“Sonic Impact MSP” speakers by Kyle M. @cyclone_power These were a small pair of black triangular shaped cardboard loudspeakers that contained a pair of electro dynamic exciters mounted on the inside. I was totally blown away by the sound coming from these speakers. Not at the level of a good pair of ribbons or domes by any means, but I never thought that cardboard panel type loudspeakers could sound this good.
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How did I miss hearing those??
I missed them too… guess they played sometime early on Friday?
They were certainly interesting.
I totally missed them too. Where were they and when did they play? Not on Saturday as far as I know. Unbiasedsound would have been in audio nirvana.
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The metadata timestamp on the attached photo shows them playing at 7:04pm, Oct 17, 2025 (Friday night). In the picture, Bryan is attempting to seal the openings on the top of the triangle with his hand to improve the low frequency performance. It had no effect whatsoever. Too much leakage elsewhere. Low frequency extension was somewhat lacking, but overall, the sound was very good.
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Kyle M. ( @cyclone_power ) also brought another speaker, the “Speakerlab DAS-7,” which played on Saturday. This one used the original speakerlab drivers, circa 1987.
Notice in the photo that he placed them directly against the rear wall for playback, as this was needed to obtain the proper “in room” baffle step compensation.
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As mentioned in an earlier post by @PWRRYD , Michael C ( @D1PP1N ) brought a horn loaded two way using the RS270P-4 woofer and an RS28F tweeter mounted in a Seos waveguide. Per Mike, the waveguides used were designed for a smaller RS225 woofer, but because the waveguides were cheaper, he used them. Cabinet was 32 liters tuned to 32Hz. Crossover was 1100Hz. Mike, do these speakers have a name? I could not find the tent card for this one. Sounded very good.
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Michael C ( @D1PP1N ) also brought a portable boombox, but I do not have specifics on it. I did not see a tent card or know if or when it played. Maybe I was out in the hallway talking or checking in at the time.
Danny T. ( @technodanvan ) brought his huge “Ensemble: Crescendo” floorstanding loudspeakers. The design is an ongoing collaboration between Danny, who is controlling the overall design concept and build; Jon Marsh, who designed the crossover; and Steve Manning, who helped with key aspects of the baffle design.
Drivers are the Seas C18EN002 coaxial (x1); Anarchy 708 woofers (x4); and Dayton 10" Reference PR’s (x4).
The baffles are 3 layers thick and all other sides are 2 layers thick. The outriggers are solid aluminum with copper plating. I think Danny mentioned that the overall weight is about 250 lbs each. It was necessary to remove the passive radiators and drivers for transport.
Crossover: 3 way design with turnover frequencies of 400Hz and 2000Hz. Tweeter high pass is LR6. All other slopes are LR4.
The sound: Simply amazing!
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The 10” two-way waveguide I named them the Bowg’s (big ole wave guides). I think the 10” is a better scale than the 8” with the guide. My goal was to get the excellent low end of the 10” and use the waveguide to highlight those extra details but tame the top end to not be harsh/sharp/honky. You can play it really loud, I wanted a smooth transition through the frequency range so you don’t get fatigued but elevate the bass slightly so you get good bottom end wihtout it being loud. I only had to pad the tweeter 1 ohm before the crossover, so the sensitivities matched really well.
I would appreciate any feedback on these, its easy to tweak the tweeter on this build.
I call the boombox the Tangbox, fosi 2.1 channel amp. Its 2 tang band W3-2141 3” Tang Band W3-2141 3" Paper Cone Full-Range Driver 8 Ohm with a large cap to cut off the low frequencies. The woofer is a Tang Band W5-1138SMF 5-1/4 sub. We didn’t play it friday so I just packed it up.
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The standard of workmanship and finish at this event is incredibly high, most impressed!
Geoff
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Bill, excellent work with your photos and write-ups. Thanks!
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Next up is the “Purraalers.” This was a collaboration between Brad S. @Hifiside and JR @jr-mac . JR did the crossover work. Brad did the cabinet work. The cabs are a composite fiberglass poured in a mold. Drivers are the Purifi 6.5" woofer and Raal tweeter. Port tuning is around 31 to 32Hz. Raal uses a pair of foam blocks to tame the rising response of the tweeter. Brad talked about how difficult it was to get the foam blocks in just the right position and then keep them there. So they decided to use a 0.18mH inductor to tame the Raal instead of the foam blocks. Seemed to work out quite well. From where I was sitting, the high frequencies seemed to balance and blend well with the woofer. They did not seem bright at all.
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Thanks, Marvin. I discover quite a few really good speaker building tips by digging into the details on other builder’s designs.
“Timekeepers” by Nick S. ( @ugly_woofer ) Drivers: Tang Band 25-1719s ceramic dome tweeter, Dayton RS125P midrange, and RSS210HF-4 woofer. F3: 27Hz. Beautiful, highly polished automotive finish. The passive T/M cabs were driven by 50W ICE amps inside the sub enclosure. The sub was driven by a 250W DSP Dayton amp.
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Hello all, I hope everyone is doing well after the big event. Let me just say thank you for making me feel welcome at my first event, and tolerating my newbie questions. I came into the event fully expecting to see some high quality projects and I was still blown away by the skill and craftsmanship I saw.
I noticed a few of you missed the folding cardboard speakers, which were played briefly on Friday night. Im sorry I had to take off before the Saturday night festivities, but I promise I will bring those again next year so everyone can hear them. They are definitely strange, but they really do sound better than the boom box radio I had when I was a kid!
Thanks again for the great experience, and I’m really going to cook up something special for next time!
Kyle
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Good to meet you and listen to your speakers. I was impressed by both of them. My ears aways perk up whenever someone starts talking about classic, vintage loudspeakers from yesteryear. I remember being unable to afford a pair of Klipschorns back in the day. Then Speakerlab came out with a more affordable Klipschorn clone, I think they called it the Speakerlab K-Horn. I was seriously thinking about building a pair.
Was nice to meet you, Kyle.
Kelly H. ( @Gleep ) brought a pair of “Neil Blanchard Designed Tower 6” speakers that he built from kit plans. The woofer alignment is a mass loaded transmission line type of design (ML-TL) with a tuning frequency of about 25Hz, so they have plenty of the non-resonant type bass that ML-TL’s are famous for. Drivers are the SB Acoustics 6" SB16PFCR25-4 woofers and the SB Acoustics 1" SB26STCN-C000-4 tweeter.
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