Building the Ergo E-IX mini-monitor loudspeaker system

[chiily]

Hmmm...thanks James...I did wonder...time to swap those woofer terminals

 

[James]

R2011 I set to 9R and they sound pretty good, far better than the Mission 780 they replaced, however lively the Mission's sounded. The XIs sound great on vocals, I think the bass driver needs some loosening up.

If you have reversed woofer polarity, it would explain why you might think the Mission 780 sounded more lively.

One of the party tricks of the E-IX is they play and sound much bigger than they look.

 

[chiily]

If you have reversed woofer polarity, it would explain why you might think the Mission 780 sounded more lively.

One of the party tricks of the E-IX is they play and sound much bigger than they look.

It is a really silly mistake to make...*head in shame*...my rushing to get something done...

Anyway...all fixed and much better...very lively now indeed.

Being able to take the front baffle off makes life so much easier...

 

[James]

It is a really silly mistake to make...*head in shame*...my rushing to get something done...

Anyway...all fixed and much better...very lively now indeed.

We have all done that before, so no harm done. It can be difficult to temper enthusiasm, but that is preferable to apathy.

Now I expect to read your dissertation on how you find the E-IXs, bearing in mind you still have some scope to tweak the HF levels to taste.

 

[chiily]

I think these are quite a remarkable pair of speakers. Probably the most engaging pair of speakers I've heard for a while. I so glad that I finally built a pair.

I've had a little bit of time to compare then to the Specials in the living room. Whilst the IXs do sound much larger than their size, they don't quite size up to the Specials. The IXs certainly are wonderful, but I can push the Specials harder (probably just more air movement) before you can feel that they don't have anything more to give. The Specials do reach down lower. I'm sure that is just a direct reflection on the drivers' sizes. And I would say the Specials do scale better, surprisingly only just though, but are pretty much matched in terms of speed.

However, for simply being coherent with music the IXs excel, they have pose and grace and just spine tingling goodness. Just by the size of the driver's the Special have more growl and kick. It is impossible to have a winner, because they are radically different speakers, with different qualities, with the IXs having the coherent trait in spades.

I used NAP160, KSA50 clone and a Radford STA15 amps to compare the speakers...I do believe the KSA50 and Specials are a perfect match.

That all said, I think I would like to increase the HF output of the IXs. The 9300s in the Specials really shimmer and I feel the IXs need to reach a little bit higher. Atm I have two 18R, 5W MOX resistors in front of the tweeter. I was thinking of adding a 2W, 150R, MOX resistor in parallel, combining to about 8R5.

I've yet to do an AB with the IXs and Fortes, though I would not aim to replace the Fortes with the IXs, different horses for different courses.

 

[Yank]

That all said, I think I would like to increase the HF output of the IXs. The 9300s in the Specials really shimmer and I feel the IXs need to reach a little bit higher. Atm I have two 18R, 5W MOX resistors in front of the tweeter. I was thinking of adding a 2W, 150R, MOX resistor in parallel, combining to about 8R5.

Perhaps a small capacitor across the series resistor would tip up the top octave a bit?

That's a trick that works well for tweeters in wave guides, which tend to lose support from the guide at the top of their range. We were doing that with the Sen Lab/Dynaudio D-28s back in the early 1980s, and the Morel seems to be derived from that design.

 

[Mike Hanson]

I'm glad that you're not reporting that the Specials are the overall loser. I'm still hoping to stay motivated enough to finish mine.

What complicates this further for me, is that they may replace the IX in my office, which is not a big room. The IX is probably better suited for that space.

 

[James]

Perhaps a small capacitor across the series resistor would tip up the top octave a bit?

That's a trick that works well for tweeters in wave guides, which tend to lose support from the guide at the top of their range. We were doing that with the Sen Lab/Dynaudio D-28s back in the early 1980s, and the Morel seems to be derived from that design.

Yes, there is a droop in the HF response above 10kHz:

But that affects only the last octave of audibility if you have perfect hearing. In any case, as the series resistor precedes the filter, a parallel cap with it will almost certainly throw out crossover out of kilter and kill the magical coherence.

Whilst @chiily is free to experiment, I won't recommend it. Changing the 9R to 8R5 or even 8R is less deleterious.

 

[James]

I've had a little bit of time to compare then to the Specials in the living room. Whilst the IXs do sound much larger than their size, they don't quite size up to the Specials. The IXs certainly are wonderful, but I can push the Specials harder (probably just more air movement) before you can feel that they don't have anything more to give. The Specials do reach down lower. I'm sure that is just a direct reflection on the drivers' sizes. And I would say the Specials do scale better, surprisingly only just though, but are pretty much matched in terms of speed.

However, for simply being coherent with music the IXs excel, they have pose and grace and just spine tingling goodness. Just by the size of the driver's the Special have more growl and kick. It is impossible to have a winner, because they are radically different speakers, with different qualities, with the IXs having the coherent trait in spades.

Your experience parallels mine, except I use a pair of Troel's Gravesen modified NS-1000M in lieu of the PFM-Specials. Both are fantastic loudspeakers, and I could easily and happily live with either if I could only keep one of them.