Woden Shrike Build

[killmister]

Hello.
I can recommend you the audio Jantzen 6n. Very good on fullrange speaker :

http://www.jantzen-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Cables-Catalogue.pdf

Joking!

I've got some 18 AWG solid copper hookup wire from RadioShack, as well as 20 AWG solid copper from Antique Electronic Supply. Maybe I'll go with one of those instead.

Just wondering, what's the benefit of going with something as thin as 24 gauge?

 

[Nanook]

jd, off topic ... slightly

Nice video with good audio. What are you using for recording? A phone? I've tried doing videos to capture an audio performance and it always sounds terrible..

By the way, I'm happy that you're enjoying your speakers. Your build looks as though it done well enough. I too often end up with burnt ends of BB ply...I attribute those to a dull blade and me forcing the wood through too quickly.

Hockey pucks are easy here. I buy them by the dozen (about 85¢ ea.). You can do an awful lot of things with them. They can be effective footers under spikes used on hardwood floors, can be made to be a quick n' dirty record clamp/weight, you can throw them at the kids or wife (of course only in full hockey PPE mode), and are fun to shoot at the dog with....

Opps, if pucks are hard to find hockey sticks must be damn near impossible... I guess no slap shots at the dog, wife or kids.

 

[chrisb]

Yes Stew, you can't have too sharp or high a tooth count for BB /Apple ply, and a slow stready feed rate helps reduce burning and yields a much better glue joint ready edge.

 

[xrk971]

... connected to a 3/4 watt/ch, flea-powered, scandium enclosed, yak p_i_s_s infused, liquid cooled amplifier from 1917 or some such thing no doubt

Related to old fleawatt amps - I just built a 1969 JLH class A amp but modified to be a headphone amp/pre-amp. It's $20 in kit form and a super easy build. Before testing it out on my headphones - I hooked up some 90dB sensitive speakers and to my amazement - they played clear class A music with quite a bit of volume. They are running on 12v rails and I estimate that I am getting maybe 1.6w max. It's been great listening to them and they may just be the perfect complement to a speaker like this for a smaller space. Even though lower power than a Pass ACA, the higher gain gives almost the same loudness as when using the much hotter running ACA.

I would encourage all full range fans to try a simple class A amp some day with your favorite sensitive full range speaker. The sound is wonderful.

 

[chrisb]

xrk - gee, some of us have been saying that for years - my all time affordable and accessible favorites being the Nelson Pass ACA kit as offered by the DIY Audio store, and a now 10yr + old pair of Bottlehead Paramour 2A3 mono-blocks. While I've owned and listened to a variety of 300B designs, their viscerality notwithstanding, they've just never floated my boat as much as the 2A3 or 45 DHTs

For something transcendental, a hybrid with 45 DHT driving a SE mosfet output as demoed by Rene J a couple of fests ago - maybe Dave can dig out a photo - not for the faint of heart or shallow of pocket.

 

[xrk971]

I recently built the Pass ACA, but I find this very affordable and compact JLH headphone amp an absolute steal at $20 (add a $17 30VA toroidal transformer from Antech). The ACA has very low gain and I built this as a preamp for the ACA, but now find it can directly drive speakers almost as loud and I think (lower distortion).

 

[chrisb]

I recently built the Pass ACA, but I find this very affordable and compact JLH headphone amp an absolute steal at $20 (add a $17 30VA toroidal transformer from Antech). The ACA has very low gain and I built this as a preamp for the ACA, but now find it can directly drive speakers almost as loud and I think (lower distortion).

link for kit?

 

[xrk971]

Fully assembled for $27 but shipping makes total price $48:
ZEROZONE Finshed Ver JLH Class A 1969 Headphone amplifier PRE AMP board-in Amplifier from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Solder yourself for $20 (free shipping):
2016 NEW JLH HOOD1969 Class A Headphone Amplifier PRE AMP KIT DIY-in Headphone Amplifier from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

15V 25VA transformer ($11 + $7 shipping):
AN-0215 - 25VA 15V Transformer - AnTek Products Corp

 

[jdrouin]

Thanks for all the feedback and the information on cables (killmister), class A amps (xrk971), and sawing techniques (chrisb, nanook).

Nanook: I simply made the recording with my iPhone, which I think is the 6S model (about a year old).

I'd like to report that the Shrike are sensitive to placement. The slight tinniness went away when I moved them from the long wall of my 12' x 20' living room into the corners of my 7' x 15' home office (on the short wall).

