Speaker Talk 2017-20 Read Speaker Talk 2008-2010 Read Speaker Talk 2011-2014 30th December2020
2020 has indeed been a crazy year due to the pandemic. As I'm writing
this in the last week of the year, vaccines have started rolling out all
over Europe and US, but I guess we're looking into the Autumn of 2021
before life may - slowly - start looking like something we knew before.
Since April I've had the pleasure of playing around with prototypes of
ScanSpeak 38WE/8582T00 driver, the most sophisticated 15" bass driver
ever made. Elliptical voice coil and a powerful very open magnet
structure. This is not a subwoofer, but a bass driver featuring a fairly
light-weight paper cone, delivering agile powerful bass from around
100-150 liter cabinet volume.
2021
Lots of things in store for 2021. Below The Loudspeaker-III, a powerful
3-way from 18 SOUND and Faital drivers. 18 SOUND bass driver driven by
a 500 watt Hypex plate-amp/DSP. I'm afraid it's a keeper too - although
some of my larger speakers must go as I simply do have not space for
more speakers this size with the recent addition of this TL-3 and the SEAS
CNO-4. Our house is full of large speakers and I bless my wife for being
so tolerant.
Some of you may have noticed I'm fond of EAR Yoshino amplifiers and I was very sad to read Tim Paravicini has passed away due to cancer. (Link to Stereophile announcement). He was a unique character and made some great gear. Fortunately there should be nothing preventing these products still to be produced for years to come, and time has shown that these products do not need constant revisions and upgrades. If it works, don't change it. 17th December2020
Very pleased to launch this 4-way SEAS construction. The prototype
W18NX003 midbass drivers have been playing this speaker and the other
CNO updates for more than a year now and finally, this - my SEAS
statement - can be launched. 07th November 2020
This center speaker has been on the to-do list for a long time and
having just rediscovered the 18W/8534G00 driver in my Discovery-861,
there was no escape from a center companion, although center speakers
are not in high demand in the DIY community.
23rd October 2020 It's been a while since last update, but clients' work has taken a lot of time. Also due to covid19 the number of DIY projects has increased dramatically - hence numerous mails every day.
I'm exited and very pleased to launch the above speaker construction
delivering - to my ears - unprecedented quality for money. On the given
baffle the 18W/8434G00 midbass driver delivers a smooth response I
haven't seen since the Ellipticor 18WE driver - and that at a price only
one-tenth of the Ellipticor. In its best version, featuring Alumen-Z for tweeter and Silver-Z for midbass and bass, we can stay below 1000 EUR for the complete kit. Happy reading - and stay safe in these troubled times! 24th July 2020
For those loving vinyl there's an update to my turntable page here. In addition to my Kuzma StabiR/4Point9/Anna-D set-up, I have added a Jelco TK850S to carry my MSL Eminent EX cartridge, as I found out I would all too soon be wearing out my Anna-D cartridge. This is how good it is.
It's all great fun acquiring new gear but nothing - to my taste - beats
getting a package of new LPs! Above my recent harvest from snvinyl/UK.
I guess summer holidays are coming to an end soon for most people
and should you have some days left - enjoy.
13th July 2020
Faital 12PR320 back in stock at
LEAN, UK. Now we just need the 6RS140 and we're
back to normal on the Faital 3WC kit.
