Bottleneck speaker competition (MD/VA/DC/DE/PA)

[RayP]

I had talked to Fritz about hosting in October. We'll try to set a date.

I think the actual competition should be next year, it will be a while before I can actually build my design and I think I will have to try a few iterations.

ray

[RayP]

We had further discussion at the meet on Saturday and I think we came up with this:

- primary speaker to be full range. What constitutes a full range speaker? Like porn, we will know it when we see it.
- can be augmented on the high end or low end, but not both - the key here is augmented, crossovers in the 500 - 2.5k range will not be acceptable
- we will have two divisions for the full range speaker < 5 inches and >= 5 inches
- must be an original design but you can take an existing design and modify it with different speakers
- pre-built enclosures are ok
- total cost of drivers, crossover components, damping material, input jacks must be less than $200
- enclosures are not included in the $200
- competition to be held sometime in April but may be pushed back
- competition to be held at Steve's place in Stirling, VA but if somebody has a nice big room in the Baltimore area and would be willing to host, we would be grateful
- each entrant gets to pick one under 3 minute piece of music to be part of the music selection (send to me when you know what it is)
- probably will use David's 817 amp which should be enough for those 83db drivers

Let me know if I missed anything or got something wrong.

ray

[RayP]

Well my speakers are finally playing. Just a reminder that if you haven't started yet, it's probably time to get out the cutting implements. Building always takes longer than you think.

ray

[dbishopbliss]

I have a gretsch guitar and a fender amp that have been consuming my time lately.  I need to get those finished so I can start on my speakers. 

Question with regard to the rules... does there have to be a single primary driver or can there be multiples?  In other words, can I build a bipole or an array (or a bipole arrays)?

[RayP]

I'm not opposed to arrays, particularly if they are the full rangers. And I wouldn't mind if you had multiple woofers at the bottom end or multiple tweeters at the top end if they were the augmenting speakers. As long as the speaker finishes up to be predominantly full range.

These would be interesting even though they are on sale. http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-5-fullrange/aurasound-ns525-255-8a-5.25-paper-cone-8-ohm/

It's tough to decide what speakers to use and what design to build. There's just so much stuff out there. At least I've got mine done so I can think of something else now.

I've been thinking about the judging process and I don't think we can hide the speakers this time and I suspect some speakers will sound best in different positions from others. I think we just make a modification to the scoring process so that everybody can score the speakers but you can't score your own speaker. I think that would be fair.

ray

[dbishopbliss]

with regard to the judging process... we might be able to hide them, but it would require a more binary type of process and simple criteria.  Something like the following:

Put speakers A and B in position behind a screen:  Play music and people choose which one they want to hear again. 
Put speakers C and D...
Put speakers E and F...

Then put the winner of round 1 against the winner or round 2 and repeat.  The hard part would be getting the levels the same and the positioning right before the judging begins. 

We might want to let the losers compete against eachother as well.  Then let the "winner of the losers" compete against the "winner of the winners" for the finale.

Probably needs a little more work to implement, but something along those lines could work.

[castlesteve]

  Unfortunately i will be unable to host the speaker meet due to a tree falling on the house during the christmas holidays. We have substantial damage which the insurance company is looking after, but the room we usually use will be full of kitchen supplies as we have to empty one end of the house. Hopefully we can find a new venue https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=e6330b38b3&view=att&th=13485c97bf92af52&attid=0.2&disp=thd&zw

[dbishopbliss]

I'm sorry to hear those Paramounts with MQ Iron and Teflon capacitors were completely destroyed by the tree.  As were your Klipschorns, and AudioNote DAC.  Hard to believe there is nothing left.  Oh well, I'm sure your insurance will pay to have them replaced.  :-)

Ray said something about the library in Elkton being available again.  That is more central for most people, so perhaps that would work.  If not, I will check with my social coordinator and see about hosting in VA again.

[RayP]

Good lord, Steve. That was not what I was expecting when I checked in. Since my house is surrounded by trees, I can only sympathize. Hopefully nobody was hurt which is the main thing in these situations.

How about in a week's time, we start a discussion about the date for the competition. I should be able to reserve the library room and for me at least, it will be a much shorter drive. And when you see my speakers, you will understand why a local trip for me will be much better.

For those of you who don't know where the library is, here is the address:
301 Newark Avenue, Elkton, MD 21921

So if any of you are thinking of entering, how about you respond so we can get an idea of how many entries we will have. And remember, if you enter, you get to pick a piece of music that we will use to audition the entries.

ray

[2wo]

Wow, sorry to hear that Steve, Merry Christmas.

I plan to have an entry, although my plan is to use some drivers from the pile in the basement. So we'll see.

I would love to go back to the Library. Not only is it our roots but it is a much easier drive for me...John

[RayP]

I will check out the following dates in the library (all Saturdays).

April 21
April 28
May 5

If you are going to enter and one of these dates does not work for you, let me know asap.

ray

[2wo]

May 5th is Hornfest...John

[dgb]

i would like to attend with an entry and cinco de mayo sounds like a good date. i'll try to pick out some latin rhythms

[RayP]

I think Hornfest is down in South Carolina which would rule out May 5.

So that leaves April 21 & 28.

ray

[RayP]

I checked back with the library and they only have the large room available, not the smaller one where we used to meet. So does anyone want to volunteer?

ray