Worth a browse .....
Cheers
'Nutz
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/09/tr...o+Australia%29
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Worth a browse .....
Cheers
'Nutz
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/09/tr...o+Australia%29
The more I see them ,quirky as they are ,the do have a beauty. You also got to take you hat off to the craftsmanship.....
Someone suggested the were a K2 knock off . I would say thats a tad horn a more in the style of the Exclusive 2402
Rich
another link, if anyone else is interested in some readingQuote:
Originally Posted by richluvsound
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatur.../olympian.html
The mid horn looks like a modern version of something Vitavox (the precussor to Living Voice according to the 6moons article) has had for over 50 years. I started a thread in the general audio forum asking about the origin of this design that often gets called a TAD or Yuichi horn.
(I attached a pic of the Vitavox licensed Klipshorn built and sold in the UK in the mid 1950s, showing the Vitavox radial horn with the vanes near the throat.)
I spoke to the man behind the speaker design earlier this week .... The Tad is obvious , Ale CD, Vitaox 151 15 " woofer .... 60 Htz up to whatever the 703 can handle .
I did not wish to ask too many details about the crossover FQ's .....
I spent about an hour talking to a real down to earth gentleman , a gent that shares the enthusiasm and excitement that a lot of us here share . Not at all one of those hifi snobs . I managed to get myself an invite up to meet him and them while drinking some tea . Its in a part of the UK that my family originates .
I will see if he will share a little more about his speakers and post a proper thread .
Rich.
PS , they are nothing like the K2 . These speakers have their own lineage dating back some 50 years .
Quote:
Originally Posted by richluvsound
I look forward to reading about what the builder has to say about these. They are unique looking, but a pair will set you back as much as 4 pairs of JBL D66000s. Yet I don't doubt for minute that they'll sell more than a few pairs!
BTW, I don't think the mid horns are TAD or TAD copies (with 3 instead of 4 vanes), but very much the other way around. I think Living Voice make them, perhaps to the same design as the old Vitavox CN157 cast horn. A TAD driver looks to be used with the brass horn. I'd really like to know why the upper tweeter is mounted at an angle.
I know this is an old thread....but I just discovered the speakers somewhere else. Regardless of how they sound (and I've no idea) that construction is the work of artisans. It's stunning. :jawdrop:
http://www.livingvoice.co.uk/products-vox-olympian.html
Thanks for bringing this up!
This is way off topic, but because of this thread, I downloaded Living Voice's 26 page book. On page 21 is the Cosmotron speaker (REALLY cool looking to us sci-fi buffs!). Anyway, it says the bronze work has "liver of sulpher" patination. I've been looking for the right term and chemical to turn copper brownish to black; not the typical green patina one sees everywhere. So, I did a search on the term and found the exact chemicals available in abundance. I'm making some monitor speaker stands with 4" diameter copper water pipe and will use it on that.
It's cool how one thread can help others with disparate needs. Thanks again!
By the way, these are some absolutely fabulous looking speakers. :applaud:
And now, we return you to the original thread..........:o:
If it's the same pair I'm thinking of, (brass "trumpet" on the HF driver, UHF driver in a mount at the very top, I haven't opened the link) there was a whole article on them someplace once. The TAD ET-703 is mouted in a fixture where it can be rotated. It has a certain dispersion pattern above and below a certain crossover frequency, and the guy decided that having it at about 45° degrees was a good compromise for the crossover frequency he was running. Anybody that would buy on of those tweeters is an idiot because it has a billet aluminum horn fixed to it. There are plenty of more affordable tweeters out there that don't need a billet horn.Quote:
Originally Posted by tomee
I never thought the "billet proof" movement would make it out of the hotrod domain and into the audio philos domain. Will you at least bring the suicide girls? Wait, your not going to go down the "rat stereo" path are you? Oh I can see it all now, exposed motor start capacitors and magnet wire at the speakers and raw frame organ and or console tube amps,,,
Rat-rod, steam-punk stereos... LOL... there's a latent market (or not so latent anymore).
If those are the speakers I'm thinking about, they have sort of a steampunk look already.
My main concern is TAD's ostentatious use of billet aluminum for the tweeter horns when a nice thermoplastic would have done the same thing.
Oh baby ... Pimp my sub ...:banana:
show me the flame job on that baffleboard ...
Flash your custom grill ...