26th May 2020
The
Faital 3WC kit and also the
The Loudspeaker-2 kit has sold in unprecedented quantities and I
have been worried about situation at the Faital and 18 SOUND
factories in Northern Italy. 18 Sound Given the number of kits sold, I'm very relieved to hear so :-) 10th May 2020
When I made the notes below March 1st on the local hifi show, rumors of
covid19 were already circulating and the hifi show in Munich had already
been cancelled. By now we all know the horrific stories from around the
globe and the world is certainly a different place from what we all
expected. 22nd March 2020 It's a strange world for the time being! Covid19 keeps spreading around the world. We see horrific images from Northern Italy and country after country shuts down to contain and even out the pandemic in order to keep hospitals capable of treating people. Buzzing Denmark is silent, few cars in the streets, cafes and restaurants closed, shopping centers closed except for supermarkets and pharmacies. Singing and playing from balconies has spread from Italy to Denmark and shows how deeply rooted our need for music is. In times of crisis we think new and invent new ways of communicating, new ways of being together. Our comfort zone is seriously challenged as nobody knows what's around the next corner. Despite the pandemic, people keep building speakers - maybe even more so than usual due to many workplaces being shut down and people may be forced to take holidays in advance, etc. The Loudspeaker-2 and Faital 3WC constructions have had more response than ever anticipated. The Faital 3WC is selling like hot cakes and orders have been poring in to Jantzen Audio, and my recommended European suppliers of drivers for the these construction are still up and running as can be seen from the inserts below. What does worry me is that both 18 Sound and Faital factories are located in Northern Italy, and who knows how the situation is at the factories there right now, as all not-vital businesses are asked to shut down. So, stay tuned to your local health authorities and their recommendations and all the best for an unforeseeable future. Corona is dead serious.
1st March 2020 Hifi Messe by Soundsociety at Hotel Royal, Aarhus/DK, Feb 2020
Great fun this weekend! Hifi Show at Hotel Royal here in Aarhus - and ScanSpeak had a stand - and we sat up the Ellipticor-3s for an audition. Also a range of drivers were on display, among these a new D24 (?) Ellipticor tweeter.
Quite a few people got to hear the Ellipticors and response was
positive. With some of the source materials the speakers were put to
test more rigorously than I ever done at home.
I have a couple of times displayed the LP cover of a recording by Canadian cellist Vincent Bélanger - and before entering the show I had just played one of the tracks for a friend. Much to my surprise on entering the AN demo room, I had Bélanger face to face and could compliment him for his playing and magnificent recording. Later he played his cello to the delight of the small audience - and I had him sign his latest LP "Là".
The really sad news this weekend was the cancellation of the High End Show in Munich in May - due to corona virus. Really, really sad as I had so many plans for this coming event. 13th Feb 2020 A lot of things has happened since last up-date. A minor, but significant thing, is the addition of a Beryllium dome option for the Faital 3WC speaker.
Most of January has been spent in the workshop making cabinets for my The Loudspeaker-2. I have badly missed my The Loudspeaker since last year and I found a way of being able to store the speaker in our home by reducing overall width to 55 cm and I can now roll them out from time to time, because they're still too big for permanent placement in our living room.
This version is all sails set with Alumen-Z for the Midrange and Amber-Z
copper foil caps for the horn and super-tweeter. Cost pretty much a
fortune, but there will be sensible options too with Superior-Z for
midrange and Alumen-Z for horn and super-tweeter. But I need this to be
my ultimate reference in designing future speakers. 26th Dec 2019 Very pleased to release the final speaker of 2019, Faital 3-Way Classic. Quite a speaker from 12" bass driver, phenomenal 6" midrange and always trusty ScanSpeak D2608/913000 tweeter. 93 dB sensitivity and an easy load on your amplifier. Click image to go to website. Thanks for all encouraging mails during 2019, Happy New Year!
08th Dec 2019 As promised in October, here's the new ScanSpeak 2½-way, Ekta-25. Actually this is the first time I've done a 2½-way from ScanSpeak drivers, not sure why, but well, things take their path and I don't have a fixed plan for what kind of speakers I do. I really, really like the sound of these 18W/8542-10 drivers and feeding the tweeter from a capacitor that actually costs 2/3 of the tweeter price is to my mind clean logic. This tweeter can deliver - but you gotta feed the best of signal to it. Happy reading! 19th Nov 2019
Experience a fully digital 2-way speaker with the options of 1st,
2nd and 4th filters from the three presets. An unique opportunity to
compare crossover topology - and not as clearcut as you may think!
