BD Designs Horn Speakers

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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For all DIY horn builders
 

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Audiophile Bill

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2015
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Just to let you know Swings have sold.
 

Audiophile Bill

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2015
4,293
4,093
675

Audiophile Bill

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2015
4,293
4,093
675
Ok the Swings are sold, post the DIY photo!

Not ready for prime time yet, Jeff. I will keep you posted though for sure but suffice to say I am v excited lol.
 

the sound of Tao

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Jul 18, 2014
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Not ready for prime time yet, Jeff. I will keep you posted though for sure but suffice to say I am v excited lol.
Any hints Bill, fully subscribed here.
 

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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bonzo75

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spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Never got a chance to hear the Swings at Bill's. Shame, there are so few chances to hear a range of good, and esp affordable, horns in the UK. Have heard Trios once, Liszts 3x, Animas 2x, (plus Blue58's Duos many times). The Swings I would love to have experienced, but our diaries never quite matched.

No doubt they're a steal at £10k, as Bill says nothing gets close at that price. Ked missed a golden opportunity. Me? They may well not have made it into my room due to access issues. And I remain unconvinced that the totality of the horn sound is for me. For Ked's musical tastes, a slam dunk.
 

christoph

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Dec 11, 2015
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bonzo75

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Not ready for prime time yet, Jeff. I will keep you posted though for sure but suffice to say I am v excited lol.

Most audio equipment is not ready for prime time yet. The fancy ones people buy are not ready for prime time either, horns or otherwise. The looks and price tags tell them if it is prime time. So if you put on a finish and a price tag, people will not be able to distinguish if yours is prime time or not irrespective of whether it is or not.
 
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Sablon Audio

Industry Expert, VIP Donor
May 22, 2015
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The feedback and photos Bill has shared with me are both extremely promising and his prototypes already look rather more attractive than a number of horn speakers presently being sold. I quite suspect his finished article will be a rather compelling proposition and wish him every success with it!
 
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Dr. Smooth

New Member
Feb 8, 2021
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Bill, good afternoon,

more than 15 years ago I had a visit at BD DEsign and have fallen in love with berts speakers.

Now I do have received an offer to buying a pair of swing mk 5.

Would you be so kind and contact me via PM because I do want to ask some questions regarding your experience with these speakers that would lead to far in an open forum. If you prefer to write here, happy to do so.

In a nutshell: would you be able to describe the sound of the swing compared to other speakers You have owned; Do you see any issues (beside poor sounding records ;-) for the use of them? Any amp suggestion?

Best,
Dr. Smooth
 

anubisgrau

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2015
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I heard these before at Bert's when I wanted to hear the swings. These are voiced on 30w SS gainclone amps, and imo lack decay and midbass thump (and oomph) but have big planar like soundstage. I am not surprised Mani says he preferred his swings acoustically as well, another guy in EU owns the swings and he mentioned the wings were voiced with valves and had much more bass thump. I would have loved to hear the below with low watt sets and analog. He is very flexible though, these are active, can be made passive, for external amps, etc


View attachment 48266


Could be it was me who told you that the first pair of Swings (MkI) was voiced on WE91 300B amp. I bought them off the guy who worked together with Bert on them, they were later improved to MkII with outboard MkII crossover and changed bass system.

Need to find some of the pics I did earlier. My room is currently messy and not not fit for photos :)
 

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