Troels,
First, I
want to thank you again for your previous e-mails
answering my questions about the CNO
construction. After several months of slow
progress on my part, I have nearly completed
speakers that are playing music. I've
attached some pictures showing my construction to
date. Final finishing with mahogany veneer
is still to come. I made a few very
minor changes for my construction:
* Replaced bitumen and felt dampening with
3/4" Sonic Barrier from Parts Express.
* All crossover inductors are air-core from Solen
(lots of heavy copper - see pictures)
* Crossover
is located in separate compartment in base of
speaker.
* Only
included 3 internal braces instead of 4.
* All panels
constructed from 18mm Baltic Birch.
I
think it is important to make mention about the
break-in required by these drivers.
When I gave these speakers their first audition,
I was very disheartened. The lower midrange
and bass was severely restricted, and the treble
was very bright and harsh. My stomach made
several turns while I thought about the large
expenditure made to achieve this poor
result. But taking some hints from your
site, I gave the speakers some heavy break-in
consisting of about 150 hours of a repeating 40Hz
test tone played at decent sound levels.
This made an enormous difference.
The
tonal balance of the speakers became very even,
the bass is very extended (I'd say usefull output
to 35Hz) and the treble is clean and clear but
without any trace of hardness. For anyone else
building the CNO's, be forewarned: Heavy
break-in is required before these drivers will
reach their potential.
Now
that the speakers are well broken in, they are
wonderfull. Soundstage is spacious and
focused, tonal balance is very good, and
transient response is very fast. As my wife
says, "These sound more real than anything
else we've had."
I
can't wait to see what else you come up with
using Seas Nextel drivers.
Cheers, Terry/Canada
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