15th Oct 2019 Last two months have been devoted to designing a new 4-way loudspeaker and the most of the project is finished. It will be a while before ready for launch as it awaits new 6" and 8" drivers, not production ready yet, but hopefully all available during the coming winter. For bass I use BMS 12N630, which I have used many times before and it delivers incredible value for money. The bass is driven by a powerful Hypex FA501, which takes the signal from the speaker cables, thus no need for a line signal from the pre-amplifier. The filter for the top drivers features 1st order topology delivering transparency and dynamics. Obviously this project is derived from my reference Ellipticor-3 speakers and meant to deliver the same for less money. The bigger speakers always gives ideas to how to make the same thing for less. We'll see over the coming months if this can be achieved. Please do not ask for further details.
Next in line is an affordable 2½-way from ScanSpeak 18W/8542-10 drivers, so stay tuned. 08th Aug 2019
Pleased to have launched the updates to CNO-mII and CNO-25, now
CNO-mkIII and
CNO-25-mkII and the
CNO-GRANDE.
The CNO-GRANDE comes with a special edge-coated version of the SEAS W12CY003, making it the most linear 4" driver I have ever had. Should you have a pair of W12CY003 I can do the edge-coating for 100 EUR + shipping forth and back. The edge-coating of the W12CY003 was a result of a study on linear distortion, which can be read here. A new line of copper foil capacitors from Jantzen Audio has been tested and the results can be read here. These copper foil caps use a very thin PP dielectricum, allowing 200 VDC, thus specifically designed for loudspeaker crossovers. Click image or link above to read why we may love our records even more. 25th June 2019 http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/SBA-741-BASS.htm Why a woofer and not a subwoofer? A subwoofer is
really meant to assist in the 20-40 Hz range, maybe up to 60 Hz, but
that's it and what smaller speakers need is really some help in the
mid-bass to middle-bass are, 40-160 Hz, where most 6-7" drivers fail to
deliver the punch and dynamics needed to assist the illusion of live
music. 95-150 cm^2 (5-7" drivers) membrane area simply cannot move
enough air.
In pipeline
In pipeline are three new SEAS CNO constructions, two updates to CNO-mkII and CNO-25, now CNO-mkIII and CNO-25-mkII. Icing of the cake will be a new 3-way from 2 x W18NX001 + 12WCY003 and the magnificent dome T29CF002. To be launched Aug-Sept-2019.
19th May 2019 Please to release the SBAcoustics SBA-741 open kit speaker Click image to go to construction page 10th May 2019 Pleased to finally release the STUDIO-101-mkII speaker. The construction was made in January but it took some time before the production line was ready for release of the 18W/8542-10 driver. Click image below to go to page.
I also urge you to see how we by simple means can increase power
handling of the Ellipticor-3 speaker by introducing a simple 1st order
filter before our power amplifier:
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/High-Pass-Filter.htm 17th April 2019 The next open SBA construction is well under way and features MW19P-8, MR13P-8 and TW29RN-B-4 drivers. A 3-way standmount in a modest sized pyramid.
A couple of weeks ago I made a visit to Bjarne having built The
Loudspeaker, and I have to admit I hadn't heard what
The Loudspeaker could really sound like in a proper sized room.
Bjarne has a 50 sqm living room and I would have sworn the left speaker
would have problems being stuck in one corner. It didn't! And I don't
have any good explanation for this except the room size may pose optimal
acoustic properties where room-nodes don't at any point become dominant. 5th March 2019 The winter months are certainly the busy months of speaker DIY. Numerous mails every day.
Ready for launch is the STUDIO 101 mkII as soon as ScanSpeak is ready
for release of the 18W/8542-10 driver. Also awaiting release is the
32W/4878-T11 bass driver for the
Ellipticor-3 speaker.
An unusual amount of kits have been sold for
The Loudspeaker! Never in my wildest dreams had I thought this 300
litre monster would attract such attention. I'm very pleased it does!
31st December 2018
Thanks to all visiting my website during 2018. Thanks to those who built speakers and responded with comments and pictures of their creations. Nothing pleases me more than seeing my many workshop hours in the hands of others. Lots of things in pipeline for 2019: My New Year Greetings to you all is the speaker seen above, the ATELL-3. Most of December went fine-tuning this 3-way speaker with SOTA drivers from Viawave, ScanSpeak and AudioTechnology. Click image to go to construction.
