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DIYSG HTM-12v1 Speaker Review

5691 Views 61 Replies 23 Participants Last post by zheka, May 29, 2021

ErinH

Discussion Starter · May 23, 2021 (Edited)

This is copy/pasted from my website. Therefore, there may be some formatting things that go awry when pasted here. Feel free to view the review natively on my site linked below.
DIYSG HTM-12v1 Speaker Review

A couple things:
I use the Klippel NFS for measurements. This is SOTA. And better than an anechoic chamber.

Yes, I verified the LF oddities (dip <200Hz) via a groundplane measurement. Gated results don't have the resolution the NFS data does because gated results are typically smoothed to provide resolution more in-line with 1-octave or 1/3-octave resolution; the NFS data is 1/20-octave resolution.

I know this may not be a glowing review that some expected to see but with as much time as I have spent measuring drivers for the DIY community over the last 10 years, hopefully you all know that I'm only providing my reviews as a means to help. FWIW, I have offered my services free of charge for any future DIYSG projects.

While the response isn't ideal, the directivity is pretty linear - outside of a couple areas - which indicates this speaker would take quite well to EQ.

Thanks,
Erin

Reactions: 5

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SteveCallas

· #2 · May 23, 2021

Nice work, I appreciate the subjective comments song by song the most.

Reactions: 2

jcmccorm

· #3 · May 24, 2021

bikinpunk said:
I know this may not be a glowing review that some expected to see but with as much time as I have spent measuring drivers for the DIY community over the last 10 years, hopefully you all know that I'm only providing my reviews as a means to help.

I think we all appreciate an honest capture and examination of the data, along with subjective listening, above all else. Great job.

EndersShadow

· #4 · May 24, 2021

Thanks for the review and the large amount of data.

I did have a question for you to make sure I’m not mis-interpreting your review

.

While the on-axis response is not linear, the off-axis response trends very well with the on-axis and the directivity indeces are quite linear - outside of a couple areas. This means that this speaker should do quite well once equalized to flat (or, at least, more linear).

Does this mean you think it will sound decent once calibrated, say with something like Audyssey XT32 (and when crossed at 80 and paired with appropriate subs)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Samps

· #5 · May 24, 2021

Looking forward to more of these.

It’s hard to get a feel for the results without a few comparable speakers to judge them against. The JBL 708 looks amazing, but those are in a totally different price range.

Would be interesting to see the Behringer 15, or the Mackie c200, or whatever cheap Pro audio speaker is the popular option at the time.

johnp98

· #6 · May 24, 2021

Any chance you (bikinpunk) are able to measure the new version? Or any other DIYSG speakers for that matter?
Thanks again for all this work and invaluable contribution it is to the audio community!

Reactions: 1

Erich H

· #7 · May 24, 2021

I believe the dip around 3khz is to cut down on any chance of sibilance that people worry about with these types of speakers......that strong SSSSS and ZZZZZ sound. I know Jeff Bagby used to do the same thing in his designs. He basically didn't want his speakers to sound harsh 'right out of the box' knowing the end user would rather tweak that to taste versus cringing and needing to pull it down with EQ on first listen.

Nice to see that the distortion and compression was the lowest of any speakers you've tested so far.

Just curious, how much did you toe in the speakers for listening?

Reactions: 2

mtg90

· #8 · May 24, 2021 (Edited)

2

Thanks Erin for measuring these I find the results interesting.

Some of the stuff is not totally unexpected like the drop below 200hz, these were designed for behind screen/baffle wall usage and as such don't have full BSC as it was expected there will be some boundary reinforcement augmenting the bottom end.

While I knew there was a small dip at 3k but the sizable depression in the whole range 2-6k range is the biggest discrepancy I see between my measurements and I have to chock that up to differences in the response of the compression drivers. I actually grabbed my box and threw the v1 components back in to double check the response.

