AK Design Collaborative - Insignia-Class Economy Speakers (a.k.a Indignia)
- Thread starter Zilch
- Start date
All,
FYI... just got my baffles back from RayW and they look perfect. I never would have gotten them to finish so well, the round trip packaging was done well.
All in all a most appreciated additional effort to my speaker 'assembly'. I say assembly because at this point, it appears most of the work has been done for me! Such is the life of a guy busy building a house (yeah can you imagine, I can build a house but can't seem to get some baffles routed! Ha).
Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend, I know we will. My dad's in town so the three men will have a 'guys night' working on the sansui and speaker assembly tonight.
Thanks again Ray, it's a job well done and most appreciated.
peter
FYI... just got my baffles back from RayW and they look perfect. I never would have gotten them to finish so well, the round trip packaging was done well.
All in all a most appreciated additional effort to my speaker 'assembly'. I say assembly because at this point, it appears most of the work has been done for me! Such is the life of a guy busy building a house (yeah can you imagine, I can build a house but can't seem to get some baffles routed! Ha).
Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend, I know we will. My dad's in town so the three men will have a 'guys night' working on the sansui and speaker assembly tonight.
Thanks again Ray, it's a job well done and most appreciated.
peter
BeerCan
Tá mé ar meisce.
Well here is my first completed pair. Dopey me when I first hooked them up I forgot to connect the tweeters. I was like WTF these sound like ass. I quickly figured out my problem and now I must admit they sound quite good. My wife is very pleased as these are for her. Second set in a week or two.
Pictured with the speakers is my helper throughout the day. It was a great bonding experience putting these together and he is quite proud of himself.
Pictured with the speakers is my helper throughout the day. It was a great bonding experience putting these together and he is quite proud of himself.
Nice ones! S/Ns 29 & 30:
http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2269528#post2269528
Did your helper figure out the tweeter connection problem?
[Too funny.... :tongue: ]
http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2269528#post2269528
Did your helper figure out the tweeter connection problem?
[Too funny.... :tongue: ]
specialidiot
Break Glass, Smoke Lucky
Sorry Z, I was away for a coupla days. I'm now sitting "nearfield", the 'dignias are just past fingertip length away as I type now.
Remember I came from Fostex drivers, which image like mad, and have their own unique tonal signature.
To me the Indignias are both lush and complex. I'm listening to Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery "Jimmy and Wes: The Dynamic Duo" and the sound stage is just right. No issues with the Hammond B-3 or the Gibson.
I do use a small diy sub (see my sig) to hold up the low end, but it's set just above the "I can hear it" threshold.
Wes and Jimmy just gave way to Robben Ford's "Keep on Running" and his guitar is sounding fine!
specialidiot
Break Glass, Smoke Lucky
This evening I swapped the Pilot out for a McIntosh MC225. Stunning in terms of depth and clarity.
I was also able to take the sub out of the equation - I no longer need it.
backordered no more!
NICE! Thanks Zilch. With that last part in hand the speakers will be coming ALIVE very soon!
BTW- I notice you guys are using 18 ga. wire for your driver connections. Since it's not a 'part' that came with this kit, I'm wondering - is there something I should know about what wire I use? Solid copper, silver, 18 ga., does it need to be solid or can it be inexpensive speaker wire, etc. Forgive my apparent ignorance. While I know there are many here among us who believe everything in the signal path needs to be exactly the same or significant variables are introduced - I'm not necessarily one of them.
BUT I did ask after all, so I am leaving that door open in case someone wants to chime in here.
thanks
peter
NICE! Thanks Zilch. With that last part in hand the speakers will be coming ALIVE very soon!
BTW- I notice you guys are using 18 ga. wire for your driver connections. Since it's not a 'part' that came with this kit, I'm wondering - is there something I should know about what wire I use? Solid copper, silver, 18 ga., does it need to be solid or can it be inexpensive speaker wire, etc. Forgive my apparent ignorance. While I know there are many here among us who believe everything in the signal path needs to be exactly the same or significant variables are introduced - I'm not necessarily one of them.
