The Lowther Thread.....Drivers, Cabinets, Modifications, Listening Impressions

No, although I must admit they are tempting. However from my reading I understand that the Medallion was designed using PM7A's so they should give a better balanced sound than the PM2A's which I believe can be slightly bright. Also PM7A's should work in the All Fun Horn while the magnets on PM2A's are much too big to fit making the PM7A's a more flexible choice for me in the first instance.

I've recently been given the plans for the Opus One which if I like the Lowther sound would probably be an "end game" speaker for me, and a good long term project. However they really need the PM4A rather than the PM2A otherwise I would have been swayed to try the PM2A's to start with.

My PM2A/Medallions work great.

I was told by Tony Glynn (driving force behind the Lowther Club of America back in 1998, when I got my PM2A/Medallions) and Jennifer Crock of JENA Labs (designer of the Medallion enclosure) the PM2A matches up to the Medallion enclosure.

Over the years, some folks on the Internet questioned the size of the compression chamber in relation to the huge magnet on the PM2A but I am more inclined to go with the recommendation I got from Tony Glynn and Jennifer Crock (who also wired my Medallions up with her JENA Labs wire).

The PM7A is also supposed to work and give outstanding results. :)
 
I've probably just read too much on the internet! There was a long thread about the Medallions on Audio Asylum where the PM7A's were very much recommended over PM2A's by someone who was involved in their development. I know many, many people use them with PM2A's and love them, however there are also those who complain that they are slightly bright. I'm hoping the the PM7A's allied to my amps which are slightly "dark" will tone them down a bit. Sadly, given the cost of the cabinets and drivers, the only way to know is to try them. I'm also hoping I can get away without using a sub. I live in the UK so have solid walls and, by US standards, a relatively small living room so adding subs would perhaps be a step to far for my wife. Sadly my days of having a dedicated listening room are long gone!
 
I've probably just read too much on the internet! There was a long thread about the Medallions on Audio Asylum where the PM7A's were very much recommended over PM2A's by someone who was involved in their development. I know many, many people use them with PM2A's and love them, however there are also those who complain that they are slightly bright. I'm hoping the the PM7A's allied to my amps which are slightly "dark" will tone them down a bit. Sadly, given the cost of the cabinets and drivers, the only way to know is to try them. I'm also hoping I can get away without using a sub. I live in the UK so have solid walls and, by US standards, a relatively small living room so adding subs would perhaps be a step to far for my wife. Sadly my days of having a dedicated listening room are long gone!

The PM7A is an outstanding driver and also works wonderfully in the Medallion cabinet. :)

The newer drivers have slightly different "whizzer cone" construction which helped tame things down. Other tricks include cotton balls between the cone and the whizzer, swamping resistors, felting the Medallion (like the Medallion II), adding D-Flex to the back of the compression chamber, type/amount of sand/shot fill in the cabinets, etc.

The trick, as Tony Glynn told me many times, is to not damp things down to the point where you damp the life out of the speakers.

Be great to compare notes as you proceed down the Lowther path. :)
 
Has anyone here heard both the All Fun Horn and Medallion and can comment on how they compare? I like both designs, hence my driver choice, and am having trouble deciding between them. I think my best way forward is probably to build one of each roughly using chipboard or something similar to allow me to compare them in my own system, albeit probably not sounding at their best. I can then build a pair of whichever I prefer out of better material paying attention to all the details.
 
Has anyone here heard both the All Fun Horn and Medallion and can comment on how they compare? I like both designs, hence my driver choice, and am having trouble deciding between them. I think my best way forward is probably to build one of each roughly using chipboard or something similar to allow me to compare them in my own system, albeit probably not sounding at their best. I can then build a pair of whichever I prefer out of better material paying attention to all the details.

Experience with Medallions, yes. Years.

Experience with the All Fun Horn, no. None at all.
 
Have not built any back loaded Lowther horns, I sppent about 3 years with PM2A in open baffle.
I liked it a lot especially after stubling onto the correct filter to tame its peak.
Had pair of DX55 , I think they may have been better, but before I got them properly implemented I lost them in a house fire.
I still have pair of DX3 in closet that go to my Oris 150 horns that are languishing in the garage now days.
 
