Hi Nick - results so far of my efforts:


I have just tried 220pf and my system loses sparkle and life. I have some smaller values I will try tomorrow and will post the outcome.

Cheers
Paul

Hey Nick


I thought you had ASRock now?

Paul

Hi Gerard,

You do not have to buy the complete kit all the parts are listed on the website and can be bought separately. You can make the cabinet yourself. But make sure the drivers and crossover parts are all matched that is really important.

Cheers

Paul

Hi Mamba  -  Ha ha so your room is about half the size that Peter remembers WHAT ON EARTH was he on? he must have had a great time . Views of the sky and the sea sounds perfect to me!!

The S5 is a big beast and it has low WAF if that is an issue for you. The dimensions are all about sound quality and not looking pretty. They are about the size of the old Linn Isobarik's and very heavy - sensibly it takes two to lift one S5. So you can get the idea that they are hard work to build if for no other reason than their bulk when lifting and shifting. Realistically I would say about 6 days work at something like 5-6 hours per day. But a big chunk of the work is the veneer especially if you want to make a nice job of it. But maybe if temporary you could leave that until later or paint. When lifting the S5 to get positioning right I can only just lift one speaker - and I am 6'3".

The S4's will take 4-5 days and are significantly easier to build. The crossover is much easier to build for example and it is an easier speaker to lift and shift around. Also you could leave the veneer until later if that suits.

My room is 42' long and the width varies from 33' to 15' and is a "pig" sonically (no views of the sea though  ) but the S4's worked well even in this room.

The S4's are going to work in a much wider range of sonic environments. Why not give Ivan a call? he gets a lot of feedback from many customers using a very wide range of acoustic environments and he really knows his "stuff". If you do please tell him you have been talking me (he knows me as Paul from Marlow!!).

Ivan recently received an order for a significant number of S4's to reproduce live church organ music!!!. They are excellent speakers and incredibly neutral and natural sounding. And that Fountek ribbon is just gorgeous.

Best of luck!!

Paul

Hi - Yes I was surprised as sensitivity is so close to the ribbon version - but Ivan was clear that the ribbon version is best for SQ.

My S5's are 8' apart and I sit a non ideal (for imaging) 27' away from them so imaging is not a priority for me. There are four seats available around my seating position and the sound is fine in all those seats.

As you will see from the photo's the ribbon tweeter is at the bottom of the three drivers so the speakers need to be angled back.

What size room do you have? The S4's may be worth considering also they work in a wider range of room sizes.

Cheers

Paul

Hey Mamba - I forgot to add that the waveguide S5's are what I originally looked at but after a chat with Ivan (the designer) he recommends the ribbon tweeter version for better sound quality. The waveguide version was made for very low power amps.

Also I did not properly read your post I missed that you are waiting for the Orelino's. That is great. For sure you cannot go wrong with the S5's whilst you are waiting.

If you are going to build them from wood maybe have a chat with Ivan first - he has taken great care in the design to get neutral sound and that may be affected with wood. I am sure he will have experience of that or someone who has built them will have.

Anyway hope all goes well if you do go for them.

Cheers

Paul

Hey Peter - The point is the performance versus COST these transmission lines are absolutely superb. Better than anything I have heard to date overall (REALLY). And they are silly silly cheap (but lots of hard work to build).

Apologies Mamba I do not know your name but you are very welcome to come along for a listen (and a coffee and a chat) and make up your own mind.

For anyone prepared to put in the work these are the bargain of the century. Really.

BUT BUT BUT you must make sure the speakers are the right size for the room. The S5's can put out a lot of bass energy the S4's are also superb and will sound better in a smaller room.

Peter - the Orelino's look fantastic and the design and engineering fantastic but for sure they are going to be VERY EXPENSIVE and not everyone has pockets that deep.

UNLESS that is you can say otherwise. I hope you (or Bert) can because you will have my order tomorrow (REALLY). But I know you cannot - 6 x 12" bass drivers just for starters mmmm then the horns the woodwork the in built electronics etc etc - please tell me I am wrong but that is serious dosh.

The IPL's are designed to be neutral and they are very revealing so you must make sure your front end is excellent.

How do they sound? - neutral & natural not dramatic in any way. They will just make what you were listening to before sound coloured (IMHO that is).

Cheers

Paul

I am going to get hold of a good quality USB3 extension lead and see if I can replicate the problem. But even so with a "bad lead" has to be a surprise that there can be data errors.

