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Found out what "gargle" is !

Posted by ka7niq on May 11, 2003 at 22:55:57

In Reply to: Errata posted by djk on May 11, 2003 at 18:44:11:

First of all, thank you for your post, and for your opinion on the CF 4's.
The word Gargle was unfamiliar to me, but in going back through your Many excellent posts, I see you are referring to intermodulation distortion.
I am a Ham, and one of my hobbies is Yagi antenna design.
The three main parameters for a Yagi antenna are Gain, front to back ratio, and bandwith.
Unfortunately, when any one of these are maximised, the other two are compromised.
Computer modeling programs based on the MEMS programs developed by our Goverment, have enabled us Hams to strike a reasonable compromise between these 3 parameters.
we call this an Optmized design.
If we were to ONLY optomize foreward gain, then a station coming in off the back of the Yagi antenna would potentially interfere with the station we were tryin to communicate with.
So, we try and strike a reasonable compromise between these 3 parameters, combined with mechanical integrity.
sometimes these " optimized " design call for weird, unbalanced placement of the elements along the boom creating mechanical havoc, and making it almost impossible to keep the thing 100 feet in the air.
You seem to place a lot of importance on Im distortion in going through your many excellent posts.
Perhaps you are correct, and perhaps I am wrong, and I am open to that.
It sure wouldnt be the first time!
But, there are other prices to be paid for just optimizing for low IM distortion.
If that were not the case, then every design would be a 4 or a 5 way design with relatively large speakers in their respective operating band ?
But what about dispersion, crossover lobes, phase shift, multi driver interference, driver overlap, etc ?
It seems to me that every design is a compromise of sorts, and nothing is perfect.
Back to antennas for a minute.
Every Ham would love to have a seperate tower with a full size, Monoband Yagi on it.
But a full size Yagi for 40 meters has a 40 foot boom with 60 foot elements !
So, we have to use traps, and loading schemes to obtain the best real world performance we can get.
No, the CF 4 isnt perfect, no speaker is.
It has several compromises.
But I will trade its "Gargle" to the squak, phasiness, and peakiness of some other low IM speakers I have heard.
I have owned LaScalas, Heresys,Belles, and many other Horn Speakers, including Western Electric field coil woofers and horns.
I have had and sold many an Altec 604 and 804.
I lived in Seattle, 2 blocks from speaker Lab, and have owned both the Speaker lab, the speaker factory, and the Klipsch corner horns.
I have owned, and donated Acoustat model 8 speakers to the Pacific North West Audio Soiety.
I built a Audire modified Strathern Ribbon system using 8 Strathern Ribbons per side, and owned Apogees, the good 1/2 ohm ones.
I have spent many an evening in front of Dr. Hills Plasmatronics speakers.
I have played with Jordan Modules, Babb speakers, Transylvania Audio Tubes, remember those ?
I have heard ESS Transars, built QRS 1 d's, had a friend who owned JBL Everest speakers.
I owned Meyers speaker I bought from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.
I did some listening evaluations for Randy Smith of Mesa Engineering for the original Mesa Baron tube amp.
I have owned 801's, Celestion SL 600's, Ls3/5 a's, Kef 107's and the Infinity Preludes designed by Laurie Fincham, before Floyd ruined them!
I am having fun with the CF 4's.
No, they arent perfect, but they play loud, are fairly smooth, and they image like no tomorrow.
And, they can be had cheaP.
One can pick em up used for about 600 dollars.
Now, tell me what can touch em for that ?
Where are you going to get 2 12 inch neo magnet drivers, a neo magnet compression driver, and a tractrix horn, already done for you for those kind of dollars ?
Plus, you even get the box too!
Why isnt the CF 4 recommended as a used speaker of choice ?
To me, the Heresy's are a joke compared to a CF 4, yet I see those, and the Belles and La Scala's offered up as being better ?
Just because they satisfy the IM parameter, in total disregard of many other just as important aspects of design> '

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