The making of: The Two Towers (a 25 driver Full Range line array)

Now that I believe :eek
No room and no budget for me though... but enough to play with for a while.

To all with doubts or playing with the idea to build arrays like this (or maybe a bit easier on the enclosure ;)): Just do it!
I will only vouch for the long floor to ceiling array though. Don't skimp on size.
playing an orchestra is an experience. Not my usual thing to play but it sure is fun!
Before any measurements I'll have these play music the coming week to loosen up the speakers/suspension as a way of break-in. It is ridiculous how good they sound already.
No regrets whatsoever from all that work. Many many hours well spend and learned a lot in the process.
 
To all with doubts or playing with the idea to build arrays like this (or maybe a bit easier on the enclosure ;)): Just do it!
I will only vouch for the long floor to ceiling array though. Don't skimp on size.


I concur :D Compared to wesayso's pristine enclosure system I am at the other with a more KISS appraoch for mine :) Yet I experience great joy in front of mine and believe these are the best speakers I ever had. I can only imagine how great wesayso's are :D

My room btw is ~5x4x2,2m
 
And I second... hmmm...third!

My arrays were even smaller at 16 drivers each, and followed the very same KISS approach.

I was amazed at the sound coming out of the arrays, even while using cheap drivers (about $3/each). So, I had about $100 of drivers, and the rest was just wood and manpower... and no crossover! Pretty cheap for the amazing sound I had.

Combine them with a computer based media center, offering lots of tweaking like EQ and more, it is a killer setup!

Listening to music, they create a huge soundstage. Watching movies, they make you feel you are inside a famous grand theater (we had the Imperial some time ago in Montreal that was amazing... I saw the first Star Wars there and the last Star Trek with the original crew... it made a lasting impression that I found my arrays recreated.)
 
Speaking of EQ, you getting yours EQ'd yet?

Before any measurements I'll have these play music the coming week to loosen up the speakers/suspension as a way of break-in. It is ridiculous how good they sound already.

In the coming week and a half I won't have time by myself with the arrays. Figured I might as wel "run them in" first.

;)
 
inroom.jpg

Playing with toe-in. Still no measurements, sorry.
After a while with speakers pointing towards center position, I wanted them even further towards opposite listener but ran out of room, I now have them at 15 degree toe-in. Trough PM Halair told me it worked for him. I have to agree, better than on axis listening in any case. My stereo will be taken down eventually and moved under the TV. I might revisit the opposite listener position at that time.

Pré measurements is still shockingly good. Pin point imaging, balanced sound on most recordings, a few exceptions. Speakers disappear. There's only the performance, as it should be. Nice! There is a difference between closed eye listening and eyes open. With the Eyes closed it is impossible to spot speaker position. the sound goes past (outside) the speakers on several recordings. Nice deep soundstage.
 
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I've been lurking and following this build - both here and originally at DIYMA.

This is absolutely the most epic build I've seen. The saga of it's construction has been more fascinating than any episodic TV show. I think I actually got depressed after the big "Crack". I'm thrilled these have come together.
 
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The speakers have done daily duty for about a week now. I'm plotting the next steps.
First step will be a damping panel at the first reflection point behind the curtain on the left side:
inroom.jpg


One thing I notice is lack of depth in the stage. I get pin point positions but no real depth offset. The first side wall reflection will play a part in that I presume.
Most likely so will the front wall behind the speakers but there's not much I can do about that without getting in a domestic dispute.
So DSP will have to come in and try to do the rest.
My plan is to run several measurements and average those for PEQ correction with REW. I do think I'll need to split up the measurements for low, mid and highs. That way I could play with different gating for the frequencies.
After getting a reasonable result with the above I want to play with correcting phase with digital room correction.
Anny helpful suggestions? I don't know when I'll be able to make the measurements. I live at a busy street and there's lots of noise during the day. But at night time I have my family to consider. Low tones do make it trough the whole house. Still the evenings seem like the better solution as there's a lot lower noise level. I wish I had a basement to play with like Halair :D.