I did find even with break in the wall mount version of the Ergo could be a little shouty on some recordings. I moved over to the free pace XO design that uses a higher value R inline with the tweeter and prefer that. Not sure if it is solely the resistor value or perhaps the other XO changes. I should mention that the inductors supplied by Stefan for the freespace XO were thicker gauge than I used in the earlier XO so that may also perhaps have an effect.
Building the Ergo E-IX mini-monitor loudspeaker system
- Thread starter James
- Start date
Mike Hanson
Trying to understand...
We'll see how it works. I'm not keen on opening it up and fiddling with now, that that I'm done, but if needs be I will. It's already softening a bit, and for now I'm just enjoying it as-is.
James
Lord of the Erg\o/s
The free-space version has around 3dB of baffle-step compensation, so the HF output will be 3-4dB lower relative to LF. I forget the range over which the BSC occurs, but it will cover the upper mid and if the room is particularly reflective, then the wall mount version could sound a bit more forward than expected.
After about 2 months, the speaker still a bit shouting for certain songs. My wall is concrete, so it is reflective. So as James advised, I end up putting 2 ohm resistor in series with original 4.5ohm for the tweeter. Now the speaker is smooth and can be listened for long listening time. I just using cheap resistor found in my spare box. Will order the good one once I am happy with this setting.
James, what is the crossover point for this ergo?
James, what is the crossover point for this ergo?
Mike Hanson
Trying to understand...
I'll admit that I'm still finding it a bit "hot" in the upper vocal range, but I'm not going to do anything about it yet. I'm still waiting for my speaker stands to be built. Once they are, they'll be sited closer to the corners, and that may fix the balance. Also, it's in my office, and the speakers are on the other side of my monitors. Therefore, the shouty effect isn't as pronounced, and may actually be inadvertently beneficial. 
James
Lord of the Erg\o/s
I can't access my LspCAD files any more, so relying purely on memory, I think it's around 2.2kHz. The crossover follows a 4th order Linkwitz-Riley transfer function.
James
Lord of the Erg\o/s
Hey Mike, what are you driving your E-IXs with? Despite their diminutive size and seemingly benign load, they sound much better with at least a 60W RMS amp driving them. Otherwise, I agree you should wait until your more permanent arrangements are in place (and they are well run-in) before making the final tweaks.I'll admit that I'm still finding it a bit "hot" in the upper vocal range, but I'm not going to do anything about it yet. I'm still waiting for my speaker stands to be built. Once they are, they'll be sited closer to the corners, and that may fix the balance. Also, it's in my office, and the speakers are on the other side of my monitors. Therefore, the shouty effect isn't as pronounced, and may actually be inadvertently beneficial.
Mike Hanson
Trying to understand...
They're driven by the very capable Voyagers (QUDOS w/VBE boards), so no issues there! They've been getting plenty of exercise over the past few weeks, as I play music most of each day in my office. They are actually very good as-is, so I'm probably not going to tweak them, especially given they're going further into the corners with the new stands. (As you may recall, they're currently sitting on top of the Royd RR3, and I didn't bother to move them.)
When I get the stands, I'm going to switch over to the RR3 and do some listening to be sure that I want to supplant them with the Ergo IX. Since I do the lion's share of listening in my office, I want the best speakers there.
The runner-up will go to the family room, where we listen a few times a week. I had the Royd Minstrel SE there before, which I've already moved to my home theatre.
The home theatre had Royd Squires, which I've temporarily moved to the family room, whereupon I discovered that one of the tweeters is fritzed. I didn't notice it in the home theatre, as it was merely the front-right channel. The majority of sound in a home theatre actually comes from the center channel, where I'm using the wonderful Royd AV77. (I've had multiple people offer to buy that from me, but it's staying put.)
James
Lord of the Erg\o/s
My favourite party trick is to bring a first-time listener into the room blindfolded and ask them to guess the physical size of the E-IXs. They invariably think they are listening to large loudspeakers.They are really good speakers, I listened to them more now compared to my main system. For it size, they are sounding big. I am thinking to drive them with valve amp later. I think good push pull EL34 types amp should be ok, I hope
I'd be interested to know how they get on with valve amps too.