BUT I did ask after all, so I am leaving that door open in case someone wants to chime in here.
thanks
peter
I just use stranded hookup wire, different colors, so I can tell the intended driver and polarity. Cheapo polarized speaker wire is fine, too, though I'd probably mark it to distinguish the woofer from the tweeter, maybe a sharpie blotch near the end of the woofer pair, or some other top secret code that only I could decifer with the assistance of my Space Patrol decoder ring....
Ballylongford
Bailey ; He's a great guy
or some other top secret code that only I could decifer with the assistance of my Space Patrol decoder ring....
OOH! OOH! Are Space Patrol decoder rings gonna be the next AK Design Collaborative?
:thmbsp:
Russellc
Addicted Member
No, you have to have saved it from childhood, either Cap'n Crunch or Red Goose shoes decoder rings are acceptable.
Russellc
juniorJBL
SUB 1500 :)
shrinkboy
Addicted Member
there's nothing i can add to what's already been said, but i've been listening to my completed indignia's (PE curved box) for a couple weeks now, and they continue to just tickle the heck out of me. on stuff with lots of low end, they sound MUCH bigger than the box. and speaking of which, the music is entirely out of the box on these, with a huge, spacious, deep soundstage. they're just kinda shocking. pix when i get off me arse and battery up my camera and claim my indignia serial #
Couldn't of said it better myself, shrinkboy. It's nice to see the Indignia fan club growing.
Russellc
Addicted Member
I've been listening to mine in the downstairs system, turntable ( in sig) to an AVA Super Pass III, to a DIY P-P 6550/KT88 amp and indignias. Its taken a little time to aclimate to them, having been used to much larger higher efficiency speakers. They are located in a room that normally where my A7s are, so it may be a little large. I have them closer together than the A7s, and sitting position is much closer.
Like many have already said, they have mini monitor imaging, which is a good thing. Measuring with a rat shack sound level meter, they seem to play best in the mid to high 80 db zone. This is at the listening position, by the way.
When increased to the 90's, they begin to show some strain. Again, the room is a little large for these personal scale speakers. Also, this is with a turntable which with these speakers there is a little woofer dance, so may be cleaner at higher volumes with cds, or utilizing a subsonic filter. I am currently listening to a few disc that I am very familiar with, to get a good working knowledge and familiarity with their sound. Once this is done, I got some comparing to do!
I have two speakers, both DIY projects I intend to make the comparisons with. First is a very similar speaker in terms of cubic feet, my clone of the JM Labs Micron. I built these after a very favorable review done by Stereophile
in the 90's. The review revealed the Cu Ft of the box, as well as the tuning frequency. Also revealed was th emodel number of the focal drivers that were used. At the time, Focal sold these drivers to the DIY crowd, but has since severly limited what it sells part wise. Kimon from Focal America was kind enough to send me the crossover schematic. A friend and I constructed boxes from a double layer of 1/2 mdf, and they are bi wireable. Tweeter is a one inch inverted dome, with titanium dome. The woofer is a double voice coil 5 1/4 inch driver, cone is made of neoflex.
These drivers were considerably more expensive than those used in Indignia,
but I dont anticipate that Indignia and its less expensive drivers will be embarrassed by any stretch. anywho, I think it will make for an interesting comparison.
The second comparison speaker is another a DIY effort from the 90's, the Aria 5. This is a design of Joseph Diappolito, and also uses two focal mid woofers and a one inch titanium inverted dome tweeter, but this is a slightly newer driver than the one in the Micron clone. Its dome is treated with titanium dioxide, which leaves it a dark grey/black color. It also has some sort of a small lens in front of the dome. The woofers are 2 to the side, in "Diappolito" alignment. The woofers have kevlar cones, and are also 5 1/4 inch in diameter. Again, these are considerably more expensive drivers than used in the Indignia, and it will also be a good comparison for a little more upscale (pricewise) speaker.
The Aria 5 speakers are usually positioned to either side of my flat screen, so are in constant use. The microns dont see that much use, so will need to be "broken in" just a little.
What do I anticipate? I think Indignia is not going to be embarrased in this comparison at all. Performance between Indignia and Micron should be similar, Micron may take higher power a little more gracefully, but we will see.
