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"Polyamping" A Look to the Future or Fancy Fad?

In a recent quest for information regarding DIY speaker designs, I was referred to the Linkwitz Orion Project. These speakers employ active crossovers and it is suggested to give each driver its own, separate amplification (actually one for each woofer and one for the tweet/mid - three per speaker). Linkwitz recommends the ATI AT6012, a twelve channel, six zone amp (60W/ch). I am not sure about the merits of the ATI amp but, regardless of amp, does anyone think this will be a "growing" design. I mean I have heard the benefits of biamping and have heard tell of triamping but, in this case, "sextamping"? Octamping would seem to be next. All accounts say that the Orions sound fabulous. Perhaps I am just behind the curve. What so you learned folks think of this direction in audio?
4yanx
4yanx OP
1,576 posts
 
Kpinneo, wow I had forgotten about this thread. I'd have keen interest in your impressions of the Orion project you build.
kpinneo
10 posts
 
Gregm, In answer to your question, I'm attempting to isolate the midrange as much as possible from the baffle resonance created by the woofers at high volume levels. That is the only complaint I've seen about the Orions. By all accounts, the more that the midranges are separated from baffle resonance, the better they sound. This is one area I think Linkwitz could have done a better job in design. See my next post for my plan of attack.
kpinneo
10 posts
 
Gregm, Here's how I'm isolating midranges:
1. The Seas midranges will be magnet-mounted as Linkwitz' revision would do, but with my own custom parts.I have used a piece of 4" ABS coupler (4 1/2" ID)about 4" long, mounted the magnet just inside one end of theABS (glued) with a small air gap. Then the mounting puck I inserted in the other end, just protruding, set in a bed of black silicon(filling the entire space inside the ABS), so the driver is only connected to the puck by a bed of silicon.
2. The mounting frame will be triangular in shape and sturdier than Linkwitz' design.
3. At the mounting surface at the top of the woofer baffle box, I am adding two layers of 3/4 -inch ply with shear damping inbetween the layers- microsorb , probably.
4. The mounting frame will actually be attached to a commercial damping platform which will sit on top or be attached to the baffle box.
5.The entire inside/ rear surfaces of the speaker will be covered wiyh microsorb or similar and D-flex panels.
6. Tekna-sonic vibration dampers will be attached near the woofers.
Hope this answers your question.
As an aside, I've changed my amp selection. Decided to use a McIntosh MC275 to drive the mids, and The ATI6012 for the other 6 channels. Since the Mac has input control, and the ATI has individual controls, I'm hoping the integration won't be an issue.
gregm
3,405 posts
 
Interesting, Kpinneo. Thanks for the info.
dennis_the_menace's avatar
dennis_the_menace
467 posts
 
Kpinneo.. would love to hear how these turned out.
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