James
Lord of the Erg\o/s
Glad you like them. As loudspeakers will sound different in different rooms, I've made it as easy as possible to tweak the HF output with a simple resistor change that won't significantly affect the all-important crossover transfer function. It may be that you have a more reflective room than others. That can be ameliorated with the resistor change, but do allow them to run in fully before making changes.
Steve Gray
Active Member
I am so slow. But the boxes are almost done for the Ergo IXs. I changed my plans. I originally came up with a transmision line version that coaxed a few more Hz out of the low end. But... I rememberd I had a pair of 8" neo TB speakers to do someting with. I built an excellent quality subwoofer with the same woofer model a few years back with F3 of around 33 Hz using an EBS alignment. Pretty stellar and pretty small. So I am now building standard Ergo IXs but the base for each will be sa ubwoofer. They should look very good as towers but wind up being Ergos that go down to 33 Hz. And I can always use the Ergos w/o the sub stands if I want to. It seemed like the smart thing to do. The HP filter will be 1st order with a qood quality cap in series with the power amp and I'll use an active xover for the sub amps. I think I"m actually going to finish these soon. The veneer is on order.
10 days ago my valve amp arrived, it is Line Magnetic LM-211ia amp using EL34 in push pull producing 30W in ultra-linear and 15W in triode mode. This is my 1st valve amp after 21 years with Naim system.
The Ergo IX just perform so much better with this amp and still improving as the amp is still new and need to burn in. This amp have triode mode and ultra linear mode. Listening to triode mode give Ergo Ix more natural sound, top end become smooth mid range slightly improve. The Ergo seems to produced better bass with this tube amp. Very happy with the result. Bass note is more clearly produced and slightly "fat" ( is this correct statement?). It still can play really loud in my room.
Compared to Naim, this amp is slightly laid back, miss the Naim speed a little bit but overall more enjoyable. Good match with Ergo-IX, in my opinion anyway
The Ergo IX just perform so much better with this amp and still improving as the amp is still new and need to burn in. This amp have triode mode and ultra linear mode. Listening to triode mode give Ergo Ix more natural sound, top end become smooth mid range slightly improve. The Ergo seems to produced better bass with this tube amp. Very happy with the result. Bass note is more clearly produced and slightly "fat" ( is this correct statement?). It still can play really loud in my room.
Compared to Naim, this amp is slightly laid back, miss the Naim speed a little bit but overall more enjoyable. Good match with Ergo-IX, in my opinion anyway
James,
Yes, last month my friend came to listen, he just not believe how big the sound from relatively small size speaker....
10 days ago my valve amp arrived, it is Line Magnetic LM-211ia amp using EL34 in push pull producing 30W in ultra-linear and 15W in triode mode. This is my 1st valve amp after 21 years with Naim system.
The Ergo IX just perform so much better with this amp and still improving as the amp is still new and need to burn in. This amp have triode mode and ultra linear mode. Listening to triode mode give Ergo Ix more natural sound, top end become smooth mid range slightly improve. The Ergo seems to produced better bass with this tube amp. Very happy with the result. Bass note is more clearly produced and slightly "fat" ( is this correct statement?). It still can play really loud in my room.
Compared to Naim, this amp is slightly laid back, miss the Naim speed a little bit but overall more enjoyable. Good match with Ergo-IX, in my opinion anyway
I switch between a Tube Manley Stingray (EL34 x 4 push/pull 50W Ultralinear or 25W Triode) and a JVC 100W SS AX-Z1010. Both work very well, my preference with the ERGO's (very slight) is for the JVC, but the sound is very similar via SS or tube (I guess they are both very capable amps).
Fully agree with James' comments, but a nice well integrated 12" active sub does take the Ergo's to another level IMHO
James,
I've acquired a pair or your Ergo E-IX, it has the close to the wall crossover. I'll be using them in free space close monitor position. Would the resistor across the tweeter mod work in this instance or am I better off changing the crossover components?
The baffle has been glued, is there a smart way of fitting leather covers as per your original examples? Woodworking isn't one of my skills unfortunately.
I've acquired a pair or your Ergo E-IX, it has the close to the wall crossover. I'll be using them in free space close monitor position. Would the resistor across the tweeter mod work in this instance or am I better off changing the crossover components?
The baffle has been glued, is there a smart way of fitting leather covers as per your original examples? Woodworking isn't one of my skills unfortunately.