Cavatina writeup

[Paul K.]

I was very pleased and fortunate to have won 1st place with the Cavatina design in the >$200 Category at the recent 2011 MWAF, and have recently completed a brief writeup on its design. This is not a "how-to" document but does contains enough information to gain a good appreciation of the design. Since Dennis Murphy designed the crossover for me, we decided to provide a link to my writeup at Dennis' new site, Philharmonic Audio:

http://www.philharmonicaudio.com/

Using the link above will take you to Dennis' home page, and at the end of the very last sentence of the third paragraph, there is a link to my writeup (click on the blue "Cavatina").

Thanks for looking and thanks to PE for the MWAF.
Paul

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Cavatina writeup

Neat! Can I hear them?

[raiderone]

Re: Cavatina writeup

Thanks for sharing your design. I've read a lot of good things about the SS mid, but only know of this design that uses it.

Is the impedence from about 1kHz to 10kHz around 2 to 3 ohms?

[martyh]

Re: Cavatina writeup

A friend of ours once said 'If you see a Kurt Campbell design, build it.' The same can be said for Paul's work. While I haven't heard the Cavatinas, I've heard enough of them to know that if it's a Paul Kittinger design build it and be proud.

You're one of the best Paul.

[framus]

Re: Cavatina writeup

Thanks for sharing your design. I've read a lot of good things about the SS mid, but only know of this design that uses it.

Is the impedence from about 1kHz to 10kHz around 2 to 3 ohms?

The impedance above 1k hovers around 3 ohms. I've never found that to be a problem, assuming there aren't any wild swings in phase angle, which there aren't. The critical area for impedance is between 100 Hz and 250 Hz, and the Cavatina is safely at around 4 ohms in that region. Both Paul and I torture tested the speaker with our amps, which are nothing out of the ordinary, and we didn't have any problems with stability.

[greywarden]

Re: Cavatina writeup

Ever since I've seen those Philharmonic speakers, I've wanted to save a little cash up for a pair and a nice amp, use them for a reference system to compare my designs to. That's just too damn good of a deal.

Back on track, Congrats on the award. Maybe one day I'll place in the Speaker Designing League.

[Mayhem13]

Re: Cavatina writeup

Wow Paul.....for a really smoothe mid driver, that SS really got beat into submission with XO components. Bet the sound amazing.:D

[tom_s]

Re: Cavatina writeup

Congratulations Paul! Looks like another fabulous pair of speakers, both in sound quality and craftsmanship. You just keep pushing the competition to a higher level.

[Paul K.]

Re: Cavatina writeup

I plan on bringing them to YOUR Chicago DIY event in October, assuming I still have them. A friend of my son-in-law is coming over sometime soon to listen to 3 pairs of "extra" speakers I have, with the intent to buy a pair.
Paul

Neat! Can I hear them?

[Paul K.]

Re: Cavatina writeup

Thanks, Marty, I appreciate your compliments, but as you know well, the crossover design can make or break a speaker project and I was fortunate to be able to work in a stopover at Dennis' house en route to visit my sister in May.
Paul

A friend of ours once said 'If you see a Kurt Campbell design, build it.' The same can be said for Paul's work. While I haven't heard the Cavatinas, I've heard enough of them to know that if it's a Paul Kittinger design build it and be proud.

You're one of the best Paul.

[Paul K.]

Re: Cavatina writeup

I chose the SS mid because John Krutke spoke so highly of it. He tested the 4-ohm version but I used the 8-ohm version.
Paul

Thanks for sharing your design. I've read a lot of good things about the SS mid, but only know of this design that uses it.

Is the impedence from about 1kHz to 10kHz around 2 to 3 ohms?

[Paul K.]

Re: Cavatina writeup

To everyone. I really appreciate the nice comments and want you all to know I wasn't fishing for them by starting this thread. I've been asked several times for additional information; it just took me some time to get it sorted out and I was also waiting for PE to get the 2011 MWAF recap finished.
Paul

[Pete Schumacher]

Re: Cavatina writeup

You should post pics and the write up in the Speaker Projects forum as well, or have you already?

Looking forward to seeing you in Chicago.

[Paul K.]

Re: Cavatina writeup

PE has set aside a special section of the Projects Showcase for writeups from all of the winners from this year's MWAF. I've considered it but so far I feel too lazy to do more than what's shown in my current writeup.
Paul

You should post pics and the write up in the Speaker Projects forum as well, or have you already?

Looking forward to seeing you in Chicago.