sterling silver iris's

[kesa32]

Hi, l'm toying with the idea of going into fullrange and am wondering how these will stack up/compare to other drivers?

l've read lots of stuff on others drivers here but have'nt found much of anything on this company on here, and if these dont cut it whats really good in your opinion to go ob with and have good spl , qaulity etc......beyma? radian etc ?

cheers ken

[lousymusician]

Some folks here heard the original SI's and weren't wild about them. I own a pair, and while they are not perfect, they are pretty good. As a purpose-built OB loudspeaker they have very little competition, and offer a different set of virtues from, say, a Visaton B200.

(My SI's have wound up becoming the nucleus of a system for my college-aged son, along with a Panasonic class D receiver. Mounted in small, easily portable shallow U baffles that look something like stage monitors, they should make one heck of a dorm stereo!)

The SSI's are very new, I doubt anyone here has heard them. They use a Radian tweeter, which is supposed to be a major improvement over the Eminence that IMO was the weak point of the original. Other improvements include a cast basket, and premium xover components.

The Sterlings sell for a hefty premium over the originals, so they'd better be a real improvement!

As for Hawthorne the company, Darrel and Diana Hawthorne are very nice, sincere folks. I'd have no reservations about doing more business with them.

Bill

[navin]

Originally posted by lousymusician
Some folks here heard the original SI's and weren't wild about them. I own a pair, and while they are not perfect, they are pretty good. As a purpose-built OB loudspeaker they have very little competition, and offer a different set of virtues from, say, a Visaton B200.Bill

How do the SI differ from the B200 (or for that matter other smaller wide range drivers like the Supravox 215, Veravox 7x, or Fostex 207)?

One difference would be displacement and hence the slam of the bigger 15" SIs. I dont know if the smaller 10" SIs have the same slam. This difference might be less noticeable if one was to high Pass the wide range or SI at say 150hz.

On the other hand I dont know of another OB purpose built 10" woofer other than Hawthorne's 10" Augie. Mating a couple of these to either a 10" SI or Visaton/Supravox/Fostex etc... could result in a relatively slim (15" wide) OB system.

[kesa32]

Thanks for the replys...........l'm going down to have a listen to an original pair in the next month, this should give me a rough idea what the new ones might be like generally......yeah the new sterlings are certainly up there price wise..........though the crossovers are top notch , this is where a lot of the money is....hopefully the radian makes all the difference and takes them to a premium level

[lousymusician]

Originally posted by navin


How do the SI differ from the B200 (or for that matter other smaller wide range drivers like the Supravox 215, Veravox 7x, or Fostex 207)?

One difference would be displacement and hence the slam of the bigger 15" SIs. I dont know if the smaller 10" SIs have the same slam. This difference might be less noticeable if one was to high Pass the wide range or SI at say 150hz.

On the other hand I dont know of another OB purpose built 10" woofer other than Hawthorne's 10" Augie. Mating a couple of these to either a 10" SI or Visaton/Supravox/Fostex etc... could result in a relatively slim (15" wide) OB system.

I've not heard the B200's, but I woiuld expect them to have a more 'coherent' midrange (the SI's have a crossover there to contend with. The SI's should make significantly more (deeper) bass, even on a narrower baffle (due to higher Qts). The SI's should handle more power and play louder without strain - I've had mine up pretty darn loud!
Try searching the Hawthorne forum, I believe there are some first hand comparisons posted there.

I believe the 10" SI's don't go nearly as deep as the 15s, (lower Q + less area).

If you're high passing at 150 you don't need the SI 15's, their strength is their ability to get down around 50 before needing a helper woofer. The usual recommendation is to bring in the Augies between 40 and 70 Hz, depending on room and taste.

Bill

[wixy]

How would the sterling silver iris's compare say to a Tannoy 15" monitor gold, which is around the same price 2nd hand?

[BHTX]

I just recently got a couple pairs of cheap Pyle PPA15 'pro' woofers (.67 Qts for OB), with the intention of probably getting 4 more.. to mate with a pair of Radian 512/2B ceiling coaxials (also for OB) that I'll be ordering as soon as I sell another piece of gear or two. Just something to toy around with for a while. Besides the cheaper Hawthorne SI, I see this as another one of the few possible ways to obtain a potentially good value OB coax setup, versus dishing out the $$$ for something much more expensive like the Sterling SI's, or a pair of Hemp CO12VOB's (based on the Radian 512/2B, but well over twice the price) and several AE/Lambda dipole 15's or something like that. Hopefully I'll be able to get something really decent out of it. The drivers themselves could use some tweaking, of course (stamped steel frames, etc), and the cheap Pyle woofers could be better, but the low cost of this stuff is well worth it to me at this time in my life. Perhaps I'll figure out a great setup with all of this, and only end up exchanging the drivers for something a little better in the long run. But for now, I think I'll just get my feet wet and start out with the above. Just a thought.

[navin]

Originally posted by lousymusician


I've not heard the B200's, but I woiuld expect them to have a more 'coherent' midrange...
I believe the 10" SI's don't go nearly as deep as the 15s, (lower Q + less area).

If you're high passing at 150 you don't need the SI 15's,

For the bass I am thinking of 2 10" Augies, unless someone has a better option that will fit on a 15" baffle.

For the mid the Visaton or Supravox or another nice wide range.

I would think that the Visaton/Supravox would need to be XOed at abuot 150-200Hz and so would the 10" Augies.

Originally posted by wixy
How would the sterling silver iris's compare say to a Tannoy 15" monitor gold, which is around the same price 2nd hand?

Why buy 2nd hand when you can get new with excellent service?

[Scottmoose]

Tannoys = way lower Q. Not ideal on a baffle. They're better in EBS alignments or horn loaded cabinets.

[BHTX]

Originally posted by Scottmoose
Tannoys = way lower Q. Not ideal on a baffle. They're better in EBS alignments or horn loaded cabinets.

Agreed.