H om e N ews Conta ct Sa les

Phlea
P hlea – W hat’s in a name?

W ha t’s in a na me? N othing m uch, I wa nte d a na me that star ted with the l ette rs of the co mpa ny that ma ke s the wo ofer a nd it’s a
smal l loudspe ak er – so is a fle a. I don’t me an that a flea spea ks lo ud. A fle a is a pa ra si te that this spea ke r isn’t. Thi s spe ak er i s
brown with bl ack bits, so is a fl ea .

Th e t weeter

The Vifa XT25TG30-04 / Vifa XT300 / Sca nspea k R2604-8320 fe atur es a pa tente d dua l concentr ic dia phra gm a nd a wav e- guide
centr e pl ug. This twe ete r is kno wn for ha vi ng a ve ry " natura l" sound wi th a n e xtr eme ly smo oth frequency r espo nse that ex te nds
we ll be yo nd the human hea ri ng range. The dual chamber de si gn all ows fo r a lo w r eso nant fr equency.

Th e w oofer

The PH L 1280 is a 17cm fro nt a nd re ar coa te d pa pe r- co ne ba ss mi dra nge tr ansduce r de dica ted to the re pr oducti on of 50- 4000H z
fre que ncie s. U sa ble for dire ct r adiati on in sma ll v olume s. Accor di ng to PH L its design giv es pr ior ity to ul tima te so undi ng qua lity
a nd has bet ter tha n a ve rage e fficie ncy.
 The woo fe rs.

Th e c abin et in side an d out

The raw cabine ts ar e ma de fro m high qua lity Ma rine -grade Ba ltic Bir ch plywo od with a thi ck ness of 18mm . The ca bine t mea sur es
196x250x340mm with a n inte rna l v ol ume of 9,5 litr es fo r the wo ofer tune d to about 52Hz i t give s a –3dB po int ar ound 60H z. The
inside of the cabinet wal ls i s li ne d with 4mm thick bi tumen and P ri tex we dge mo ulde d foa m to minim ise cabinet vi br atio ns a nd
standing wa ves. Furthe rmo re the rest of the spa ce i s li ghtly fil led with M ona cor M DM -3 da mpi ng mate ri al that consists o f 2/ 3
shee p's woo l and 1/3 po ly este r fibre . The re fl ex por t i s k ept cle ar. Depending on the positio ning o f the spe ak er s in the ro om a nd
perso nal ta ste thi s fibre can be ro lle d up de nsely or lo ose ly to giv e a tighter a nd dr ye r or a fulle r and warm er sounding bass – or
le ft o ut com ple tel y. All i nte rna l wiri ng is Va n De n H ul CS- 122 H ybrid. If y ou do n’t m ind the spe ak er s being a little lar ge r yo u co uld
comple tel y cove r the e ncl osure wi th ha rdw oo d lik e I did o n the HATT- Mk III. Thi s give s a gre ate r to tal cabinet wa ll thickne ss and
a lso be ing ma de o f two differe nt mate ria l de nsitie s, yo u get a v ery hard and dense re sult with a dde d mass. As I wa nted to ke ep
them a s sma ll as po ssi ble I stuck to the single 18mm Ba ltic B irch ve rsio n.

A higher r esolutio n dra wing is av aila ble o n r equest.

Cros so ver and lis tening .

