Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

[cowtown]

Mr. Carmody and others -

My 6-year old son and I built up a set of your Overnight Sensations (MT version) for his bedroom several months ago, and we think they are just fantastic. We love the punchy, slightly hot bass and their tiny size. For the music that he likes (They Might be Giants, Madagascar Soundtrack, etc.), they definitely win the coveted "Most Fun to Listen to While Jumping on the Bed" award of any of our builds so far (Tritrix, Statements, Recession Busters, JVC buyout short line array).

I'm looking for another project for 100% music, probably based in the garage and occasionally the bedroom, so the natural thing to build would be a pair of OS MTMs. But I've kind of told myself I'll never build the same design twice, so I'm wondering about the Swopes MTMs.

Do the Swopes have the same great bass and similar voicing, or do they attempt to be a "flatter" speaker? I know they'll be louder, but will they be as much fun?

Thanks for all your designs!
-Colin

[fastbike1]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

Well I've built the OS MTMs and the Swope TMs. Both are great. I love the OS MTM's, which are currently running as my garage system.

Based on the Swope TM, I suspect that the Swope MTM will be outstanding.
The voicing on the Swopes and OS seem similar to me, although I didn't do any A/B. Listening to the M5 in the Swope TM makes me think that the MTM would be outstanding if you can afford the space. It's a fair bit larger than the OS MTM.

IMO, you can't lose with either choice.

[Wolf]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

I heard the Swope TM and MTM at MWAF this summer. Granted it was a short demo, but I think the Swopes are a good deal and much better than the OSsumtumms. The M5 or any M for that matter is a valuable performer.

Later,
Wolf

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

they definitely win the coveted "Most Fun to Listen to While Jumping on the Bed" award of any of our builds so far

Wow. That's quite an honor! I like it.

Anyway, the Swope MTM and OSMTM are voiced similarly. Both are fun. The Swope MTM are more accurate; and do a nice "disappearing act." I think this is because the ND28F are very well-behaved. The M5 also have a bit more presence in the midrange.

Does that help?
-Paul

[rvsixer]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

Timely thread, as I am also wanting to find out how musical/fun/non-fatiguing the Swopes might be for listening to a wide variety of music (classical to jazz to new wave to NIN). I hope to find a budget design that can handle the broad music range and HT.

Paul, I may have missed it somewhere, do you have a response plot for the Swope MTM? I see them for all the other variations.

[fastbike1]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

FWIW, here's what I played through the Swope TM's before packing them up. Total play time ~16 hours.

Classical: Voice, Full symphony, chamber, various concerto/sonata (piano, cello, violins)

Reggae (Toots, Marley)

Blues (classic BB King/Buddy Guy/Hubert Sumlin), Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Shannon Curfman, Janiva Magness, Marcia Ball)

Rock (Steppenwolf, Led Zeppelin, Foreigner, Fleetwood Mack, Springsteen, Ronstadt, Raitt, Police)

R&B: Temptations, Sly, Fitz and the Tantrums

Newer: Mayer, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Killers

Jazz: Davis, Coltrane, Spyro Gyra, Hiroshima, Mulligan, Baker, Fitzgerald, London, Vaughan

Volumes from 70dB to 90ishdB. most play time at 80ish. Measure w/ meter. Didn't end any of them prematurely.

Thought the Swopes did well with all, was not tired. I would not hesitate to build the complete HT setup.

Timely thread, as I am also wanting to find out how musical/fun/non-fatiguing the Swopes might be for listening to a wide variety of music (classical to jazz to new wave to NIN). I hope to find a budget design that can handle the broad music range and HT.

Paul, I may have missed it somewhere, do you have a response plot for the Swope MTM? I see them for all the other variations.

[rvsixer]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

fastbike1, thanks for that! You've got great taste in music :D. Looks like the Swopes are at the top of the short list to build. Now I just need to get out of this tiny apartment and find a place to let sawdust fly.

[cowtown]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

Thanks everyone! It sounds like the Swope MTMs are going to be my next build. I'm looking forward to trying out my first slot-port .

