SpeakerTalk

Sensitive, dynamic, powerful, deep bass and compact will be the five primary objectives of this speaker. And of coarse all the usual qualities of transparent midrange and smooth treble. Can we really have it all? Indeed so.
For bass we will have 500 watts driving a powerful 11" bass driver, that, given its rigid straight-sided sandwich cone, 3" titanium voice coil and ideal TS data, will deliver dynamic, thunderous and deep bass from a relatively small cabinet. And the Hypex will lift it to the possible sensitivity of midrange and tweeter.
This speaker has been 18 months in the making and was intentionally for myself only, but things develop along the way and a less complicated MT section may appeal to some builders.
This IS NOT a beginner's project. Enjoy reading - and there is a lot!

Go to Jantzen Audio website, click image below:

With ScanSpeak release of the new D3004/666000 dome, the Revelator-851 and Illuminator-71 are now ready for these domes. Kits with these domes will be available from Jantzen Audio ultimo March.

The DIY kits for the D3004/666000 (TPCD) versions are already available to configure in the DIY kit configurator in the Jantzen Audio website:
https://jantzen-audio.com/diy-kits/

Having worked with the D3004/666000 for more than half a year, we have become good friends.
Extremely linear and easy on crossovers.

Pleased to announce the release of this Illuminator-7R,
probably the best 2-way standmount on these pages.
Click link or image to go to page.

Happy New Year!

Jantzen Audio has launched a new website having a configurator making it easier to put together your kit.
Same URL: https://jantzen-audio.com/

The next two weeks I will change all links to the configurator, but still all links will lead you to the new website and on top you'll see a link, DIY-KITS. Click this.

Most importantly, once you have picked country of residence, the prices you see includes your local VAT!
Those outside the EU will see no VAT included.

Doing a test of vintage Snell E-III, I couldn't help thinking SEAS CA22RNY. I have used it in my SEAS 3W-Classic mkII. A classic coated paper cone driver with good sensitivity and good frequency response, that doesn't take much equalisation.
A two-way from an efficient 8" midbass driver and a great tweeter not costing a fortune; it doesn't get much simpler and it is highly cost-efficient. A lot of good sound from modest investment. Have fun!

"I wanted the Faital-10-430 to be the best 10+6+1 classic, I've ever made. But, there is a change to the midrange driver compared to the Faital-3WC-10 as I ordered the 16 Ohm version. Doing the same as the 8 Ohm version, but requiring less attenuation - and we can get along with fewer uF to the midrange high-pass section. Money saved for the beryllium tweeter if this should be your choice.

For tweeter the venerable ScanSpeak D3004/660000, we can hardly find a better fabric dome. As an alternative SBAcoustics SB29BAC-C000-4 Beryllium tweeter, mostly because I know some of you just must have Beryllium and the price-value ratio is second to none. The crossover is the same except for R1. Both resistors follow the kit.

For bass, obviously the magnificent 10RS430. I love this bass driver and on paper it may not go much deeper than the 10RS350, but in real life it appears to do. Ray Vaughan/Tin Pan Alley came through with all the deep grunt as wanted. Read my test of the 10RS430 here."

The very first speaker I made from the then new Ellipticor drivers was the Ellipticor-1 with the D3404 tweeter and it was on display at the Munich High-End Show in 2017 (.....has it really been that long?).
Since then we have sold quite a few kits being an introduction to the Ellipticor range of drivers - or for good for those who prefer/have to live with a smaller standmount.
Later the Ellipticor 18WE/8542T00 (8 Ohm version) and not least, the tweeter D2404/552000 was introduced and I have used the smaller tweeter in my Ellipticor-A50 speakers and my Ellipticor-2F8 construction. I like the latter so much I soon wanted to implement the basics in an Ellipticor-1-mkII construction.
The new speaker will be Ellipticor-1824, and it will be presented with both 4 Ohm and 8 Ohm 18WE driver, should you have either at hand. They sound the same, but obviously the 4 Ohm version will play louder for the same volume setting of your amplifier. Efficiency is the same, but sensitivity is not the same. Lower impedance may let you think a speaker is more efficient, in fact it just draws more current from your amplifier. Your amplifier may have a specified max watt @ 8 Ohm, but this does in no way make it unsuitable for a 4 Ohm speaker. I have these questions...
Next objective was to make a much easier cabinet as the faceting of the original might have put a few potential customers off, hence a simple sloped baffle like the Ellipticor-2F8.

As mentioned in my review of the Faital 10RS430, the 12RS430 is the big brother and more than suitable for hifi application. This Faital-12-430 speaker here is by no means thought as a replacement of the Faital-3WC-12, but as an alternative for those who can live with lower sensitivity, but would like to have deeper bass.
Where the 12PR320 is suitable for a system with 92-93 dB sensitivity, the 12RS430 can manage some 90 dB, but go some 10 Hz lower for the same size cabinet. There is a price for everything, and do we want deeper bass for the same volume, we have to sacrifice something - here sensitivity, but a lot of people have capable solid state amps that will be more than happy driving a speaker of 90 dB sensitivity. 90 dB is by no means inefficient.
Two tweeter options, D3004/660000 fabric dome and D3004/664000 Beryllium dome.

Above seen from my 2nd build of the Illuminator-71 construction, one of my few stock speakers kept as an example of a 2-way stand-mount. The best I have made - to my ears.
Now, making the Ill-71 with the 6600 dome tweeter I never felt the need to make any changes, but there are customers that cherish the distinct sound of the Be domes. So, here you have it. I have to say that run through my cost-no-object Amber-Z capacitors, it just sounds wonderful.

Every time I set up a transmission line I hear something I don't hear from conventional ported boxes, a quality of bass reproduction that is unique in its lightness and ease of reproduction of bass notes. By lightness I don't mean low or vague, but as the bass driver has been relieved of some acoustic resistance. I haven't made a lot of TLs, because it takes space and for a 3-way it's not always that easy to incorporate the midrange driver in the physical design. However, making the TL here is no more complicated than making a conventional vented box with braces.

