Post date: Jan 5, 2011 6:05:47 AM
This is something that's been nagging at me for a year or so now, but I haven't had the time--nor the guts--to do it. The Sunflowers are still the mains speakers in my family room, and I still am quite pleased for them for a number of reasons
they are essentially full-range for music purposes
dialog is easy to hear in movies, and the woofer can actually handle a surprising amount of LFE
they're pretty much baby-proof, in that they're bottom heavy and there are no domes to push in
However, two things have nagged at me. The first is: "What would I do different now?" I know it's only been a few years since I created them, but I have learned a tremendous amount since then. Are there aspects I could improve on? The second thing reason I wanted to try this is because I have noticed that dipoles and open-baffle speakers can really put on a different presentation depending on what kind of room they play in. It's not just my designs I'm talking about here--I've heard several open-baffle designs at DIY events now, and sometimes I feel like it's a crapshoot as to how well they'll translate from one room to another. Don't get me wrong; open-baffle do do something extremely right: instruments and voices sound very real and natural, like they are in the room with you. It's just that monopolar speakers (eg: in a box) are easier to predict and control. So my other concern is how to make the response of the Sunflowers as "predictable" and "controllable" as possible. The last thing I want is for something that sounds great in my living room to sound like crap in someone else's.
So if I do actually make any changes, my goal is to keep as much of the original crossover as possible, or at least re-use components. The drivers and cabinets will not change at all. Period.
I have to say that I do feel bad making any changes at all. In a perfect world, I would publish a design once, someone could build it and they'd be set for life. But I'm just a guy, and like I said, I've learned so much that I'm curious how I could use that new knowledge. I figure if Siegfried Linkwitz himself can keep making new revisions of his almighty Orion (a speaker he dubs, "The last speaker you'll ever own"), then maybe it's OK if I try a revision just once.
Also, once this revision is done, I have an odd side-project I'm going to try with the Sunflower cabinets--just a wild experiment. No, it's not a dipole. I don't want to say too much about it, but I will say this: the results may be aesthetically offensive to some!