bigger metronomes

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:12 pm

Good lordy...

The Martians have landed in yer living room

DTB

cressy · Post by **cressy** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:59 pm

well i got them done today, the finish isnt as good as id hoped but otherwise theyre ok. sound rather nice too. i cut the bases to the same size and angle as the taper, added legs made cut out of an old curtain pole and stood them on some granite place mats i came across on the flea market. i got 4 so gave 2 to mi dad and also got a 14x18x3.75" granite chopping board that i will soon be rebuilding the tt i made for dad into. all for 6 quid! quite happy overall. bring on dtb's fonkens! (btw, they cant look as bad as mine close up dave so dont worry abot that oil stain!)

Darren · Post by **Darren** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:36 pm

White paint is a bugger on to get right, esp if revamping old speakers. I resorted to black for mine.

The use of one of those small sponge paint rollers give a good finish, far better than a brush and can look quite professional giving a very even finish.

Cressy Snr · Post by **Cressy Snr** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:01 pm

I went down this afternoon to have a listen to them.

I must say they sound marvelous. Never having heard any Metronomes other than my original design, these are very very good indeed. The quality of bass coming from these cabinets was in another league to mine and the driver is only slightly bigger. The midrange, treble and imaging were also very good.

The best thing about them was that there was no damping whatsoever within the cabs, yet everything was even, no honks or peaks, with very little cabinet vibration evident.

Gus Cameron (Gus900) from the WD forum has a pair like these, built with the FE127 driver. He reckoned that, with corner or wall loading, no sub was needed. I see what he meant now.

This result has given me a lot of encouragement to get on with the FE207E Metronome five footers using the drivers from Andrew. If they perform anything like as well as the FE127 Mets, I can finally kiss those subs goodbye.

Steve

cressy · Post by **cressy** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:05 pm

having had a listen to them for the last few hours they seem to be loosening up nicely although ive already had a cone poking incident so there are now pinholes in both drivers. sodding kids. no difference in the performance though once id calmed down...... the guy i got the drivers off had put a few hours on them ( about 2 hours after looking at the messages) so they look like wanting maybe 50 hours or so going by the 108s in the old mans. they sounded very thin until about 10 15 hours then started to fill out. these seem to be doing the same. bass is getting better and the squeaky top end is calming down. they seem very detailed and very fast so far compared to the dog slow transients off the kefs ive been using. imaging as per the 108s is very very good and happily these traits seem to be getting better. one area they fall flat on their arse though is off axis. the uniqs in the kefs are very good off axis though so perhaps ive been spoilt but these seem very directional, something ive noticed with the 108s incidentally when sat in the chair rather than on the sofa at mi mam n dads. i dont care though i get dabs in the recliner which is in just the right place at home! so far so good. subs? they'll get made and if theyre not needed, anyone who wants them on here will get first dabs!

cressy · Post by **cressy** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:40 pm

i quickly knocked up some grilles this morning to lengthen the lifespan of the drivers, dont think they look too bad. just some plywood cut to shape and covered with cloth donated from one of the kef grilles. then just blutacked on. they sound a little warmer with them on and i cant hear anything detrimental. they look abit 'cartoon angry' now though!

Greg · Post by **Greg** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:27 pm

Looking good Anthony. Tip.....move the kids toy store to the other side of the house

pre65 · Post by **pre65** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:30 pm

Hi Ant-is that SWMBO in the background watching the washing machine ?

Telly broke ?????

Clive · Post by **Clive** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:03 pm

pre65 wrote:Hi Ant-is that SWMBO in the background watching the washing machine ?

Telly broke ?????

You know what the telly's like, there's more on the washing machine.

cressy · Post by **cressy** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:42 am

[quote="Clive"][quote="pre65"]Hi Ant-is that SWMBO in the background watching the washing machine ?

oh aye that is swmbo watching the washer. coronation street had finished. she has just taken me to see the australian pink floyd show though (thanks for playing taxi dad) so cant complain at that. go and see them if you can get tickets, the closest thing to seeing the real thing which is very unlikely. btw greg, i wish i had another side to put the swine......sorry kids toys in!!!!!! i need a bigger house!

cressy · Post by **cressy** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:46 am

well now. having had a listen to the system over the weekend and having it on almost constantly in the background to try to burn the drivers in, i can say now that i'm very happy with the result. those drivers really are brilliant, very clear and above all, fast. atmosphere, delicacy, mid and above all treble performance is leagues ahead of the kefs and the bass is really rather good. it doesn't plumb the depths and it certainly isn't half as abundant as with the kefs but it has real quality. very tuneful rather than the flabby overhung and muddy stuff ive been used to. having put massive attacks mezzanine album on i was surprised how extended it actually is. they really excel in the midband and image like crazy. they let the amp do its stuff and it really is surprising what i've been missing with the kefs. playing about with the positioning has extended the bass and stage width but the real bonus is that they look so much better in the room! i seem to have more space (strange that its simply the looks that make such a difference). they've had universally good feedback from everyone who has seen them.
the nice thing is that they dont seem to have any peaks or problems with a nice flat response from top to bottom, due to really well designed cabs, as scott mentioned a while back they were designed for this rather than absolute extension. they let the amp and source out rather than imbuing the music with their own character. the nicest thing is that i can now hear how good the amp is (changing the rectifier from a gz34 to a 5u4g was immediately better) and how good the meridian mcd is. the only bad point is that its shown up the phono stage to be rather woolly and soft. i'll have to get one built (anyone recommend a very simple one to build? i havent embarked on any electronics builds yet so id rather not try something above my capabilities). overall very happy with the result. over to you mr thebass to fly the 127 flag!

andrew Ivimey · Post by **andrew Ivimey** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:28 pm

I wonder why a GZ34 could sound worse than a 5U4G; idle curiosity really !

cressy · Post by **cressy** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:50 pm

apparently when i asked the same question, it might be due to the drop in voltage according to the old man, the amp was supposed to have been designed to have one of these in. who knows? plus its now got kt77s in it instead of the el34s so it might be a better match to them. dunno? it is lovely though!

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:27 pm

cressy wrote: the only bad point is that its shown up the phono stage to be rather woolly and soft. i'll have to get one built (anyone recommend a very simple one to build?

Have a look around for the schem of Thorsten's "simple" phono. (I have one somewhere but my harddrive caddy is bust so I can't access it at the mo).

If you like it, I have a version of this that is somewhat 'modded' and a bit harder build due to the fiddly little CCS I like to use.

Andrew, Clive and one or two others have mucked about with it and I liked it so much I made a box for it. See "what I did why you were all at Owston" thread.

There is a PCB layout around to make the version I did easier to solder up, but I think they've pretty much all been claimed by now.

If you know how to make up PCBs I can provide you the artwork. (I didn't make the PCBs just designed them).

Sadly, whatever Thorsten says, the word simple and phono don't really belong in the same sentence.

But if your up for it I'm happy to help you out where you I can.

-- Andrew

iansr · Post by **iansr** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:54 pm

looking at the Frugal Horn site I see there are several types of Fostex driver (and others) suggested for the 60" or if you wanted to go the extra 12" an Audio Nirvana 10" driver. I know little about these drivers so forgive the question: is one of these drivers clearly superior to the others - or is it a classic case of, not better, just different?

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