With excerpts from the Midway movie, attendants had to be told there was no subwoofer hidden somewhere...

Jann Evers, Director of Sales, ScanSpeak, asked me to do a soundbar for their exhibition at Soundsociety 2024 in Copenhagen. A task well received, as I had for long wanted to improve the sound from our own TV. Jann had tested the ARYLIC B50 amplifier at home and found it to deliver excellent sound - not least taking the price into consideration; I mean 140 EUR here in Europe... Click heading or image to go to page.
The Acrylic amp does most as seen below:

So, should you need a soundbar for your TV - or just a small "stereo" for your mantlepiece, then this may be an option.

There have been requests for a center speaker for the The Loudspeaker-1/-2/-3 and Faital-15, matching the potential of these systems, and none of my existing designs are hardly up to the task, maybe except the 8008-CENTER, but here is a design that will truly match potent, high-efficiency main speakers in a surround system.

The magnificent Faital 6RS140 driver was an easy choice for midrange and the SBAcoustics SB29BAC-C000-4 Beryllium tweeter another easy choice.

For bass there were several options and having quite some experience with the 18 SOUND 10" bass driver, 10NW650, this was tried and found more than suitable. This driver is seriously efficient and we have to use two drivers in series, delivering a healthy impedance above 8 Ohms in the bass region. Most amps will love this.

Faital drivers for all constructions now available from Jantzen Audio.

Click here for further info.

Some images from most recent hifi show in Guangzhou, China, where the happy marketing boss, Jann Evers of ScanSpeak, presented the Ellipticor-A50 speaker.
Now these speakers have pretty much been around the world, from Munich to Chicago - and now China.

It had to be done. Mating a large bass driver with a large midrange dome. Nothing new under the sun, but very little used. I guess Acoustic Research was the first to do it with their legendary AR3a speaker featuring a 12" bass driver handing over to a 1½" mid-dome from around 575 Hz according to specs. I never heard the AR3a, but a friend of mine still have his AR11s with pretty much the same drivers - and it does well - after I re-foamed his bass drivers.
Best known today for this layout of drivers is ATC with their well regarded range of studio/home speakers featuring the magnificent 3" double spider mid-dome. British VOLT produce a couple of (single spider) mid-domes, one 2" and one 3". Most recent addition to the limited range of mid-domes is the SBAcoustics MD60N-6, which I tested in my SBA-7MD construction - and I very much liked what I heard. I just learned Yamaha launched a new speaker with a 3-1/4" mid-dome, so maybe we'll see more mid-domes in the future - and I certainly wouldn't mind.
Last year ScanSpeak released their D8404/552000 mid-driver, a one-of-a-kind mid-dome with elliptical voice coil of 84/68 mm - and double spider. Never seen before and partly due to corona I spent almost two years with the prototypes before final release at the Munich HighEnd show. And suffice to say, I had some good times with the "D84", which resulted in the Ellipticor-A50-mkII.
Now, in mating a bass driver to the D84, we should most likely not look for some heavy subwoofer type, rather a driver with a more light-weight cone with the ability of playing some midrange, possibly all of the midrange, although we're not going to take advantage of this.

I have made a lot of these 3-way classics - and for good reason. Easy cabinet construction is an important issue as a lot of people do not have sophisticated workshops, rather hand tools and basic workshop facilities. Does this mean we can only build lesser quality speakers? Not at all! A classic 3-way may prove just as good as any fancy looking speaker with high-gloss lacquer, etc.

With the Revelator drivers used here we're into high-end and with high-quality baked coils, Superior-Z and Alumen-Z capacitors we're into super-high-end. A speaker is never going to sound better than what crossover components allow to pass to the drivers and especially capacitors are a key ingredient in high-quality sound reproduction.

Now, here's a guy selling his house for a pair of ScanSpeak A50 speakers!!
Had not seen this coming :-)

Be prepared living on the west coast of Denmark, beautiful country, lots of fresh air and close to the North See and e.g. kitesurfing :-)

When I made the Ellipticor-2F8 cabinets, I made several upper front panels to allow the use of various brands of drivers. The bass module is more than suitable for a wide range of drivers, thus here a version with the updated SEAS W18NX003 midbass and my all time favourite SEAS tweeter, the Crescendo T29CF002.
This speaker can also be regarded as a downscaled version of my CNO-4. The CNO-4 is a seriously large speaker and not all can accommodate speakers this size.
Like the CNO-4, the filter can be made really simple due to the linear frequency response of drivers. Midrange clarity and crystal clear treble, fed through state of the art crossover components.
Combined with the powerful Faital 10" bass driver driven by the Hypex module allows you unlimited room adaption. Corner placement, near-wall placement and out on the floor, the Hypex module allows you to adjust the bass performance to any room condition.
Fully passive version available should you not have any room constraints.

In hindsight, my ATELL-3 was a keeper, but I was desperate for space and had to let it go. Actually I may have to lend these to friends to have some space at home.... Anyway, since then I wanted to make a semi-active version together with a fully passive version, thus the 8 Ohms Ellipticor 18WE/8542T00 for mid-bass in order to keep final system impedance relatively high.
With the Viawave ribbon tweeter not being available I decided on the Ellipticor D2404/552000, being more expensive - but doing so well in my Ellipticor-A50 it had to be this tweeter.
With the Hypex module running the bass, the MT-section impedance stays above 7.1 Ohms - and you have almost infinite options for room-adaption, something very much in demand as room acoustics leaves a lot to be desired for most.
My 32 wpc EAR-861 runs the fully passive version from its 8 Ohm tabs without trouble.
I also wanted to use the magnificent Faital 10RS350 for bass as it does the same as the AudioTechnology 10C77 - and at around a third of the price. If you're a strong believer in high cost equals better performance, the AudioTechnology 10C77-25-10-KAP or the ScanSpeak 28W/4878T01 can be used, but only with the Hypex module as I don't have the drivers and can't ensure proper function from the passive Faital bass crossover.

