Mondie's speaker endgame: 4-way active, high efficiency horn system development

If it’s DUPper Orange those things will sound feckin’ harsh in July* and might be inclined to march around your listening room before lighting a huge bonfire.

*with added flutes, whistles and pipes.

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How’d ya mean former Alan, you have lost me :nerd_face: Orange is a bit too bold for the industrial look of these, more so if the fuckers are going to kamikaze and burn the house down.

Was referring to these:

Posted upthread.

Welcome back to the forum, did you get these yet then?

Evening AD, wow, I just noticed it is a year since I posted an update! I am relieved to say the speakers are now finished and have been since Feb, it has been unbelievably slow and tedious getting bespoke stuff made in Oz. The UK in comparison has many more small specialisit busiiness that are invaluable in a build like these. Anyway, we were ready to ship and then Covid came along and stopped us in our tracks. I am now in discussions with a few shippers and hope by the end of the week to have freight sorted since seafreight seems to be back to normal and without surcharges. I expect it will be October before I have them though.

Here’s a few truly shit pics, Lenard are as good at making speakers as they aren’t at taking photos so these are the best I have. I am very pleased with the horn colour after the discussion here looking for ideas, I went for a very dark metallic green that we also used on the top cap. I think they look great.

Now the waiting game begins …

IMG-20190606-WA0002 by Simon Gee, on Flickr

index10 by Simon Gee, on Flickr

IMG-20190606-WA0008 by Simon Gee, on Flickr

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They look epic, really imposing!

What was your crossover and amplification system again? I saw you posted elsewhere an 8-way valve amp, I think.

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Love it! This is the sort of stuff I used to love at Scalford.

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This!

Plus great end game stuff, no messing with amps etc, just get the source right and done.

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These use Class D amps with onboard EQ from Denmark. I dont recall much of the detail now but humougous power and perfect for the job. Lenard developed a 4-channel full valve & SS active amplification system for the Opal speaker range. This can be switched on the fly. It showed that in an active system, the amplifier topology is largely irrelevant. The Class D amps in the Symphonies add EQ for fine tuning of the system drivers and crossover slopes, so its the best of both world. The amps also incorporate basic EQ controls for fine tuning to taste, thats what the knobs for are in the pics above.

You can simply hook an ipod up through a simple pre amp to these and be in another place!

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What materials are the cabinets constructed from Simon?

The usual MDF, it was all laser cut to keep the joints tight to maximise rigidity. The rear of the speakers are wrapped in rolled, polished stainless steel which is effective in helping them reflect their surroundings and blend in. The baffle is heavy MDF and capped with a powdercoated mild steel wrap. The horn is hand laid fibreglass. All pretty conventional stuff, the design itself is quite innovative though and packs a full range system into a relativley compact enclosure. The only sacrifice it makes to bigger systems if the isobaric bass, but with twin 12" per side its not really a compromise at all.

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Finally, after nearly four years, I collected the Symphonys last week from a freight agent in Essex. We hired a van for what turned out to be a long day, ten hours driving plus several hours of grunt work unloading the truck and breaking into the crates, then wrestling the speakers into my room . I am over the moon with the whole experience. The system was exceptionally well packed and the build quality of the Symphonys is first class.

They sound absolutely incredible, exceeding what I thought possible and significantly better than the prototypes I heard back in Oz on several occasions. I went into this project because I wanted my final pair of speakers and after nearly 40 years of dicking around with audio, knew how I wanted to get there. The boys at Lenard have done an outstanding job in creating a truly innovative full range system.

This will do me.

The packaging and crating were bulletproof.

They make my old interim Kef 4.2’s sound like they are broken.

I will get some better photos once I have sorted my room and removed the protective film off the stainless steel cabinets.

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me likey

Fantastic, they look great!

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13/10 :facepunch:

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Blimey they look awesome! Would love to hear them. And what a quest… to end in triumph after 4 years! Just brilliant… congratulations!

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Full points for effort and the journey, amazing

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Look amazing. Make my Art Impressions seem mundane.
//i121.photobucket.com/albums/o234/yoda900photos/IMG_0010%20-%20Copy.jpg

Are you offering listening sessions in N Wales? I could try to drag Keith from Wrexham to compare to his home made 18" bass Volt actives.

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Thanks for the comments fella’s. Yes, my door is open to Abattorians when they find themselves in North Wales, I always enjoy meeting like-minded tragics and sharing some new music.

Originally I was planning to haul them to Scalford, or whatever it’s called now, but I am totally off that idea. They are heavy and cumbersome and the smallest scratch would bring me to tears. Plus there seems little point unless the floor is concrete and the walls are strong, otherwise they will excite any room within about 50m :laughing:

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Congratulations, really pleased for you. It was a worthy quest.

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