Dear Troels,
I’ve completed my “The Loudspeaker 3” build a few weeks ago and thought I’d give my thanks and share my feedback to you & other builders. Firstly, thank you for answering my queries during the build process. I feel no one else in the industry offers the DIY community / beginners so many speaker designs to choose from and the support to build them. It would be such a loss if you ever decided to call it a day. Thank you.
I have been happily using your “Audio Technology Classic 3 way” for about 8 years or so, but for many years I had found them a bit too forward / bright for my ears, possibly a reflection of the amplification I am using. That changed when I decided to experiment placing rockwool batt covered in hessian cloth in the speaker. To my ears that helped tone down the speaker and made it more detailed / easier to follow the music. I also noticed I was then listening at a lower volume setting.
For years I had wanted more bass from the ATC3W but not in a punchy way, more in a full body effortless way. I grew up listening to a pair of Leak 2075 speakers that used 15-inch bass units and having listened to JBL K2 S9900 at a HiFi show I knew that I wanted a speaker that used a 15 inch bass unit. I think if the ATC3W used a 12 inch unit that would have satisfied me.
Before deciding on building TL3 I had the opportunity to purchase a used JBL k2S9800 for a similar cost as this build. I was very tempted and I will now never know how they compare. I decided on your design as I like the option of being able to adjust the bass and horn levels.
The speakers have been built with 24mm ply. I lined the inside of the speakers with a 4mm dense vinyl sound block material and glued small ply blocks to the bass unit fixing points for a more secure fixing point (see photos). I also had metal straps made and fixed small industrial springs to each end. I have found this isolates the speaker from the room structure and helps clear up the bass and midrange detail.
Breaking-in the speakers took some time. I used a HiFi audio track designed for that purpose, turned the gain to max on the Hypex amp and let them play – after a few days the speaker really came together.
Comparing TL3 to the ATC3W, they sound neutral with lower distortion. They also sound a lot more detailed and fuller bodied from top to bottom but not in a way that sounds disproportionate or brings attention to any particular frequency. They are also a lot more dynamic which takes care when setting the volume level. I used to listen to albums at a fixed setting and found that when the music gets going it is still listenable / just sounds more busy. With TL3 I’ve found the volume peaks can increase between 10-15dB which makes the music a bit too loud.
I’m still experimenting with the bass and horn level and I’m currently using 3dB for the bass and setting 6 on the horn.
I have attached photos of the build / speakers, please feel free to use them and edit this email if you want to include it on your website.
Thank you
Mike