Ever since making the Ekta-mkII speaker, the extended version with two 18WU midbass drivers have been on my mind, but building cabs take time... The Ekta Grande, based on Revelator drivers, has been going for many years and still has some builders, but for years the use of the Illuminator drivers for a similar construction was on my to-do list.
The sandwich cones and non-reflective magnet systems of the Illuminator range of drivers have something to offer in terms of dynamic headroom, uncoloured sound - and well, here it is, the GRANDE's update.
This speaker runs very well from my EAR-861 amp at "only" 32 wpc - and from the 8 Ohm tabs.
Deep bass, smooth and extended midrange and lower treble from the 12MU. No wonder this mid-driver has found its way into the most expensive speakers on the market. What we as diy'ers can do - and very few manufacturers can't - is using premium crossover components.
The Ekta-7741 is going to be one of my stock speakers as an example of this configuration. I like it a lot!

Flat-pack or ready made cabinets for Ellipticor-A50-mkII now available from EBEL Holstechnik, Germany.
Click images to go to website.

Pleased to release the update to ScanSpeak Discovery-18W, now Discovery-18W-mkII

I can understand why some people refrain from seriously expensive drivers - and not only for economical reasons - but for the very simple reason, that if we never play very loud, a cheap drivers can sound just as good as an expensive one. What expensive drivers should give us is dynamic headroom. The ability to play loud and still keep distortion low. And to be fair, quite a few expensive drivers do that.
For midbass here I picked the 18W/4434G00 rather than the 18W/4424G00 due to it's larger voice coil and increased power handling. The 4 Ohm version due to it's enhanced sensitivity and we can manage a system sensitivity of 89 dB, even with a decent bass extension.
Nothing to add on my tweeter choice, the venerable D2608/913000. I have used this tweeter extensively, even together with high-cost midbass drivers.

Seeing the images below may cause some to think that listening to the Revelator-51 in comparison with the Ellipticor-A50 is unbearable. Well, it isn't!
Obviously we don't achieve the same visceral impact from the Rev-51 as from the A-50, but played at reasonable levels, the joy of music can be just as fulfilling.
Yes, size matters and deep powerful bass is the foundation of music, but I wouldn't say this makes the small 5+1 an intellectual exercise. With a high-quality front-end, we may extract as much from our musical sources as from bigger speakers. The tools for this is high-quality drivers, premium crossover components - and obviously careful tuning of the smaller speaker in terms of a non-aggressive upper midrange and a well balanced treble. A small high-quality 20-50 watt amplifier and good source material being streaming or vinyl-playback is what it takes.
Three speaker constructions were finished during the last months of winter and spring and will be launched over the summer months, so stay tuned.

Two-way mini from magnificent Revelator 15W/4531G00 and Discovery D2608/913000 tweeter,
delivering potent bass, ultra transparent midrange and a simple 2nd order crossover that makes a seamless transition from midrange to the treble. Easy cabinet construction.

Went to the ScanSpeak factory in Videbaek yesterday to mount some new solid oak base supports for their Ellipticor-A50s to hopefully make a nicer appearance for their upcoming display at AXPONA 2023 in Chicago. I was in a hurry last year for the Munich exhibition and seeing them at the show here in town a couple of weeks ago, I realised it could be nicer.
Just this to notify our US kit buyers that should you be interested in hearing more, then the Axpona is an opportunity.

Pleased to announce the release of the ScanSpeak Discovery-3WC-10 kit.
Click heading or image to read all about it.

Pics from a local hifi show and my Ellipticor-A50s were on display. Always exiting to hear your stuff in other surroundings and fortunately most rooms at the Hotel Royal are well damped and acoustically well suited for hifi shows.

Going through a lot of room listening to streamed music, I think a heard a noticeably similar sound from many - quite different - systems. What stood out was the Audio Research/Wilson Audio room where a Brinkmann turntable equipped with an Ortofon Diamond made me feel at home. Stellar sound, and the Sasha/DAWs sounded so much better than what I once heard in Munich. Overall a very well balanced system albeit too much room-gain in the bass, but the poor guy couldn't do much about it. A visitor asked for the removal of front grills and he declined! I agree. No grills make us sometimes listen more with our eyes than our ears. And Wilson Audio makes excellent grills from very slim glass fiber plates (?) My guess. The exhibitor played a copper plate (mother) used to make the stamper when making LPs and compared it to the final vinyl. Not easy to hear any difference, but interesting test.
The very slim Totem speakers to the right played really well too! Surprisingly deep bass from so small drivers. Totem makes their own midbass drivers with PP membranes and uses no low-pass filter at all. The tweeter, for good reasons, have some sort of high pass filter but that's all we would know from the exhibitor.

Two ScanSpeak constructions are in pipeline and ready for launch as soon as SS can deliver drivers. Due to the overall turbulent political situation, it seems the world is reorganizing in many ways and delays are common.

Finally! Jantzen Audio has received the final production samples of the new ScanSpeak Ellipticor D8404/552000 mid-dome and we can finally release the anniversary kits, Ellipticor-A50 and Ellipticor-A50-II, the latter semi-active and one of my few stock speakers and my reference for all speakers to come.

Should some of you find the Purifi-Be above your budget, I have made a version with the SBA TW29RN-B-4 tweeter, saving some 250€.

November was busy selling stuff. From time to time I gather too much gear and need to let go of most. If I had 200 sqm storage, I'd keep most of my speakers, some of which the woodwork represents the best I have done, like the ATS-4HE and Illuminator-4s. I'd also like to keep the Ellipticor-3s and The Loudspeaker-IIs. But I don't have 200 sqm space to spare. A number of speakers has left the premises the last months and I hope they will do well with those who bought.
Ideally I'd like to keep three larger speaker constructions for reference like my current Ellipticor-A50-II, the CNO-4 and Revelator-851. Also a couple of stand-mounts is nice to have in the collection, thus my Illuminator-71 and Purifi-6R/-Be. Possibly my QUAD 2812s have to go too - and I'll badly miss them, but they do take up quite some space. Selling, packing and shipping - I hate it, but it must be done once in a while.

