Lungster.Com - Transmission Line Speaker

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Transmission Line Speaker

Back in 2012, I had a pair of Vifa M18WO09-06 woofers that looked like a good candidate for a transmission line speaker. Having never build a TL I figured this would be a good time to give it a try. My goal was to start with just a woofer cabinet. If it turned out well, I would fill in a tweeter (or even possibly a mid for a three-way). I also toyed with the thought of a fully active system. But none of that mattered until the TL was built and tuned. Transmission lines are more art than science but those who like them have high praise for a well tuned result. I was willing to do the build but I also did not have a ton of time or materials to build multiple iterations. I decided to build one cabinet and go from there. If it looked promising, I'd continue.

Above is what I came up with. I'm sorry to say that the resulting sound just wasn't up to par. The low end extension was poor, the response curve too varied, and I just couldn't get it to sound the way I wanted no matter what I did. So I punted. Maybe I should have given it a second chance? No matter because I didn't give up on the Vifa woofers. In place of the TL, I opted for a vented box and paired the woofer with an inexpensive Pioneer ribbon tweeter. The result is my current go-to speaker. It's a wonderful 2-way that is smooth sounding from top to bottom - check it out here.

09-May-2020

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