Wow - this is like ultimate troll speaker pr0n ... ugh!
Besides, I thought all that billet stuff was from the tuttles and the Harvy biker crowd
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1audiohack
My statement of interest was referring to the veneer work - that's done by hand. As someone who's interested in woodwork I appreciate fine craftmanship when I see it. Whether it's worth the cost...that's another matter entirely. I'm under no illusion that there's a correlator between cost and performance when something like this is concerned. Nor do I care to win friends and influence people by a vulgar display of oppulence. But it doesn't stop me appreciating art for art's sake.:blink::dont-know:
Apologies to those offended by my particular artistic sensibilities. :p
Wood's fine. It's that freakin' aluminum that'll get you in trouble.
We have scarcely scratched the surface on exotic metals yet.
All kidding aside, we saw (and heard) some high end monsters at the July 2011 Audio Fest -
These MBL speakers were lush extremely detailed and very exotic looking as well ...
Like Daleks on parade ...
beautiful lacquer paint jobs on the speakers and amps,
gorgeous gold accents on the massive monoblock amps
...but no billet horns
http://www.mbl-usa.com/Browse.aspx/389/Reference-Line
Attachment 54266
Those are fugly muthers!Quote:
Originally Posted by hjames
These cabs remind me of this guy......
I've been curious to hear the sound MBL speakers produce using that omni-directional array.
...Though I haven't been to a hi-fi show since 1990! I remember hearing my first "hi-end" set of speakers...Mission 767's. They were placed in an open space and when I walked through the on-axis point it actually made me stop in my tracks. That was a truly an ear-opening experience. I couldn't believe I was hearing something so clear. Though I don't know how well they'd hold up to some of today's products, at the time I hadn't heard anything as melodious or in that price bracket. The memories are fond.:D
Well, it was my first experience with an Audio Fest like that, and that was the first room we went into ...Quote:
Originally Posted by RedCoat23
and they were initially playing music I was unfamiliar with.
There were 3 gentlemen in the front row and they were listening to some African-sounding drum music when we arrived.
Very dynamic percussion pieces - perhaps audiophile specialty stuff,
but I wasn't familiar with that music to have a basis of comparison.
The MBL demo folks had everything on digital files 96/24 ...
I did ask for something by Steely Dan, they didn't have Aja but played something off another older album ...
It was very nice, room filling sound - but I didn't get the gob-smacked experience
I would have expected from such bespoke gear. (est > $150k)
I think Mr Widget was right about the exponential nature of upgrade$ ...
I have spoken to this designer....." they need a sub" his words . There is nothing below 45 Hrtz ; above that - very special . He was running them in his show room with 2 x 2242's .
Beautifully crafted, no expense spared ,but in the battle of Form v Function ... the former prevailed . The last time I spoke to Kevin there was a job to be had travelling around the globe setting these things up .... Designing a sub and EQing the room is beyond my skill level,but I'm sure there are some audio dealers/designers that will be desperate enough for the work, especially in this climate .
Rich
Sounds like a fun job ... for awhile :)
No question of the craft and effort put into these... they do appear as though
they would be quite at home in a 100M$ yacht.
They will probably be on higherfi.com for $100k in a few months.
Maybe those who actually fabricate and construct things can comment on whether that is a good estimate.
I guess if you are just plain slow and had to wait for the timber to be milled and the metal to be refined, 1400 hours would be about right. 35 standard working weeks? I don.t think so. As for the price tag? There is nothing there that is that special...Quote:
Originally Posted by moparfan
Allan.
The maker is a ship wright . Everything is hand made and hand finished . All the timber is selected and machined.The bronze horns are cast and then machined by the same guy .
I think you need to see and hear one before you could debate the worth . A Gerhard Richter painting sells for twice that price .
Besides, they were never designed for anyone that actually carries cash on them or even counts a bank balance in any unit under 6 0's . The boats these go in are a million pounds per lineal metre.
Cost and worth ..... ? depends if you really like something I guess . Either way , they are not the most expensive speaker on the market . I'd wager some Westlake customs are not far off that price ... and I know they are not built as beautifully .
This is what happens when you conjecture the price of art !
Rich
The Cosmotron is kinda campy really, but I think there is a limited market for just about anything. I certainly respect what these guys are doing even if my direction would be somewhat different.Quote:
Originally Posted by svollmer
Widget
Maybe someone was a big Flash Gordon fan.......:)