2022 unfortunately brought back war to Europe. I seriously hope Dmitriy of Viawave will be back in business some day in the future although observers appear to be cautious of being too optimistic. These ribbons deliver state of the art performance - and at a reasonable price.
With the introduction of Jantzen Audio MKT Z-caps a lot of files had to be corrected with amended parts' lists, and drawings had to be updated. I hope it's all correct. In 2023 you will see a new Jantzen Audio website with a configurator where you can design your kit with regard to level and inclusion of drivers and accessories. This will hopefully make it easier for customers and relieve Jantzen Audio of a lot of mails back and forth.

2022 was a record year in terms of turnover - never have Jantzen Audio shipped so many kits. We thought corona was the cause of the increase in sales in 2020-2021 - and it probably was - but the trend seems to continue. Thanks to all who trust in our products. Currently some 80+ kits are available, hopefully satisfying most customers, and from feedback they appear to do so. What is out of our hands is your room, your associated gear - and your expectations.
I hope some of you will enjoy my December holiday Ellipticor-TQWT fun. Speaking of Ellipticor, I hope the Ellipticor D8404/552000 will soon be released as we have potential customers waiting for the Ellipticor A50 speaker despite its horrific price.
Hope you have some relaxing holidays and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Pleased to announce this classic 3-way featuring SBAcoustics TX units and BMS 12" bass driver. Doing the SBA-7MD speaker gave me appetite for more of the TX drivers, hence now for midrange and tweeter. The TX drivers offer exceptional level of transparency and dynamics.
The bass crossover has an new feature in that bass level can be passively adjusted to suit most placements in-room, the everlasting problem of room-gain from corner placement, out-on-the-floor, etc. All speakers are subject to room gain and my speakers with the bass driver driven from a Hypex plate-amp can infinitely adjust for room conditions, but mostly simple means are suitable and here we have a passive solution from adjusting the upper bass impedance peak.

I hope you all had a great summer here on the Northern hemisphere, and maybe have gotten speaker hungry again after the holidays. From July sales I can actually see quite a few of you have spent some time in your workshop also. I couldn't be more pleased.
The speaker above, the SBAcoustics SBA-7MD, is a bit different from what I use to do as it features a transmission line cabinet delivering surprisingly deep and powerful bass from its MW19TX-4 driver. The all new MD60N mid-dome ensures a smooth transition to the dotted dome tweeter. The crossover features some new Jantzen Audio MKT-Z-CAP, which will be separately introduced when ready for launch. I was very pleased to learn Jantzen Audio taking in these caps, as it solves a lot of space problems for me in designing crossovers, in particular bass low-pass filters, where high-value caps are sometimes needed - and in tweeter crossovers in case we need to linearise impedance. The new caps, and the kit above, will be available from ultimo September.
In a lot of kits where I would use electrolytic caps or CrossCaps, these MKT caps will be replacing these. 100 uF CrossCap is seriously large and well, the small electrolytic caps just doesn't catch on with customers. In many cases electrolytic caps are doing very well, but I (we) can't convince customers this is the case and if something has been established as the truth, not much we can do about it. Hence, the Jantzen Audio MKT-Z Caps. You will have to pay for this, but if it makes you happy, I'm happy too.

Click image to view large.
Above the complete range of SBAcoustic constructions supported by Jantzen Audio.
The range has grown over the years and I pleased to add this latest SBA-7MD.

By the way: I just got my Purifi-6661s back from the Munich shown and had the opportunity to compare these three floorstanders including the new SBA-7MD. Been away for more than 3 months, I'd completely forgotten how the Purifi would sound and it was a pleasant surprise to set them up again and hear that magnificent clean midrange. The PTT6.5M08-NFA-01 midrange (terrible name) is certainly a potent driver delivering the goods with exceptional little colouration. A tad - and I mean tad - more clean than the ScanSpeak 15M driver, although I love the ScanSpeak's slightly - and I mean slightly - more lush presentation. Since then I've modified the Rev-851 crossover for the ScanSpeak D3004/664000 beryllium dome and - again - made it a tad more neutral, not better, but slightly more neutral in the overtone structure. Now, a new dome won't have exactly the frequency response as before, so just a small change in level here and there may count for our impression and it is easy to be fooled. There will another update on the Rev-851 with Be dome as some has requested this.
The SBA-7MD certainly shouldn't have the bass capacity of any of the others, but the MW19TX in the transmission line certainly makes up for this and could easily make us believe we're hearing an 8" bass, that's how potent it is.
I can't say any of these speakers sounds significantly different from the others, but they clearly tells there are many ways to aural nirvana.

To complete my ambition of a wide range of speakers primarily based on ScanSpeak Revelator driver, I'm pleased to release this Revelator-66.
I many ways similar to my Illuminator-71, but these sliced paper cone drivers stand the test of time and deliver the goods decades after release - and most likely for decades to come.

It is with great pleasure I can finally release these two files on the ScanSpeak 50th anniversary speakers. They have been two years in the making, being delayed for many reasons, but now finally finished and on display at the Munich 2022 High-End Show.
Below to the left, the speaker I made for ScanSpeak, and to the right the one I made for myself. One is fully passive and the other have the 15" bass driven from a plate-amp also handling the low-pass filter.

The D8404/552000 midrange dome is the only large midrange dome ever made with an elliptical voice coil, double spider and a gigantic magnet system delivering some 92-93 dB sensitivity. It's the heart of the system and it's a game changer in handling some four octaves from around 300 Hz and way into the treble range. Not having any crossover in this region pays off. Truly the best speaker I have ever made - to my ears! Please read here.

Be prepared kit prices ex. VAT will be in the area of 12.5 kEUR.
With an average VAT of 20% we're talking 15,000 EUR.

Pleased to release these two center speakers completing the range of ScanSpeak Illuminator speakers and the SEAS speakers based on the magnificent nextel coated midbass W18NX001 and W18NX003 drivers.

Both versions featuring the new edge coated ultra linear W12CY006 midrange driver.

