with S.E.X. amps and Stereomour IIs, but they are happy with any of our amps.

The speaker kit has some differences, the biggest one being you get to build it yourself! Obviously the size and shape are very different. I had in mind the ability to work well in large rooms, and I think they do that quite well. They are pretty sensitive at 94dB, so one could easily use our lowest powered amps in a smaller room and they could rock with Kaijus even in a very large space. I'm very happy with the imaging, it is the best of any speaker we have designed (we being myself, PJ and PB) and I think it gets pretty close to the stunning imaging of the Orca's single drivers. I'm also quite happy with the bass quality and the crossover transition. They are good enough that I have retired my big three way reference system so we have a more typical kind of reference speaker setup that can run on a single amp in our listening room. Anyone want to buy some really big speakers that sound fabulous and need three amps to run?

[Sugar Man]

Dan,

If you are parting with your big speakers, that is a ringing endorsement of the new speakers.  Yes, the DIY aspect makes them even sweeter, and for those of us without woodworking skills, the locking system is a big help.  I love my Blumensteins, but gotta believe that two front-facing drivers can move some air.  On a bit of a side note, I'm starting to think about getting another Stereomour II and running one per speaker.  In the real world, how much more headroom does that get me.  And do two Stereomour II's strapped with the shunt mods match one Kaiju for ultimate sound quality?  And since I'm swinging for the fences, would the BeePre take it even further?

Oh yeah, Happy Memorial Day everyone and giving thanks to those you gave the ultimate sacrifice so that all of us can spend our time able to fixate on our crazy hobby....

[Karl5150]

+1..what Mike said.

[Paul Joppa]

Running a Stereomour as a monobloc in bridged mode gives you 3dB more headroom. That is a clearly audible difference, but perceived as less than twice as loud (which takes 6 to 10dB depending on a bunch of variables). I would expect a similar performance to a Kaiju, but I don't think we have actually listened yet.

The better option IMHO is to use a line-level crossover with one channel for the woofer(s) and the other for the tweeters.That gives you between 3 and 6dB more loudness, but also reduces intermodulation distortion. That is in the works but still in the prototype design phase - nothing even built yet, much less listened to.

[chard]

This is a fantastic idea. How far off is this?   

[Paul Joppa]

This is a fantastic idea. How far off is this?

Well, the purpose of making a prototype and listening to it is to detect unexpected problems. So there's no way to make a good schedule at this point.

[Doc B.]

I am hoping we will be able to start taking pre orders by the end of June.

[fullheadofnothing]

To clarify, PJ was referring to the line level crossover which has yet to be prototyped, and Doc was talking about the speakers themselves. The end of June statement applies to the speakers and not the line level crossover.

Furthermore, the prototype of the speaker level crossover allowed for biamping. It was my understanding that the production version was going to as well, but I have not been closely involved in this project to know if that has changed.

[Sugar Man]

All exciting stuff.  And since you have so much time on your hands, an MC phono preamp would be great too! 

[Doc B.]

Oops, sorry, comprehension failure on my part. Josh is correct that the passive crossover supplied with the speaker will be configurable for both single amping and bi-amping. I have been so focused on getting the kit out that we have not started a prototype line level active crossover yet.