Troels,
This is the 4th design of yours I have built. Previously I have done the
Peerless Nomex 164, the PMS, Discovery W18 and now I finally was able to
build a set of your DTQWT MKII speakers. I have had the DTQWT kit for 3
or 4 years sitting on the shelf waiting patiently for me to build the
cabinets but unfortunately could never find the time as other projects
took precedence. From start to finish it took 6 days to complete them
and that was with 3 days of wait time for the stain to cure before I
could apply the 4 coats of gloss water base clear coat.
Now to the sound and tweaks I did to get where I am now. When they were
first played they sounded very good but a little lean as the drivers
were not broken in yet. They were also on a carpet over a concrete floor
and the carpet absorbed much of the bass so I added 22mmx40mm long
spikes to the bottom of the cabinet instead of the padded feet you show
on the web site. I then put them on a piece of 19mm MDF which improved
the sound but I was still not happy.
I then got 2 pieces of 30mm granite slightly larger than the cabinets. I
added 4 T-nuts with 6mm bolts I turned to a point. I stuck the T-nuts &
spiked bolts to the granite with butyl. I then placed the granite with
the spikes down through the carpet to the concrete floor and set the
speakers with their 40mm long spikes on the granite. What a difference
that made. The solid granite isolated from the carpet and concrete
totally opened up the sound....the midrange was greatly improved along
with the bass being much more defined and smoother.
It took a bit of time to get them placed well in the large room. I have
found that proper placement can greatly improve the presentation and
dynamics of any speaker and is time well spent. It is probably the
highest ROI you can do for your system especially since the only cost is
time....lol.
I have since added power cables and a turntable phono cable from Audio
Sensibility in Toronto Canada. The build quality is top notch with the
best cryogenically treated components and wire. The price was quite
reasonable compared to other makes of cables and the sound improvement
was astonishing especially the power cable on my Naim CD CDX deck. The
phono cable was the biggest improvement for my Gold Note/Dynavector 20x2
turntable setup. The amplification is all Naim preamp & power supply and
power amp equipment.
All I can say about the DTQWT is WOW!! After several months of break in
they sound absolutely amazing.....possibly among the best I have heard
in my experience. They play any genre of music with control and detail.
The isolation and other tweaks I did have elevated them to the next
level in sound reproduction for sure.
I have been extremely happy with every one l of your designs I have
built but the DTQWT is in another league by comparison. Next step may be
the HMQ MKIII replacement.....possibly.... but I am still enjoying the
MKII immensely.
Since starting this email I see you have released the Peerless Nomex 164
Mk II. I am in the process of ordering the Level 1 kit from Michael at
Jantzen. My wife was upset when I got rid of the original Nomex as they
were her favourite speakers so now I am going to build the Mk II for our
living room system to replace the Discovery W18's this winter.
Please keep up the fine work you are doing. All of us in the DIY speaker
world greatly appreciate what you do.
Cheers,
Paul
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