DIY OB Project using the Lii Audio F6 Full Range

[srinisundar]

Is this project started ?

Regards

Hello Everyone,

The upgrade bug bites! In search of more bass, I've decided to add another woofer to the OBs. Just playing with SketchUp at the moment, to see how it will look, while reusing as much as the material from the previous version.View attachment 42423

 

[gnattyman]

Here are some initial specs:-

That link is different than this one for The F6. Are these the same or different drivers?
Because the specs are very different, particularly what Lii shows as the Qts.
Is it possible their printed specs are SO FAR off?

https://www.lii-audio.com/product/one-pair-6-5-inch-full-range-speaker-driver-f-6/

 

[Nono]

Hi,

I don't know if this is still on but I was thinking to combine 2 of the lii audio F6 with 1 subwoofer Fane to have a WAW. I add also the crazy idea to maybe combine the lii audio f6 with a diy horn. What would be your recommandation ? would it be too crazy ?

 

[BLP]

Did you end up building these. I just bought the F6 drivers and plan to pair them with two grs 15pf-8 drivers.

Hi Svo. I'm trying the same combo of drivers. Did you ever build yours? If so, how did you crossover? The F6 seems about 10 bB hotter than the GRS 15.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Thanks everyone, this project would not have seen the light of day, if it weren't for the tons of support, encouragement, feedback of the OB -Audio-Mania WhatsApp group, several of whom are members here. And a very special call out to @yogibear for getting us ordained into pleasures of the OB sound, the countless videos and sample clips that he patiently posted, even catering to demands for specific tracks - pretty much on a full time basis. Furthermore, for @yogibear 's infinite patience and guidance both of which were critical to my learning process.

Another FM who was very key to the success of this project was Shiva Prashanth Hiremath (not sure of his handle here), for the Fane Woofer, else this project would have been considerably delayed. Shiva also helped in the listening sessions helping to fine tune.

Just got back from work, it is a bit late in the day for taking pics (I don't use flash as a matter of principle and do not own one), will shoot some pics tomorrow and post it.

Some initial pics from the construction phase
View attachment 36232

View attachment 36233
Panels are double sheets of 20mm MDF, the greening tinge is due to the MDF quality - it is external grade, it is more dense and uniform

View attachment 36234
Speakers on the way home in the car.

View attachment 36235
Rear View - you can see the 'hat' over the woofer, and the Apex Jr. plate amp. Yes, the speaker cables are Finolex 2.5 sqmm

View attachment 36236

first placement of the speakers as they were unloaded from the car. They have now been switched. You can also see my towers, and the sub. To the far left is my DIY rack that holds all the equipment. This whole lot takes up a full wall in the living room - very questionable WAF at the moment

Listening Impressions

Here are the listening impressions that I posted on the WhatsApp group in chronological order, it will also show how the sound has changed due to breaking in of the drivers.

• First Reactions
  
  To me it just sounds natural and right, there is something RIGHT about the sound, an elusive quality that you keep looking for when you audition equipment, but you find something missing all the time. I am just listening to the third track and it sounds so good...
  
  No resonance, bass is tight and very smooth, there is no perceptible transition between the F6 and the Fane. The Fane is crossed at 140hz. And the F6 is direct to the amp
  
  I'll play some bass heavy tracks later today and share my impressions. Yesterday rock was sublime. Jazz even more so, esp. female vocals like Norah Jones, was silky smooth.
  
  
• about a week later

1. The OB loves hard rock and metal - both the F6 and the Fane seem to revel in it. Clear separation of instruments, great vocals and rounded out HFs.
2. The Fane needs to break in, hard rock and metal have a lot of hard hitting bass - the speaker has no choice but respond. However, some more hours of usage will surely free up the suspension a lot more and I do expect bass to open up
3. so far I've been using the XO settings on the Apex Plate Amp, there is a bypass option and I'm planning to switch to the pre-amp's filters (much better quality and wider range) to set the XO for the woofers. Also gives me some level of consistency between the channels.
4. Shiva Prashanth Hiremath felt that the plate amps don't have the strength to really drive the bass. Perhaps an upgrade to more powerful amps are needed. We did discuss the possibility of using a Crown or something like that rated about 2000 Watts to power the woofers
5. which brings me to my next point - these babies are really power hungry. The F6 holds out - even at somewhat elevated volumes. But the Fane needs more power, I guess it is not so much about the efficiency of the driver itself - but the efficiency of the system overall. Producing copious amounts of bass requires copious amounts of amp power.

