My DIY TL based audio and HT system. 50 years of audio.

[abes99]

Hi TLS GUY,
congratulation for your system and your speakers desigh.
would it possible for you if not asking to much to have the plan of your speakers inorder diy comunity people who cannot design like me may build
Thanks and regards
abes

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi TLS GUY,
congratulation for your system and your speakers desigh.
would it possible for you if not asking to much to have the plan of your speakers inorder diy comunity people who cannot design like me may build
Thanks and regards
abes

Since I'm an old geezer the plans are not in CAD. That is something I have not mastered. The plans are on large sheets of paper in pencil. These could be scanned and copied to disc.

The bigger issue is that this is a very expensive and complex system to build.

They could not be built by a singe individual, and require a minimum of two, because of the weight and size of the project.

The speaker system requires four dual channel power amplifiers for the front three speakers alone. That is eight channels in all.

The speakers also require three electronic crossovers for the front speakers, in addition to the low pass crossover of the LFE output in a pre pro, which must be fourth order. (These speakers can not be driven from a receiver.)

I used highly modified Shure SR 106 crossovers as the base. These have not been available for a long time. I just happen to have a lot of these around and they are visually very respectable a mount to a 19" rack.

Also a zero sum buffer amp (1 to 2) is required to combine the LFE channel with the diffraction compensation signal to the upper pair of 10" drivers.

Switching to allow for powering of the lower 10" driver when there is no LFE output, such as when playing SACDs and in two channel pure direct mode has to be provided.

The drivers are very expensive and 10 drivers are required for the left and right mains and two coaxial units for the center, although the tweeter is used in only one of the coaxial drivers.

The drivers for the rear back TLs have been NLA for a long time. This design dates from 1984, although the bass lines were redesigned and built in 2006. These speakers also use a combination of passive and active crossovers, with one of the passive sections being an unusual series crossover rather than the usual parallel configuration. Four channel of power amplification are requires for these two speakers.

So this speaker system is really designed for my needs, and from what I had at hand to a degree.

So even though this is a DIY design the total system built from scratch would be well up there with some rare and exotic commercial products.

If you want to build a TL, this software is strongly recommended.

That software will help you build the line. For TLs a driver Qts between
0.35 and 0.4 tends to work out best.

For crossover design further study and other software will be required.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

 

[lsiberian]

Hi TLS GUY,
congratulation for your system and your speakers desigh.
would it possible for you if not asking to much to have the plan of your speakers inorder diy comunity people who cannot design like me may build
Thanks and regards
abes

You can certainly make your own speakers and if you follow Mark's advice on any build you can be certain it will have the highest quality.

 

[malachi0420]

Wow!

Thats the most impressive DIY setup I have seen to date!

BIG props to you!

If only I had that much room.

 

[its phillip]

That is an amazing system.

 

[Alex2507]

The speaker system requires four dual channel power amplifiers for the front three speakers alone.
That is eight channels in all.

Sounds like Chris designed that.

Please forgive my impertinence. Even I am embarrassed by it but am unable to resist sharing it.

I never really thought of that as a DIY system before because of the level of your enthusiasm and expertise in audio. That system tops my list of systems I would like to hear one day. The big draw for me would be the multi channel music capabilities you have there. Barenboim's DVD-A of Beethoven's 9th would be my pick of what to listen to. The thing with that room is that you designed it with more than one sweet spot in mind like I focus on in my room. Chris doesn't even pretend in his room. He only has one seat and it is only for stereo. I'm not drawing comparisons but establishing distinctions in what I think may very well be two of the best sounding systems on here ... except for my Primus rig of course.

Much thanks for everything.

 

[TLS Guy]

Sounds like Chris designed that.

Please forgive my impertinence. Even I am embarrassed by it but am unable to resist sharing it.

I never really thought of that as a DIY system before because of the level of your enthusiasm and expertise in audio. That system tops my list of systems I would like to hear one day. The big draw for me would be the multi channel music capabilities you have there. Barenboim's DVD-A of Beethoven's 9th would be my pick of what to listen to. The thing with that room is that you designed it with more than one sweet spot in mind like I focus on in my room. Chris doesn't even pretend in his room. He only has one seat and it is only for stereo. I'm not drawing comparisons but establishing distinctions in what I think may very well be two of the best sounding systems on here ... except for my Primus rig of course.

Much thanks for everything.

No impertinence at all!

Treat your self to a little vacation sometime.

You can leave Baltimore and head for Toledo. The take Interstate 75 North to St Ignace. The head for Duluth MN, and take highway 2 West, and take MN 200 West just out of Duluth. That will take you all the way to Benedict MN. It wold be a journey of just under 1200 miles. It is a beautiful Great Lakes tour. You will see some spectacular county in the UP of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

You are welcome here any time. We will even have a back woods cookout for you.

We had a backwoods cookout yesterday, for the Fourth and to introduce a new lake home owner on Ladyslipper drive. He got pressed into cooking service as well as my next door neighbor!

 

[Alex2507]

Treat your self to a little vacation sometime.

That would be my pleasure. I have driven and ridden around those lakes a few different ways; over, under and through the middle a couple of times. They have been getting in my way for years.

