Illumina 66, built by Steve
Copyright 2015 © Troels Gravesen

Troels!
At long last.  I have managed to finish my loudspeakers!!  Thank you first and foremost for designing them in the first place and being generous enough to share them with total strangers.  Secondly thank you for all your help, support and encouragement along the way, and what a long way it has been....
I have not secured them to the granite bases yet and will do so when I am entirely happy with the sound.  6 CDs in and I am thoroughly enjoying them although when I get rid of my old speakers and position them properly they will sound even better.  I will put together some photos of the construction and final resting position of the speakers and send them to you for inclusion on your website if you like.
All the best to you and thanks once again for all your support and encouragement.
Steve

2 monts later:
Having had an opportunity to listen to lots of music since I last wrote I thought I should let you know how I feel about the loudspeakers.  In a word stunning!  The level of detail and the clarity of the sound is the first thing that you notice.  The sound is very natural and unenforced.  There is no listening fatigue after extend listening and the speakers are equally at home with classical music such as Carl Orff's Carmina Burana where the scale of the music is conveyed with authority.  The bass is much deeper than any other speaker that I have owned.  It is not thunderous bass which I do not like to listen to anyway but you can feel the pressure from the bass on your chest.  These speakers rock.  More delicate pieces of music such as Emmy Lou Harris singing Cosmonaut are breath taking.  You can hear her catching her breath and hear the strings being struck down or pulled up.  Everyone that has had a chance to listen to the speakers has been bowled over by how natural and good they sound.  Thank you for that. I have finally settled on the speakers flush at the front with the granite base.  I have also included a a couple more pictures of the top of the front baffle, one after the CNC milling cutter had cut the holes for the drive units and one picture after I had covered the top of the front baffle with leather. Hope you are well and enjoying life to the full.  Despite having completed my speakers, like a bee is attracted to honey so I keep returning to your website to keep abreast of your designs and projects.
All the very best to you, Steve


4 years later:

Until recently I had a Naim Nap 250 power Amp, a Nac 52 pre Amp with a SuperCap power supply, a Naim CDS3 CD player and a XPS2 power supply and of course not forgetting a pair of your Illumina 66 loudspeakers.  I enjoyed listening to my music on this system and for a number of years everything was fine  And then I got curious about how the Naim Nap 300DR would sound instead of the 250. 
 
To cut a long story short I was fortunate to find a dealer who could replicate my system and one with the 300DR side by side.  Armed with some of my CDs I spent an enjoyable two to three hours listening to various pieces of music on their system and it was quickly evident to my ears at least that the 300DR was an improvement on my 250 which you would expect given the price difference between the two.
 
However, the loudspeakers that they used were not Illumina 66s but rather Kudos 707 Titans.  All through my listening I was listening out for small details that the Illumina 66s brought out.  Small but insignificant sounds on the face of it.  I could not hear them though or if I did they were muddied and indistinct.  After my session I casually asked about the loudspeakers and was told what they were and that they were 13 five.  That probably explained why the sounds that I had been enjoying on my Illuminas were not being replicated by these speakers because they were inferior loudspeakers…..
 
I mentioned that I had heard about these speakers on various HiiFi forums and said that you get a big loudspeaker for £1350!  "Oh no, £13 500!” came back the reply.  I was gobsmacked and kept my mouth shut, which was difficult I have to say.  My Illumina 66s wiped the floor with these particular loudspeakers.  Absolutely wiped the floor with these loudspeakers.  Thank you.
 
I departed from your design in only small ways such as having curved sides instead angled sides.  The sides were 27mm thick and were made by laminating alternate layers of 3mm Birch faced plywood and 3mm MDF.  I shaped the rear housing for the Tweeter rounded/ovaloid.  I faced the front housing for the drivers with leather which softened the edges of the facets a bit.  Finally I mastiked the drive unit housing to the cabinet instead of gluing it to the cabinet.  Small refinements I know but the soul of the sound is yours and yours alone.  I also made my own equipment stands which will I know have made a significant difference to the working of the electronics.  I might be arrogant if I say it was cheaper than buying a Naim Fraim, more fun to design and build and to my eyes more aesthetically pleasing too.
 
Anyway, I hope you are well and thank you once more for sharing your designs with the general public.
 
All the best to you, Steve