Meinderts Hpd315 Project

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Meindert’s HPD315 project
History
Thirty years ago I bought a pair of HPD 315 speaker and build them into the Devon cabinet, one of the
enclosures in the construction guide of Tannoy. Ten years later I measured the TS-parameters and build,
using the original Small AES-paper, a 100 liter cabinet, a heavy triangular column 100 cm high. But, after a
while I changed to two B&W801 F’s, I sold a few years later because they didn’t sound good at all (too much
distortion in mid and high, and a thick bass). After I build the SEAS Odin MK3 (quite good), it was due to get
my Tannoy’s from the attic, repair the roll surround (see elsewhere) and build a new cabinet using the
modern measurement and simulation techniques the computer offers today.

The Plan
My personal design criteria are:




Active filtering: now easily done digitally with for example miniDSP
Small size, since my listening room is small (lowest fundamental 40Hz)
Simple, light but sturdy construction, to make it easily to build and to transport

The design procedure was as follows:
-

Measurement of the frequency & phase response of the sound pressure
Simulation of the speaker
Designing of the speaker
Tuning of the active filter
Measurement of difference between passive and active filter

Measurement of the frequency & phase response of the sound pressure
I used the HobboyBox HBX V.6.5 measuring software with a iSEMcon EMM-8 calibrated microphone on my
DELL Studio laptop with good internal soundcard (24 bits, 48000kHz, THD<-70dB). The measurements were
done on a self made DIN 45575 standard baffle (165 x 135, speaker at 65 & 55 cm) on which I placed the
speaker in a 100 liter closed and moderate damped box.

Figure 1 Measuring a Tannoy HPD 315 on a DIN baffle with calibrated microphone using MLS & time windowing

I used the standard MLS-technique of the measurement software with a 1V noise signal and a 5 msec
measurement time window in order to make possible a semi-free field measurement under a low ceiling (2,6
meter) and a cramped space. The microphone was placed on axis at 1 meter measured from the baffle. The
results in a diagram in HBX V.6.5.0:

The woofer shows an interesting response: there is a dip between 1000 and 2000 Hz and has a steep peak at
2200 Hz. The response is only useful till 1000Hz. The waterfall spectrum shows like this:

Figuur 2 Amplitude (red) and fase (blue) of a HPD 315 on a DIN45575-baffle at 1 meter & 1V RMS

Figure 3 A waterfall spectrum of a Tannoy HPD 315 Woofer on a DIN-baffle

Note the ringing of the woofer at a frequency around 2kHz. Even more interesting is the typical horn tweeter
response:

Figure 4 Amplitude (red) and phase (blue) of a HPD 315 Horn Tweeter on a DIN45575-baffle at 1 meter & 1V RMS

Figuur 5 A waterfall spectrum of a Tannoy HPD 315 Tweeter on a DIN-baffle

With HBX you can export with it measurement points to be used as a input for the simulation on the BOXSIM
simulation program from Visaton. The data is set in steps of 150 Hz is:
Frequency Hz