I think that listening to a variety of audio systems across the country and meeting their owners might be a lofty pursuit. I'm off to a respectable start and it's nice having prospects. Benedict MN does seem to be the dead center of nowhere. I just looked and noticed that you were somewhere in between Fargo and Thunder Bay ... you better start getting ready for winter.

No doubt it's beautiful for all the seasons. Take good care of that loon.

 

[TLS Guy]

That would be my pleasure. I have driven and ridden around those lakes a few different ways; over, under and through the middle a couple of times. They have been getting in my way for years.

I think that listening to a variety of audio systems across the country and meeting their owners might be a lofty pursuit. I'm off to a respectable start and it's nice having prospects. Benedict MN does seem to be the dead center of nowhere. I just looked and noticed that you were somewhere in between Fargo and Thunder Bay ... you better start getting ready for winter.

No doubt it's beautiful for all the seasons. Take good care of that loon.

Every place is on the way to somewhere!

The Lake Superior North Shore from Duluth to Thunder Bay is widely regarded as the most scenic in the Great Lakes.

The headwaters of the Mississippi are only a few miles from here.

This area is on the way to the Red River Valley and Winnipeg. Lower Fort Garry, from which this area was settled, at Selkirk is worth a trip by anyone.

Then you are close to the Wild West. Only a days trip to cross the Missouri.
The Painted Canon and the Smoking Hills are spectacular. Cattle range free. Cattle rusting is still a common crime in those parts. They still have cattle drives from Medora to Dodge.

Heading further west you are on your way to Billings, Yellowstone, and Bozeman. We are about half way between the East and West Coast. Portland and Seattle are not impossible drives. We have friends who regularly drive here from Vancouver BC.

As far as the loons are concerned, the pair that usually nest on the South shore produced two healthy chicks.

The pair that have been predated by the river moved up this end of the lake very close to my place. The location was not ideal, and they were off the nest a lot due to interference. Only one of their two eggs hatched (10 days ago). The chick is healthy.

We had a boat breakdown and drift right on to nest. I fixed that boat and made sure it was reliable and sea worthy.

I did deploy the official nesting buoy and a ring of markers to keep fishermen away from the nest. But this nest was very problematic.

Yesterday evening I was sitting of the dock watching the mother dive for fish and feed the chick. The chick have a voracious appetite and grow very quickly.

I hope we don't loose our loons to the gulf disaster. The Minnesota loon biologists are very worried about that happening.

I know you like to roam the country when you get a chance, and you are welcome here if want to venture to parts you probably never considered. I think you would be surprised by the pain of choice on offer in this region.

 

[armaraas]

I just gotta say you have an awesome setup. I come in here once in a while just to look at it for the wow factor on how everything is designed and incorporated. The knowledge and experiences you've gained/had over the years is pretty incredible, thanks for sharing.

 

[TLS Guy]

I have just updated the Walberswick Studio/AV room installation pictures.

There has been a slow evolution. Severe war has been waged on signal to noise and the system is now super quiet. This is not easy in a system this extensive.

Some tweaking has been given the crossovers. The BSE signal and the blending of the LFE has been improved over time. A small adjustment was made to the crossover of the surround speakers.

The biggest change has been to the center speakers. The tweeter of the upper driver has been used to equalize irregularity in response in the 9 kHz area and compensate for roll off above that. The network was revised four times to really get it right and I ended up with a part count much higher then I had hoped. However response is now +/- 1 db in the mid and HF bands, in fact all the way to the drivers taper along with the mains. The aim has been to maximize natural speech and clarity without adding any element of shout.

A shout center is the last thing you need as a powerful mezzo surfs a huge orchestral wave and surfs the orchestra.

The blend all round is really seamless with good 360 degree localization and depth. I don't find I focus to any one speaker in any seat, nor do visitors complain of it.

The amplifier rack has been revised and now packs a total punch of 3000 watts.

The album was mainly updated to show my just completed HTPC build, which I will describe in another thread.

Its the unit in the Av rack above the UPS at the bottom of the rack.

A closer view.

In this system there are now 61 units plucked into the AC mains. This will soon be 62, as I need to add an Ethernet switch, as I'm out of ports on my router.

Unlike ADTG I'm not addicted to multiple speakers. I'm more than content with the ones I have, no matter what the program. I suppose I am addicted to peripherals, but they all have a purpose. The system is a joy to listen to and use, and it changes easily from source to source. The system spans a very extensive period in the history of audio.

However, as you can see I'm pretty much out of space now. I am going to add a drive storage unit with RAID. I have just enough space for that!

 

[adk highlander]

Looks great Dr. Mark. I'm very surprised you have added a HTPC. To quote Alex, I didn't know you swung that way.

I will look for the new thread but, is this for music or movies? That is one big stack of amps. 61 into how many circuits?

 

[TLS Guy]

Looks great Dr. Mark. I'm very surprised you have added a HTPC. To quote Alex, I didn't know you swung that way.

I will look for the new thread but, is this for music or movies? That is one big stack of amps. 61 into how many circuits?

There are three circuits.

The main drive to build the HTPC now, is because I have been approached by some individuals with a knotty problem. I am not at liberty to divulge who and what.

The HTPC build thread it posted.