In article ,
Harold and Susan Vordos wrote:

"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...

[ ... passive radiator ... ]

An interesting concept. Is it facing the same direction as the
powered speaker, or is it facing out the back? I see how it would allow
a greater stroke for the voice coil, and with the proper compliance, it
might actually give better sound overall.

They're mounted side by side on the front panel, which is, in turn, covered
with a wooden grill with a cloth backing. Instinctively you're inclined to
think that setup would cancel sound, but it doesn't appear to do so. I
can't help but wonder if the ever so slight time delay (compression and
decompression) doesn't just widen the bass somewhat, providing a slightly
sustained sound. Dunno.

Hmm ... is there perhaps some kind of baffle to delay the sound
from the driven speaker to the passive one? But that would likely make
it peak at certain frequencies and cancel at others. (But maybe this
would happen at frequencies that those speaker elements were not fed,
being more the job of the midrange and tweeters.)

If you like Danish modern furniture ( and I do) both the Paragon and the
Olympus speakers are quite attractive, at least to me. I started my quest
to own them back in the late 50's. I wont dispute the fact that the design
was very much a part of the reason I wanted them, but I've always liked the
sound, too. The 375 driver for the mid range is likely the toughest driver
ever produced, and is still being manufactured for commercial use. that's
not exactly a bad thing, considering the design is about 50 years old now.

A *good* design does not need changing. (Though it is likely to
suffer it if the bean counters get a hand in production.)

I don't have a clue how it stacks up according to the "experts", but it has
a super good track record. Used ones were selling for a small fortune a
year ago on ebay. Haven't checked since then, so I don't know it they're
still in demand.

They probably are.

Mid range is in the center, with the tweeters mounted on the appropriate
top end, right for right, left for left. It's interesting to watch the
woofer work with heavy passages. It's obvious the difference the passive
radiator makes by the throw one sees. The low end of the JBL speakers I'm
familiar with are not muddy in the least, so I feel it was a grand
improvement.

Great! I presume that there is no grill cloth mounted in front
of those elements.

Considering we also own a Paragon, which is, for the most part, almost
identical as far as speakers go, the difference between the two is
noticeable. The Paragon doesn't have the passive radiator, but has an
exponential horn type construction, reflecting the low end off a baffle
that
mounts as the base of the horn.

Like the old Klipshorn speakers? A folded horn?

Not really knowing exactly what that might be, envision the woofers mounted
nearly at the center of the overall cabinet. The Paragon is made in three
pieces, left side, right side, and front panel, which provide stereo
separation regardless of your position in the room. The woofers mount on
a board that faces the center end, at a slight angle, perhaps 6 inches away
from the end. The sound is redirected from the end of the enclosure and
begins what appears to be an exponential horn design, getting wider and
wider as it approaches the end, some 42" distant. I'm not sure I'm
describing as well as it could be described.

Well ... I'm going to try to describe a Klipshorn from memory,
and there is a good chance that I will be mis-remembering. If anyone
else is still following this thread, they may toss in a correction.

Anyway -- the speaker cabinet was designed to sit in the corner
of the room, using the walls on both sides as an extension of the horn.

The speaker was mounted at the top, directed downwards, and the
front opening started quite narrow at the top and widened in a clean
curve towards the bottom. The back of the cabinet was sloped towards
the front at the bottom, to redirect the sound out towards the listener.

They did not sound like much standing in the middle of a room,
but properly mounted in the corners, with clean walls on each side, they
really came to life.

There is another interesting speaker which a friend and neighbor
has. The speakers are capacitive drivers -- big flat things just a bit
smaller than a door. Very nice sound from those, but very expensive
when new. He got both sets used at different times.

I wonder---would that be a planer type speaker?

Yes.

I recall a casual
acquaintance bought a set like that some time ago. I heard them only once,
but he had trouble driving them, lacking enough power to do a good job. I
seem to recall he was using a Carter amp,

"Carter" or "Carver"? IIRC, the Carver does some strange
processing to try to "improve" the sound. While my Halfer is plain and
straightforward -- pretty much DC from just past the input coupling
capacitor to the speakers. That coupling capacitor was to keep DC from
whatever preamp you used from biasing the speaker cones away from the
central at-rest position.

but that's about all I can
remember.

