Cables, Power, Tweaks, Speakers, Accessories (DBT-Free Forum)Discussion of cables, power (the electric kind), tweaks, & accessories. I, Objectivist: The Objectivist Audio
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I'd really like to grab a pair of the Moth's, but they don't seem to be offered used too often.
This may be a really dumb question... but since I'm not familiar with a setup like this, how is the bass response on a pair of speakers like the Moths?
Do you get a low frequency response at all from an amp that's only outputting 3 watts?
I assume that cabinet design plays a big role here in helping the speakers go down a bit further. Finally, what are the major differences (pro/con) from a standard pair of loudspeakers?
__________________ Headphones
HD650 + SAA Equinox, HD600 + Cardas, HD580 Jubilee + Oehlbach Balanced, RS-1, ER4P/S, KSC-75 Amplification
Moth Audio Si2A3, Antique Sound Lab MG-Head OTL32, Benchmark DAC-1, Grado RA-1 (Battery), Grado RA-1 High Gain (AC), Bellari VP129
Good luck finding a pair of Moth Cicadas. They're out of production and rarely come up for sale. They are great speakers, though, and I love mine. Bass response is not bad for a relatively small speaker, but they're best in the mids. The good news is that Craig is working on a new driver - check the Eddie Current site for updates.
One of the better singledrivers out there is the Jordan JX92S. They're affordable and there are a number of designs they can be used in.
Fostex makes nice drivers, too. They're reasonably priced and you'll find dozens of designs that use them. Do not be put off by the DIY nature of them, either. You can almost always find a woodworker to build them for you and singledriver designs are usually simple ones. I won't go into it here, but there are lots of ways to find a builder. If anyone needs tips on that, post here and I'll put up a list of suggestions.
Moving on, you might be interested in a pair of Lowther drivers, as well. They're not cheap, but they have a deep cult following and owners rarely listen to anything but.
If you want to sample real exotica, hunt down a pair of field coil drivers from Supravox or Fertin. These have electromagnets instead of permanent magnets to drive them. It takes some explanation, but field coils offer some real advantages over permanent magnets. They're not cheap, either. Field coils are old-school, as well. Good permanent magnets didn't really become available at a decent cost until after WW II, so field coils were used in lots of early speakers. They do need a power supply, as well. But they're damn cool and, sooner or later, I'll have a pair of Supravox shipped over from France. I'll build them with an all-tube power supply. Imagine having tubes in your speakers, too.
I'm not much up on horns, but Klipsch horns have a following and there's plenty of information out there.
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UNCLE ERIK Vinyl, Tubes & Grado
Orbe SE -> SME IV -> Fi Yph -> Zana Deux -> RS-1, HP-2, K-1000, HD-650, HD-600, K-501, DT48
Don't know if the Klipschhorn corner speakers are that efficient or not. My dad made a pair of DIY Klipschorn corners, and ran them with a 50 watt McIntosh set (pre-amp and 2 monoblock amps) He is still using the McIntosh, but bowed to the almighty will of my mother, and is using some different speakers now.
BTW, I already have dibs on the McIntosh system when he is finished with it.
Last summer I made a DIY pair of Abbys with a fostex driver. The speakers did not sound good with my class D panasonic reciever in my bedroom, but sound great with a conventional stereo Yamaha integrated amp. My son is using them. (laptop - headroom desktop DAC/AMP - Yamaha - speakers) They sound great in his room (no carpet), and would be really sweet with a nice small wattage tube amp. Perhaps one day.
Most of the speakers I was looking at 6-8 inch fullrange develop bass to about 50hz. A proper enclosure helps them to get to about 40hz. Size of driver and enclosure would determine sound level.
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iMac > USB > Ultra MicroDAC > Raptor > AT W5000 / Senn HD650
[Home Unit] Computer/XFi ExtremeMusic/Lavry Black DA10/Samsung DVD HD950 > Cambridge Audio 840a > Monitor Audio RS-6 / Senn HD580
[Travel] iPod+Crydoc > Hornet/Tomahawk > UE-10pro/Klipsch Image
[Laptop] MacBookPro > UE-10pro/HD580/Klipsch Image
[Gym] 2G Shuffle > ER6i
[Teenage Son 1] iPod/Laptop+TotalBitHead > A700
[Teenage Son 2] iPod/Laptop+HR Desktop DAC/AMP > A700/E4c >Yamaha Receiver > DIY Fostex Abby
[College Daughter] Cant get her out of iBuds
Yeah, I was looking at those earlier today and they are some beautiful speakers, just a little too costly at the moment.
I understand you get what you pay for in audio (to an extent and if you can avoid the snake oil), but the reason I want to keep a low budget is due to the fact that I don't know if the whole SET + speaker setup will be for me.
Long story short, I was able to pick up a Moth Audio Si2A3 which I intended to use almost exclusively as a HP amp (which, so far, I've been ridiculously pleased with), but I figured since it's an integrated, I'd give some high efficiency speakers a shot with it too. Maybe I'll like it, maybe not. That's why I didn't want to jump in with both feet, buying a pair of $4000 speakers prior to testing the waters. The Moth is already serving its main purpose extremely well, so I figured it was a no-lose situation with speakers as long I was buying used and could resell for close to what I paid if I wasn't impressed.
__________________ Headphones
HD650 + SAA Equinox, HD600 + Cardas, HD580 Jubilee + Oehlbach Balanced, RS-1, ER4P/S, KSC-75 Amplification
Moth Audio Si2A3, Antique Sound Lab MG-Head OTL32, Benchmark DAC-1, Grado RA-1 (Battery), Grado RA-1 High Gain (AC), Bellari VP129
Linear Mode