Nearfield woofer/CD (1/48th ocatave smoothing ungated), 0.6m, 1m, 2m (gated to eliminate reflections, 1/24th octave smoothing)

My HTM-12's response vs. the one Erin tested:

See less See more

johnp98

· #9 · May 24, 2021

mtg90 said:
I actually grabbed my box and threw the v1 components back in to double check the response.

Any chance you have measurements with the v2 components?

mtg90

· #10 · May 24, 2021

I'll take some new ones and get them posted tomorrow. I need to throw a v2 crossover together and get the drivers swapped.

Reactions: 1

ErinH

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 24, 2021 (Edited)

mtg90 said:
I'll take some new ones and get them posted tomorrow. I need to throw a v2 crossover together and get the drivers swapped.

If I can use the same cabs/tuning and the only difference is drivers and crossover, and if @jcmccorm doesn't mind, and if you'd be willing..

If you can send the updated parts to me, I can swap them out and test and we can have full data for the v2 speaker.

If that is a no go, then if someone wants to send me their v2 I will test it. But sending a big speaker like that isn't going to be cheap.

Reactions: 1

ErinH

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 24, 2021

Samps said:
Looking forward to more of these.

It’s hard to get a feel for the results without a few comparable speakers to judge them against. The JBL 708 looks amazing, but those are in a totally different price range.

Would be interesting to see the Behringer 15, or the Mackie c200, or whatever cheap Pro audio speaker is the popular option at the time.

I tested the Klipsch Heresy IV late last year. Though, not with the Klippel NFS. I tested it using other means but the data matches my NFS results which I will be posting soon.

Klipsch Heresy IV Review (Redux!)

Klipsch Heresy IV Review

erinsaudiocorner.com

jcmccorm

· #13 · May 24, 2021

bikinpunk said:
If I can use the same cabs and the only difference is drivers and crossover, and if @jcmccorm doesn't mind, and if you'd be willing..

If you can send the updated parts to me, I can swap them out and test and we can have full data for the v2 speaker.

If that is a no go, then if someone wants to send me their v2 I will test it. But sending a big speaker like that isn't going to be cheap.

That's a great idea.

Reactions: 1

johnp98

· #14 · May 24, 2021

jcmccorm said:
That's a great idea.

I agree, that would be fantastic!
I live in Canada but if no one else is able or willing then I would consider taking out and shipping my woofer and compression driver and crossover for v2 measurements.
Very excited by the prospect of getting v2 measured!

blahgod

· #15 · May 24, 2021

At least now I can justify building new speakers!

clint357

· #16 · May 24, 2021

Wow, thank you for putting in a lot of time and energy for this review! I can't get the YouTube video to play for some reason though...

Erich H

· #17 · May 24, 2021

If MTG90 wants to ship the parts for the new HTM-12 design I'll pay for all the packaging/shipping costs.

Reactions: 5

mtg90

· #18 · May 24, 2021

bikinpunk said:
If I can use the same cabs/tuning and the only difference is drivers and crossover, and if @jcmccorm doesn't mind, and if you'd be willing..

If you can send the updated parts to me, I can swap them out and test and we can have full data for the v2 speaker.

If that is a no go, then if someone wants to send me their v2 I will test it. But sending a big speaker like that isn't going to be cheap.

I think that is easily doable.

Reactions: 5

a.lio

· #19 · May 24, 2021

Back when I was ordering this, I was constantly toying with the idea of skipping the crossover and wiring it up as an active speaker. This might be an alternate way to get this speaker out the doors of DIYSG and also be less reliant on inventory of crossover parts, which I know has been a logistical sticking point of late. Matt could provide baseline DSP settings, as he has done with the VBSS, and guidelines on how to take measurements for the compression driver so the DIYer can refine performance.

Reactions: 1

ErinH

Discussion Starter · #20 · May 24, 2021

mtg90 said:
I think that is easily doable.

Sweet! When you're ready, shoot me a PM and I'll give you my shipping address.

Reactions: 2

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