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Just build Faital 3WC-15 Troels Gravesen kit for the customer
in DIY
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Faital-3WC-15.htm
Just finished the build and gave it a 2 day listening.
My biggest interest was in listening to Satori TW29BN-B beryllium tweeter. Not sure what I was expecting from it but the tweeter sounded clean and neutral. There was nothing I could criticize or comment on. Just a nice clean top end. I have no point of reference as far as other beryllium tweeters go.
and 8 others.
Comments
So what did you think of the overall speaker? I have seen lots of Troel's designs, but have never heard one. Would you change anything?
In order to be able to form an opinion on merits of the design I would need to start from scratch and design my own version or interpretation of this set of drivers. Or at list do in depth measurements of the drivers. I simply didn't have time to do that.
The design targets low/mid power amp crowd and it is certainly successful at that. Drivers blend in seamlessly,
speakers image well. So, I would say it's a good design.
I use 18" Faital driver in my own line array system and very familiar with the sound. The mid after the crossover is pretty nice. No complains about the tweeter either. Maaaay be I would push the crossover point a bit lower between the tweet and a mid just because the tweeter is so robust and it's a largish mid-range driver but it's only a speculation.
The kit is supplied by Jansen audio and naturally very heavily oriented towards high-end high-priced Jansen crossover parts.
Assemble instructions for the crossover are pretty clear. There are slight changes to the driver sizes, port sizes from posted. I had to lay out my own CAD drawing and manufacture based on actual dimensions.
The speakers are still too small for me as I prefer line arrays and their vertical imaging.
Wow! Too small? Now I really must hear your arrays sometime!
Outside of that, I'll bet the dynamic range was pretty good.
What's the finish? Minwax ebony on baltic birch?
"Too small" refers to the type of the imaging not so much to the sheer size of the speaker. My line array has a 6ft line of mids and 5ft line of tweeters so the image is exaggerated vertically in comparison to a point source (or point sorceish) loudspeaker. To my preference, this larger vertical image makes it more life like. You are welcome to stop in and listen if an then in NY.
Outside of that, yes, dynamic range is excellent. Easy to drive.
Baltic Birch with alcohol stain and sprayed satin lacquer.
re: imaging. Yeah, that's what I thought. Going through an apotheosis now about point source loudspeakers. I want more life like dynamics and imaging. More "you are there". The best I've heard was a pair of Magneplanars, but those had a very small sweet spot - not suitable for me.
Those look great! So that is an 18" woofer? Wow! Where does that place the tweeter's height? Still below ear level I assume.
Tweeter should be just right in that orientation, about 3ft off the ground.
That's a 15" woofer. Sorry, I meant 18" in my line array bass section.
Tweeter is about at the ear level then you seat in the armchair.
I've owned a pair of Magnepans 3.5R for many years. It was a weird speaker. I never wanted to let it go but it was always problematic in how the sound-stage appeared.
That's "Alice"?
yes.
Kinda hard to compare a 3way to that madness. 👍🏻
R-Carpenter
'Baltic Birch with alcohol stain and sprayed satin lacquer'
Q: did you use a pre-stain? I really like that finish look- and thanks in advance for any tips...
....and what's with not flushing the mid?
No pre-stain. Just alcohol stain thinned out with denaturated alcohol and some water. Plywood was sanded to 220 grit. Staining was done with cheese cloth.
https://www.mohawk-finishing.com/products/wood-staining-finishing/stains-glazes-colorants/ultra-penetrating-ngr-stain/
Hello ! I came across your making looking for someone who made the Faital 3WC-15 speakers.I really like how you made the final design.I believe that the inside of the box is also made at a high level.I have the opportunity to buy a set of speakers for this project from a man who gave up making whether he bought ready-made speakers from another company.I would be very grateful if we could help with some technical questions.If you have the ability and will to do so, please contact me at: silvertrump@gmail.com.
I will be very brief and precise.
Best regards - Dubravko
Hello everyone! I am sorry to revive such an old thread. I found this specific speaker build shared somewhere else and needed quite a long time to track back its original builder, @R-Carpenter to this forum here.
The level of craftmanship is unrivaled to any other builders that finished this speaker so far.
@R-Carpenter Since I am planning to build the Faital 3WC-15 myself in the near future, I am wondering how you achieved this seamless look between the front/sides/top of the speaker so that the sides of the MPX panels are not visible.
Did you veneer the whole speaker or did you redesign the file to cut the edges at 45degree angles instead of putting them onto each other?
(visible MPX sides in the original build: http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Faital-3WC-15.htm )
I'm glad you did as I'm looking at staining a BBirch project black- and I forgot about this one.
In some of his previous builds he has used mitered corners. It looks like this build is also mitered. Excellent work.
@kenrhodes I see....that makes sense. So he tweaked the original plan from Troels after all.
I can see that the edges are slightly sanded to make them round.
Does anyone have a clue how he achieved that seamless look along those edges? On the pictures the seams do not seem to be visible at all. Did he apply black paint or possibly some kind of coating on the edges?
Probably a simple 1/8"-1/4" roundover. I'd bet the edge grain of the ply soaked up the stain a bit better and contrasts enough to make the edges look blacked out. I agree it is a pretty cool effect.
@DrewsBrews That sounds plausible. I will probably make some tests beforehand to see how it may look. Thank you.
@Faye - just to be clear...I'm pretty sure R-Carpenter is not someone with the last name Carpenter. I believe he was a professional woodworker at one point, or at least a serious hobbyist woodworker, so his cabinetry skills are well above average.
I have always been puzzled how Troels could make baltic birch boxes with NO visible defects. I always get chipouts on crosscuts and sometimes burned cuts. As far as R Carpenter was or is, he was a professional woodworker. Shop in the Brooklyn Navy Yard if I remember correctly.
Roman is alive and well, just busy with his business.
Is he still the go to person for viawave?
Sadly, no. They only sell direct now.
Glad I got mine from him when I did. They are fabulous ribbons. Listen to them daily and they never leave me wanting more.
I got an older pair from Roman, just not the latest SRT one
Mine aren't the latest SRT models. I've got the GRT-145-4.