Amplitude
Woofer dB

Absolute
Phase° woofer

Amplitude
Tweeter dB

150

84,0317

89,0833

56,5833

Absolute
Phase°
Tweeter
99,5905

300

85,0143

51,7021

69,6169

-46,0829

450

83,7141

44,821

79,8983

-83,0904

600

82,6962

39,1852

85,5849

-85,077

750

82,5677

35,2524

87,7585

-81,2497

900

82,591

35,5834

89,8359

-79,5615

1050

81,3322

36,9232

91,7805

-77,0611

1200

78,6538

29,4548

93,4815

-73,5094

1350

78,3203

12,2942

95,208

-68,4004

1500

81,8756

1,9884

96,7101

-60,5908

1650

84,2227

4,0812

97,2044

-52,2396

1800

85,837

10,9202

97,586

-45,0317

1950

86,1785

16,729

97,4913

-38,8633

2100

88,5742

25,4718

96,9107

-36,2472

2250

89,7168

43,0225

97,0453

-37,0036

2400

88,7109

61,9113

98,317

-35,972

2550

85,7669

72,6124

99,5719

-29,9004

2700

83,9098

73,9087

99,9861

-20,7375

Frequency Hz

Amplitude
Woofer dB

Absolute
Phase° woofer

Amplitude
Tweeter dB

2850

83,6772

74,3308

99,4905

Absolute
Phase°
Tweeter
-12,0265

3000

83,6293

78,2233

98,1774

-7,5593

3150

83,1959

83,8544

97,3375

-8,0581

3300

82,9866

91,5064

97,4184

-9,8615

3450

81,6866

100,1659

98,2589

-8,6886

3600

79,3604

103,5801

98,6546

-3,8065

3750

78,5478

103,5123

98,1696

0,941

3900

78,4081

107,4856

97,5518

2,9738

4050

76,9164

113,3141

97,3372

3,3799

4200

75,1397

116,3832

97,4868

4,1138

4350

73,497

117,4537

97,9334

6,9148

4500

71,7648

117,1228

97,9711

11,5734

4650

69,9131

114,4115

97,6858

16,2764

4800

68,6014

110,2524

97,384

21,0257

4950

67,2475

105,6449

96,671

25,4272

5100

65,8238

98,8228

95,8736

28,5836

5250

65,3872

91,4816

95,1496

31,2656

5400

65,0991

86,1708

94,1273

33,3324

5550

64,7069

81,8588

92,9533

33,6477

5700

64,57

78,8253

91,8748

32,1066

5850

64,1134

77,3318

91,0827

29,792

6000

63,2007

75,7445

90,2017

27,0211

6150

61,4966

70,496

89,1392

22,0637

6300

60,1679

58,7908

88,746

15,2792

6450

61,2898

47,8735

89,0452

9,817

6600

62,2416

42,9421

89,3748

6,8913

6750

63,1211

41,7587

89,5371

5,7363

6900

63,511

43,3633

89,2637

4,7462

7050

63,193

45,4201

88,8589

2,4195

7200

62,2987

45,1834

88,6412

-0,9815

7350

61,5247

41,7033

88,5732

-4,7768

7500

61,4996

37,7074

88,6789

-8,7625

7650

61,422

34,9812

89,245

-11,5652

7800

61,0398

31,5345

89,8831

-11,3363

7950

61,07

26,8961

89,6327

-9,9938

8100

61,7614

23,8659

88,6199

-12,4838

8250

62,4246

24,2376

88,3717

-19,2505

8400

62,1968

24,8381

89,201

-25,9045

8550

62,4358

24,4393

90,8146

-28,2798

Frequency Hz

Amplitude
Woofer dB

Absolute
Phase° woofer

Amplitude
Tweeter dB

8700

62,9202

25,725

92,2415

Absolute
Phase°
Tweeter
-24,9576

8850

63,4012

29,9761

92,5775

-19,2216

9000

63,1877

36,4102

92,414

-14,4329

9150

61,9637

41,3318

91,9796

-11,3131

9300

60,3804

41,4255

91,6343

-9,2865

9450

59,6126

38,0243

90,9515

-8,8574

9600

59,8219

35,9939

90,8422

-9,3225

9750

59,9772

37,2331

90,8318

-8,1994

9900

60,0041

40,9569

90,2467

-6,7537

10050

59,7117

46,907

89,4423

-6,8963

10200

58,6952

53,3921

88,3485

-9,995

10350

57,4516

59,3571

87,7367

-16,1047

10500

55,9586

65,746

87,5072

-24,4849

10650

53,9236

73,3452

88,9309

-30,9339

10800

50,3682

80,7612

90,6001

-30,5642

10950

42,3233

70,8506

91,4012

-25,3115

11100

35,5503

24,9625

91,2003

-19,3412

11250

44,7593

-6,8303

90,2428

-16,1428

11400

46,7577

-2,1598

89,4341

-16,2344

11550

46,3594

4,0792

88,9312

-17,4402

11700

44,6822

7,5581

88,0909

-20,2849

11850

41,8909

6,4703

87,7554

-25,2415

12000

36,3406

-11,5804

88,0941

-29,4492

12150

35,2147

-47,6217

88,6642

-30,5283

12300

42,3031

-65,4388

88,4854

-29,911

12450

45,562

