Heather's new L200 JBL Dynamics Project

[hjames]

Actually JBL's Manual recommends that the slot be vertically aligned for best horizontal dispersion.

My understanding is that for a quick test to confirm working or not then orientation might be less important. However the user will not be in a position to fully appreciate the device's large horizontal dispersion during a test conducted the way shown.

And then there's the odd cases where users may actually prefer the "wrong way" to mitigate sound bouncing on side walls in a narrow room for example, or even another application which does require a wider vertical beam.

Richard

Yes, thanks
They are not my first pair of slots ...
I fully expect to use it with the slot vertical. I got a pair of boxes from Michael's yesterday and will drill them, stain them, and mount the slots into them.
The photo was a quick image staged right after I unboxed them and did a brief test to be sure they actually made sound, and yes, they got the sizzle!

[Mr. Widget]

I may have missed it… slots or AMTs? Have you picked one direction over the other? I assume they would each best integrate with the 2397 with pretty different crossover tunings. Have you explored this?


Widget

[toddalin]

You may want them mounted with the slots horizontal if the speakers were "flown."

[hjames]

Next step done. Drilled, stained & assembled the slot boxes and put them into place. Vertical, of course
(tho I haven't built the new xovers yet, still on the so called Nelson Pass style design,

The initial slot tweeter addition seems like an improvement over the Heils with this crossover,
tho not exact, its closer to the driver config of the L300 crossover design ...

But ... there is a new Christmas tree in the middle of the sound field!
... long as it sounds good by my birthday in February, I'll be happy!

[toddalin]

I like the tweeter boxes better than the last set.

[hjames]

I like the tweeter boxes better than the last set.

Its the absolute minimum "height" that will hold the 2405 tweeter, and doesn't need an LPad in the box,
and looks better Horizontal than this vertical config I tried first with the slot aligned on the long axis ...

[Odd]

Nice, now you are almost back where you were a few years ago.

[hjames]

Nice, now you are almost back where you were a few years ago.

absolutely! What was I thinking, selling the first set off in 2015?
But these have the 2216ND woofers ... the old pair had 2234 woofs

[Mr. Widget]

Nice, now you are almost back where you were a few years ago.

If I could get back to where I was.... nah, I'll keep moving forward.

But these have the 2216ND woofers ... the old pair had 2234 woofs

Heck yes they do!


Widget

[Robh3606]

Looking good Heather!

Rob

[hjames]

Thank you all for much great feedback as I progressed along this build. Emma (who has the better ears of the 2 of us) says its a huge improvement over the Heils.
Frankly, I may not need to build the Giskard modified 3133 xovers after all as the ebay sourced "Nelson Pass style L300 xover" sounds mighty good with these drivers.

[Mr. Widget]

Excellent!

That's very cool... now, I just need to find a pair of these danged cabinets!


Widget

[Robh3606]

Well that's good news! Still going to experiment with the Heils or do something else with them??

Or undecided??

Preference is such a personal thing. I still have mine and will resurrect again but after experience with them I preferred a compression driver horn combo covering the same range.

I ended up absorbing most of the "backwave" as I found it detracted from the imaging and became too diffuse.

I was using them from 800Hz and up but as a tweeter it may actually be preferable. Still see systems with back firing tweeters to increase the "ambience/Spaciousness"

All in good fun!

Rob

[hjames]

Well that's good news! Still going to experiment with the Heils or do something else with them??
Or undecided??

Preference is such a personal thing. I still have mine and will resurrect again but after experience with them I preferred a compression driver horn combo covering the same range.

I ended up absorbing most of the "backwave" as I found it detracted from the imaging and became too diffuse.

I was using them from 800Hz and up but as a tweeter it may actually be preferable. Still see systems with back firing tweeters to increase the "ambience/Spaciousness"

All in good fun!

Rob

Indeed. Our Von Schweikert VR-4s have a rear-facing tweeter and a control to dial in how much "ambience" you want in your room. Due to the stairways, our living room system has the speakers close to 1/3 of the way in the room, and the Cathedral ceiling adds a lot of "air" into whatever system plays in that room. I have demoed most of the speakers we own in that room, including various DCM Time Frame speakers, older Magnepans, and the Vandersteen 2Ces and 2CIs I've owned (never quite got the Vandersteen 3s to work there). I'm still using DCM TimeFrame 600s as rear surrounds down in the TV room and they also have a rear facing tweeter that expands the room for films, etc .
Of course the L200/3 ways have no rear facing element ...

No plans for the Great Heils right now, but it appears that I can sell them for a bit above what I paid for them (no rush), so I'm content to let them sit for a while, at least.

[toddalin]

I use them from ~3kHz up. I totally block the rear wave and have recently added a felt layer to the rear half-rounds. The half-round makes all the difference in the world and I've NEVER heard speakers that could image like these. One of the gents from AK came by for a listen the other day and said that he had just heard a $100,000+ system (with $40K monoblocks) that could not image like this. They image better than Big Red Super 604s, tri-amped.

He has 604 Hollywoods, big ADS, and ??? and said that he would have to re-assess everything.

As for noise and distortion, I'm fairly convinced that the Heils are just so revealing that you are just hearing grunge and noise inherent in the system/source and the Heils just bring it out. Put on a clean recording and it all goes away.

No eq or room correction, electronic or physical, is being used here, though I did have the "Presence" switched on in the crossover, which on this cut, may be a bit overbearing at times. If too much, this can create a "congestion" and maybe this is what Heather was hearing.

https://youtu.be/Rq1qn-FYqEo