Thanks for the update HK.

It's a phase plug, common design element in single driver speakers. I don't hear any beaming from my F15's. Have them in Randy's magnum baffles pointing about 12" outside each ear.

They throw a wide, deep, immersive soundstage with my set up.

HK

Thanks HockessinKid What does a phase plug do?

Quote:


Reminds me of that Bill Murray Movie "Lost in the Translation"

Lii audio Facebook page said they don't sell on aliexpress.

Quote:


I for one never will.

Pictures on Ali Express can deceive. Read Steve's House Speaker thread to see his experience with an Ali Express purchase. Lii's site on the other hand is legit with good customer relations from my experience.

BJ,

Roll your eyes all you want 🙄. While skepticism is warranted, many forum members have actually purchased and listened to Lii Audio drivers and speakers.

If you want real proof, buy a pair of drivers from Lii Audio directly and a pair on AliExpress. Break in the speakers properly and then AB them in a suitable open baffle design. Then you'll actually be able to comment credibly on the speakers instead of speculating.

Me, I attended Decfest a few years ago and listened extensively to the F-15 drivers in Steve's big, thick baffles and in Randy's smaller baffles with an assortment of Decware amps and lots of different music.  I did not attend the event anticipating to get a set of speakers.

After extensive discussion with both Randy and Steve I head home and placed and order for a set of Randy's F-15 baffles. Since that time upgraded to the magnum (thicker baffles). So my comments are based solely on listening to the Lii Audio F-15's over the last 2+ years in my system.

So good luck with a thoughtful comparison should you choose.😁

HK

The new F-15's look promising. Just hope the price doesn't get crazy. When ordered from Lii Audio website, my speakers (F-15 & W-15) shipped from California. Added the W-15 months later. Both arrived in 5-7 work days, no regrets.

Thinking of a Silver-10 + W-15 baffle with a SS amp powering the W-15. Steve suggested F-15 + F-18 project that might work out nice. Let's hope the world doesn't go completely nuts. Too old for WWIII.

Joseph

very good chance they build for different markets true and pics yes sometimes can fool you.  some of the magnet covers look machined not just  thin stamped covers ( not all) but maybe they arent machined.

ali exp shipping rates are what have kept me from taking a chance on some of there products for sure.

they also have a 21inch woofer on Ali Exp that I havent seen on Lii Audio website.

Idk my inner Columbo spirit tells me maybe they originally were 1 company but went seperate ways and both build quality speakers. My only hang up on what to pursue for myself is that the wooden phase plugs / embossed garamphone stencil / very lux looking paper cones and some possible billet magnet covers and nicer finished frames tell me more money has went into building those speakers.

FWIW I do own a par of F15's purchased from the link here on Decware I  just havent commited to building anyhting for them yet.

Thanks for the info
Do you feel the sound stage is lower due to their smaller size?
or that the large one had any advantage in terms of sound?

Ok I see, I think I will have to find someone to build me and intermediate version of those speakers.

One of the biggest misconceptions about Randy's speakers are that they will have a small or even low sound stage.  Just the opposite happens.  They create a wall to wall floor to ceiling sound stage in most any size room large or small.  

The advantage the Zen Master Series have over Randy's smaller baffles is two things, A) Projection and B) Slightly lower bass extension.  Sound stage is the same on both.  And as far as projection, think of the sound board on a grand piano.  We're just comparing Baby Grand to Concert Grand.  Smaller rooms will always do better with Baby Grand.

To date one of the best sound stages I've ever heard in my room came from a pair of Randy's smaller baffles.

As for Aliiexpress, Shops use bots that pull pictures from manufactures sites and add copy for small shops to post on Aliiexpress and then gamble on being able to get the items from the manufacture and ship them to you in time.  Or they may have demos or B-Stock or discontinued versions if they do cary stock.  Also there are a lot of copies there.  Chinese manufactures copy each other, so there are the real Chinese items and the fake Chinese items.  A classic example of this is the audio connectors.  You can find the same RCA jacks made by 30 different manufactures, each different, most with non published tolerances.  All copying one Chinese company that is copying a USA company.  We've seen fakes of almost every cable manufactures most popular cables for a fraction of the price.  Many almost impossible to tell they are fake, others are so obvious you know before you take it out of the box.  This is the reason why Lii Audio doesn't sell on Alliexpress.  But also the reason why you will see all of their products, and even our baffles on Alliexpress because the pictures are originally stolen.  I would say in one square kilometer there are probably 40 shops that can make that baffle so even if the shop can't get it from the manufacture, they can just make one like it in a few days.

Lii Audio/Lii Song is the real deal, otherwise I wouldn't have brought them to the Decware family. There are different markets for these types of drivers which is to say different drivers available for different regions.  This is why you see so many on Alliexpress that you don't see on the Lii Audio website, which is a USA/Canada website.

Steve,

Thanks for more insight on Chinese commerce. It totally alines with my experience and their answers when inquiring about items for sale.

You and HK may have just convinced me to give Randy's baffles a go with the F15s! The Zen Master Series are just too big and cumbersome for my space.

HK, what difference, sound wise, did you notice between the stock and magnum baffles?

