The Armadillo Center Channel

[nickjf20]

Had a chance to recalibrate Audyssey, remove the BBC dip etc ...

Excellent centre channel, sounds great regardless of where you sit. It integrates really well with the Tarkus, looks wise also!

Thanks bolland&mark!

[Geoff Millar]

An interesting trouble-shooting exercise, with a good solution!

I don't intend to do this as I have too many projects on my list, but I'm just curious: could the centre channel be done with one woofer instead of two, so you would have a TMW tower?

Would that be a simple exercise or a very involved one? I know it can be simmed and I did it in Xsim, but that of course doesn't give you the real story.

Thank you

Geoff

[davidroberts]

Good deal. More importantly how does it sound?

[nickjf20]

That fixed it, thanks!

[davidroberts]

Try swapping the polarity on the tweeter and then take a measurement and see what you get. With the dip being right at 3.5kHz that is probably the xover point between the mid and tweeter. If the tweeter is out of phase it will create a reverse null like your measurement shows. The only way to know for sure is to swap it and take a measurement.

Is there a way to reset the Audyssey correction?

[nickjf20]

Checked all the drivers polarity and they're all wired up correctly. Fixed the dip with Audyssey, confirmed with separate measurement mic.
Still not sure what is causing the dip, perhaps a manufacturing change to either the mid or tweeter?

[davidroberts]

My guess would be the polarity on the tweeter is reversed.

[davidB]

The tweeter or mid could be inverted.
Try inverting them one at a time, and see what it does.
They are sometimes marked wrong in manufacture.

[nickjf20]

Measured my armadillo and there seems to be a large dip between 2-5KHz. I've checked the crossover and it looks ok. Any ideas for where to go next?


It looks like the mid is about 5dB down. This is measured in-room.

[Geoff Millar]

Re: The Armadillo Center Channel

Hey, I just recently finished the Tarkus speakers and now I also want to build the Armadillo Center. Only problem is that I can't seem to find the woofer in any shops in Europe. Is it possible to switch it out with the SDS 830657, which are in the Tarkus speakers? I looked at the specs and they seemed to vary a bit, but not much.

The SDS160 and the 830657 have similar specs, but the Xmax (woofer excursion) on the SDS160 is about double the 830657, so you would have to see how the 830657 would behave in that cabinet.

I've tried both in the same two way test build with a different VIFA tweeter and sound-wise, I couldn't tell the difference at normal listening levels. If you turn up a bass-heavy track there could well be some issues.

HTH

Geoff

[xsilverjag]

Ok I will ask a dumb question... how would this sound with other Paul Carmody speakers. I have a pair of carerra and have debated adding a center. Is this one of those things where a flat response will pair well with another speaker with a flat response? Or should I just build another carerra and put it on its side?

[nickjf20]

Finished the Armadillo CC, gloss black nitrocellulose paint to match the Tarkus. Run off a Sony STR-DN1060

Had a few issues when I first built them with sibilance. Found the XT25 tweeter polarity to be small tab -ve, large tab +ve (which contradicts the information on madisound). Bumped the series pad resistor up to 5.6ohm as well and it seems improved.

Built these in the UK, I got the woofers from digikey, tweeter is readily available.

[Intz]

Re: The Armadillo Center Channel

Hey, I just recently finished the Tarkus speakers and now I also want to build the Armadillo Center. Only problem is that I can't seem to find the woofer in any shops in Europe. Is it possible to switch it out with the SDS 830657, which are in the Tarkus speakers? I looked at the specs and they seemed to vary a bit, but not much.

[bolland83]

Re: The Armadillo Center Channel

I bet that 2 of them center channels turned on their end would make great main speakers too.

See post #35, that's exactly what we thought too! If you wanted something a little smaller than a tower, you could build them sealed with similar dimensions as the CC, but I would use the driver layout from the tower keeping the mid and tweeter vertically aligned. You will want to use a subwoofer with these for sure if you go that route.

[agrippa]

Re: The Armadillo Center Channel

RIght now I am panning on the tower variant. But the mids are sold out until Late Feb So I will wait. Besides I have a kitchen to finish...