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Speaker kit - how about this one?

H

horace

pfm Member
Hi

I fancy building a pair of speakers and feel drawn to these ones (I have a KT88 valve integrated gathering dust and wondered if they might be a good match).

https://secure.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_101_68

The price of the kit is £370 including flat pack MDF cabinets.

I'm a beginner, though I have just about enough DIY experience to cope with putting them together.

£370 will buy a pretty good pair of used speakers these days, so is this kit likely to be worth the outlay in sound per pound terms?

Any other recommendations (similar cost or less)?

Cheers

Martin
 
Ron
How would you describe the sound using your valve amp, and do they need a lot of space behind them.
 
muzzer said:
Ron
How would you describe the sound using your valve amp, and do they need a lot of space behind them.
Click to expand...

The sound is wide, deep and very detailed although I've done a lot of upgrades to the Kit88, those stone each Sowters made a big difference,with the standard transformers the sound was smaller and not as controlled in the bass although I found it sounded like that with other speakers I tried them with.

I have the IPL's about a foot away from the rear wall and don't have any problems.
BTW when new they sounded awful for about a week and seemed to keep improving, I really like these speakers and don't feel the need to upgrade yet, they sound very good with the UCD and NCC200 amp

Only thing with the Ribbons is that they sound best sat in the listening position

Ivans a nice chap, I got chance to have a listen to his speakers when we spent a fortnight at Ilfracombe
 
Re. Wilmslow speaker kits, they are easy to put together with only basic tools.
I built one for a friend and they didnt require any special tools.
The only thing I would say is dont use quick drying wood glue as the parts will take a long time to assemble. Most of the time is taken squeezing out the glue, so pour a load into a jar and use a brush to put it on with.
So have a dry run first.

Clive
 
Sounds interesting, I am looking for something thats detailed and musical but a bit less lean than my Rega Ela 1.5's, they need to be no more than a foot from the rear wall thats why the world-design appealed.
btw whats Sowters upgrade?
 
Sowter sells custom transformers, the ones I brought replaced the supplied WAD output transformers for my Kit88 valve amp, not cheap but made a worthwhile improvement IMO.
 
cliveastro said:
Re. Wilmslow speaker kits, they are easy to put together with only basic tools.
I built one for a friend and they didnt require any special tools.
The only thing I would say is dont use quick drying wood glue as the parts will take a long time to assemble. Most of the time is taken squeezing out the glue, so pour a load into a jar and use a brush to put it on with.
So have a dry run first.

Clive
Click to expand...

You mean contact adhesive here? .. if so not a good idea to use it
vapour can also affect drivers btw
Quick drying to me means a glue sets in 1-2 hours or so but still cures after for about 24hrs eg Evo Stick still allows for manouvre on joining
MDF edges should be sealed before glueing as they are absorbent
 
I'm sure he doesn't mean contact adhesive; though, as you say, that would be a bad idea.

PVA can go off surprisingly quickly if the joints are tight and its easy to waste time 'faffing' about. A dry (no glue) run is essential - as Clive states.
 
here's a link to my speaker build diary for a pair of ipl s5tl's over on zerogain.

http://www.zerogain.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6136?t=6018

there's a bit of prevarication at the start but it follows my build from start to end.

i'm still using them after 2 years and feel no need to change them. i looked at some of the wilmslow kits but i wanted 10+ inch bass drivers and all of wilmslows were too expensive. also every review i could find of the ipls was complimentary saying that they were fun yet revealing, something i'd definately agree with.

still haven;t painted them though.
 
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