The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

[Wolf]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

Not a problem! Glad that improved things immensely for you!
:D
Wolf

[bolland83]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

Finished pics are up, added to post #3.

[BusterIrvine]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

These look great, but your stuff always does. Nice work.

[[email protected]]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

real nice GB. you and Mark do good work. i hope somebody builds a pair and brings a pair to iowa.

[PWR RYD]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

Those look really nice! Great job guys. Question: how much effect does that 50 ohm parallel resistor have? Are you using it to lower the driver's resonance?

[Wolf]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

When you use a high value coil on the LP, it can cause a bump in the FR due to the resonance. Using a 50 ohm resistor across the woofer won't affect the nominal impedance much, but will minimize the magnitude of the Fs to the point where the coil will not make as large of a bump.

The main issue with this method, rather than using a higher DCR to combat the bump, is that the woofer and resistor should have the T/S taken as a set to see how this affects the box tuning.
Later,
Wolf

[bolland83]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

Took these over to Mark's last night for a rigorous listening test. Our observations, these are monsters! They image like crazy, quite revealing, and have a full bottom end that defies the laws of physics. While they don't dig into the ultra deep territory, they were in no way lacking in the bass department. I would say these are a full BSC design, they sounded best about 1-2 feet from the wall, any closer and they were a bit bass heavy. Off axis response was good in the horizontal plane, but does change noticeably in the vertical plane. These are best enjoyed as a sit down and listen speaker, but have the low end grunt to serve as a descent party speaker. We had them up pretty loud and they didn't seem to mind.

Test tracks were a wide range of a little bit of everything from classic rock, pop, metal, jazz, and whatever we felt like. Drum sounds were one thing we noticed these excelled at. The intro to Megadeth's "Trust" was quite impressive, the kick drum attack has a nice snap to it. The guitar on Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was awesome, can't help but think of the scene in "Wayne's World" every time I hear that song. I noticed a hint of reverb on the vocals of a CCR tune (I forget the name) that I hadn't noticed before. Female vocals were also quite nice. Mark pointed out a tiny hint of sibilance, it may have been the recording. It wasn't bad though, certainly not enough to cry about it. Mark's wife sat in for a bit of Carly Simon. I must say, he's trained her well, she gave her impressions like a true audiophile. She didn't have anything bad to say, just pointing out differences between these and the Duelatti. She seemed to enjoy listening to these.

Our super scientific AB comparo involved shutting down the system and swapping the speakers with the Duelatti's. Not the best method or the fastest but we needed some sort of comparison to qualify our impressions. The Arma-TM nails it in the bass department, but I think the Duelatti has the upper hand in the high mid-range and treble, it's a tiny bit smoother. Overall though, they're pretty close. Considering the low cost of the components in the Arma-TM, it sounds better and way bigger than it should. I can see these having a place in any system in my house.

I would like to thank Mark for his work on these, and for having me over last night. I had a great time, great food, and great tunes!

[Mark65]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

What a great time! Gaelen got here at about 4PM, for what I figured would be an hour or two of listening, then maybe some dinner if he was interested. That part worked out, we listened, we ate, we listened some more, and....holy cats!:eek: All of a sudden it's 9PM!:D

I wish he had brought his lady with him, because I would have listened to pretty much everything I have on those little monsters, and until the wee hours. They're that good. I won't necessarily say we would have won the Black Box with these, but they sure as hell would have made things a LOT tougher.

I should note, that I had my doubts about what the Peerless mids would do as a vented woofer. I picked them as strictly a mid in the Armadillo CC, and had no illusions of them being anything like a capable midwoof in a two way, except as a sealed surround speaker. That doubt has been dispelled, friends and neighbors. These flat out rock. I mean, no way on God's green Earth they're keeping up with a big (or even not so big) three way, but as compact two ways go, these are BAAAAADDDDAAAASSSSS!

Plus, Gaelen did his normal exemplary woodwork, I just take my hat off to him in that regard. Really well done.

Bring 'em over ANY time buddy, they (and you) are always welcome in my home!


Mark

[greywarden]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

You should build some! Make it official!

[ernperkins]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

Those terminal cups with slots to hold the Xover board are great. Are they available on-line? Would also like to hear the speakers at a DIY event - please let us know if you plan on doing so.

regards...

[bolland83]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

Those terminal cups with slots to hold the Xover board are great. Are they available on-line? Would also like to hear the speakers at a DIY event - please let us know if you plan on doing so.

regards...

Yup, got em from PE actually. Didn't know it was a feature until I received them, as they don't have a picture or make mention of it at all on the product page. In other words, I got lucky! They are pretty thick plastic with a nice gasket too, totally worth the 5 bucks, I will use them again. They will take banana plugs too, they fit nicely through the hole where bare wire normally goes.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=260-278

If I ever manage to get funds, and vacation time that coincides with one of the big events, I'll be there!

[bolland83]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

I should note, that I had my doubts about what the Peerless mids would do as a vented woofer. I picked them as strictly a mid in the Armadillo CC, and had no illusions of them being anything like a capable midwoof in a two way, except as a sealed surround speaker. That doubt has been dispelled, friends and neighbors. These flat out rock. I mean, no way on God's green Earth they're keeping up with a big (or even not so big) three way, but as compact two ways go, these are BAAAAADDDDAAAASSSSS!

This was the "Iron Driver" too if I remember correctly. So that's 2 competitions we missed out on, oh well, maybe next time! Bottom line, the SDS line is really nice for a "cheap" series of drivers, solid performance. I wish Dayton would update the classic line with a little inspiration from Peerless.

[bigg]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

Nice looking build! I join with the others that like the look of the job you did with the crossovers!

[DannyG]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

What's the best kind of glue to use,will plain old wood glue work?

[bolland83]

Re: The "Armadillo TM" A.K.A. "Lil' Dillo's"

I use regular Tightbond wood glue for most everything, seems to do the trick.