I’ve not bought any extra, the kit came with three, one standard, one adjustment and one for the other tweeter option. I just put an extra lower value one on the board.
It varies from kit to kit. Additional ones are easy to get and not at all expensive… makes a change with this hobby
Hey, maybe I should just shift through the electronics box in the storage unit. I’m sure I have a whole bunch of resistors there. Probably not very “audiophile” ones, but might be interesting to at least test with.
@n-lot just start with what the kit includes. If you did want to get a few extra then just order the 2-3 next highest values available. In my experience I’ve only ever had to attenuated the tweeter down in level. Sometimes only for the break in period (as with my CNO4). It can all sound a bit lean when all the drivers are new. Especially the big multi-way speakers. Those big drivers take some breaking in. Months!
I’ve gone back to the open stands today and carried over the white band from the previous stands, I prefer the look and also brings them up to a perfect height.
Also connected up the original resistor for the tweeter… so much better
@Mark84 Hi Mark, I tried with one ohm higher value, out of interest more than anything. Treble still sounded nice, more like my previous speakers but nothing like the original which I’ve now gone back to.
They are running in nicely, I’ve played a lot of music through them now and have tweaked their positions. Moving them back very slightly has cleared up a bit of bass resonance I could feel through the sofa and they are toed in a little bit more now.
They’re sounding wonderful, what has become clear is how versatile they are, their low volume performance has been most surprising to me I think, I was listening to slow jazz late last night with the volume just over 7 o’clock and was completely engaged, feet tapping to the bass line . On the other end of the scale there is no distortion even with heavy rock or a bit of Wagner, thrilling
The treble is almost ethereal, the clarity is something else, even over heavy tracks. Wonderful midrange and powerful deep clean bass, couldn’t wish for more really.
I honestly think they’re the best part of my system now.
That’s great to hear. I knew those speakers would be good, given how fondly he speaks of them. It will be really interesting to hear how they compare to the CNO. As I have mentioned before, the seas drivers seem to be more neutral to my ears but that is in comparison to the revelator drivers, not the illuminator. My guess is that neither will be “better” just different. It’s good to hear that those speakers are so linear in their bass response also. That is something that mine do very well. No matter how low the volume on the dial, they sound incredibly balanced and everything is there, even deep bass.
When do you think you will get round to finishing the CNO?
I’d love to hear your speakers are they hooked back up now?
As you can imagine I’m in no huge rush with the CNOs right now, probably around Easter time, have a couple of other projects to finish off … although I must admit I am tempted by the big brother of these!
I do have one problem resulting from building these, my wife likes that they’re smaller/lower than my previous speakers … and the CNOs are taller than those
I’m thinking of asking Troels if I can lower them a bit and make up the volume by making them slightly deeper, wouldn’t be much at all.
Definitely a very subjective appearance, my daughter really likes them, my wife hated them, but hasn’t commented for a while, and my son just grunted and shrugged
I’m in two minds, sometimes I think they look a bit silly, other times I quite like them … certainly different.
Anyway, this came about from a suggestion @Mark84 made about filling the bases with sand, and from someone else on here saying they used their Gaia feet between speakers and stands. Since the feet I have couldn’t handle the weight with sand filled bases I thought I’d try this.
So the bases here are completely filled with sand, I can barely lift them, even sliding them around without the speakers on top takes some effort!
This has had a positive effect on the sound, mainly in the bass and midrange, I was quite surprised and it’s made me realise how important the stands are.
They were like this for about three weeks, then last weekend I tried this …
I wanted to see what effect the feet have in this situation so added blocks under the speakers to lift the feet away. The result? Nothing that I could notice over the course of the week really. I have taken the blocks out this evening, and again nothing that I can detect. Interesting … the effect of the Gaias on my previous speakers and also with the previous stands I used with these speakers was very noticeable, and very beneficial. Seems these feet give their best on floors that aren’t solid.
So the result of all this is that I think I’ll make the final (ha!) stands that will have sand filled columns, a bit thinner than these, and the Gaia’s will go back in their box for now.
I don’t think it looks bad at all. Quite unique. I suppose what you are replicating here is the difference between placing a speaker on a resonant timber floor (the open timber frame) vs a solid, non resonant floor like concrete (the sand filled stands). What sounds even better is option 3, The speakers permanently fixed to the sand filled stands, mass damping the top cab. The problem is that it makes the speaker very heavy to move around.
Hi @n-lot, definitely interested to hear opinions and ideas!
I’m thinking of a single column about 2/3rds of the width and depth of the cabinets with a thicker base. That should make it slimmer looking with the ability to still get a decent amount of mass in there.
Other thoughts this morning, four posts like the other stands but thicker, each filled with sand, two thicker rectangular columns front to back like this | | … might explore some designs on the computer.
How’s your build coming on? Any pics? More than happy for you (or anyone) to post in here
Hi @Mark84, yes our floor is laminate with fibreboard underlay between it and the concrete screed, the Gaia’s did a great job isolating my previous floor standers from that. The laminate is thick (12mm) high density but would still resonate I imagine. As an aside, I considered using that flooring laminated together to make 24mm for cabinets, it’s even higher density than the Valchromat
I won’t be permanently fixing the cabinets to the stands, a bit too impractical as you say, but also because access to the crossover would be tricky!
I’ve been using blu-tack between the cabinets and the stands, but could try without
You mention concrete… hmm, a block of polished concrete could look very contemporary and would certainly do the job!
Ah fantastic! They look great, wish I could hear them, bet they sound amazing, nice work
I imagine you felt the same way I did when you plugged them in … rewarding isn’t it