The points made earlier about adding damping filler are well taken. When I eventually try corner loading them back in the larger room, I'll probably add some poly fill if the tinny sound returns.

As for now, they sound lovely playing uncompressed, ripped CDs on iTunes, with my iMac and the little 5 watt Fostex amp that came with the Kanspea kit. I'm running 15' lengths of basic 18AWG RCA stranded copper speaker cables from the hardware store. These speakers are very quick, and the timbre of percussion and wind instruments on Miles Davis' "Seven Steps to Heaven" is just gorgeous.

I think the Shrike are sensitive and easy enough to drive for use with a 2A3 amp: in fact I think they'd really shine with one, so a pair of 2A3 monoblocks might be the next amp project after I build a phono preamp (leaning toward Glassware's Aikido-based PH-1, though I might to a point-to-point version of the classic RCA phono circuit).

I'd really like to get the FE103-SOLs into a pair of Vampyr-Vs as well.

 

[killmister]

How are the bass frequencies ? I m curious because I had plans to build the shrike also but I wanted to add a BVR (big vent reflex) to improve bass response and it could act as a stand. See post http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full...ox-designs-baby-labs-more-23.html#post4452101. You 'll find some very helping and interesting simulations by xrk971.

 

[jdrouin]

I haven't measured the frequencies yet but will give it a try tomorrow...

 

[cspirou]

I found out about the Woden Shrike while looking for builds for the pair of fe103-sol drivers I have. I'd like to make a floor standing version instead. Wouldn't there be any issue if it was unfolded and tapered continuously? Sort of like the speaker on the right of this graphic but upside-down obviously.

 

[Scottmoose]

Shrike was designed to be a standmount, and the folding / manifold contraction is a functional part of the design.

 

[cspirou]

I understand preserving the manifold contraction. But how does folding affect the sound?

Not doubting you but just trying to figure out what's going on.

 

[chrisb]

among other things, multiple folds impart a degree of low pass filtering - but the good Doctor can no doubt expound with more technical details

 

[jdrouin]

Having recently made a desk out of birch plywood and finishing it with Watco Golden Oak Danish Oil, I had enough left over to finish the Shrikes I built a couple years ago out of Baltic Birch. I did a 3/8" roundover on all edges, sanded up from 60 to 80 to 120, raised the grain, sanded at 220, two coats of wood conditioner, first coat of Danish oil, let dry 24 hours, sanded with 400 grit, second coat of Danish oil, let dry 72 hours, one coat of satin polyurethane.

At close up the color looks streaky (like it absorbed too much into the folds of the wood grain and not enough on the upper surface areas). You can also see lines that aren't the wood grain; my guess would be stress fractures from the manufacturing process. From the listening position they look nice and even, though.

 

[Scottmoose]

Nice work.

 

[jdrouin]

Thanks! I've been meaning to ask you about damping. In a room with fewer objects and less carpeting, the Shrikes have a tendency to sound a little hollow or tinny. This could also be due to some mistakes I made when gluing the manifolds, which caused them to wander a little. But in our previous house, my home office was the exact same size as in the new one (shown), but with wall-to-wall carpeting and the speakers were in the exact same location, yet they sounded perfectly full.

Now that I have better carpentry skills I'm thinking of either rebuilding the Shrikes, since I know how to do it accurately, or building a pair of Falcons for the FF105WK I have lying around (and making an iBIB for the FE103SOLs).

Do you think I could eliminate the "hollow" sound by fully lining the insides of a Shrike or Falcon, rather than only the areas shown in the Baby Labs plans?

Or maybe a more accurate build with the lining as originally shown would do the trick?

Any other suggestions?

 

[Scottmoose]

Only one way of finding out to be sure unfortunately as it could be one or several effects from materials to system / room. I wouldn't lag the entire box; you'd be surprised how much of a difference a small change can make. But you could line one sidewall entirely & all faces (give the driver some breathing room) in the first. That should clean things up a touch. Depending on amplifier you may want to look at some higher resistance wire also, if you haven't already.

 

[jdrouin]

OK thanks. I breadboard a lot of single-ended tube amps, and those make the Shrikes sound markedly better than the Fostex AP05 (I'm guessing op-amp?) that I sometimes use from my computer.

Hookup wire in the Shrikes is Radio Shack 18AWG solid copper. In the next build I want to try 24 AWG solid CAT5E, which would have higher resistance I think.