Next in line is an update of the popular STUDIO 101 with an updated 18W/8542 driver and new and better tweeter - and simpler crossover.
Also in pipeline is a 2½-way floor-stander from SBAcoustic drivers with a very easy to construct cabinet and simple crossover as well. This speaker will be one of two constructions made for the new SBA website with open DIY constructions, allowing you to pick the components you like - or buy the complete kit from Jantzen Audio. Stay tuned! 6th December 2018 Now public here 24th November 2018 In pipeline and to be launched before the end of this year are two construction featuring some unusual crossovers. The inherent smooth response of ScanSpeak Ellipticor drivers allows 1st order crossovers to be used, in fact the complete crossover is only three coils and two resistors for this 2½-way with added 32W sub. No capacitors needed. The 21WE and 18WE drivers also run without any high-pass filter and the overall simplicity pays off in unprecedented transparency and coherent soundstage. One of the few speakers I've made that made me run through a lot of recordings to hear what I have been missing so far.
Next in line is potent 3-way from SBAcoustic drivers, here a 9½ inch
bass driver, 4½ inch midrange and the magnificent TW29RN dome. A
combination of 1st and 2nd order filters deliver a smooth and
transparent soundstage with a deep bass from the 9½ inch Satori driver.
Click link here:
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/SBA-941.htm 16th October 2018 Please to announce the ATB, AudioTechnology-BlieSMa
28th September 2018 Client work has taken quite some time this summer and culminated with a visit to the hifi show in Guangzhou mid-September - and with an unexpected home trip delay due to hurricane Mangkhut. Guangzhou only some 100 km north of Hong Kong.
In pipeline are two smaller two-way constructions from AudioTechnology, BlieSMa and ScanSpeak drivers. The AT driver is a powerful 6I52-17-06-SDT, with titanium voice coil former in a compact design supplemented by the BlieSMa tweeter, either Al/Mg or Be dome. The Loudspeaker has been sold and packing these monsters in two pallet crates is something I'll try to avoid in the future. Not easy! Packed 125 kg/ea. I'll miss these speakers badly but space is a serious issue.
Later this year the FUSION/FUSION-BAD will be on sale. Fitted with the
bass passive crossover and FUSION FA252 plate-amp/DSP it can be wired to
run either fully passive or semi-active. To be announced later.
1st July 2018
Spring and summer has been unusually hot here in Denmark and doing
cabinet work on the
Ellipticor-4 has been slow, but here they are. For
the size, I believe the best 4-way I have ever build. Building this type
of cabinets is tedious, and having built four others in the same design
doesn't leave many challenges, except for the panel cutting. Cutting
Baltic birch and having the final finish in one is demanding, but seeing
the finished cabinets I'm pleased and its worth all the hours. 14th June 2018 Much to my surprise, The Loudspeaker has caused much more attention than anticipated. Building a speaker of 300+ gross litre was something I just had to do without any expectation of public interest. Visitors have been many and apparently there are quire a few out there with a favourable WAF situation and not least being tired of speakers not delivering the dynamics of real world music. I won't reiterate the virtues of large speakers like these, only pass on the notion made by visitors that treble from a hornloaded driver is something else and in this case as far away from "PA sound" as can be. "Horn treble" has a bad reputation, but from quality drivers, well designed horns and properly tuned crossovers, it can be as smooth as should be and leave conventional direct radiators behind. Having a new reference obviously add pressure on the smaller speakers from my workshop, and few drivers have excited me more than the new line of Ellipticor drivers from ScanSpeak. As said in the very first article on Ellipticor, Ellipticor 1, it takes time to get to know new drivers, their strengths and limitations. Fortunately client work has added deeper knowledge and given me new ideas. Clients may suggest things you wouldn't dream of and sometimes lead to new ideas for future constructions. Currently I'm testing the new 8" Ellipticor drivers, 21WE/4542T00, to find out what I can make from this driver. Can it be used in a simple two-way or how about an 8+6+1 Ellipticor? Time will tell, but preliminary test suggests a potent bass, transparent up-front midrange - and it can be run from a single coil delivering a 2nd order roll-off. I'm still in the final construction phase of the Ellipticor-4 making the midrange and treble cabinets. Bass module is finished. 13th April 2018 These last two winter months have been busy and lots of good stuff in pipeline for launch over the next month or so. To the left a speaker to end all speaker building - if you have the space! 307 gross litres is what it takes to get very very close to what live music may sound like in your living room. 18" BMS bass driver is just the right size to give a kick drum or a double bass the weight and punch of the real thing. 10" midrange driver and a compression driver delivering as smooth and transparent a treble as can be. Not show is a super-tweeter on top handling the upper octave, 10-20 kHz. None of the drivers ever work hard to deliver thunderous sound levels should this be needed. A normal listening level the cones hardly move at all. Extremely low distortion! Go to The Loudspeaker website.
