Hi everyone!
I would like to show off my work and research on Markaudio CHN-50 fullrange driver. This was my first rodeo with Markaudio in general and I must say you get a lot for what you pay ekhm.... when you get correcion network right.
My goal was to make an affordable full-range near-field speaker that would play vocals nicely and also look somewhat classy. Mission Accomplished in my opinion.
Box is made of 12mm beech plywood according to plans from Markaudio website (also included as attachment), lined with low-density wool felt on the inside and veneered with European walnut. Binding posts are just 6mm copper tube with 4mm bore to accept any banana plug.
When I first listened to these speakers they sounded...how to put it....BAD. Intrusive midrange and very aggressive highs. All that had to be corrected so I pulled my DATS and UMIK-1 from a closet and made a couple of sweeps which I then used for filter design in XSim.
With the filter they sound warm and intimate but still detailed and bass output is surprisingly generous yet accurate for such a small driver. Listening position is crucial to get the sound just right but you are not limited to just near-field applications. When paired with a subwoofer they can put up quite a show in a smaller room at decent loudness.
I would like to show off my work and research on Markaudio CHN-50 fullrange driver. This was my first rodeo with Markaudio in general and I must say you get a lot for what you pay ekhm.... when you get correcion network right.
My goal was to make an affordable full-range near-field speaker that would play vocals nicely and also look somewhat classy. Mission Accomplished in my opinion.
Box is made of 12mm beech plywood according to plans from Markaudio website (also included as attachment), lined with low-density wool felt on the inside and veneered with European walnut. Binding posts are just 6mm copper tube with 4mm bore to accept any banana plug.
When I first listened to these speakers they sounded...how to put it....BAD. Intrusive midrange and very aggressive highs. All that had to be corrected so I pulled my DATS and UMIK-1 from a closet and made a couple of sweeps which I then used for filter design in XSim.
With the filter they sound warm and intimate but still detailed and bass output is surprisingly generous yet accurate for such a small driver. Listening position is crucial to get the sound just right but you are not limited to just near-field applications. When paired with a subwoofer they can put up quite a show in a smaller room at decent loudness.
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Did you run in these speakers, because of the metal cone and the special spider they need +100h run-in with light music to sound good. In the beginning this is always sounding very force and bright. That is standard with all Mark Audio drivers
I have never really thought about that. Now that you mention it, I will keep an eye out if they change over time. It is just hard to imagine break-in would smooth out 10dB peaks in frequency response. One hump was around 1.5kHz which is caused by baffle step loss and the other much more annoying was from 12 to 20kHz which I think is cone breakup.
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They have a cone breakup, but it's not that bad mostly. But i know from experience with drivers from Mark Audio that straight of the box they sound very aggressive and bright, and when run in that balances out almost totally.
But on my 10.3M drivers i also use a correction network to tame the highs.
But on my 10.3M drivers i also use a correction network to tame the highs.
Nice work. Like the other new CHN, this is a standout.
As waxx suggests nothing whould be done on evaluation and )possible) corection until they have at least 100 hrs on them. Slow & gentle break-in.
Another of Scott’s boxes that needs to be redrawn (note that the sketch has FF85wk in it).
The CHN-50 fits into the A5.2/3 boxes pretty much unchanged.
dave
As waxx suggests nothing whould be done on evaluation and )possible) corection until they have at least 100 hrs on them. Slow & gentle break-in.
Another of Scott’s boxes that needs to be redrawn (note that the sketch has FF85wk in it).
The CHN-50 fits into the A5.2/3 boxes pretty much unchanged.
dave
If I may, that is not baffle step loss, the anechoic F3 of which occurs almost an octave lower. It's a peak from baffle diffraction. They are related, but not quite the same.
Nice work! I will have to borrow your idea of using copper tubing for speaker jacks. I don't know what you did inside but I can envision flattening the tubing ends for a seal and drilling for speaker wire attachment.
I just soldered a wire to the end of the tube and thats it. 4mm hole is easy enough to fill with solder . After that I just bored the tube with 4mm drill bit to clean off all oxides
Very nice. The CHN-50 is out of stock at KJFAudio, so I'll just have to wait. Planning on trying it as a tweeter.
CHN-50 full range driver | KJF Audio
Useful crossover/ equalisation. More complex than I expected. I'll have to dig in the parts box. Thanks.
CHN-50 full range driver | KJF Audio
Useful crossover/ equalisation. More complex than I expected. I'll have to dig in the parts box. Thanks.