-52,6158

87,5989

-31,8224

12600

43,5266

-34,0435

86,8543

-38,4268

12750

36,488

-33,0963

87,5667

-45,6444

12900

27,2124

-75,7796

88,6492

-48,7717

13050

35,9228

-113,798

89,1827

-49,1183

13200

36,2942

-121,506

89,106

-50,2542

13350

35,1647

-140,452

88,9721

-54,372

13500

37,4901

-164,525

89,504

-60,7211

13650

42,0076

-178,031

91,2849

-64,9382

13800

45,7887

-178,197

93,4239

-63,1184

13950

47,4365

-172,794

94,9317

-56,2123

14100

47,5004

-170,445

95,8609

-46,2272

14250

47,4554

-174,358

95,5687

-36,1687

14400

48,7308

-180,491

94,8037

-28,8348

Frequency Hz

Amplitude
Woofer dB

Absolute
Phase° woofer

Amplitude
Tweeter dB

14550

51,0721

-181,792

93,6115

Absolute
Phase°
Tweeter
-25,4296

14700

52,856

-176,412

92,9931

-25,0477

14850

53,1332

-169,545

92,3822

-26,9891

15000

53,1251

-164,175

93,5463

-26,3774

15150

52,4328

-160,746

93,4416

-22,0638

15300

51,4511

-161,182

93,3942

-18,2872

15450

50,7956

-165,469

93,5688

-12,5537

15600

51,486

-168,576

92,5868

-6,8813

15750

51,7379

-167,479

91,7708

-3,6601

15900

51,0207

-165,945

91,3651

0,6074

16050

49,7099

-167,005

89,6558

3,6587

16200

47,4755

-174,687

88,3303

2,5826

16350

46,0291

-191,345

87,8146

1,8458

16500

47,1259

-209,876

86,6559

2,0391

16650

49,5191

-222,521

84,9422

-1,1274

16800

52,5591

-226,231

83,881

-7,9472

16950

54,6811

-221,946

83,5684

-15,3615

17100

55,3162

-215,55

83,9219

-20,7377

17250

55,3876

-210,854

84,5737

-21,812

17400

55,361

-207,48

84,427

-19,6742

17550

55,1549

-204,758

83,4042

-17,9311

17700

54,6821

-203,543

80,6201

-25,5337

17850

55,0625

-200,794

81,6984

-37,2335

18000

54,3642

-195,629

83,594

-39,0459

18150

52,9153

-192,186

83,9358

-35,0158

18300

51,1073

-191,356

83,9898

-29,3323

18450

48,3348

-195,733

82,4636

-25,2588

18600

44,9677

-212,813

80,6198

-28,3458

18750

46,9287

-229,999

80,8457

-33,2493

18900

48,5063

-232,711

82,4939

-27,2686

19050

47,0648

-233,546

79,7701

-18,0867

19200

45,7229

-240,601

75,1173

-26,9577

19350

45,0465

-249,758

77,428

-35,4932

19500

43,7318

-263,022

75,558

-35,7624

19650

45,5384

-274,673

74,2924

-44,4212

19800

48,0363

-271,381

78,4803

-38,4685

19950

47,3961

-256,198

77,0377

-11,4954

Simulation of the speaker
In order to use the simulator properly, the simulation with Boxsim had to be calibrated first: the simulation
of the speaker build into the DIN-baffle had to give the same result as the measurement. The calibration
failed because of a few reasons (my informed guess): the actual passive filter I used was not the same as the
simplified filter I build into the simulator, and/or the acoustical centers of the speaker where not right (I did
not measure them). I experimented with different distances between the acoustical centers and I filter I
found on Hilberinks site, but I did not succeed in simulating the actual passive filtered speaker response.
So I took another route: I wanted to know the simulated effect of the enclosure on the response and than
choose the one with the smallest effect. Hence I loaded Boxsim with measuring points of an ideal speaker
woofer and tweeter with the bandwidth from 50 to 12000Hz. I filtered them actively at 1000 Hz and got the
best results with baffle of 80 x 50, the speaker placed 20 from the top and the baffle ends tapered.

Figure 6 Effect of the cabinet dimensions on a ideal loudspeaker response at the optimal box dimensions of about 80 x 50 cm

As you can see, the box dimensions and the active filter result into a lift between 500 and 1000 Hz, a dip
between 1000 and 2000Hz and a ripple beyond 2000Hz. The dip is especially nasty since the speaker itself
