StevenZ's Omega 7 Alnico build
- Thread starter StevenZ
- Start date
Poultrygeist
Lunatic Member
What's up with the washers over the screw holes?
StevenZ
Texas or nothin'
Those are just rubber spacers to protect the driver during shipping. Removed they will reveal a regular countersunk screw hole.
StevenZ
Texas or nothin'
Well, I knew I should wait but I just couldn't help myself. I put the drivers on the floor at an angle towards my ears and wired up some CAT5 speaker cables I had laying around. What I heard was definitely not expected.
Even without baffles or enclosures, the sound was really darn good. Vocals were crisp and crystal clear but obviously lacked a bit of body due to no enclosure. Imaging was just silly.
I won't gush over these drivers just yet since the enclosure will really tell the whole story. Though from what I can tell this will be on fantastic sounding speaker with gobs of detail and ridiculous imaging capabilities.
Damn it's good to be back in fullrange territory. Stay posted folks; I'm now more motivated than ever to get these built.
-Steven
Even without baffles or enclosures, the sound was really darn good. Vocals were crisp and crystal clear but obviously lacked a bit of body due to no enclosure. Imaging was just silly.
I won't gush over these drivers just yet since the enclosure will really tell the whole story. Though from what I can tell this will be on fantastic sounding speaker with gobs of detail and ridiculous imaging capabilities.
Damn it's good to be back in fullrange territory. Stay posted folks; I'm now more motivated than ever to get these built.
-Steven
StevenZ
Texas or nothin'
All the material has now been ordered. Spikes, binding posts, bonded dacron, rotary cut maple veneer, MDF, and some Jupiter Condenser 18awg cotton insulated solid core copper wire for internal hook-up.
If everything comes in on time I'm hoping to have them completed by next Friday. Fingers crossed.
-Steven
If everything comes in on time I'm hoping to have them completed by next Friday. Fingers crossed.
-Steven
StevenZ
Texas or nothin'
Nope, none of the materials have arrived yet besides the MDF and maple veneer. I'm waiting for everything else to start assembly so nothing gets rushed or half-assed. I'm hoping for next Friday, but realistically it might be the 2nd week of October before these are in my home.
I will most likely start cutting on Monday, assemble on Tuesday, apply the damping material on Wednesday, sand on Thursday, veneer on Friday and Saturday, then throw them into the spray room on Tuesday or Wednesday. They will need a day or two to cure before I bring them home on Friday.
For now that's how the schedule is. As always, things may come up and it may get delayed, or perhaps it might get pushed through faster. I will keep you guys in the loop.
I will most likely start cutting on Monday, assemble on Tuesday, apply the damping material on Wednesday, sand on Thursday, veneer on Friday and Saturday, then throw them into the spray room on Tuesday or Wednesday. They will need a day or two to cure before I bring them home on Friday.
For now that's how the schedule is. As always, things may come up and it may get delayed, or perhaps it might get pushed through faster. I will keep you guys in the loop.
Really looking forward to hear your impressions of these speakers!
By the way, I saw your youtube clips of the seos fusion 12 speakers. They sounded really good, even through my crappy pc-speakers! What is the name of the last song on your second video? Really liked it....
Cbarth
By the way, I saw your youtube clips of the seos fusion 12 speakers. They sounded really good, even through my crappy pc-speakers! What is the name of the last song on your second video? Really liked it....
Cbarth
StevenZ
Texas or nothin'
Well folks, I finished a little early. Well, kinda. I finished veneering them this morning and decided to do a rubbed finish on this set so I took them home. Well, within an hour I had the wire and drivers soldered up and the cabinets all buttoned up. I quickly rushed them to the listening room and fired up my gear.
First up was Jazz At The Pawnshop Vol.1, as many of you may know, this series of recordings is pretty awesome at creating the illusion that you're sitting in the cafe listening to a life performance. What I wasn't prepared for is how well these speakers shake hands with my Inspire gear. Holy crap. The sound I'm getting from these speakers and the system as a whole is so overwhelmingly stunning that I had to pry myself from the couch just to write this. I was glued for over an hour as I sat in pitch darkness (how I like to critically listen).