The Aria will be a little more intense of a comparison, and a little less fair. While Indignia was less than 300 in 2009 dollars, I spent in the neighborhood of 850 1990's dollars building the Arias. Plus, with its double woofers, dynamics are very well handled. I think a Diappolito alignment with dual 6 1/2 inch Dayton aluminum drivers would be a little more fair. Anyway, the comparo is on.
I also plan to bring Indignia to Jaymana's June bash, so hopefully a few more opinions will be forth coming. Stay tuned!:thmbsp:
russellc
Like many have already said, they have mini monitor imaging, which is a good thing. Measuring with a rat shack sound level meter, they seem to play best in the mid to high 80 db zone. This is at the listening position, by the way.
When increased to the 90's, they begin to show some strain. Again, the room is a little large for these personal scale speakers. Also, this is with a turntable which with these speakers there is a little woofer dance, so may be cleaner at higher volumes with cds, or utilizing a subsonic filter. I am currently listening to a few disc that I am very familiar with, to get a good working knowledge and familiarity with their sound. Once this is done, I got some comparing to do!
I have two speakers, both DIY projects I intend to make the comparisons with. First is a very similar speaker in terms of cubic feet, my clone of the JM Labs Micron. I built these after a very favorable review done by Stereophile
in the 90's. The review revealed the Cu Ft of the box, as well as the tuning frequency. Also revealed was th emodel number of the focal drivers that were used. At the time, Focal sold these drivers to the DIY crowd, but has since severly limited what it sells part wise. Kimon from Focal America was kind enough to send me the crossover schematic. A friend and I constructed boxes from a double layer of 1/2 mdf, and they are bi wireable. Tweeter is a one inch inverted dome, with titanium dome. The woofer is a double voice coil 5 1/4 inch driver, cone is made of neoflex.
These drivers were considerably more expensive than those used in Indignia,
but I dont anticipate that Indignia and its less expensive drivers will be embarrassed by any stretch. anywho, I think it will make for an interesting comparison.
The second comparison speaker is another a DIY effort from the 90's, the Aria 5. This is a design of Joseph Diappolito, and also uses two focal mid woofers and a one inch titanium inverted dome tweeter, but this is a slightly newer driver than the one in the Micron clone. Its dome is treated with titanium dioxide, which leaves it a dark grey/black color. It also has some sort of a small lens in front of the dome. The woofers are 2 to the side, in "Diappolito" alignment. The woofers have kevlar cones, and are also 5 1/4 inch in diameter. Again, these are considerably more expensive drivers than used in the Indignia, and it will also be a good comparison for a little more upscale (pricewise) speaker.
The Aria 5 speakers are usually positioned to either side of my flat screen, so are in constant use. The microns dont see that much use, so will need to be "broken in" just a little.
What do I anticipate? I think Indignia is not going to be embarrased in this comparison at all. Performance between Indignia and Micron should be similar, Micron may take higher power a little more gracefully, but we will see.
The Aria will be a little more intense of a comparison, and a little less fair. While Indignia was less than 300 in 2009 dollars, I spent in the neighborhood of 850 1990's dollars building the Arias. Plus, with its double woofers, dynamics are very well handled. I think a Diappolito alignment with dual 6 1/2 inch Dayton aluminum drivers would be a little more fair. Anyway, the comparo is on.
I also plan to bring Indignia to Jaymana's June bash, so hopefully a few more opinions will be forth coming. Stay tuned!:thmbsp:
russellc
Astrolabe.... :thmbsp:Is there a "Econo DIY Version?
juniorJBL
SUB 1500 :)
I just use stranded hookup wire, different colors, so I can tell the intended driver and polarity. Cheapo polarized speaker wire is fine, too, though I'd probably mark it to distinguish the woofer from the tweeter, maybe a sharpie blotch near the end of the woofer pair, or some other top secret code that only I could decifer with the assistance of my Space Patrol decoder ring....
Zilch,
Great. Thanks. I've used the sharpie method as you suggested for other projects in the past. And now?... I'm going to have to kill you. This message will self destruct in ..... lol.
take care
peter
That's the only way you're gonna get this decoder ring, I guarantee....