has an dip in this region, as you will see below. I will discuss this problem later on when I show the active
filter tuning. In the end I chose a cabinet of 63 x 41 x 32, for various reasons a explain in a minute, that gives
the following simulated response of figure if equipped with ideal speakers:

Figuur 7 Effect of the cabinet dimensions on a ideal loudspeaker response with baffle dimensions of 63 x 41 cm

Shaping the box
In choosing the exact dimensions I took in to account the following:
-

The tweeter should be at ear height, that is 90 cm, so a small box on a standard or a big stand alone
box should work
The cut off frequency of the speaker should be 40 Hz or higher, since the fundamental frequency of
my listening room is 40 Hz. Choosing a lower frequency is useless. If I want a speaker with ‘slam’ I
don’t need deeper basses, but a optimal timing between woofer and tweeter, so to produce shock
waves in my room.

The next two design criteria need some extra explanation:

A fast or a deep bass tuning?
Normally a Tannoy is build within a bass reflex box. This gives more bass in the frequency domain, but is
costs speed in the time domain, since a bass reflex box is in principle a box with a low frequency gong build
into it. A closed box design of 40 liter reacts fast (with Unified Box Model 408):

A optimal Butterworth bass reflex design of 100 liter reacts slower:

I still chose a bass reflex design of 70 liter with a cut off frequency of 40 Hz. If I wanted it to sound faster I
could simply fill the ports, giving the following approximated 70 liter closed box response:

Non-resonant internal dimensions
But what exact internal dimensions should the box have? There should be as little as possible standing waves
inside the box. So I calculated half the length of an standing wave of all the notes of western music. The
internal dimensions should be somewhere between these lengths:
Frequency
Half wave
length
Optimal
dimension

247

262

279

294

311

330

349

370

392

415

440

466

494

523

558

0,695

0,656

0,615

0,584

0,552

0,521

0,491

0,464

0,438

0,413

0,390

0,368

0,347

0,328

0,307

0,675

0,635

0,599

0,568

0,536

0,506

0,478

0,451

0,425

0,402

0,379

0,358

0,338

0,318

0,300

The internal dimensions chosen are 63,5 x 38 x 33,8 cm. At these dimensions also checked the higher order
resonances of the longer dimension at frequencies other than the western tuning, would not coincide with
the resonances in a shorter dimension. In the end the cabinet panels appeared remarkably silent.

Chipboard or MDF?
Normally you would take thick MDF to build a box. This would get very heavy, too heavy. A better choice is a
lighter but stronger cabinet using a internal board reinforcement, making the front baffle acoustically
practically dead. I choose 16 mm chipboard panels for a calculated weight of 18kg (with speaker) and one
internal board reinforce just below the speaker, damping of every bending waves coming from it and .
Chipboard? Yes, chipboard is better. I tested the vibration sound of both a chipboard and a MDF 12 mm 80 x
50 cm panel in an closed box with a small speaker inside(green line). The result, chipboard (red) won:

Figuur 8 Sound pressure 50 cm from 12 mm MDF (blue) and chipborard (red) panel

Tuning the active filter
After assembling the cabinet with the speaker and placing it in a measurement setting, I started tuning the
active filter via the USB link to a miniDSP active filter. Using a interfacing and communication software the
‘TWO WAY CROSSOVER PEQ’ can be tuned as required:

For this tuning some knowledge of filtering techniques is required, since filters interact on mysterious ways if
you haven’t got the knowledge. This time I use HOLMImpuls software to measure the results.