Second up was Kat Edmonson's "Way Down Low" album which I'm actually still listening to while I write this. Another fantastic recording though on certain songs you will note that the recording was actually botched. It seems like the sound man was recording too hot on certain piano tracks and you will note some distortion on the recording itself. A while back when I first purchased the CD it drove me nuts thinking it was something in my own setup that was distorting. In any case, her voice flows from these speakers and all the instruments are well fleshed out as they should be. Stellar performance.
Even though I have such limited time on these speakers I am dumbfounded at how good they sound. I hate to say it so soon but I believe this may be the best fullrange driver I have ever used. Within it's first 2 hours of play it is doing everything right with no harsh nasties at all. It's a very well balanced sounding speaker with a perfect amount of top end sparkle. The midrange is so wonderfully smooth yet clear and well defined. With how good these sound I am definitely going to have a hard time unhooking them and applying the wax rub and speaker spikes.
Cheers,
Steven
P.S. - it was incredibly difficult to write this with music on. I kept getting sucked into the recording and just sitting here. This is a real damn good speaker, folks.
First up was Jazz At The Pawnshop Vol.1, as many of you may know, this series of recordings is pretty awesome at creating the illusion that you're sitting in the cafe listening to a life performance. What I wasn't prepared for is how well these speakers shake hands with my Inspire gear. Holy crap. The sound I'm getting from these speakers and the system as a whole is so overwhelmingly stunning that I had to pry myself from the couch just to write this. I was glued for over an hour as I sat in pitch darkness (how I like to critically listen).
Second up was Kat Edmonson's "Way Down Low" album which I'm actually still listening to while I write this. Another fantastic recording though on certain songs you will note that the recording was actually botched. It seems like the sound man was recording too hot on certain piano tracks and you will note some distortion on the recording itself. A while back when I first purchased the CD it drove me nuts thinking it was something in my own setup that was distorting. In any case, her voice flows from these speakers and all the instruments are well fleshed out as they should be. Stellar performance.
Even though I have such limited time on these speakers I am dumbfounded at how good they sound. I hate to say it so soon but I believe this may be the best fullrange driver I have ever used. Within it's first 2 hours of play it is doing everything right with no harsh nasties at all. It's a very well balanced sounding speaker with a perfect amount of top end sparkle. The midrange is so wonderfully smooth yet clear and well defined. With how good these sound I am definitely going to have a hard time unhooking them and applying the wax rub and speaker spikes.
Cheers,
Steven
P.S. - it was incredibly difficult to write this with music on. I kept getting sucked into the recording and just sitting here. This is a real damn good speaker, folks.
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StevenZ
Texas or nothin'
Well, since it's been a long time since I've had my Alpair 12's it's really going to be tough to say. But from what I can remember of them the Omega really out edges them in bass and fullness of lower registers. I also feel that the Omegas are able to cast a much deeper and wider soundstage. The Alpair 12's are no slouch, that's for sure. The Alpairs have a ruler flat frequency response whereas these have a slightly rising. I feel that the rising response adds a "realness" to the sound that other flat response drivers just can't do. Though, this may just be personal taste; who knows.
I will always like Mark's drivers as I feel they really extract every single ounce of detail from the recording. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometime's it's not. I feel these may lack a touch of inner detail to the Alpairs, but not much. So far they are able to retrieve an astonishing amount of information and really put me into the recording space.
Not sure if I helped clarify or just made it more confusing, but I think they are more alike than different and feel that any shortcomings in the bass region may be due to the Pensil enclosure. I've built a few and was always left wanting a little more. Perhaps if it were bigger, a different design, rear ported, etc. it would be better. Maybe later down the line I'll pick up a pair of Mark's 12 metal cones if he ever releases them again. If I do, I'll try my hand at Woden Design's back loaded horn enclosure for them. I'd imagine it will load the room much better than the pensil does. As of right now, the Omega's rear ported enclosure really loads this room nicely and I think I've damn near nailed placement already. They're pretty easy to dial in compared to other speakers I've built.
-Steven
Very nice looking speakers Steve. I'll bet they sound as good as they look too.