• about a month later, @Kannan asked me a very relevant question: How does the OB compare to my towers? and my answer follows

The OB - sounds open, airy, detailed, lush, articulate and expressive, great for music, pretty much all genres, but really shines on all genres of rock, metal, pop, jazz and Western classical. On movies and TV (e.g. GOT), the dialogues are clear, and place beautifully on the sound stage, the imaging is spot on. Turn up the volume and the speakers can heard all the way near our gate, about 100 meters away. What surprises me is the power handling capacity of the F6 - I do believe it can handle much more than the 10W that it is rated for, I've turned it up to near ear bleeding volume with hard rock and it didn't miss a beat - am not sure how long the VC can handle this abuse, but I did not see any signs of stress or distortion.​

My Towers (The Sentinels - named by wifey) - sound laid back, mellow, smooth and un-fatiguing for all types of music, it is more forgiving of bad recordings and MP3s. Vocals are bit more rearward placed on the sound stage, with a more vertically diffused image. Bass is more punchy though not quite as articulate as the Fane's in the OB. The diff being, the Fane's get dedicated amps, as opposed to The Sentinels. The towers shine on movies, Batman, Transformers etc., with good background scores sound almost as good as the movie theater or even better at home. And when turned up, The Sentinels can pound hard.​

above feedback is based on my 55 year old years, that can't hear anything beyond 17KHz...​

• and now....

Fantastic imaging, natural sounding for all manner of vocals​

Instruments are nicely delineated and articulate​

Bass is tight, articulate, deep and powerful - another woofer and a stronger amp would be welcome - I love musical bass ​

Rock, pop, hard rock, classical, baroque and metal - in short all genres - some thru very clean and effortless.​

The F6 is very detailed and will bring out everything from the recordings - good, bad or ugly - on truly good recordings, I can hear detail that I haven't heard so clearly before....makes me want to listen to my entire music collection again.​

​

and surprise - sounds great for movies as well, dialog, music and action sequences - the F6 does not even blink and the Fane Woofer just keeps on going too​

​

OB has been a revelation of sorts.​

​

Equipment​

Source	Oppo 103 - portable HDD plugged into the BD Player
DAC	Emotiva XDA2
Pre	Emotiva XSP1
Power	Emotiva XPA 200
Subwoofer Amp	Apex Jr 250 W
Cables	All DIY
Room treatment	none

Great project. If I were you, then both drivers would have been mounted from behind.

 

[brother_loi]

Greetings! My name is Lou. I'm quite late to this forum, but so impressed and inspired by this design. Many thanks to CJP, Yogibear and all others involved in bringing this project to fruition. I've been listening happily to "very" old Mission and KEF speakers for years, but have become interested in open baffle designs for the type of presence, soundstage etc. they produce. I have a pair of ancient (1988) Velodyne ULD-15 II active servo subwoofers that work well and am not necessarily looking to build an OB subwoofer. However, I could possibly be persuaded otherwise.

CJP... this forum project is now 5 years old. Are you still enjoying these speakers or have you moved on to a newer/better design? I have a pair of Lii F6's for my first OB project and would be interested in following your design for the upper F6 baffle w/o the lower subwoofer baffle if that could be recommended. Or, would a Caintuck Betsy or other type of design work better for my setup using the Velodyne subwoofers?

My musical tastes are all over the map, but I would mainly be listening to less cluttered instrumental/vocal etc. recordings of various genres on the OBs.

Some examples:
Ella Fitzgerald - You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me
Jacques Loussier - Gymnopédie No. 1: Var. 1
The Roches - Hammond Song
John Leventhal - Rumble Strip
Bonnie Raitt - Fearless Love
Supertramp - Lord is it Mine
Passenger - Simple Song

Thank you in advance for your valuable advice and input.
Sincerely,
Lou

 

[CJP]

Hello Lou, The F6 is a great starter project for foraying into OB. While it does have the mid range and highs nicely squared off, the bass might be a bit lacking. On its own though the F6 is great for all genre of music, like you I've very varied listening tastes depending on my mood, and what is in the glass on a Friday evening, lols

The Betsy baffle is a good place to start, but the F6 will need assistance on the lower end, a nice sub or just regular woofers should do the job quite nicely. OB Woofers will be able to keep up better than sealed or ported subs IMO.

As for me, I use the OBs primarily with my TubeLabs SSE amp. and a separate SS amp for the woofers. BTW I did not add the second woofer.

 

[CJP]

Hi Svo. I'm trying the same combo of drivers. Did you ever build yours? If so, how did you crossover? The F6 seems about 10 bB hotter than the GRS 15.

No Xover, mine are just direct wired. The woofers have a dedicated active low pass filter crossed at 140Hz.