John

Now, I’m convinced my next speaker experiment will be those F15. I had a woodworker to built me klipsch heresy bases in the past. I’ll see if he can make those (it should not be an issue). I wish I would be based in the US to experiment the original design from caintuck / decware

I did not want to start a new thread just for this comment and I know we are discussing the NEW driver here, but the F15 Lii Audio drivers are on sale right now.
... $399
https://www.lii-audio.com/product/recommended-15-full-range-speaker-driver-for-m...

I'm banned from Facebook, so I can't see stuff over there regarding the new drivers.

I promised myself I would not buy any new gear until I get all my cabling udgraded.
Saving money feels like wisdom at the start, though. That seems like a really cheap price for an item pronounced as epiphanous by some.

I ordered a pair.
Now I can find out what some of this talk is about for myself.

My email confirmation stated 15 to 20 days for delivery.

Looking forward to hearing your impressions, DD.

Thanks HK. Your comments about the magnum baffles compared to stock make sense. I just purchased some hickory with making Randy style baffles in mind. It will be a while because the hickory will need a least another year and half to air dry before being used.

Same Old DD I am Eager to hear your opinion DD, are you replacing the JBL 2245 OB's in your system? I'd like to see some pictures of those if you ever have the chance.
Are you thinking about traveling to decfest?

Someone on this forum posted a spread sheet of scaling Randy’s/Steve’s OBs to any size. It works well. I did down load it on a different device and will try to upload it if one desires. Seems scaling would work well to customizing the sound of room needs and listeners desire.

Off to peddling…have a great day.

John

BicycleJoe Lo-Fi wrote on 08/01/22 at 13:28:46:


Just to be clear, Joe, NO. Not yet.
I'm not giving up on what I have built and spent years enjoying, so easily. Right now I have a particle board mock up of what is my best yet fusion of ideas.
I am actually using 4 x 15'' 2235s, not the 18" 2245s.

The 18s, along with some other "cousins," are in my mono stack in a corner of my garage doing duty as sanity keepers while I'm out there working.

I have used OB for over twenty years (before it was even cool), but I've always known more cone area would help keep excursion down some. That's where I am still.
My problem was always finding a super pleasant upper, because these woofers (can't call them JBL, but I did start with JBL's massively powerful and highly accurate, consistent motors when I built them up as OB drivers) only go up to about 400Hz before dropping rather quickly. They sure make great bass, though!
I have not given up on the German, Japanese or Danish drivers I've been using. If these Lii drivers replace anything, it will be the uppers.

I plan to give these F15 Lii drivers a full on solo listen for a few weeks.
I want to give the Lii drivers an honest try with no distraction at first go.
Let them settle in some and just keep an open mind. See what happens.

Then I might decide to add a couple of the 15s back in as subwoofers as needed. Open mind first!

I wish I could attend Decfest, but it's not in the cards this year.

That's rough, Joe! STILL!??!

You might have your tech guy check with Upland in California for parts.
He might at least be able to send you to a better supplier.
I know this guy keeps a stock of many old obsolete JBL parts this master craftsman himself has put together.
He calls them "reproduction" because the original Northridge and even the Mexican parts have run out.
He even has a vid on his new Le14H1 kit. He's not stylish and elegant. Just a regular guy like you and me.

I've used this company in the past and I can recommend their service.
He sells pieces parts too, last time I had contact.


http://www.repairspeakers.com/

His eBay shop:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/JBL-LE14H-1-True-Reproduction-Recone-kit-from-Upland-Lo...

I am not in any way connected to this company. Just offering options for you that I trust.
I had done business with Ken before eBay was a thing.

Following the links, here's what I get. I'll upload a pic of the result.

Not worried myself. Scaling is easy. I've already done all the simple scaling.
Steve's is 42" in height. I decided to make mine 36" in height, just to fit my tiny 12'x14' room a little better.
I'm still thinking this over. I might end up 42" high and as wide as Steve suggests. That waffling goes along with giving these drivers a fair shot.

I have cut a couple of cardboard things to spec, just to work better with my picture thinking, which has markings for 42'', 38" and 36" to take into the room and have a look at what I am facing in the near future.

At 42" they will have to be closer to the corners of the room. That could be a good thing, using OB, especially since my corners are tempered now.


Your linky's linky got dead. I'm sure some would appreciate having it though, if it was still up.
Many things so easy for some of us are quite troubling for others.

I don't need it JBz.
As I said, scaling is really easy for me.

It is some follks who might have a need for such a file that I was concerned that they have that info you mentioned at hand. I think it's awesome to have these resources at a click away for those interested.

It will have to be remote linked if you keep with the XML format, unless you can make a JPG from a screen shot to attach to a post.

I use "Irfanview" for a lot of screen shot manipulations. It's no Photoshop, but it opens in half a second and uses very little computer gumption to do lots of things.

For instance, hit the Print Screen button, open Irfanview, hit Control +"V"  and your screen is there for you to edit, crop, delete sensitive parts, add text, make memes, change color, etc, etc, etc. Best thing I've ever found for quick and easy.

Not sure if anyone really cares about free graphics software but this is the best I've ever seen.
Download the Tools or Plugins as well, if you try this. It is So easy to work!
Here's a link:
https://www.irfanview.com/


Thank you, just the same!

Cool!
I like Picsart, but for some reason I thought this file was a simple thing that required a lot of Microsoft ownership/intervention to work.
Irfanview sits in your own computer with no online strings attached.
I lean toward that.

Sorry for misunderstanding.
Sounds like you have this on the run already.