Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

[fastbike1]

I built Paul's Spitfires and a pair of his Burro Subs for a friends HT upgrade. I haven't seen any other builds of the Spitfire, but it's a great sounding (I know, a real surprise from Paul ;)) design. A shout out to Mark and the folks from Meniscus Audio for the Spitfire kit. The Spitfires are built as designed with a slight change to the port. I used a 1.75 x 3 port that tunes the box to 52Hz, just a bit lower than Paul's tune. Still flat response and should work well when crossed to the subs at ~60Hz.

The Hivi L6-4R is a great mid woofer and really works well with the Airborne tweet. They play loud and clear without strain. Tested with the following: Adele, Aerosmith, Los Lobos, Alison Krauss, Marcus Miller, Hilary Hahn, Lyle Lovett, Shostakovich Symphony #5, and Rick James. Handles them all with body and clarity.

The subs (2) are Paul's Burro design with RSS210HF-4 in 31 liters net, tuned to 22.8Hz. I used Jeff's Diffraction and Boundary Simulator to model placement effects. The subs are powered by remote mounted Foster WF-100K plate amps.

My friend did the paint to match his entertainment center re-build. He's painting the subs now, so Burro photos to come.

[fastbike1]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Two more Spitfire Photos.

[Kevin Wehrle]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Looks fantastic and I have to admit I saw your crossovers and tried to take some ideas form them. I love your attention to detail like labeling posts by color.

Love the Crown in the background. I want one to replace my Behringer A500.

[fastbike1]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Thanks. I try to layout the XO pretty much identical to the schematic. I find it easier to trace. Also why I don't wire underneath the board. I also try to minimize jumper use.
I use Visio to do the board layout 1:1 so it fits in the cabinet (learned that the hard way).

Looks fantastic and I have to admit I saw your crossovers and tried to take some ideas form them. I love your attention to detail like labeling posts by color.

Love the Crown in the background. I want one to replace my Behringer A500.

[Kevin Wehrle]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Wow! Great tip on the Visio.

Thanks. I try to layout the XO pretty much identical to the schematic. I find it easier to trace. Also why I don't wire underneath the board. I also try to minimize jumper use.
I use Visio to do the board layout 1:1 so it fits in the cabinet (learned that the hard way).

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Looks sharp with the white paint against the woven cone. Driven by a tube amp? I think that setup is ready for an audiophile mag. Great job!

[fastbike1]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Just a test rig. Amps (power and integrated) are one thing that I have in abundance. Mostly vintage.

This is an outstanding design and the Meniscus kit is super reasonable. I would probably be doing these for an HT setup if I wasn't already working Jeff's Mandolin MT and MTM to that end.
As you mentioned in your writeup, the woofer is plain sexy. The drivers against the white boxes look great.

That amp is only 6.5w/ch and we easily got 90dB at 1 meter (measured) with about half the volume range to go. The speakers weren't straining at all, just louder.
Paul, thanks for another great design. The L6-4R definitely deserves to be used.

Looks sharp with the white paint against the woven cone. Driven by a tube amp? I think that setup is ready for an audiophile mag. Great job!

[fwiler]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Excellent work and looks fantastic in white. Thanks for sharing.

[greyson]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Any shots of the Burro's? And how do you enjoy them? I'm about to start assembling a pair of Pony's and curious about how you finished and feedback (already have components and the CNC panels just got finished).

Thanks.

[fastbike1]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Sorry, no photos. Based on my driver measurements and my friend's space requirements, Paul's original design worked well. They were painted gloss white to match the mains.
I used a 2x12 PVC vent which still gave acceptable vent velocity in Jeff's WBCD model (3/4" roundover). In place, the vents are aimed away from the seating position. The YPAO auto calibration ended up being pretty good with the sub amp gain at about 60%. Subs were tuned to 22.8 Hz in 31 liters net. In play, the subs blended extremely well. You can see the cones moving, but can't "hear" them or locate them by sound. My friend did remark that the sound was noticeably more "full" with the subs than with the mains. He later commented that during movies and TV, you clearly got LFE impacts that weren't present before.

So, great design, works well. No reason not to build as spec'd. The pony should sound the same if you follow the design.

Any shots of the Burro's? And how do you enjoy them? I'm about to start assembling a pair of Pony's and curious about how you finished and feedback (already have components and the CNC panels just got finished).

Thanks.

[mattsk8]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Nice build and they look great! I built these as well but like most of my other builds they're still MDF. Not sure where I'll use them yet, maybe living room for music duty and add a small sub (for the misses of coarse :p) and move my HT system downstairs. I'm guessing that's a slot port; correct? Any pics of the backs? I did a front slot port on mine.

[Mike220]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Where are the burro subs? I really like the look of the white and woven cone its awesome. The stands are pretty sweet too!

[fastbike1]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

I used Jeff's Diffraction and Boundary simulator to develop the room impact for the Burros. Cab is painted white to match the mains. They look like Matt's except no hardwood top and bottom. All Russian Birch construction (Burros and Spitfires).

The Spitfires have a flared port on the rear.

The stands are mine and normally hold my surround speakers. Bought them so long ago I don't remember where I got them.

[dainrobert]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

Those are just plain sexy! What do you think of the tweeter? Why does Paul refer to it as controversial in his white paper? Any other listing impressions? That's just a good looking pair of drivers, I don't think you could get a better looking pair in that price range. The kit is a very good bargain.

[fastbike1]

Re: Paul Carmody's Spitfire anf Burro Subs

I thought the tweeter was clear and articulate with no bad behavior. I listened for about 30 minutes. The owner is extremely happy with the setup and hasn't reported any issues. Paul will have to comment on " controversy".

Those are just plain sexy! What do you think of the tweeter? Why does Paul refer to it as controversial in his white paper? Any other listing impressions? That's just a good looking pair of drivers, I don't think you could get a better looking pair in that price range. The kit is a very good bargain.