This is both a beginners' project - and a project for the discerned audiophile. Having a high-quality 8" midbass driver handling all of the bass- to upper-midrange without any crossover interruptions has its benefits - as has been for many years now from my TQWT/DTQWT constructions also featuring a wide-range 8" driver and the basic foundation.
All speakers are compromises and should you want to engage in DIY, this may be a place to start. Cabinet can hardly be more simple and crossover is easy as well. Click heading or image to go to website.

Listening without prejudice is as important in speaker evaluation as in politics. From what we know - or think we know - and not least from what we see, we may fool our perception of the real world and be disappointed.

25-02-2022: Apparently even the highest level of empathy cannot foresee madness.

Anyway, I'm pleased to release this ScanSpeak Revelator-851. Since working with the 15M/8631G00 in 2018 in a custom design, for which is was created, I've wanted to do my own in a smaller version of a classic 3-way. The custom design was a big speaker with two 8" bass drivers - and then this 15M/8631G00, a phenomenal midrange driver.

A classic 3-way with an 8" bass, 5" midrange and a 1" soft dome tweeter. Read the story by clicking image or this link.

A lot more ScanSpeak constructions are on the to-do list in 2022, so stay tuned.

Thanks to all for your support and trust in our projects throughout a fantastic 2021.

Very pleased to release the final construction of 2021. And not least very pleased for it being this Purifi 6661 speaker. As mentioned in the intro, if you want it small, powerful, deep bass, smooth midrange, silky treble - here you've got it. "Silky" is a misleading term, because many acoustic instruments can be anything but "silky", but this Be dome delivers what you feed it, being rough, ear-piercing or - silky.
The speaker comes in two versions, one fully passive with a minimum impedance of 4 Ohms - or semi-active, with a Hypex module running the bass drivers, leaving an impedance of 9 Ohms for the mid-tweeter section, yummy for all tube amps. Using the Hypex for the bass section leaves all options for room adaption. Kit price is ready.

It has come to my attention (through Jantzen Audio) that people have different perceptions of the quality of "levels" in our kits. Many kits come in "Level-1", "Level-2", etc. It turned out that some customers regard "Level-1" being the lesser quality version! WHAT?? I think it was mostly in the US, that people would think "Level-3" would be the ultimate version. I couldn't believe it. I think I have a gene coding for level 1 being the best, level 2 the second best and level 3 the lowest quality. One, two, three... gold, silver and bronze! Right? NOT SO.
I admit that level ratings like North and South are arbitrary concepts. So, I went to wife and asked if she had to buy a pair of shoes and these shoes were available in three levels, level 1-2-3, which would you think were the best? Level 3 would be the best, she said. WHAT? BUT WHY? Well, my wife is a teacher and third grade would be higher than first grade. Hmm... that does make sense.
Anyway, when it comes to loudspeaker kits from Jantzen Audio and these are available in various levels, level 1 is the best, etc. We're not going to change that as we would have to change an infinite number of webpages.

"Do you have a speaker that doesn't make mp3 files sound too bad?"
Had that question some mails ago - and to be honest, I don't know. First of all I never listen to mp3 - except a few times on YouTube. But this is always via ear plugs - and in fact I have no idea of the bit-rate from YouTube. A speaker that doesn't make mp3 sound too bad.... It got me thinking. What would it take to do so? What the writer suggested was that a high-end speaker would just make the lack of depth, transparency and the slightly rugged treble sound even worse on a good speaker. Basically I would think that a not so good speaker would make mp3 sound even worse and that a really good speaker would make the best of mp3. I don't think there is a definitive answer to the question as mp3 is mp3 - for better or for worse. What may be an option is a speaker with less energy in the - say 800-4000 Hz range. Upper midrange and lower treble, where the ear is most sensitive. I would probably not pick a speaker with a dedicated 4" midrange as these small units usually can be demanding on source material. But it all depends. I found the Discovery 3WC-mkII a good compromise with its 5" midrange and not too critical on source material - despite its high resolution. Bottom line is I cannot point to a speaker that makes mp3 sound less bad.

Few days ago i picked up 6 sheets of 20 mm Baltic birch for my winter stock. Compared to a purchase September 2020, the price had gone up 81%!! What is happening in the world? From friends in industry I know they're struggling to get components, to have it on time - and rising prices on almost everything. This corona virus has indeed stirred up the world and shown how interconnected we are. We had an extremely fine-tuned global village, where the slightest disturbance in the supply lines has repercussions in all directions.

Due to time constraints, I have ceased to do DIY-SERVICE, where people could come with their speakers and have a crossover made. One Danish supplier of drivers and crossover components offers calculated crossovers and I had a terrifying example recently.
I have done all those drivers and I couldn't help trying to simulate the construction based on measurements I had from files derived from a baffle not too different from the writer's cabinet. The writer thought the speaker became too harsh at loud levels. No wonder! Treble range some 10 dB above system sensitivity and a midrange way too loud. And this calculated 2nd order filter would only work with time-aligned drivers - and they were not.
I have only one comment: Shame on you dealers that make customers buy seriously expensive components for such crap! Crossovers CANNOT be calculated: crossovers.htm

Last, but not least:
I had a mail from someone wanting a flat front panel and asked if he could do the time-alignment by just making a hole for the tweeter.
Now, this would spell total disaster! I guess what he asked for was something like this:

There is a reason front panels have the dimensions they have - and there's a reason the drivers are placed exactly where they are placed. To make an initial frequency response as good as possible given the design criteria. Very often design must be changed because crossovers become too complicated and will sound less good. I'll try later to illustrate the example to the right.

There will be one more new construction this year, a 3-way Purifi floorstander. If you want small, powerful, deep bass, ultra-transparent midrange, smooth treble, here it is. Stay tuned.

