Tempest Build

[j_garcia]

I owned a few Marantz integrated amps - no processing of any kind. Compared to my Marantz AVRs (4000, 7000, 6200, 8300) it did not sound significantly better than the AVRs.

The majority of my speakers in the last ~15 or so years have been kit/custom. No regrets. People are usually stunned at my system.

 

[ski2xblack]

I may revisit more dedicated music gear, but that would be more of doing away with all the features I don't need than any gains of actual sound quality. So far, I have been able to make the Denon do what I have wanted and without much fuss. It's already here and didn't cost me a nickel so I am curious now what all it can do.

Tempests are so sensitive and easy to drive that power isn't really much of a concern. You said you're ~10' from them at your chair? 10 watts will have you very near THX reference levels. Your old Denon has gobs and gobs of available headroom above that. High sensitivity speakers give such a huge head start in the power race, it's almost like cheating. Even a fairly modest AVR is sufficient (I use one of the slim line Marantz for mine).

 

[MrBoat]

Tempests are so sensitive and easy to drive that power isn't really much of a concern. You said you're ~10' from them at your chair? 10 watts will have you very near THX reference levels. Your old Denon has gobs and gobs of available headroom above that. High sensitivity speakers give such a huge head start in the power race, it's almost like cheating. Even a fairly modest AVR is sufficient (I use one of the slim line Marantz for mine).

Yes, 10' away. The left is toed in to my right ear, the right is aiming at my left. The most I ever push them to is about 40, because they really start to sing at 30 and beyond.

Other variable, with regard to amps sounding different is, I know how to manually EQ. I tend to make amps sound different anyway. As long as it's relatively clean power, and enough of it, I can tailor the rest, provided that the speakers are capable.

 

[MrBoat]

I put these in the ultimax build thread but they really belong here. I was just making them on the heels of the sub build and that's where my head was.

I have an idea in mind that combines these wood (they get lam'd together to make a thicker ring) rings, and a custom, yet simple aluminum grill. I actually considered making it kind of gnarly medieval, to where if someone had to test it, that it would bite them a little by design. People cannot help touching dust caps, especially kids. For this reason and dust, cloth grills are a better idea. I'll end up doing both maybe, or solid covers for when I am not around. I take the covers off anyway most of the time.

 

[lovinthehd]

LOL I saw the pics on your sub thread and was wondering where that was going....

 

[MrBoat]

LOL I saw the pics on your sub thread and was wondering where that was going....

You know how it goes. Parts allover the place and it's just one big speaker.

 

[lovinthehd]

I made a stool out of some of my old sub leftovers, wanted to use the less useful baffle cutouts particularly. So your pic may inspire something else now....

 

[MrBoat]

I made a stool out of some of my old sub leftovers, wanted to use the less useful baffle cutouts particularly.
View attachment 19905

That's actually pretty cool. I think I saw that on the AVS thread too. I think I read all 6 pages of it, IIRC.

 

[lovinthehd]

LOL not sure I'd read the whole thread, but yeah I think I even made a thread for that too....think that puts you in a fairly small group having read the whole thing.

 

[MrBoat]

LOL not sure I'd read the whole thread, but yeah I think I even made a thread for that too....think that puts you in a fairly small group having read the whole thing.

Must have been a link to the stool in that thread. I recall you saying the seat could have been smaller, again, IIRC.

 

[lovinthehd]

It is large but large drivers need large cutouts... Now if I'd built the 12"s first I woulda had some more choice....

 

[MrBoat]

It is large but large drivers need large cutouts... Now if I'd built the 12"s first I woulda had some more choice....

LOL. . .that's the first thing I thought was, that's what you get for using larger drivers. I remembered eyeing the cutouts for the drivers in the cabinets and it being large.

 

[MrBoat]

Gluing up the grill blanks. They're currently 1-1/16"w X 1-1/8" tall and 13-1/8" O.D. and 11" I.D. The recess is just shy of the gasket height by about a 32nd.

Recess where the driver fits. I may add a relief on the O.D. where the center port is and a flat where the horn is, to make it more custom to the face instead of just looking like an aftermarket bolt-on.

Either a small round-over on the outside edge, slight chamfer on the I.D., or use a chamfer bit on the outside corner as well, but haven't decided yet.

 

[MrBoat]

Rings have been epoxied and I have some aluminum bar stock at the ready to sculpt/weld some protective, metal bits.

 

[MrBoat]

It's sort of gloomy/chilly outside and I don't feel like dismantling my sub for the finishing treatments just yet until I listen to it some more anyway. In other words, it's new and I am not willing to listen to my system without it just yet, novelties being what they are when fresh.

So, I'm working on the grills. Brought home the bar stock from work, DA'd it a bit so it will hold pencil marks well enough, being that I am so brilliant that I forgot to bring home any ultra-fine point sharpies to mark with. And the ones I have here are usually swiped for who knows what purpose or left open to dry out by the same offenders.

Made a pattern and transferred it onto the stock.

Made sure to add all my control/component lines while the stock is still with it's factory edges. The permanent lines, ones that are for locating additional parts, I scribed over in the event the pencil goes (and it will, Murphy being who he is) away during the cutting/sanding process. I don't scribe them all. I will put a discrete punch mark on center just to have for who knows why. Will also locate the fastener holes, being that this post just reminded me that I ought to.

I probably should have waited until I had more done to make a post here but, less I will have to organize later. Meanwhile, I'm off to the band saw.

 

[Bucknekked]

If you just have a stereo setup for music, then please,please, PLEASE do your self a favour and get rid of the surround receiver and get a proper stereo amp with pre-out for sub instead.

The sound quality cannot be compared IMHO.

The great part about opinions is they are never wrong. They are just opinions.

I would disagree. My opinion is watts are watts.
AVR watts are pretty much the same as straight amp watts.

YMMV, no disrespect

 

[MrBoat]

I'm making progress.

 

[MrBoat]

A little more progress. Going to wait until after the main components are welded before final sizing/sanding of the ends and I will tune the radiuses then. It's a tricky fit and I need some wiggle room for alignment so everything is oversized slightly at this point. Then I will need to put the rods in and bend the ends down. I'll model them with a test bend first. I will anneal the rod first near the bends so they bend easy. I have a little tubing bender that fits this rod.

 

[MrBoat]

Got the mounts and rails welded. Now, an even more tedious affair awaits. At least this I can do at the dining table at my leisure.

ETA: Weird, that the photo, with parallax effects being what they are, had me thinking I had an alignment/measurement issue and I jumped up to check if I had indeed goofed. Glad to report that it's my lack of photography skills and not my eye or my tape measure.

This modeled differently on paper than IRL as always. I still need to let the frame into the wood part but I still may end up losing an inch or so in height by the time I stop 2nd guessing it. Not knowing what to expect, I always start large and work backwards from there. Trying to imagine what distance is safe enough for young grandchildren running about, no imagined distance seems far enough. At least I left accommodation for shrinkage in multiple options.

 

[MrBoat]

Decided I will make shorter rings to mount these on and will take a little out of the height of the metal part. These look ok on the speakers, and still what drives the design is, I did not see any online that I liked, and that notion of the further it keeps the grandkids away, the better. I have another low profile design in mind, now that I got to see these on the Tempests. But we'll see.

The word of the day is; "Tediosity."