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A reveiw of my experience with Three Pi Speakers - Page 2

post #31 of 37
1/1/12 at 11:40am
Good to hear that the 3pi's sound good to your wife, hope you and your audiologist can come up w/ a solution for you...

JSS
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post #32 of 37
1/1/12 at 12:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxjr View Post

Floyd,

Did you purchase the basic 3Pi kit with Eminence woofer and CD, or the fully upgraded kit with B&C DE250 and AE TD12S? Also, did you upgrade any crossover components?

I commend the original poster - I think that one of the great things about online forums is the opportunity to share honest opinions about our gear.

I have heard a fair number of compression drivers, and I've found that you generally have to spend four times as much as a conventional tweeter to get one that's comparably good. IE, there are listenable tweeters that cost $25, but I've heard very few compression drivers for under $100 that are tolerable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iTDq...eature=related

Here's a video of my Gedlee Summas, which use the B&C DE25, recorded outside. You'll notice a few things:

- The compression driver blends quite seamlessly with the midrange
- The compression driver has plenty of headroom
- Above 16khz, there's no real output

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOnRr...eature=related

Here's a video of some really crummy Unity horns I am working on. They use the Celestion CDX1-1425, and an utterly terrible crossover. (I'm working on it :P ) You'll notice a few things:

- As a whole, the speaker has good articulation, but the Summa clearly has a more natural frequency response balance. (IE, the Summa is a lot flatter)
- The compression driver is 'running out of steam'
- The compression driver plays much higher than the B&C DE25 used in the other speaker

I hope the videos are helpful! I think they can show some of the tradeoffs inherent in the use of various compression drivers. Each compression driver has it's strengths. The Celestion is cheaper, but was a much better deal before neodymium prices went through the roof.

Perhaps most important of all, you'll notice that horns are *very* directional. The sound changes both when I move closer, move up, move left, etc... This aspect of horns only gets worse as the coverage angles get smaller. (IE, my Unity is extremely directional, due to the wonky shape. The Summa is far more forgiving of location, due to the VERY large waveguide.)

Also, please note that my setup here is completely craptastic, so keep that in mind when you listen to the videos. I literally hooked up to a set of computer speakers - was simply trying to 'voice' the Unity horn. It's from my car and I never drive much, so it's easier to 'voice' it indoors.
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post #33 of 37
1/2/12 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by maxmercy View Post

Good to hear that the 3pi's sound good to your wife, hope you and your audiologist can come up w/ a solution for you...

JSS

Thanks. This presents a quandary. Even if adjusting my aids makes me ecstatic, I'll never know what to say about the Three Pis. I'll have to have some more people listen and tell me what they think.

Otherwise, you could make almost anything sound OK if you are willing to wear graphic equalizers in your ears.

Just another strange twist that aging has produced.

Floyd
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post #34 of 37
1/2/12 at 7:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by majestik6 View Post

I commend the original poster - I think that one of the great things about online forums is the opportunity to share honest opinions about our gear.

I have heard a fair number of compression drivers, and I've found that you generally have to spend four times as much as a conventional tweeter to get one that's comparably good. IE, there are listenable tweeters that cost $25, but I've heard very few compression drivers for under $100 that are tolerable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iTDq...eature=related

Here's a video of my Gedlee Summas, which use the B&C DE25, recorded outside. You'll notice a few things:

- The compression driver blends quite seamlessly with the midrange
- The compression driver has plenty of headroom
- Above 16khz, there's no real output

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOnRr...eature=related

Here's a video of some really crummy Unity horns I am working on. They use the Celestion CDX1-1425, and an utterly terrible crossover. (I'm working on it :P ) You'll notice a few things:

- As a whole, the speaker has good articulation, but the Summa clearly has a more natural frequency response balance. (IE, the Summa is a lot flatter)
- The compression driver is 'running out of steam'
- The compression driver plays much higher than the B&C DE25 used in the other speaker

I hope the videos are helpful! I think they can show some of the tradeoffs inherent in the use of various compression drivers. Each compression driver has it's strengths. The Celestion is cheaper, but was a much better deal before neodymium prices went through the roof.

Perhaps most important of all, you'll notice that horns are *very* directional. The sound changes both when I move closer, move up, move left, etc... This aspect of horns only gets worse as the coverage angles get smaller. (IE, my Unity is extremely directional, due to the wonky shape. The Summa is far more forgiving of location, due to the VERY large waveguide.)

Also, please note that my setup here is completely craptastic, so keep that in mind when you listen to the videos. I literally hooked up to a set of computer speakers - was simply trying to 'voice' the Unity horn. It's from my car and I never drive much, so it's easier to 'voice' it indoors.

Yes you are right. Very directional. So much so that when I step out of the sound field into another room, something that seemed quite loud doesn't seem loud at all. I do think the Three Pis are good at broadening the field from left to right. Making the sweet spot broader. This may make them stand out from other horns.

Also, after 10 days or so, the bass seems much better. I had to turn the subwoofer down from my increase over where auto put it. Break in period I guess.

Here is the part I don't get. Why a horn and a 12" woofer, instead of a horn, an 8", and a 12"? Lower midrange to bass seems good that way, and maybe when I get my aids adjusted, upper will blend in, but it seems contrary to what most speakers use. Maybe someone with a lot more knowledge than I can explain the different approaches.
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post #35 of 37
1/2/12 at 8:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Floydster View Post

I do think the Three Pis are good at broadening the field from left to right. Making the sweet spot broader. This may make them stand out from other horns.

Not really; this directivity is characteristic of horns.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Floydster View Post

Here is the part I don't get. Why a horn and a 12" woofer, instead of a horn, an 8", and a 12"?

Because an 8" wide woofer does not have the directivity of a woofer and horn that are each 12" wide.
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post #36 of 37
1/2/12 at 8:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Floydster View Post


Thanks. This presents a quandary. Even if adjusting my aids makes me ecstatic, I'll never know what to say about the Three Pis. I'll have to have some more people listen and tell me what they think.

Otherwise, you could make almost anything sound OK if you are willing to wear graphic equalizers in your ears.

Just another strange twist that aging has produced.

Floyd

If they sound good to you, that is all that matters, in ear equalizer or not....

Hearing aids can clip and distort too, if they are called upon to amplify too much...

JSS
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post #37 of 37
1/3/12 at 6:19am
Without knowing anything about hearing aids in general, from Floydster's description of how his works, I'd bet the blame is entirely on the interaction of the controlled directivity of the Pi design and his hearing aids.

Controlled directivity speakers present a very different power response with far less off axis energy. The hearing aid likely reacts differently when presented with this and for some reason becomes more sensitive in a range. I'm guessing the aid changes its eq when it detects lots of "background noise" and these speakers present a very different "background noise" to the aid.

I'm a little surprised this has never shown itself to be an issue but most other speakers of the typical 1" dome and 5-8" woofers have rather similar power responses and off-axis energy.

I think it would be prudent for Floydster to put a disclaimer in the original post about his hearing aids. Although few, if any, adults have pristine hearing, adding hearing aids into the mix really throws things off. It is basically an in-ear eq, and in this case, a variable eq.
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