The target of this project was to make a kit for less than 400 EUR. A kit that could deliver a significant soundstage and potent bass.
Low-cost drivers often leave a lot to be desired when it comes to reliable data sheets. Not so with SBAcoustics. Testing the above shown drivers reveal that these drivers deliver exactly what SBA has promised. What made me proceed was the 6" driver having a ruler flat frequency response up to 4500 Hz with none of the all too common rubber resonances in the 1 kHz area. Nice paper cones, low-loss rubber surrounds and fairly high sensitivity from the 8 Ohms versions. Where we have to give in is the polymer chassis, but these are good looking, fairly rigid and in comparison with other low-cost drivers non-magnetic.
Usually low-cost drivers do not have the dynamic headroom of more expensive drivers - and these drivers are no exception - but to overcome this we can have membrane area, and working in a 2½-way fashion we have some 340 cm^2 membrane area for all of the midrange, more than many 10" drivers. Large membrane area equals minimum membrane excursion equals minimum distortion.
I've had visitors: "Well, I'll be damned!". Did you say 280 EUR???
Click heading or image to go for further info.

I rarely recommend components as I have access to only a few for comparison. A friend came by with this Line Magnetic LM216IA integrated amplifier PP tube amplifier. To this end we hooked up the turntable via my van den Hul The Grail phono stage to the LM216 and had it run the midrange-horn section of my The Loudspeaker-3 - and it was magic. Really, really good sound. Highly recommended if you want to try out tube amps. With 38 wpc in ultra linear mode and 20 wpc in triode mode it runs most speakers although I wouldn't recommend it for low-efficiency heavy coned bass systems. I have seen a few products from Line Magnetic and they appear to be very well made in a non-BS way with decent cabinets and impeccable internal wiring, which - and I'm sorry to say - we only see from China.
I have ordered new Miflex copper foil coupling caps for my friends amp and will report later.

It's been almost ten years since I started working with the Illuminator drivers. Actually it took me some time to realise how good they are. I started out with the Illuminator Monitor with an elaborate all-pass filter to the tweeter taking care of time alignment. I liked that very much and went on with the Illumina 66, a 2-way floor-stander built by quite a few people. Since them the series have been extended to include Ekta mkII, Illuminator-7751, Jenzen Illuminator, Illuminator-4 and Illuminator-5, the latter three including Revelator bass drivers as the Illuminator series does not have have 8" and 10" drivers - for obvious reasons.
These speakers kind of makes my Illuminator series complete. There won't be a "5+1" as too few people build these small speakers.

I'm very pleased to release the newest Illuminator-71, replacing the Illuminator Monitor and Illumina 66 speakers as the Illuminator-71 may be realised both as a stand-mount and a floor-stander. A significant simplified crossover to the 18WU driver with two tweeter options, the D3004/660000 and R3004/662000 ring radiator.

Should you be in the mood for a 2-way stand-mount, take a look the speaker above. Click image to go to website. It's been some time since a ran a test on the Purifi PTTX04-NFR-01 driver. Read here. Little did I know what I had in store. The Purifi driver offers some fascinating initiatives to reduce distortion in dynamic drivers and it pays off. Clarity, resolution, lack of smear are superlatives that come to mind when hearing this driver mated with the Viawave ribbon tweeter. Not the last thing on Purifi you will see from this website. Happy reading!

Very pleased to have launched the final speaker in the popular Faital range, the Faital 3WC-10:

All Jantzen Audio kits are going through an update with new presentations
and revised kit prices will be available August 2nd.
Thanks for your patience and have a great summer!

Links on my pages are being updated continuously and should be
ready by the end of July.

Just received this book from SEAS. The history of SEAS and some interesting reading for all SEAS fans. I'm sure Claus Futtrup spent quite a few corona-hours writing up the fascinating story.
The book is available from Audiatur Bokhandel in Moss, Norway and they have a webshop and ships worldwide.
http://audiaturbok.no/forlag/seas/seas-the-history-of-seas-fabrikker

Also the upcoming Faital construction is in the final stages of crossover fine-tuning and should be released this month. Here's a photo from the first workshop setup with test crossovers. Very promising sound I can tell with surprisingly deep bass from the 10" bass driver.

Spring time is time for house maintenance and doing the vegetable garden, so little speaker work done, although a lot in pipeline. More than 6 new constructions. Please don't ask for more.
Hopefully at least two of these will be finished before the end of this year. Next speaker in line is a Faital 3WC-10, a ten inch version of these incredible popular speakers. The drivers will be Faital 10RS350, Faital 6RS140-8 and ScanSpeak D2608/913000. Size will be 68 x 32 x 34 cm (H x W x D), so quite a bit more manageable that its bigger siblings.

#2 in line is a slim floorstander, Ekta G Illuminator, maybe not going to be a sales hit due to costs, but just something I'd like to add to the portfolio.

Space is becoming an issue again, when wasn't it, and the Discovery 3WC mkII and Discovery MTM (14-06-2021: SOLD) will be up for sale shortly.

All the best for a summer where hopefully some corona restrictions can be lifted and life get back to maybe not normal, but none the less more enjoyable.

Most recent update is a small file on what to most of us may be trivial: Polarity. Due to corona, we have seen a lot, and I mean quite a lot, of newbies to speaker building, which is excellent, but also poses some problems that may cause people not to hear what they should from their investment.
Most people are aware that drivers have polarity, the terminals are marked plus and minus, either by symbols or by a red dot at PLUS terminal. For e.g. JBL drivers, it is sometimes opposite, so finding the polarity of a driver is crucial - and it's easy:
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/polarity.htm.
However, a few builders have thought a red wire should always go the plus terminal - because it just seems logical. However, depending on what kind of crossover we're using, some drivers may have to be connected with inverted (opposite) polarity to make correct summation. Thus my epistle on polarity. I'll add the link to the suggested links following each new construction or whenever a file is updated.

Pleased to announce another speaker construction with ScanSpeak Discovery drivers - and Revelator 9900 tweeter, the Discovery MTM:

MTMs were introduced back in the 60'ies and became popular after the concept was further developed by Joseph d'Appolito in the 80'ies (?) and have been used by many commercial manufacturers, e.g. Dali and Living Voice. Various crossovers have been used with MTMs, all with the aim of reducing crossover lobing.
Adding a second driver obviously doubles the radiating area, in this case to 274 cm^2, close to the size of a 10" bass driver, thus capable of quite some sound level. Another benefit of having two drivers in parallel is reduction in crossover complexity compared to e.g. 3-ways or 2½-ways, although the latter not so much if drivers are well behaved like seen in the Discovery 861.

