Steve Guttenberg finally reviews the Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker.

I know many people feel the bare wire is the only way to go.  Yes it does sound fantastic.  At least for a year or so until it oxidizes.   I believe in soldering or at least tinning the wire with good silver solder so things don’t oxidize.  If you’ve ever had to re-terminated wire and stripped the insulation off and found the wire now needs to be scrapped off because of oxidation, corrosion, etc you see why I don’t like leaving bare wire.  

I’m a retired high end Audio electronics tech that’s always had the champagne taste but on a beer budget.  So I’ve tended to build most of my own equipment as you can see. 

The amps are about 125W per ch. using four KT-150’s with Teflon V-Cap coupling caps.  Power supplies are on the bottom. Uses two EL84’s for the current source to the cathodes of the two 6SN7 input tubes.  Right now using four Sylvania 6J5 tubes.  

The preamp is the exact circuit from a Cary SLP-05 ultimate without the headphone section.  All coupling caps are Mundorf Supreme EVO - SilverGold Oil Film Caps.  The silver chassis below is the PS for it.  There’s about 900uf of Solan propylene in the preamps PS section.  Each tube has its own 1-1/2 amp filament regulator so I can run about any 6SN7 replacement.  Right now running a pair of old Mullard  ecc32/cv181 tubes on the balanced input.  Also a use 6F8G’s in an adapter a lot.  All inputs/outputs wired with Kimber Silver wire.  The rest with Kimber copper in the preamp and amps.  

I’ve completely gone through the Schiit Yggdrasil and extensively upgraded all the PS areas, chassis damping, etc which was a huge improvement.  

I also have an old Theta 4-tube preamp that I’ve completely (I mean completely) rebuilt and has a large external PS with a lot of propylene (about 700uf plus electrolytics) and uses a toroidal xfrmer.   The phono section uses teflon V-Caps and 3.0uf TRT StealthCaps in the line section and I only use it as a phono preamp.  About the only original parts I kept were the Mills wire wound resistors.  I even installed 9-pin teflon tube sockets.  The controls are all bypassed.  This output to via RCA to the SE inputs of my main preamp. And is converted to a balanced signal.  My amps only have balanced inputs which keeps down the number of tubes needed. 

I’ve tried to max things out but still keep things convenient to disconnect and move.  

The Thorens tt has a Saec WE-308L with all the Fonolab upgrades and a Technics EPC-U205mkIII cartridge with a Jico SAS Boron stylus.  Really enjoying music from this system.

Harpo75,

So glad you are tweaking everything in your system......Here are a couple more things I have experienced:

1. 12 gauge Jantzen wax paper coils sounded WAY better than 14 gauge Jantzens on my Neo 10 planar midrange driver.

2. Going into the inside of the foil and coming out the outside is noticeably superior sounding......so, outside to driver or to ground (if used as a shunt).

3. Bypassing an inductor with a very small value cap results in more transparency. My friend with the modded Apogees put one of my modded .15 Wima caps across his big copper foil coils to ground on the tweeter circuit.....more clarity. He also has a Wima cap across his Mundorf copper foil iron inductor on the woofer panel....However, he never removed it to see what difference it is making. Would be good to get some feedback from you using it on a series coil on your midrange. I no longer have the Neo 10.....so cannot try it.

For the woofer, I would use the largest gauge coil I could find......you could also use the Mundorf iron core copper foils:

https://www.hificollective.co.uk/inductors/mundorf_CFS_range.html

Would love it if you posted a detailed pic of the xover with values.....so those with the speaker could tweak easier.  The ET panels are custom, so there is no lose for Bruce by sharing the xover.  In fact, he could learn what other people have found work good and incorporate those parts in his future speakers.....I want a 90 db single panel version with more woofs on the bottom.....done with all state of the art parts, base and bracing.....me drooling.

Have fun,

Ric

Yeah, seeing tat x/o would be of interest to me as well. Thigpen shows a diagram of his LFT=8b x/o with values on the ET website, so duplicating it with higher quality parts is not difficult.

bdp24,

Thanks for the info.  Yes, the manual for the 8b has the schematic and values....and lots of measurements and details......incredibly detailed for a manufacturer......thank you Bruce.  So, guys.....get to work.  The stock execution is just average.  Do what Harpo75 has done (tricked out base, bracing, super xover and super jacks and wire) and you will have one of the best speakers in the world....at least for mids and highs.....Add my Music Purifiers and Ground Enhancers for even more detail and musciality.......One 8 inch woofer ain't goin to be that exciting.  I would mount a Lii Audio 15 inch open baffle woofer next to it and bi-amp.....maybe use two 15s......he he.....knock down the walls.

I want this.......Harpo75's system must sound outrageous!

I used the same values as the manual states.  Just much better quality.  If I had the money I could go even further but you can only do what you can afford.  I do have a pair of the Rythmik F12 subs also.  One on each side and back towards the corner of the 8b’s.  They work nicely with the 8b’s.  Not as nice as open baffle subs but very good!