Over the past several years, I have shipped hundreds of pairs of
open baffles for the Lii Song F-15 drivers.
The F-15 is a pretty amazing "full range" driver.
It is remarkably "quick" and detailed for a 15" driver.
It makes a good amount of tuneful bass down to 50 HZ.
The midrange is very good and vocals are clear and 3-dimensional.
With a good recording, they create a BIG soundstage / stereo image.
Steve Deckert at Decware Audio attributes the excellent
performance to the very low mass of the primary cone.
However, the F-15 rolls off pretty quickly around 15 KH and
quite a few owners have commented that they would
like to have a little more high frequency extension.
Lii Song Audio heard the requests and started
offering the "Ting" tweeter. The Ting is a very nice driver and
adds some serious high frequency response and "air" to the F-15.
Ting tweeters
A few of my customers asked me if there were any other
good options to enhance the high frequency response of the F-15,
as well as the Lii Song F-12 and Audio Nirvana Super 12 and 15.
After giving it some thought, I remembered that I built a couple of
pairs of baffles a few years ago using a Wild Burro Audio Labs Betsy
driver (without the whizzer cone) and a dipole Air Motion
Transformer from Parts Express. I took the baffles to the Decware
Audio Fest that year and they were well received.
Both pairs went home with attendees of the Fest.
So, the AMT driver seemed like a good option.
Being a "dipole" driver, it fit very nicely with
the concept of having a totally dipole loudspeaker.
I decided to design a "module" to house the AMT driver
that could sit on top of the Caintuck Audio barrel shaped baffles,
the Tombstone shaped baffles, or any other open baffle loudspeaker.
The module attaches to the back side of main baffle
with sturdy 12" long metal straps
Four small holes are drilled in the back of the main baffle
Mounting screws are supplied
The convenience handle of the main baffle is still accessible
I made a "crossover box" that can be mounted on the
base of the baffle or sit behind the baffle.
Each box contains a Mundorf EVO capacitor.
Two values are currently available :
3.3 uF which crosses the AMT driver at 12K
3.9 uF which crosses the AMT driver at 10K
There are two pair of wires coming from the box :
One pair attaches to the full range driver - terminated with banana plugs
One pair attaches to the AMT driver - terminated with slide on connectors
All wiring is oxygen free copper
A five way binding post is provided on each box
It will accept bare wire, banana plugs or spade lugs from your amplifier
There is quite a bit of time involved in making the
AMT modules and the crossover boxes
Pricing is as follows :
The AMT modules only - 150.00 per pair + shipping
*** Drivers not included ***
The mounting hardware and mounting screws are included
Standard hardwood options :
American cherry, curly cherry, hard maple, red oak, quarter sawn Sapele
African Wenge - add 35.00
The crossover boxes only (pair) - 250.00 + shipping
Each box includes brackets to mount the box to the base of the main baffle
Complete kit (with standard hardwood) - 325.00 + shipping
The drivers can be ordered from Parts Express
Dayton Audio AMT drivers
The website price is for one driver
A pair is needed
I totally understand that this is not a "cheap" option, but the
enhancement that it provides to the F-15, F-12 and
Audio Nirvana Super 12 and 15 drivers is well worth it in my opinion.
You will hear things in most recordings that you have not heard before
The realism jumps up a notch or two
In the overall scheme of things in the audio hobby,
the pricing is actually pretty reasonable.
For under $1500.00 total cost (with "Plus" main baffles and F-15 drivers),
you have a very musical and revealing pair of loudspeakers.
Even so, I am providing a schematic of the crossover wiring
if someone wants to build the boxes themselves.
If you have any questions, please contact me at :
caintuck.ob@outlook.com
Happy listening
Randy