I'm more than pleased to release this update of a popular kit, the ScanSpeak Discovery 3WC, now mkII. Click image to read the story.
Some years ago I had the ambition of updating a range of my SEAS and ScanSpeak constructions, thus the updated range of SEAS CNO speakers and ScanSpeak Ekta mkII, Studio 101 mkII, etc. Most of the ScanSpeak construction made even 5-8 years ago I would leave as is and regard as mission accomplished. The Discovery 4, Jenzen Illuminator, Illuminator-4 and -5, I don't think I could improve these constructions. What I would like to add to the range of ScanSpeak constructions is an "Ekta G Illumina" based on Illuminator drivers. Also an Illumina 66 mkII and an Illuminator Monitor mkII. We'll see how things work out.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the Discovery 3WC mkII in our living room and amazed from what can accomplished with moderate priced drivers. The transparency of this new 3WC is amazing. What characterises the Discovery range of drivers, from 12W to 22 W, is the linear midrange response. Not a sign of any rubber resonances and only moderate rise in amplitude towards the upper limit of their frequency range. These drivers were designed to replace the old Vifa range of drivers - and so they certainly do. Some of you may remember the Vifa P13 and P17 drivers, either with paper cones or PP cones, the latter easy drivers ideal for a DIY community without measuring gear.
If there was a 5" Ellipticor driver, I would make a replica of this speaker and hear what you can get from a speaker that would probably cost 10 times as much, and I dare predict we might be chocked by comparing the two. I'm not predicting the Ellipticor wouldn't be better, but I'm sure it would illustrate how much we pay for even small increments of improved sonics. I would also like to make a Revelator version of this speaker with the new 15M/8631G00, an amazing midrange driver I used for a Chinese construction, but this would be a modest sized floorstander. No lack of plans...
Some of you interested in crossovers may find the current 3WC mkII crossover intriguing and I look forward to your response. I'm also pleased I picked the larger 15W for midrange and a lower point of crossover to the bass. This gives male vocals a crisp presence I really like. And the exceptional linear response of the 15W makes a smooth transition to the 9130 tweeter. The luxury version of the kit will be below 1200 EUR and the economy version some 400 EUR less.

Hello again!
January was absolutely crazy with kit sales way above anything seen before. Thanks for trusting our business and we wish you some happy workshop hours. Mails are poring in and from a lot of people I've never heard from before, and also from people who just want to tell their hifi story or people having ideas to new constructions. Thanks to you all, and again, I apologise for my short replies.

Vaccines are being rolled out and journalists again and again ask the poor virologists when well we have a normal life again. I think they after the first 12 months are being more and more cautious about promising anything, and what seems pretty clear is that we will have to live with corona for years to come, albeit in a more controlled fashion, but 100,000 people on a football stadium or at a music festival is probably some time from now. Will the Munich hifi show be in September as planned? Who knows.

Have spent some time weeding out some of my old constructions. A lot of the stuff from some 10+ years ago just don't sell any more and will no longer be supported from Jantzen Audio. Some files are still on the server, but you must source local dealers for crossover components. A few files have been deleted as I can see I would just do things differently today. The last 15 years on the web has been a learning experience for me trying out various crossover topologies in the beginning and going, also thanks to better drivers, towards more simple designs.
Most of January was dedicated making a true 1. order 4-way speaker system with the main drivers all connected with positive polarity. Quote: "A first order system achieves its perfect (in principle) results by keeping the phase shift of each roll-off less than 90° so that it can be canceled by the roll-off of the other driver that has an identical phase shift in the opposite direction. (Phase shifts greater than 90° cannot be canceled.) The phase shift is kept low by using very gradual (6dB/octave) roll-off slopes which produce a phase lag of 45° for the low frequency driver and a phase lead of 45° for the high frequency driver at the crossover point. Because the phase shift of each driver is much less than 90° and is equal and opposite, their outputs combine to produce a system output with no phase shift and perfect transient response." Source: Thiel, "Coherent Source Loudspeakers".
Technically the speaker was a success, sonically not so much, and I haven't finished analysing the results to come to a conclusion on why it just didn't turn out the way I wanted. Maybe some other time, but for now there are others ways of making good sound.

On the Jantzen Audio website you will find no less than 73 active kits, from 10 litres to 300 litres, stand-mounts, floor-standers, bookshelf, subwoofers, etc. And there are more to come.
Currently three new ScanSpeak speakers are in pipeline, two with affordable Discovery drivers, which I have grown increasingly fond of over the years, and one seriously expensive NNNN speaker. These constructions should all be available in the first quarter of 2021. So stay tuned!

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.
Speaker building has been equally crazy during the pandemic and Jantzen Audio has been busy as ever shipping speaker kits all over the world. Delivery of Italian speaker drivers was a problem in the summer, but was resumed during the Autumn months, and LEAN/UK has been a steady supplier of drivers for The Loudspeaker-1 and -2 and the popular Faital 3-way classics. And now the Brexit! Well, with the UK not being a member of the EU, you can purchase drivers from LEAN without British 20% VAT - and have to pay our local VAT rates. Most likely there will be 4.5% tax and handling fee, but otherwise business as usual. But I guess we will have longer delivery times and maybe 5-10% overall increase in driver costs. There really are no continental dealers with the same extended portfolio of drivers like LEAN. I'm very, very sad the Brits are leaving. I buy a lot of stuff from the UK.

Above the speaker construction launched in 2020, CNO-4, Discovery-CENTER, Discovery-861, Faital 3WC-15 and The Loudspeaker-2.

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.
And some months ago I had the smaller sibling of the Ellipticor tweeter, D2404/552000 - and I like it a lot! Based on specs and measurements I can't point out why, but this tweeter is doing something right in the 4-way construction where I use it.

