Auratone clones

[floid]

Questing for a nice Auratone clone. Enclosures are built to 1:1.14:1.39 ratio using ideal volume from Thiel/Small parameters, out of MDF with rabbetted joints, pine bracing, and poplar baffle with back- beveled cutout.

MDF is finished with 8 coats of enamel, baffle rubbed with Danish oil.

These are the first two completed. On top is Dayton Audio RS100P, below it is Tang Band W5-2143.

[floid]

Dayton Audio RS125P & PA130

[Scodiddly]

Love the wood in the bottom photo.

[floid]

Thanks. Personally I don't really like the roundover on the front baffle of those two, regretted it as soon as I did it. The walnut finish started off as me "trying something".

After some burn-in time, my initial impressions on each:
1) PA 130 ... has a presence bump that comes across as harshness. Decent upper bass representation, though I think it's to do with how it interacts with the lower mids - there seems to be some excitement. This speaker has been mentioned as a possibility in other 5c build threads so i'm willing to give it some time, but my initial reaction is that this sounds like a cheap condenser - good for mixes that contain them?
2) RS 125P ... ever so slightly scooped? Not sure yet, but there's something in the mids i'm trying to figure out whether I like. Nice upper bass representation that feels tight and slightly restrained. Decent treble response and roll off, though I think I hear a little bit of hash on cymbals. A nice sounding speaker overall.
3) RS 100P ... I gotta admit, I like how this one came out, so I'm probably biased. But it seems to be doing what I want. Bass is definitely underrepresented but there's enough to feel right. Nothing jumps out in the mids. Similar treble response to the RS 125 but smoother.
4) Tang Band W5-2143 ... there's almost enough bass to call full range, though it doesn't seem to have the same tight quality to it as the RS 125P. Mids sound "good" - not hyped per se, but not neutral... makes grunge sound good, if that helps. Treble response has similar taper to the RS models - a bit surprising as it's spec'ed out to 20k - but hazy. It's marketed as a "true full range speaker," but I suspect some judicious filtering hi and low would benefit its overall response.

Again, just initial impressions without any precise level matching or reference. They still need more burn-in time before I set up a proper listening test.

[Snarl 12/8]

Are they ported in the back? Or is that just a cutout for the wire terminals?

[floid]

It's a terminal cutout. These 5- way posts are almost too tight to get fingers on but I didn't wanna go too large due to the size of the cabs.
I could have just used panel mount terminals but in my mind they'd be waiting to be broken off

[GeorgeG]

So what were your final observations?

George

[vvv]

I don't, man, 3.5 years may not be long enuff to break 'em in, yeah?

[floid]

Didn't realize it had been that long since i built these
I ended up building another each of the RS100P and Tang Band.
They sit atop each other, with the RS pushed back about an inch so that the cones are phase aligned.
I use the Tang Bands for about half of my mixing, getting a lot of "the meat" balanced. I like 'em. There's not a lot of bass extension obviously, but for a lot of what I do that's not much of a problem. The grunginess did clear up.
The RS100p are good for checking what happens when the bottom end of the mix drops out. I don't use them as much as I thought I would, but they are useful.
The PA130, I use as a speaker cab option for a couple little micro amps I've built. It's more like an effect, though, as I tend to like big speakers with little amps.

I've spent the pandemic not designing and building some fostex style backloaded horn cabs to see what I think of that design with some of these options, lol. Really should get on that.

[GeorgeG]

Thank you,

George