I have yet to hear anything being played on his speakers -- he
and I are working with computers too much when I am there.

[ ... good wives ... ]

Right down to encouraging me to buy machines, which I rarely do.

And Dolores is similarly cooperative. I keep the computers
running so she can do what she wants on them, and I do the machining and
whatever in what used to be the garage. :-)

Very, very cool, DoN!

She even searches eBay for tools for me -- and has not yet
learned to not say "this one sounds strange" and attract my attention. :-)

[ ... burning CDs of your (irreplaceable) vinyl recordings ... ]

The basic principle is to have the CD recorder connected to your
system, and whenever you pull out a record which you have not yet
treated, copy it as you play it. Sometimes you may have to do a bit of
work to set up the index and start points, other times it can be
automatic (if the inter-band gaps are the only really quiet parts).

Maybe I didn't fully understand your comment. I was under the impression
you did this with the use of a computer, which an elderly friend has been
doing for some time now. Not so?

Not so -- though that is one way to do it. There are small
boxes available which can be connected to your system (typically the
"recorder" output from the preamp, so your adjusting of the volume for
listening won't affect the recording level -- even if you have to turn
the volume all the way down to answer a phone call). It sits there and
captures the audio. You then may wish to interact with the box a
little, to set index points so you can skip to a given cut -- that may
do well on automatic, or you may wish to adjust it. Certainly the
automatic indexing does not work well in a live concert with the
performer talking and introducing the song and telling where it is from.

[ ... home built tape player deck ... ]

That's certainly more success than I had imagined.

I had lots of perseverance. I wonder what I could have done
with a proper machine shop at home -- but I was in my parents home when
I started it, and I finished some later parts using a Unimat to make
them. (Things like better hub adaptors for 10-1/2" reels -- really
stretching the size capacity of the Unimat.)

I ran a large order of those for Univac years ago, but for computers, not
tape recorders. It was a demanding job using my Bridgeport and Graziano.
I still have one of them. My hat's off to you, DoN.

Those are a lot more complex than what I was making. Start with
a cylinder of aluminum just a little thinner than the thickness of the
tape reel. Mount to it a flange of aluminum turned to give a lip which
will hold down the reel by a radial distance of about 1/8" greater than
the through hole. Drill three holes at 120 degree intervals, and put in
pins with the ends turned to fit the three notches in the reel, and pin
them in. Then make a collet style gripper to hold onto the bare
spindle.

Nothing like the computer tape hubs, with a D-handle to expand
and grip the (rather heavier) reel with no notches for the drive pins.

The Ampex AG440B was what was used in recording studios before
the multi-track became the way to work, and was a later model of what
had first triggered my interest. The Revox A700 was made by
Studer-Revox, who also made professional studio recorders. It was the
most gentle machine on tape handling of any that I have ever used. It
had a tension arm on each side, which controlled the tension in the
takeup and feed reel spindles to adjust for the fact that a nearly empty
reel would otherwise pull harder than a nearly full reel.

I wonder. Does the Studer name come connected to precision machine tools?

It may well be. The machining of the drive is beautifully done.

Studer is (was?) a builder of precision grinders. It would make sense that
they were somehow connected when you consider the high precision related to
the feed mechanisms of tape decks.

Especially in these ones. IIRC, the Studer in question is
Swiss.

[ ... ]

I understand, and feel the same. I do have some more modern
recording equipment -- a nice DAT recorder, and a small mix board which
I have used for recording live performances at various places, including
at the Mystic Seaport museum's annual sea music festival -- until the
last two years, when we have not been able to get there for various
reasons.

Ever attend the Newport Jazz Festival? It's not what it used to be,
primarily because things change, but it used to be killer good for my taste.
I think Brubeck is about the only one left that still attends, but not
always. Many of the new guys play a sound I'm not nuts about, but at least
they're carrying on the tradition.

No -- I have not attended it -- though I have heard recordings
from it. (And also -- some from the Newport Folk Festival, which was
shut down before I got to where I could possibly attend.)

Enjoy,
DoN.
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