This is my measurement of frequency response flush mounted on a 80 x 120 cm baffle. Extremely flat in the overall important 700-10000 Hz range - and with a minor lift in the 10-20 kHz range and with a smooth roll-off all the way to above 40 kHz. My microphone is not reliable above 20 kHz, so probably quite an extended tweeter. The ScanSpeak measurements suggest an upper limit around 35 kHz. Maybe it's the minor lift in the upper octave that gives some extra airiness that becomes my aging ears well.

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.
With the powered bass you can run this speaker from as little as some 15 watts - and they better be good watts.

I had hoped to present these with front grills before 31st Dec. Didn't make it, but they are ready for presentation.
Click image to go to website.

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.

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.
The W18NX001 has been one my favourite midbass drivers for many years since launch of the Acapella SEAS more than ten years ago and by keeping what works and improving what can be improved without altering the basic performance is the way to go. An improved magnet system and a new titanium voice coil former takes this popular driver to new levels. Improved dynamics and without sacrificing the ever so smooth midrange frequency response.
The new W18NX003 can replace any W18NX001 in the CNO-mkIII, CNO-25 and CNO-GRANDE without changes to the crossovers. Happy reading.
CNO-4
W18NX003 test

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.
The Discovery 18W drivers are fairly efficient, thus we have the two in series here and can tune the system to around 89 dB. This calls for the 4 Ohms version of 12W/4524G00 midrange driver and a few more uF for the high-pass filter. Having a tilted front panel we can manage a 2nd order filter between mid and tweeter and we can fully enjoy the exceptional linear response of the 12W driver in the 500-2000 Hz range, actually all the way to 4-5 kHz. No need for any edge coating here!

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.
Discovery-861 is a 2½-way construction featuring the 22W/8534G00 bass driver in a vented cabinet with the in-built port facing the floor giving extra room-gain. The 18W midbass works in a closed box filled with sheeps wool and can be run from a 1st order filter. This is in fact the smoothest 6" driver I have ever tested. Due to the closed box the 18W can be run without a high-pass filter and having the 18W and 22W running in parallel delivers a warm and solid foundation to all musical genres.

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.

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.
Mahler's 4th was what got me started on Mahler and I have two worn-out original LPs of this Mahler/Symphony #4/Lisa Della Casa/Reiner/Chicago Symphony Orchestra recording. One I bought 2nd hand and one I bought on eBay, stated near-mint - and anything but near-mint. Thus, I was more than pleased to see this particular recording being re-issued. I may not be the greatest recording of 1960, but the music is just great. Even more so Stravinsky/Le Sacre Du Printemps/Sir George Solti/Chicago Symphony. This recording is simply spectacular.

I guess summer holidays are coming to an end soon for most people and should you have some days left - enjoy.
I can see from Jantzen Audio sales, that July has been a good month too, where March/April/May/June were record breaking. With corona a lot of people have been at home and gone to the workshop building cabinets.

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.
So, I was in contact with Nigel at LEAN/UK to hear what he knew about the situation and he could tell this:

18 Sound
They are now back at work, we have a shipment of NSD1095, 10NDA520 and XT1086 arriving Monday, most of these have been sold, however I am guessing that some these will be heading to people that have been in touch with you.
We have more arriving mid June.

Faital Pro
They also are back at work and shipping 12PR320 and 6RS140 Mid June.

BMS
We have plenty of stock.

Going forward we will be holding more stock of all the drivers.
We have added both of your designs to our recent newsletters and I hope this has helped with your sales.

If you could let your builders now that stock is now on its way and that the shortages will be over.

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.
Denmark has by now been shut down for a couple of months and we've learned to keep distance at supermarkets and all other places. Right now we're in a phase a slowly opening again and we'll have to see how things develop before further advances are made. From the daily statistics we can see Denmark has done well with very few deaths/100k inhabitants.
There has been no launch of new constructions since the Faital 3WC, which has sold in surprisingly numbers, and a larger brother is in pipeline from a 15" bass driver. Probably ready for launch after the summer holidays.
Two more constructions are in pipeline but delayed due to corona. The 4-way SEAS construction mentioned below has been finished since 15th October last year, but awaits the final drivers from SEAS.
The other construction is a large 4-way with a 15" foundation and some unusual drivers, but this is all I can tell by now.
The last two months have been very busy on mails as covid19 has kept so many people at home, now having time to go to the workshop and kit sales from Jantzen Audio has exploded. Certainly creating a lot of mails!
To make space for new speakers, some of my prototypes have been up for sale and money invested in new gear. An second My Sonic Lab Eminent EX cartridge has been bought and my workshop EAR-868L line stage was sold to a friend and replaced by an EAR-868PL, slightly modified. I'm very, very happy about this pre-amp, truly rivaling my EAR-912 pre-amp.
I've always wanted an EAR-869 integrated and found a 2nd hand mint condition at reasonable price - and well, I love it! Great sound and great amp for testing high-efficiency speaker in the future. And BTW, this amp runs my TL-2 top without any trouble given the Hypex FA501 doing the 18" bass driver. More phono cartridges has been ordered and also a new turntable, Kuzma StabiR and 4Point9 arm. Can't wait to hear what this will do to my reference system. The TL-2 has been in our living room for a couple of months by now, and I think my wife has forgotten how big they are :-)

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.

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 D2404 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.
This old hotel has some magnificent rooms with very good acoustics, which - I think - made it easy for most exhibitors to make good sound.

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.

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.

The magnificent - and price sensible - SBAcoustics SB29BAC-C000-4 dome tweeter takes this speaker a notch higher in fidelity.
Check it out here.

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.
As pointed out on the TL-2 page, if you have room for #1, build this and maybe add some of the features from #2 like improved bracing, etc. The Fostex FT96H super-tweeter has been discontinued by Fostex, but there are now six options for super-tweeter included, so take your pick.
I'll take some more photos of the TL-2 when I have done a proper stand for my JBL 2405H super-tweeters. The kit will be ready for sale around March 1st.