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The installation of Beta 0.5

This is the subwoofer handling frq below 80hz. But the 16inch bass driver is taken away directly from the original bass unit from the Alpha One. We simply moved it out, added side panels and make the subwoofers stand alone. That means the 16inch does not require burn in at all as they have been running for 2 years.
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Comments

  • The backside of the cabinet shows up all the parameters control of the active amplifier driving the sub. The tricky part is this amp is NOT installed inside the sub. What you are seeing is a new cabinet holding the new 12"inch lower mid bass in front but housing an active amplifier driving the external subwoofer.
  • It took us 3 hours to reach what you saw on this picture.
  • Assembling these side panels were more harder than we anticipated.
  • This is the new 12"inch woofer.
  • Let's go back in time for one day. We were installing this new woofer for DSo on Sunday. Before the installation, we compared the new woofer with the old woofer in a raw manner as shown on the picture. Direct connection to the woofer without crossover.
  • DSo, Ralph and Mr.Zanden was there to compare them before installing them to the main speakers.
  • After a full day of work yesterday, we still had not been able to turn the system on because Ralph was too tired. Then, we have forgotten to prepare jumpers. We should be able to turn the system on, however, today.

    DSo and Mr.Zanden will visit me as soon as the system is able to turn on today.
  • What a mega horn system here? Don't tell me it sounds big and dynamic because it should be. Tell us more about integration and coherence.
  • A 4 way horn system is ultra complicated, not to mention the space requirement. I was impressed by the Alpha One driven by the Takumi. If the bass speed problem is solved, this should be quite one hell of a horn system.

    The tweeter, mid range and the subwoofer are fully horn-loaded with the exception of the new lower mid bass woofer. The sensitivity gap should reduce substantially. Coherence should be much better, no more dislocation of the bass anymore.
  • The installation of the Beta 0.5 was not smooth due to many unforeseen technical problems appearing one after another. It seems all the dust under the carpet came out at the same time. We were frustrated for two days. Upon returning from Shanghai after the set up of the sub for Bigpiece, luck has returned.

    I have to be real thankful of Mr.Zanden's strong assistance in fine-tuning my system both on Saturday and Sunday together with Ralph of Cessaro.

    After the re-positioing of the speakers and the removal of the dining table to upstairs (yes I rented an extra apartment just for this), we never have the luxury of space in the past. The width now measures 14 feet from the left most wall to the craze rack on the right. The depth from the back of the speaker to the listening position is 17 feet. Just on this part, the enlargement of the staging to me is spectacular.

    The speed problem of the lower mid bass is gone and the integration of the subwoofer with the main speaker is just a disappearing act. Mr.Zanden was extremely critical on this system on Saturday morning. But again, thanks for his advices and more fune tuning of the speaker/subwoofer positioning, he is very very pleased now.

    Last but not least, is the connection of the ground wires from the Troy to the active crossover is a MUST. Although I only connected to one channel (not long enough), the further lowering of the noise floor must be heard to believe. We are now using two ORB Kamamura in the system. One for the Takumi K70, both channels of active crossovers. Another one for all the front ends. (Mr.DV's advise on this part is also crucial as I feel power amp application justifies another standalone power bar to maximize the potential.) We are only using a one box Zanden 2500CD signature CD player for the time being. We shall soon reconnect the whole Da Vinci analog set up this week.

    Ralph was skeptical of using solid state to drive his horn speaker all along esepcially the Beta 0.5 has a overall sensitivity of 100db now. Even Ralph told us, "The Takumi is good" without further elaboration. He did not hurry us to get another pair of amp to try. Mr.Zanden complimented the strength of vocal and classical music at the end of the fine tuning session yesterday.

    We will further treat the room a bit more to get even better acoustic results. If anyone want to have a Beta experience, please give me or Jlam a call.
  • The lower mid bass is probably a ported box design without any horn loading. The crossover frequency should be higher than Bigpiece system. Am I correct?
  • Uncle Ray, wanna become a horny guy? I thought you hate horns. These macho speakers are too complicated for me even if they sound good.
  • what interconnect are you using in between the preamp and the active crossover?
  • 有冇全家大合照睇睇? PT, 幾時可以見識下?
  • 我都冇野講. 只是不明白為何不用更高級的訊源. 不過, 呢部Zanden 2500 CD Player真係玩到盡. 期望Wavac AC2下週到再把且此系统再推上一層
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