The midwoo fe r / twee ter ne two rk is a classic a- sy mme tric or de r seri es cr ossov er tha t I ha ve found to be succe ssful with most
2-wa y dr ive r combina tions. Inductor L1 fo rm s the high-pass for the t wee ter a nd C1 the low- pa ss for the wo ofe r. This lo w-pass
functi on is mi ldl y da mped by re sistor R 1 which acts a s par t o f the twe ete r da mping netwo rk , R3 is the othe r half – twe ak ing the
va lue s o f R1 will ma tch the tr eble to y our per so n ta ste. Furthe rmo re the woo fe r has a pa ra lle l Zobel- netwo rk tha t co mpe nsate s the
natur al impe da nce r ise due to the vo ice- coil inductance of the woo fer. Fina lly L2 wo rk s a s a baffle- step co mpe nsa tio n to bri ng do wn
the mi dra nge pro duce d by the w oo fe r in line with the bass r egio n. All com po nents a re cho se n fo r a go od pr ice/qual ity ra tio a nd
phy sical size . The re is no sto pping yo u using be tter grade com po nents but y ou ma y hav e to bui ld a n e xte rna l cr ossov er to ho use
these thi ngs. Tha t will com pro mise the co mpa ct a nd simple conce pt of thi s spe ak er.
After about 4 we ek s o f bur n-in time (unde r nor mal li ste ning co nditio ns) this spea ke r turned out to be a re al “wo lf-in- she ep’s-
clo thi ng”. It sur pr ises yo u wi th gre at dy nami c e xpressio n, e specia lly co nside ri ng the sm all size of thi s spe ak er. Dee p ba ss is limi ted
but the o ve ral l pr esenta tio n is wel l ba lance d. The tre bl e is we ll deta ile d, si lky and ne ve r fa tigui ng. The ov er al l i mpr essio n is one o f
a “ fa st” and o pe n so unding spea ke r, v er y musical with a la rge ima ge . An a dded bonus is the r ela tiv el y high efficie ncy fo r such a
compa ct two -way sta nd- mount spe ake r. Goo d midra nge a rticula tio n is ano ther char acte r that spri ngs to mind.

Cros so ver co mponen ts :

L1 = 0,33 m H ai r-co re inductor 1,4 mm wir e, R = 0,16 o hms

L2 = 1,50 m H stee l lami nate i nductor, R = 0,15 o hms

C1 = 16uF ( 15uF +1,0uF ) Mundo rf M -C ap S upre me o r Inter technik Audyn Ca p Pl us

C2 = 10uF M KP pol ypropy lene fo il ca pacito r

R1 = 1,2 ohms, 10 watts ca rbon fi lm re sistor

R2 = 10 ohm s, 10 wa tts me tal film re sistor

R3 = 10 ohm s, 10 wa tts me tal film re sistor

Meas uremen ts

Ov era ll bala nce may l oo k a li ttle ro ughe r than othe r de signs, but i t i s still wi thi n +/ 2dB. The P HL 1280 sho ws a couple o f r ipple s
a round 1,5kH z and a co upl e of pe ak s betwe en 3,5- 4,5k Hz. Tr yi ng to fi lte r the se out with pa ra lle l LCR netwo rk s did ma ke the m
me asure be tter but I al so fo und them to ro b the spea ke r of so me o f its dy na mic pr ese nta tio n so I le ft those co rre ctio n netw ork s
o ut. The cro ssove r point is ce ntre d at a bo ut 2100Hz . Se nsi tivi ty is specifie d at a bo ut 89 to 90 dB at 2.83 V and 1 me ter.

The nomina l impedance ra nge s fro m 8 o hms in the bass to 4 o hm s in the tre bl e; im pe da nce m inimum is 3,8 ohms at 6kH z. The
saddl e centre d a t 52H z sho ws the tuning fre que ncy of t he po rt. The el ectri ca l pha se is m odera te a nd an ea sy loa d for m ost
a mpli fi er s. If yo u wa nt to run t he m with a tube a mplifier I wo uld a dv ise to a dd a n LC R ne two rk para lle l acr oss the i nput ter minal s
to fla tten the impedance pea k at 1kH z. A sma ll a ir- co re i nductor o f 0,56mH; a n M KT ca pa ci tor o f 33uF and a 10- watt re sistor o f
6,8 o hms wil l do the tr ick.

N OTE: Thi s design is strictly fo r the home DIY e nthusi ast and no t to be used pro fessiona lly without my per missi on!

Tony Ge e, The N ethe rla nds

Se pte mber 2005