To the right a new 4-way speaker that is already a serious competitor to
my ATS4-HE speakers. My ATS4-HE prototype cabs her holding the ScanSpeak
Ellipticor drivers on top and 10+12" bass drivers from 18th Sound and
BMS. System is tuned to 92 dB and is ~100 gross litres more acceptable,
you get and midrange presence and treble transparency similar to the
monsters to the left, only not capable of playing as loud. Construction launched. Go to website. 25th Feb 2018
Thanks to Lars Frandsen,
HIFIcentrum/Middelfart, space was offered for displaying
the FUSION-BAD at a local hifi show. Speakers were driven from YBA IA350
amplifier and speaker cables were pure silver from BKS (no website). 16th Feb 2018 It's with sadness I hear Ejvind Skaaning passed away on 8th February, 2018. Ejvind Skaaning was a key figure in the formation of ScanSpeak, Dynaudio and AudioTechnology, the latter now owned by his son Per Skaaning. If you want to dig deeper into the merits of Ejvind Skaaning, read the story here by Claus Futtrup (Chief Technical Officer, SEAS/Norway): http://www.cfuttrup.com/history/ejvind_skaaning.html
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Above a picture from the window of the local HiFi Klubben store. Appears
they think vinyl aficionados are old farts with shaky hands and just
risen from a - hopefully - good night's sleep... From a marketing
perspective, this may not exactly encourage young people to get
involved, but who cares? Vinyl lives its own life and is doing well. Lots of things have been launched recent 2 weeks: Bookshelf speaker, specifically tuned to near-wall/bookshelf placement Finally the Ellipticor-1 is ready for launch Last, but not least, the ATiRi will be ready soon
9th Jan 2018 First of all, Happy New Year to all who visit my website! Primary focus this January is the launch of ATiRi and Ellipticor speaker kits. Jantzen Audio is awaiting drivers from the manufacturers and as soon they become available, the kits will be launched. Next in line is the final touch to the FUSION speaker. Front grille and a version featuring the Hypex PSC2.400d module, running the bass driver including its 200 Hz low-pass filter section. This will be ready before the end of January. In pipeline is a book-shelf speaker. Yes! First construction meant to be placed on a shelf up against the front wall. Quite a powerful 3-way from 8+4+1 inch drivers. Placing a speaker up against a wall takes special precaution in designing the crossover as we have a significant bass-lift from such placement, meaning from lower mid to treble, the level must be higher than normal to balance the overall sound.
