New DIY speakers (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Pratt]

I managed to find the time yesterday to take some more pictures of my M8a speakers (or Mates as I like to call them) To view the pictures simply click here

 

[Michael R Price]

Andrew, how do they sound? Judging by what has been said at HTGuide, if I had waited a year to build speakers it probably would have been those or the HE12.1s. Very nice work.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I'm still working on speaker placement and tweaking of my room before I comment to much on sound but they are every bit as good at resolving fine detail as my maggies were but they can play VERY loud if asked to so they do well in HT mode as well. My room is very dead sounding that the moment though since we went a little over the top with the sound treatments so I'm working to resolve that issue which will help the sound stage a lot.

 

[Dustin B]

Looks good. Gotta love how good simple and easy finishes can turn out sometimes.

Didn't you have an IB sub? What happened to it?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

The IB wasn't woring out for me so I switched to the more conventional setup. The biggest problem was the poor construction of the common wall between the shop area and the HT.

 

[Michael R Price]

Andrew,

How loud is very loud? That's a concern of mine. I wasn't looking for ultimate loudness but rather a really clear undistorted sound at realistic levels >90db. I was somewhat concerned with the 1.25KHz crossover causing the tweeter to conk out.

How do the stereo Tempests work, can you get a reasonably flat response out of them?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I will be getting my BFD inline with the subs tonight so I'll let you know about getting a flat response.

As far as the M8a's playing loud put it this way I had some music playing louder then I could stand and it was still clear so IMO volume is not a limiting factor in this design

 

[Chris Carswell]

Nice Andrew.
Have you heard anything from Jon about a MTM from him. BTW, did he send you the xover plans b/c I can't seem to find them online anywhere?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Last I heard they had designed an MTM for someone so the plans should be available if you ask nicely Jon wrote an artical on this design for Audioxpress magazine so until its published he's not posting a lot of details about it online until it gets published. That said if you post on the guide site requesting more details I'm sure either he or Thomas would be more then happy to help you out with the plans etc.

 

[Chris Carswell]

I'll post there & see what happens. Thanks

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I was listening to music tonight and had the SPL meter beside me to check out volumes. the m8a's will play to about 100 dB with peaks hitting 105 dB cleanly...above that one of them started to distort a little but the other one was ok so it might just be that speaker. I should have its replacement ready as soon as a replacement tweeter comes in from PE.

 

[Neil Joseph]

One word... very sweet.

Well ok, 2 words then.

 

[Michael R Price]

Pretty impressive. How big is your amplifier and were you using a subwoofer (and/or highpass filter on the M8s)? Was the sound fatiguing at that level? Thanks, I'm just curious. And envious, that is.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

subs were engaged and crossed over at 80 since I built the sealed versions. Had I built the ported I could have gone sans subs I guess.

Amps are HPK PA5800 5 channel amps so each speaker in stereo mode is getting 150 watts...and each speaker has its own 5 channel amp that only has to share the power supply with a channel powering one of the subs

 

[ThomasW]

Those interested in more info regarding the M8a design should checkout this thread.
M8a-MKIV

As Andrew pointed out; until Audio-X-Press publishes the article (we have no idea when that will be) front baffle layout and XO info are provided via email on a 'per request' basis. There will be a non-disclosure agreement that accompanies the info until the article is published.
There are currently 5 operational pairs, made by 4 different builders. Builders are willing provide feedback and info. But until the article is published we can't upload all the info to the website

 

[Chris Carswell]

Thomas YGM

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Just a quick update. I had a problem with one of the tweeters so for a couple of weeks I was only running three across the front and not my rear center but that was nicely taken care of thanks to Parts Express and Thomas(thanks). Anyway I rearranged my room a little, tweaked the subs with the BFD and the M8a's should now be nicely broken in so I thought I'd report back to say that I'm very impressed! I've been on a quest these last few years looking for a speaker that would suit my desire for a nice sounding 2 channel speaker but also one with enough guts to manage HT at near reference levels with ease...Having tried various speakers from Magnepans to Energy Audyses's I'm very happy with the performance I'm getting from the M8a's. I'm now bi amping the mains with two channels each from one of the two HKPA 5800 5 channels amps. The two front M8a's are connected to their own 5 channel amp so neither has to compete with the other so according to S&V's bench tests they should be getting 150 watts to the tweeters and 150 watts to the woofers (assuming 4 ohm load)...the only issue right now is that my tempests are also connected to these amps so they are been taxed a little if there's heavy bass in the music but for now things seem pretty good. I can't be totally sure but I think bi amping them seems to have helpped to open them up a little but it could just be the new arrangement or them breaking in...either way its all good
So the moral of the story is if you're on the fence about these speakers...get off it and start building...Jon really knows what he's doing