The problem

This response is not easily to be filtered. The woofer rolls of at 1000Hz, the cut off frequency set by Tannoy’s
passive filter, but after 1300 goes up and down again with a peak at 2200Hz, leaving us with a gap to fill with
.. sound from the tweeter. The tweeter has a typical horn response to be made flat. What to do?

The solutions
I adopted a principle in filtering: Ockham’s razor, or: less is more. Then, first the simplest part: the tweeter
rolls off at low frequency even without any filtering added. So I added only a real life capacitor of 30 uF
(2x15) only to protect the tweeter and giving it a 1st order high pass filter set at 500 Hz, the resonance filter
of the tweeter (it has resonance frequencies at about 2000, 8000 and 14500Hz ... ).

Second, I gave the woofer a second order low pass Bessel filter at 1000Hz. Bessel is a very moderate filter,
resembling a 2nd order Linkwitz Riley Filter (the LW rolls off faster, too fast here). More filter options are
possible, but I chose Bessel because of its moderate nature in the time domain. In the next step the tweeter
response is flattened out with a step filter: -9 dB flat from 5300Hz downwards (Q=3). The result:

In the high frequencies there are a few resonance peaks to dealt with later, but first the deep dip between
1000 and 2600Hz. There are a lot of options, two simple ones: lifting this regions with the parametric
EQualiser or fiddling with a forgotten parameter: time delay, either of the tweeter, or the woofer. The time
delay needed depends on the physical dimensions of the woofer/tweeter combination and the phase of
both woofer and tweeter driven with a certain filter in the cross over region, so trial and error is the easiest
way to optimize the results. Delaying the woofer (not the tweeter) between 0,2 – 0,3 msec (7 – 10 cm;
depending on the type of woofer filtering used) did the trick (blue line).

Last but not least: supressing the (resonance) peaks and checking the phase (dotted line):

An alternative solution with 3de order Butterworth filtering looks quite similar:

The response bellows up and down between 1 and 5 kHz. I couldn’t hear the difference between Bessel and
Butterworth filtering, yet. A could manage to get it flat with the parameticequaliser, but I choose not to: less
is more.

Is active filtering better?
I did a comparison of the original passive filter with a slithly different active filter tuning:

The top red line is the original filter, the top blue line the active filter: the active filtered is less uneven.
Below a indication of the distortion of the speaker: the active filtered speaker is a bit better: approximately 46 dB (0,5%) THD between 2 and 5kHz, less than 1% above 800Hz. Not bad for a 30 year old speaker. The
results could get better if my measuring conditions would have been better (the distortion measurements
does not use time windowing, so panel vibrations from my room could influence the measurements).

What’s up next?
After this project I would like to try and check a few things:
-

Simulate the speaker using LSPcad from Ijdata, like all big speaker builders do
Measure the psycho-acoustic differences between different filter settings
Test the psycho-acoustic effect of a bigger baffle (50 x 80) (need a bigger house first)
using a automatic filter optimalisation routine I would like to tune the digital filter so to get a
Linkwitz-Riley response on both the woofer and tweeter measured sound pressure

Meindert Scholma, Amsterdam, 2011

pe1mmk

Digitally signed by pe1mmk
DN: cn=pe1mmk, o=hans
hilberink, ou=ucs,
email=pe1mmk@gmail.com,
c=BE
Date: 2011.08.07 00:59:23
+02'00'



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