The ones I just made !!!! the IPL S5's which are by a big margin the best transmission lines I have heard.

http://www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=2678.msg27663#msg27663

Peter - probably I misunderstand you but anyway.


The clicks are on the WAV files I sent you for sure and absolutely you will hear them (try right at the end of the "Oleo" track and let me know what you hear). The clicks are in definite places on the WAV file and will be heard on whatever system you play them regardless of whatever connection you use (I am using my study PC and hear them now). The good master versions of the same files have no clicks.

It has to be copy errors unless I really am being dumb (OK I should not say that as you will probably now prove me wrong now ha ha).

Cheers

Paul

Hey Peter,


When I read the above I could not help but remember my impression after first listening to these transmission lines.


So now I am even more enthusiastic to hear the Orelino's. Transmission line bass quality but with much sensitivity and dynamics a very mouthwatering prospect.

OK I copied files over to the internal disc of my Music PC over the network - no clicks.

I copied files onto the 3T USB3 disc by plugging directly into the USB3 socket at back of the Study PC - no clicks.

I then copied files onto the 3T USB3 disc but this time with the USB3 extender back cable in place - and clicks appeared on the copied files.

Then using Robocopy to mirror a large music file onto the 3T USB3 disc with the USB3 extender cable in place (when Robocopy runs a DOS box opens and you can watch % progress as the files copy across) and I noticed that if I "played" with the USB3 plug in the extender cable female socket that the % progress speed slowed down. Pretty damming evidence against the extender cable I would say.

So the USB3 extender cable is now in the bin awaiting collection from our local bin men.

I shall get hold of a better quality extender cable or a front panel extender to get USB3 on the front panel of my PC but it will be thoroughly tested first.

I had always assumed that error correction protocols would prevent errors in the data transfer - so a useful lesson for me.

By the way I did a quick test using the same extender cable on a USB2 link and could not get any clicks but I got bored waiting for the files to copy across and so that test was far from exhaustive.

Paul

After more checks I am sure this problem has been caused by the USB3 connection. I was using a USB3 extension cable which I then removed and plugged direct into the USB3 socket on the back of the PC - no problems then I can copy without any clicks appearing.

So beware of USB connected discs.
Paul

Peter - I have made some more checks and it is very odd. I have a master "Office" PC on my network and I rip albums onto a disc on that PC using EAC.

For music replay I have a separate "Music" PC that runs XX. I mirror the music directory from the Office PC onto a disc on the Music PC using Robocopy. Actually the "Music" PC disc is a Seagate 3T USB3 disc so it is transportable.

I use Robocopy to mirror the Master Music directory onto the Music PC 3T disc.

I have just checked two tracks (on the 3T USB3 disc) that I know have "Clicks" on them and I have emailed them to you with time info so you can find the clicks.

BUT and here is the really strange thing the same (master) files on the Master Music disc on the "Study" PC are OK NO CLICKS. 

So I just ran robocopy to mirror the Master music directory onto the 3T Seagate and no files were updated which is fine because I have not added or changed any files. But the 3T Seagate version of the offending file still has the clicks and the master version of the same file does not. So it looks as though the clicks appeared during the copy process or could they appear after the copy process????

I have sent the files by Filemail.

Edit: actually it has to be inconceivable to get clicks onto the files during the copy process. So how could they get there?

Edit (another): I just deleted a file (with clicks) on the 3T USB disc and then copied the Master file (no clicks) onto the 3T USB disc to replace the deleted file. This time there are far fewer clicks but there still are a couple. So it does appear this is a problem that occurs during copying. I wonder if USB3 is the problem - seems unlikely though.

Cheers

Paul

After further checks I found that these "Clicks" happen in Windows 7 as well. So then I checked the actual "ripped" track using a WAV editor. These clicks are on the file on disc. Now that is a worry. First thoughts were that these could have been caused by EAC but then I found clicks in a track I ripped many years ago and I know for absolutely certain that there were no clicks when the original track was ripped.

Is it possible that clicks have got onto the file during copying - that does not seem possible. Any ideas anyone? how could a file be corrupted? Actually thinking about it what is strange is that the file in question has clicks in very defined places in the music passage - along with the beat. I would have to think they must have always been there but for sure I would have noticed them they stick out like a sore thumb in the music.

  Paul