Zilch's AK Design Collaborative - Econowave Speaker

So, in reference to the Geddes quote above- on one hand, you have Earl, who has been around a good length of time. On the other hand, however, you have Greg Timbers and the entire rest of the JBL and Lansing engineering staff, both present and past, who had been working on horn designs for the greater part of 70 years, when they came up with the PT Waveguide. Unless my memory fails me, Geddes hasn't been alive that long...

Which one has the most experience chops, now? :D

I think the saying goes: "I can see farther, because I stand on the shoulders of giants"...

Regards,
Gordon.

Based on how the Summas sounded compared to the best I've heard from JBL (K2), I'm not sure I wouldn't trust Earl on this one.

YMMV.
 
Saw Chris's video. Good stuff!

Nice little video on building the EconoWave crossovers. That should bring some new people into the camp.

Since my Barracuda is gone, I brought my Sunbeam home. It has sat in my workshop at the company for five years. Just needed a change of gasoline, and a new battery, and it runs great.

I don't know which end to E'Wave, the front or the back. What do you think?
 

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Nice little video on building the EconoWave crossovers. That should bring some new people into the camp.

Since my Barracuda is gone, I brought my Sunbeam home. It has sat in my workshop at the company for five years. Just needed a change of gasoline, and a new battery, and it runs great.

I don't know which end to E'Wave, the front or the back. What do you think?

Nice ride! My neighbor has one identical to that except for original wheels. Fellow down the block tools around in the summer in an Auburn Supercharged Speedster. Yup, it's a car town.
 
Moved from " JBL LE14c Now what to do with them? thread";

A friend has a pair of C-38 with the LE14-C coaxials that he sez have been refoamed. Looks like Tannoy config, dunno if the JBL woof cone is curvelinear like the Tannoy.
Regardless, is the LE14-C/ C38 low-end performance worth considering e-waving these things if the stock x-over and coax tweet are disconnected and the woofs just ran as LE14-A via the appropriate E-wave xover?
 
A nit pick about the article and video

I assume that the video is supposed to be glitchy and erratic on purpose but I had to watch it twice to make sure it wasn't a malfunction in the playback.

The short article and video are great. I hope they set a lot of people to thinking about modding their speakers. One thing I'd have wanted to see emphasized is why to do it. Those of us who have undertaken ewave mods and builds have done it for the sound because it's an extremely cost effective way to get great top end. I think the project could be sold on the merits of the results as much as the low cost and ease of implementation. But that's my orientation as an Audiophile. It's not worth doing if it's not going to outperform other options. Others might approach it out of curiosity or to do something unusual and DIY.
 
Nice little video on building the EconoWave crossovers. That should bring some new people into the camp.

Since my Barracuda is gone, I brought my Sunbeam home. It has sat in my workshop at the company for five years. Just needed a change of gasoline, and a new battery, and it runs great.

I don't know which end to E'Wave, the front or the back. What do you think?

Stuff a chevy 350 in it and forget about the wave stuff:D
 
Regardless, is the LE14-C/ C38 low-end performance worth considering e-waving these things if the stock x-over and coax tweet are disconnected and the woofs just ran as LE14-A via the appropriate E-wave xover?
Yes. With respect to the shape of the cone, it's not used as a horn or waveguide in them; it's just an LE-20 tweeter stuck in the middle there.

Nice job Chris! Hey you were doing great until you called our beloved JBL waveguide "cheapo". :D
Affectionately.... :)

Very cool video, Chris.
"Let's get soldering!" :D

I assume that the video is supposed to be glitchy and erratic on purpose but I had to watch it twice to make sure it wasn't a malfunction in the playback.
HA! It took you two hours to make your E'Waves, whereas Chris did it in four minutes. He's so speedy the camera couldn't keep up. ;)

"Works," and a big ol' smile fading to listening contentment. GREAT job, Chris, AK video star! :thmbsp:
 
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Video Saved the......


Great job Chris, love the video.
(Love the Wired workshop too.)

I think this is a good time for Zilch to explain, for the wired masses, how to determine woofer polarity with a battery, to aid in getting correct crossover summation.

BTW, I recently bought a set of boards from Zilch, and they really are top notch.

:thmbsp:

Edit: Zilch, I know your instructions included with the PC boards clearly show how to do this, but supplementing that with the "whys" here might be cool.
 
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Seriously?
Yup, 42.6 Kbps right now, it says. Downloadable videos, I just let 'em load in the background.

Streamers ain't so easy, and this one is relatively hi-res, so I had to watch it piecemeal. Online today was the first I'd seen it.

Chris produced the video himself: I wasn't even there, and it was not scripted. We built the Advents in the background the night before as rehersal, is all.

[There may be a follow-up in which y'all'll get to see him wielding the SawZall.... :thmbsp: ]
 
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I think this is a good time for Zilch to explain, for the wired masses, how to determine woofer polarity with a battery, to aid in getting correct crossover summation.
Sometimes we don't know the woofer polarity, especially in a project like E'Wave, in which builders may be using many different ones. The masonite Advents, for example, are marked with a black "X" next to one of the driver terminals; what's that mean? Also, with many vintage JBL's, which have red and black pushbutton terminals, the polarity is reversed.

How to tell: apply a 1.5V (NOT 9V) battery across the driver terminals, and note which direction the woofer cone moves. If it moves forward, i.e., outward from the basket, the battery (+) terminal is connected to the industry standard positive polarity terminal, and conversely, if it pulls inward, it's connected to the negative one. The same technique will work on completed systems, as well, so we can verify that we have the internal wiring correct. The crossover components typically protect the midrange and tweeter from the applied voltage, but don't use this test on unfiltered (no series capacitor) tweeters or compression drivers directly, and only on "robust" midrange drivers, if you must.

The E'Wave crossover boards and schematics indicate the proper polarity to wire the drivers for an industry standard system. Yes, the HF driver is inverted versus the input polarity in typical normal alignments, as designated on both the circuit boards and the schematics.

Inverse polarity JBL woofers such as LE14A should be connected in reverse, as I have indicated on the "special" schematic for that driver. The (+) LF crossover wire goes to the black terminal so that the SYSTEM conforms with the industry standard polarity convention. You can always verify that it's wired correctly using the battery test above; battery (+) to the system input terminal should cause the woofer cone to move outward.... :yes:
 
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Stuff a chevy 350 in it and forget about the wave stuff:D

Naw, man... a Ford 289 or 302. Have you no sense of history? :D

BTW: One of my shop teachers in high school had a Tiger, with a warmed-over 302 in it (GT40 heads, that sort of thing)... but with full mufflers, and such. Used to love see him play the "sleeper" routine on all the kids with their hopped-up Chevelles and Mustangs. Somehow, he got that thing to hook up... and with about 320hp in 2300lbs... it would definitely SCOOT!

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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