I went to order parts this morning, and the M5A looks to be out of stock until around the new year. Probably wouldn't have time to start the build before then anyway. It will be something to look forward to over the holidays.

[fastbike1]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

You might consider the M5N's. The M5N and M5A (actually all the "N,"A") look to be identical in performance with some differences in the baskets. There have been some threads where this is mentioned. The Swope TM's I built used the M5N since Madisound had them on a crazy sale.

Thanks everyone! It sounds like the Swope MTMs are going to be my next build. I'm looking forward to trying out my first slot-port .

I went to order parts this morning, and the M5A looks to be out of stock until around the new year. Probably wouldn't have time to start the build before then anyway. It will be something to look forward to over the holidays.

[saabracer23]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

Mr. Carmody and others -

My 6-year old son and I built up a set of your Overnight Sensations (MT version) for his bedroom several months ago, and we think they are just fantastic. We love the punchy, slightly hot bass and their tiny size. For the music that he likes (They Might be Giants, Madagascar Soundtrack, etc.), they definitely win the coveted "Most Fun to Listen to While Jumping on the Bed" award of any of our builds so far (Tritrix, Statements, Recession Busters, JVC buyout short line array).

I'm looking for another project for 100% music, probably based in the garage and occasionally the bedroom, so the natural thing to build would be a pair of OS MTMs. But I've kind of told myself I'll never build the same design twice, so I'm wondering about the Swopes MTMs.

Do the Swopes have the same great bass and similar voicing, or do they attempt to be a "flatter" speaker? I know they'll be louder, but will they be as much fun?

Thanks for all your designs!
-Colin

Hi, I see that you said you built the statements, did you go the full size? I'm getting ready to build a pair and thought I would get your opinion on them? Out of all you have built, how would you rate them? Do you still own them? I have all of the drivers, but am still wondering if this is the way to go.

Dan

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

You might consider the M5N's. The M5N and M5A (actually all the "N,"A") look to be identical in performance with some differences in the baskets. There have been some threads where this is mentioned. The Swope TM's I built used the M5N since Madisound had them on a crazy sale.

Yes, that will work, and also Madisound seems to have the M5A in stock.

[WWWJD]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

Paul,
Did you intentionally oversize the enclosure a tad on the Swope MTM? Your design lands around 19 liters, but the calculator I've tinkered with and the published spec call out 970 cubic inches or 16 liters for the pair.

The tuning is different as well; you tuned around 48Hz, while the ideal number my calculator came up is around 57Hz.

I'm just curious if you did and why... alternately.. I may just be wrong.

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

Paul,
Did you intentionally oversize the enclosure a tad on the Swope MTM? Your design lands around 19 liters, but the calculator I've tinkered with and the published spec call out 970 cubic inches or 16 liters for the pair.

The tuning is different as well; you tuned around 48Hz, while the ideal number my calculator came up is around 57Hz.

I'm just curious if you did and why... alternately.. I may just be wrong.

Mark,
Where did you get your specs for the M5A? If you look at Swans' site, their T/S specs are pretty close to mine
http://www.swanspeaker.com/asp/produ...view.asp?id=76

Their recommended enclosure is vented, 10 Liters. From my experience, their recommendations are pretty good (I got the 4.5 Liters that I used for the Overnight Sensations from their recommendation).

Anyway, here's the simmed bass response for the two woofers in parallel in 19 Liters, tuned to 50 Hz. Pretty sweet, eh?


Here's your 16 Liters, tuned to 58 Hz. It's similar; but it's gonna have some more slam in the bass.


I should add that the Swope MTM was designed to work well in the PE .75 cu ft MTM cabinet, tuned to 45 Hz or so.
ie: one of these, cut to 6"

[WWWJD]

Re: Question for Paul Carmody - Swope and O.S. builds

AAAHHH!! So many choices. Madisound recommends 5 liters each, Swan recommends 10 liters each. The little excel sheet I made based on Brian Steel's numbers and others recommends 6.5 liters each. Of course, there's no real simulation taking place on my sheet (and now I'm betting that Madisound's numbers are T/S based only... ) Bleh.

Thanks for posting up your numbers Paul. :p