First impressions (BD-Design)

by Nico, The land of wooden shoes, Sunday, February 28, 2016, 12:03 (2942 days ago)
edited by Nico, Sunday, February 28, 2016, 15:39

Two weeks ago I visited a very nice gentleman here in The Netherlands who owns a pair of Oris 150.
He had a pair of Lowther PM4A units for sale and that's how we met; I thought about buying them for my Oris 150 to get a few "upgrade steps" ahead on things.

As I never heard the horns before I bought them I did not know what to expect.
Soon after listening to the horns ,present at the seller's house [ he upgraded to the AER MD3] it was obvious that it sounded way different than I thought.

While beeing more detailed, natural ] and open, it sounded.... not like a horn.
Beeing used to my big old Altec horns and a pair of decent horntweeters, this two-way system played more natural to my ears but without the staggering dynamics of my own setup. That my also be described as "harsh" by other people.

But as good as the system sounded, I did not like the small sweet spot, as when I moved my head only a little bit everything shifted.
"It is only a one-man's experience" I thought and as so discussed it with the owner.

The difference was too big to buy the Lowther units right away; the seller agreed [ and advised] to first try a cheaper unit to find out if the Oris was "my cup of tea".

So I decided to try out the Tangband W8-1772 for starters.
Just mounted them and playing for the first time; I'll post my findings in my next post as I don't have enough time on them yet.

Thanks,
Nico

p.s; THANK YOU for your comments on the chamber question I posted. Will experiment with those.[image]

First impressions

by Nico, The land of wooden shoes, Wednesday, March 02, 2016, 18:05 (2939 days ago) @ Nico

After spending some more time listening to the Oris, it is clear that they offer a whole different experience than my previous setup regarding mid/ high reproduction.

Beeing used to the big old Exponential Altec Lansing horns with Klipsch drivers, the midrange of the Oris is defenately more refined and revealing more detail.
Th Altec's on the other hand are clearly much more dynamic [ Bert; can this be because the Oris are still unpainted?].

The old setup was more lively, exciting so to speak, but listening fatigue set in after a few hours.
The Oris are more laid-back and can play all-day without that effect.
I think this simply means that the Oris are cleaner sounding; the human ear is very sensitive to colouration and such as you know..

So at this moment it's a trade-off; cleaner, relaxter music all day long or the excitement of startling dynamics.

In the mean time I added the tweeters and let the Oris play bandpass, setting the x-over at 5K and 18Db/oct.
This makes for a good solution between the two listening experiences described above; dynamics are almost as good as with the Altecs and I enjoy the detailing of the Oris.

To be continued.
Nico

First impressions

by Bert @, Wednesday, March 02, 2016, 19:51 (2939 days ago) @ Nico

Hi Nico,

Thanks for the detailed impression reports... :good:

Beeing used to the big old Exponential Altec Lansing horns with Klipsch drivers, the midrange of the Oris is defenately more refined and revealing more detail.
Th Altec's on the other hand are clearly much more dynamic [ Bert; can this be because the Oris are still unpainted?].

The paint will make the sound more clear and cleaner (removed "plastic" tone) but not more dynamic. This is more related to the tonal balance and (in)proper integration of the crossover...

In the mean time I added the tweeters and let the Oris play bandpass, setting the x-over at 5K and 18Db/oct.

5K is pretty low but this could be needed due to the used driver. Do you use a high-pass crossover for the Oris horns? Perhaps some correction in the lower mids is needed which can be done within the crossover taking out the low frequencies of the horn. This will might make the tonal balance less laid-back and more dynamical as well.

To be continued.

:good:

Bert

--
BD-Design - Only the Best!

First impressions

by Nico, The land of wooden shoes, Wednesday, March 02, 2016, 20:39 (2939 days ago) @ Bert

Hi Bert,

Thanks for your reply and funny to talk English, us beeing two Dutch guys after all :grin:

As for the crossover; yes, I use a highpass filter for the Oris.
My Minidsp 4x10 allows me to do just about everything I can think of.
At the moment The Oris is limited from 200Hz to 5K , both 18Db/oct.

The cornerhorns play from 200Hz downwards , 3th order as well.
Using the tweeters just brought back the "spark" so to say, it's more dynamic and also there's more [a wider] soundstage.

Time delay is applied for compensating the lenght of the cornerhorns, just over 4ms.
The tweeter has some more delay to compensate for the 40cm it's closer than the driver in the Oris.

I'm a basic guy, so I measure the distance that the tweeter is closer to the listening-spot and use that as a general guideline for the delay needed.
Toggling between different settings I then listen for best integration of all units.

Time delay of the cornerhorns is well-known on the Klipsch-forum so I had the benefit of not needing to get into the horn to actually measure the length....:bass:
I have the gear needed to measure all of this, but not the skills yet.

Thanks,
Nico

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