Edingdale GT, the ultimate Edingdale? Probably

[Toppsy]

Close friends of mine will know that since Christmas I have been on a bit of a downer with little interest in anything. At one point I contemplated giving up building audio and selling up my stock of speakers. I must admit to having no enthusiasm at all to build anything. Winter weather - cold and damp hasn't helped but I had got myself in a right low ebb situation. This retirement lark is not all its made up to be, or wasn't working for me.

Lynn, my good lady, did her best to get me out of this depression and together with a few long chats to Scott and other friends eventually got me out of my doldrums and today I am back with the living, at least that is to build some new speakers.

One of my chats with Scott reminded me of a ultimate Edingdale speaker we talked about some time ago. SB Acoustics have recently been making some rather interesting and very good state-of-the-art midbass drivers and tweeters under their Satori range. One tweeter that peaked my interest was a brand new Beryllium Done tweeter. Not cheap but the reports were rather encouraging. So a phone call to Jerry at Falcon Acoustics and an order was placed for a pair. These are the actual tweeters:




Here is the datasheet: http://www.sbacoustics.com/index.php/do ... view/1262/

I have made some progress on the Edingdale GT build:

And for you Apple users:


Anyway, Thursday last week the postman delivered the tweeters. As I couldn't wait until I had finished the new speaker build to be able to listen to these tweeters my thoughts harped back to my NORGE speakers that currently house the Satori midbass units to be used in the Edingdale GT speakers but with the standard Satori ring dome tweeter. The new Beryllium dome tweeters are an exact drop in for the ring domes but I realised there would be some need to change the existing XO circuit . A quick phone call to Scott regards using these as a test mule for the Beryllium dome tweeters resulted in just three changes to component values of the existing HF XO circuit and I am gob smacked the results. These are something special. The best dome tweeter I have ever heard, or not heard as Scott puts it. I'm not good with descriptions of how things sound in comparison to earlier versions but since I have carried out the mods to the NORGE speakers I have not done any further work on the new speaker build. I have been mesmerized in front of the modified speakers going through my catalogue of currently favourite music. They are that good.



And for you Apple users:

[Cressy Snr]

Sorry to hear of your downer Colin and glad you seem to be coming out of it. Retirement hit me badly too. I meditate for half an hour, twice daily. It's not a quick fix by any means but with a lot of practice it does calm the mind. The missus is now getting used to someone so laid back, he's nearly horizontal.

Something to keep you occupied is a must. Keep on with the speakers.

[gninnam]

Glad you look to have come out the other side of your situation and these new drivers sound very interesting so good luck

[pre65]

I'm pleased to hear the dark cloud has passed by and you are in sunshine again.

[Toppsy]

Thanks guys for your kind sentiments, much appreciated. I find the British winter a depressing time of the year at the best of times and used to hate having to drive to work in the dark and come home from work in the dark when the clocks were put back. Hopefully if we adopt the EU way of thinking that nonsense of changing the clocks will come to an end.

After lunch today the skies cleared and the sun came out. Doesn't it make such a difference to ones mind set with glorious clear blue skies and warn sunshine and lush green landscape. Though the outside temp was only 10 deg. I decided to get the Harley out and had a ride over to Preston Harley dealership to buy some genuine Harley oil and oil filter to do a oil change during the week. It doesn't seem like 2-years since I bought the bike! How the time fly's when you get older. You are spot on Steve, that keeping oneself occupied is a must. With the on coming of summer I intend to get out on the Harley as much as I can and Lynn and I are hoping to join a local walking club and go swimming (over 50's) twice a week. So that should keep me busy.

Tomorrow I shall hope to progress the speaker build.

[IslandPink]

I bought a sunlamp ( sun canopy ) in Nov 2008 after my stress breakdown, and it's more or less banished the winter blues now. It's the vitamin D that makes the difference - low levels are definitely associated with depression.
Great speakers Colin - I definitely want to hear what those drivers can do, especially the tweeter.

[Michael L]

I used to feel a sort of greyness of mood insidiously enveloping me as winter progressed. I discovered it was Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). It hit me me when I moved to a job where I worked in a telecoms repeater station lacking any natural light. Previously I had worked out and about in my BT van.
My manager bought a high brightness light unit which helped hugely. I needed about 30 minutes exposure and I could get on with some screen work with the light in my peripheral vision. Colleagues always asked the same question - how could I bear that strong light!

[Mike H]

Sorry about your episode Colin, but not surprising, a good number of people actually are affected by "winter blues", the theory is lack of light, as Mark hinted at. I hate winter, the cold and darkness get me down as well, only thinking about spring keeps me going. I thhink tho this winter wasn't too bad, at least not like last year's with that horrible east wind that went on forever.

The speakers are fab.

[Greg]

Nice upgrade, Colin. I understand the experience after I changed the tweeters in WAD KLS3’s to Seas Millennium. A good tweeter makes a massive difference that you don’t expect.

Good to hear you are at the end of a tunnel and into the light again. I hope your contented mood continues. Still not sure if I can make Owston, but your new speakers certainly creat incentive.

[Ali Tait]

Good to read you are feeling better Colin, look forward to hearing the new tweeters sometime. Owston maybe?

[Toppsy]

Good to read you are feeling better Colin, look forward to hearing the new tweeters sometime. Owston maybe?

Thanks Ali and all the rest you guys for the good wishes, much appreciated.

Ali, not sure whether I will bring these to Owston. It is not the best place to listen to the subtleties that the Beryllium dome tweeters bring to the party and one really needs to compare to the standard neo Satori ring dome tweeters. I'll see if I can organise a get together my place before Owston. Assuming that is I manage to complete the new build speakers.

Speaking of which, I have now completed both cabinets ready for veneering. These will be veneered in some Oak Flexi-veneer I have in stock. See image below. I have decided to round over the corners (25mm radius) of the cabinets on all four sides rather than my usual 25mm x 25mm chamfer just to the front baffle. This for two reasons. 1) By rounding over the corners this means I can wrap the sheet flexi-veneer fully around the whole speaker with just a single butt joint on the rear baffle. 2) it will make the GT speakers stand out a little from the rest of the Edingdale tribe.

Some photos:




and for you Apple users:




This is the sheet of flexi-veneer:


Next up is to make up the bases.

[Mike H]

Watching.

[chris661]

Looking excellent as always, Colin.
Glad the blues have passed. I've been in a similar situation myself - frustrated that nothing sounded particularly good. Got something half-decent here now, which has cheered me up a bit.

If you get around to doing that meeting, it'd be good to catch up.

Chris

[Ali Tait]

Looking good Colin.

Aye that would be good, give me a shout if you decide to arrange something.

[Toppsy]

Hi Chris and Ali,
I'm sure I'll get around to arranging a weekend or Saturday gathering my place and both you will be invited.
Gives me some impetus to get the speakers build ASAP.