Stay tuned! 13th Nov 2017
Apparently I should communicate more often here. Have mails asking if
I'm still "there". Indeed so, but house maintenance, holidays, etc. has
keep me busy. And please do not expect a new speaker construction every
month. This is way above my capacity. New constructions are in the pipeline. Still waiting for the final Ellipticor tweeters to finish off the construction. Hopefully before too long. Another smaller two way in pipeline with exiting new drivers. Finally a larger classic 3-way from 12+6+1. PLEASE do not ask for details. Nothing will be revealed before they are finished. When not occupied with other things, I've immensely enjoyed my Ekta mkII driven by my EAR-861/32wpc power amp. Read below. 18th Sept 2017 I'm very pleased to launch this new and up-dated Ekta. Click image to go to page. The first Ekta dates back to around 2005 and many times I wanted to update this construction based on a client job and not taking into account an optimal front panel design. The result was a 4th order filter to the tweeter and even a notch filter to tame a 7 kHz peak creating quite some sibilance if not attended. I believe I can do better today by combining design and acoustics at the very beginning. And not only that, I think I can make a more sensitive speaker, better bass, better power handling, better midrange, a better sounding treble - and not least, at lower price! The latter due to the use the the D2608/913000 tweeter, which is kind of an overlooked tweeter, originally derived from the Peerless HDS series. There's a lot of money to be saved from not using the 7000 ring-radiator. The money saved can be used on better crossover components. The 9130 tweeter simply delivers top-notch treble performance with its double magnet, die-cast face plate, low-mass diaphragm, low Fs, etc. Running the Ekta mkII from my EAR 868 pre-amp and modded EAR 861 power amp makes one hell of a system. I'm afraid I have to keep the Ekta mkII as a reference for a modest sized and slim 3-way floorstander. 25th August 2017
Based on feedback, the NOMEX-164 is one of the most popular speakers in
my portfolio. The mkI dates back to 2010 and with the experience gained
since then it's time for an update with some modifications allowing a
simpler crossover and a lower point of crossover. The speaker now
features a better sounding time-aligned 2nd order filter. The NOMEX
cones still deliver some of the best midrange money can buy and the 9130
tweeter a treble that ranks among the very best. With 90 dB sensitivity
and an easy load, this speaker can be driven from
low-wattage/high-quality amplifiers. 17th June 2017 The last three months have been very busy. First and foremost due to two new constructions made for ScanSpeak to present their new drivers at the Munich High-End Show, 2017. A classic 3-way featuring the new 11" bass driver, 28W/4878T00, the new 8 Ohm Revelator midrange, 18M/8631T00, and a 2-way stand-mount from brand new Ellipticor drivers. The latter not least exiting due to elliptical voice coils, something never seen before. I very much look forward to more constructions with these exiting new drivers. The 2-way presented in Munich will be launched as a kit around November 2017.
What characterises two of the new constructions is the use of DSP/plate amps for the bass driver(s). I've used bi-amping for several years but the plate-amps featuring DSP is just simply the way to go for larger speakers. It allows rock solid and deeper bass from smaller speakers - and it allows people to adjust bass level to fit their often less than ideal room acoustics. So much needed! I haven't made any statistics, but I think there were more constructions this year in Munich featuring plate amps for the bass drivers than last year. I'm sure it will catch on and be standard for larger speakers in the future. Hypex is launching a wider range of DSP/plate-amps, Fusion, later this year and I'm looking forward to learn their new products. So, why not full DSP and digi amps for all drivers? Simply because what I've hard from digital amps and DSP simply doesn't match the quality of the best of traditional solid state/tube amps and good quality passive crossovers.
Our attic has been stuffed with speakers, and a few weeks ago I launched
a
summer sale to make room for new constructions.
Fortunately four set of speakers have already been sold. The
Illuminator-4 is still available and it will probably take a bit longer
as it is not exactly cheap, but a kit price of 3900 EUR + cabinets
materials + 250 hours of work doesn't come cheap. I really hate to let go of this speaker.
It's a darn good speaker and the best woodwork I've ever made. Hopefully
it will find a room somewhere delivering what it is capable of. It
deserves the best equipment you can buy. 15th April 2017
It's been a long wait for the SBAcoustics Beryllium domes - and it was
worth the wait. Standard testing can be found
here. Implementing these domes in three of my SBA constructions was
easier than anticipated, as frequency response and sensitivity is so
much alike the TW29RN tweeter that no changes to the crossovers were
needed. At around 300 EUR/ea, they should reach a wide audience. Can't believe how good domes we have these days!
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