Quick 'n Dirty active OB

This is what I'm listening to right now:



This is an active system to keep me happy until I get something serious setup.

Tweeter: Vifa D19TD05
Mid: Modified Vifa C13 (From a Diva Acoustics stand mount)
Subs: Rythmik 12" servo sub
Crossover: Behringer Ultradrive DCX
EQ: Behringer Ultracurve DEQ
Power amps: Behringer A500 and EP2500
Box material: cheapo 12mm chipboard and furry 18mm MDF

The rack:



I'm surprised how good it sounds. I could close my eyes and think that I'm listening to a refined system, not something thrown together out of scraps.

I set it up like this.

1. 4LR crossover set at 160 and 2.4k

2. Pink noise + RTA to set the gain

3. Auto EQ with my standard room curve (1db/octave lowpass fullrange, ~6db bass boost, -2.5db treble cut and dynamic loudness filter)

DSP settings:



DSP: you can see in the top window that dipole EQ happens below about 300 Hz down to the crossover point of 160 Hz. Below that there is some EQ for room modes, but not shown is a PEQ notch filter around 40 Hz for a dominant peak.

That took all of 5 minutes, then I sat back and had a listen. Wow. I expected to hear the mid having just a little coloration, but nothing stood out. There was no sense that anything was asking for improvement, even though there is obviously a lot that I could easily improve. Drivers, cables, enclosures, crossover and EQ settings ... virtually everything could be better. Yet it's easily good enough to just sit back and be immersed in music. In fact, that's what I like best about open baffle. It's very engaging, drawing you into the music. The sound stage seems to extend so much further beyond the speakers. My only complaint is that I'm not satisfied with what it's doing with voices on movies. Image focus is stretched and I get the feeling vocal clarity is lacking.