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i’m lucky enough to own both a pair of beauhorn virtuoso references and a nice pair of big fun horns (BFH) custom made by stewart speaker systems (in barrie, on, canada). in the past i also had a pair of scratch all fun horns (AFH) too, but gave these away as they didn’t much use after getting the BFH arrived. a good friend of mine owns medallions with EX3s and these sound excellent with 300Bs.

i would say the PM7A’s (silver, 16ohm) with the BFH are equal, if not better, than the beauhorns with a set of DX4 (silver, 16ohm) drivers when the compression chamber is properly sized. the stock chamber is way too big to properly act as a decent filter for the backhorn. i built a false bottom for the compression chamber in the cabinets (which sit just below the hole for driver) then made false sides using wood blocks and some foam. think of it as building a smaller box inside of a bigger box! lining the back of the chamber with some “ribbed” deflex sheets (unfortunately no longer available) really elevates the sound quality without sucking the life sound — there’s less congestion. normally the BFH is around 12000 cm^3, the modified chamber is around 5300 cm^3 in volume.

inside the beauhorn cabinets there is a generous use of white foam block and also some deflex in the compressiom chamber. the folds of the horn apprear to be made of not wood, but that ubiquitous white foam block — much to the chagrin our cats, who like to climb inside the horn and scratch away…

the AFH come close to BFH but you can only use the EX3/DX3 drivers and they lack a bit of bass. the DX4 will work if you add a a thin >3mm baffle. fwiw, i don’t recommend the EX drivers for these cabinets.

the bad news is that the BFH cabinets weigh about 200lbs each, where the AFH and beauhorns are about 70-75lbs.
 
TNT's Scott Faller 2004 article on the Lowther MedallionII was so enticing that he has enlisted me to make one. I did detailed plans with my CAD ... not daring to go deep with the design calculations ... 🤪 but I do not understand the diameter of the second "drive" hole (130mm)... should the magnet fill it up or it's designed as an open "short-cut" out of the first chamber? This could be crucial. Forgive my ignorance. I am a luthier not an audiophile ;-(

I would like to use a PM7A but even with the 2A the hole seems too big AND with the 110mm that proud from the flange it barely comes out (7A with a thicker front panel does not) ... some later design even put a BIIIG cup cover behind in partial obstruction of the horn...

As for the wool felt - it is so counter-intuitive, that I will do it on pure faith.. in the horn mouth. But he put it also in the first chamber and the external front...

If you can shed any light... thanks.

holes.jpg
 
During the COVID shutdown I built MJK's MLTL Lowther DX3 design. Instead of an internal BS circuit I placed them on top in wooden cigar boxes. I used 3/4 MDF in the build so they are extremely heavy. So heavy in fact that I use hand trucks to move them around. Before I built the MLTL's I used the DX3's in open baffles with bass woofer support. Perhaps It's a matter of personal taste but I prefer the sound of open baffles to box speakers.

P1010011 2.jpeg
 
I had build Dick Olsher’s Basszilla with DX4, it is open baffled with 15” woofers and ribbon tweeters, Dick uses a tank circuit to tame the rising response in the 2-3 k region and then rolled off the 7k peak to the ribbon tweeter, it was quite good sounding, had that for a while before I switched to field coil drivers, the field coil Lowther motor built by Dave Slagle also very good in wood horns, doesn’t have that Lowther shout.
One CD I use to evaluate full range drivers is the Ferruccio Busoni Liszt by Nimbus Records track 4 Paganini La Campanella, this is recorded from piano roll, the high frequency notes on the piano notes is so taxing that many expensive full range drivers had fail the test including some very expensive Japanese field coil drivers.
 
I have never experienced Lowther shout perhaps because the following applies:

"The new whizzer cone has a rolled edge that eliminates the unsupported paper edge of the previous design. This supposedly cures the "Lowther Shout" as some called the midrange peak created by the whizzer cone edge vibrations."
 
My DX4 also has rolled edge whizzed cone the shout is there, the best Lowther I’ve heard is with Slagle field coil.
 
I love Lowthers.

I had (had) a pair of modified DX3's that my kids "Led Zeppelined" and I changed to DX4's.

I use them in an open baffle horn and really like them. They are amazingly fast, to my ear.

They have the same bolt pattern as the Voxativ AC-4X I have, so I can place and replace easily. The AC-4X might be a hint better, but the Lowther are real standard setters. Very glad they exist in my life!

I would like to set up, if I had the budget, and use them in a Pure Audio Project speaker set up. Have a pop in and pop out board for each and it might be a match made in Heaven with their open baffle woofers.
 
I would like to set up, if I had the budget, and use them in a Pure Audio Project speaker set up. Have a pop in and pop out board for each and it might be a match made in Heaven with their open baffle woofers.

Yes. This idea is one I have been kicking around.
 
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