Zooming in on the low frequency response we see that the port has it's strongest output level centered around 30Hz. There is a slight ripple in both the woofers output and the ports output near 125Hz where they interact with each other. This also corresponds with a ripple in the impedance plot at the same frequency, indicating some sort of standing wave inside the cabinet - most likely a residual of the standing wave between the parallel top and bottom panels. With more damping material inside the cabinet I was able to smooth out these irregularities, but subjectively speaking, also robbed the loudspeaker of a little of it's lively, dynamic character. The overall system impedance is a healthy and amplifier friendly 8 ohms with an impedance minimum of 6,9 ohms at 150Hz. The two impedance peaks in the bass are centered around the port tuning frequency of 33,5Hz.

Finally the two decay plots that show the energy storage versus frequency of the L'Orfeo loudspeaker. The cumulative spectral decay plot (or waterfall plot) shows a rapid and even decay over the whole spectrum. There is some delayed energy in the 700Hz to 1kHz range that corresponds with a slight hump in the frequency curve at the same frequencies. This can also been seen in the burst decay plot. This is delayed energy that radiates from the bass-reflex port and can be found in any two-way ported enclosure. Again, with a light fill of damping material inside the cabinet I was able to lower the level of the "bump" in this range, but subjectively speaking, I preferred the lively, dynamic character of the loudspeaker without any damping material in the main volume. With the port closed, transforming the loudspeaker into a closed box, the overall frequency response throughout the whole midrange can be made even smoother and the decay plot even shorter. This at the cost of some depth in the bass and some dynamics in the upper bass and lower midrange. So here you have some room to experiment and tune the cabinet to your personal taste and / or match it to the rest of your system and room acoustics.

So what does all this effort of building your own high-end loudspeakers give you in the end? Well, if you are looking for a loudspeaker with built-in effects, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a loudspeaker that can be used a neutral reference, read on. The L' Orfeo is a loudspeaker that is extremely neutral, will do any type of music and just plays the recording as it is. Besides neutrality you also get lots of detail without it ever being fatiguing - good for long term listening. This loudspeaker lets you look really deep into the recording but does it so smoothly, that it just seems natural. Nothing is emphasized at all, the overal balance is very coherent. Spatial information is very realistic with good image size. Vocals are placed at the front of the band with the individual instruments positioned with space around the rest of the sound-stage. The bass is relatively deep considering how small the woofer is but don't expect miracles from an 18cm midwoofer - if you want to rattle the windows druing movies, buy a subwoofer. The richly textured midrange is extremely neutral, the transition from woofer to tweeter is seemless and the treble is clear with a nice dynamic "snap" to it. Authentic ride cymbal stick definition. Overall there is a nice coherent balance between detail and smoothness.

The Humble Homemade Hifi reference grade, two-way loudspeaker kit L' Orfeo is sold with all components except the cabinets. The kit comes with the Scanspeak and Mundorf drivers in matched pairs, Jantzen Audio 6N internal-wring, bi-wiring bindingposts (you can choose between gold-pated or nickel-plated), damping material, reflex-ports, black mounting screws and a pair of ready assembled, matched and tested crossovers. See our shop for pricing. Furutech internal wiring and Furutech binding-posts of your choise are available as an option.