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These beautiful 8in fullrange drivers from Sonodyne of South Korea are made with Hanji paper. Hanji is the name of traditional handmade paper from Korea is made from the inner bark of Paper Mulberry, a tree native to Korea that grows well on its rocky mountainsides, known in Korean as dak. The formation aid crucial to making hanji is the mucilage that oozes from the roots of Hibiscus manihot. This substance helps suspend the individual fibers in water.
These drivers sell for 800,000.00 Korean Won which is $735 USD a pair! Perhaps with their using the handmade Hanji paper and with these prices you can call these a poorman's Feastrex?
These are the only specs I could find for these SD-855 8 inche drivers.
* Revc = 5.800 Ohm
* Fo = 81.049 Hz
* Sd = 18.869ksqMM
* Vas = 22.107Ltr
* Cms = 437.189m M/N
* Mmd = 7.252m kg
* Mms = 8.742g
* BL = 7.470 TM
* Qms = 2.370
* Qes = 1.465
* Qts = 0.389
* Voice coil diameter = 25 mm
Tom Scata (thetubeguy1954)
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They're close to the cheapest lowthers you can buy. Overpriced? Probably. Then again, what isn't?
Still much much lower than feastrex, lowther and many other full range drivers.
I'm curious amp-guy how did you divine they're overpriced to the extreme without ever hearing them? Was this conclusion simply divined out of then air or perhaps you used a crystal ball or a medium you consulted? I have to admit find it completely both ludicrous and asinine for anyone to immediately jump to such a conclusion about ANY audio component ---{be it an amp, speaker, wires etc}--- without having first heard it!
How do you know that Hanji paper isn't sonically better than the Washi paper used in Feastrex fullrange drivers everyone raves about? Guess what, if the Hanji is sonically superior to Washi it would make them an incredible value at $735pr compared to Feastrex's cheapest 8" drivers the D9nf which sell for $7950pr huh? However as I haven't heard either the Sonodyne SD-855 or the Feastrex D9nf fullrange drivers so unlike you I won't make myself look foolish commenting on their sonic merits or their value.
Thetubeguy1954
These Sonodyne SD-855 eight inch drivers are actually less than 1/10th the cost of the cheapest Feastrex D9nf eight inch drivers and a little less than 1/2 of the cost of my $1800pr Fostex FE208ES-R eight inch drivers.
After listening to the FE208ES-R drivers for extended periods of time, I happen to believe they're a great value in light of their awesome sonic attributes! So "if" the Sonodyne SD-855 drivers are even close to the performance of the Fostex FE208ES-R drivers, I'd consider them a steal at $735pr and so would many other people who didn't manage to obtain one of the 250prs of Fostex FE208ES-R drivers ever made and that's a fact!
I cannot speak for anyone else, but considering their unique handmade Hanji paper and the fact that the paper is also the surround, I'm intriqued enough to have already inquired with Sonodyne about obtaining a pair of their SD-855 eight inch drivers...
Thetubeguy
in search of nirvana
So do they need special handmade cables to sound their best? And perhaps only exotic hand-crafted valve-based silk insulated electronics to deliver the ultimate in sound?
have you heard them?? How do you know they're worthy of such gushing accolades, oozing mucilage notwithstanding??
John L.
So do they need special handmade cables to sound their best? And perhaps only exotic hand-crafted valve-based silk insulated electronics to deliver the ultimate in sound?
have you heard them?? How do you know they're worthy of such gushing accolades, oozing mucilage notwithstanding??
John L.
John,
Are you asking me this question? If you are you clearly missed where I plainly stated in my response to amp-guy "However as I haven't heard either the Sonodyne SD-855 or the Feastrex D9nf fullrange drivers so unlike you I won't make myself look foolish commenting on their sonic merits or their value." So no I obviously have not heard them. Perhaps you should read my posts completely or more closely?
In addition to answer the other questions you raised, yes like most high-quality speakers installed in highend audio systems, they'll probably benefit from, not need, high-quality ---{if that's special to you}--- cables be they handmade or not to sound their very best.
Most certainly with an exotic, hand-crafted, valve-based, high-quality, SET amp, the SD-855 drivers would ---{to the best of their capabilities}--- deliver the ultimate in sonic replication of music in ways solid state aficionados can only dream about!
Now what I actually did as opposed to making such gushing accolades as you claimed, was response to ra7 by stating the following points of fact:
- These Sonodyne SD-855 eight inch drivers are actually less than 1/10th the cost of the cheapest Feastrex D9nf eight inch drivers. That's a fact.
- They're a little less than 1/2 of the cost of my $1800pr Fostex FE208ES-R eight inch drivers. That's a fact.
- After listening to the FE208ES-R drivers for extended periods of time, I happen to believe they're a great value in light of their awesome sonic attributes! That's a fact.
I then suggested "if" the Sonodyne SD-855 drivers are even close to the performance of the Fostex FE208ES-R drivers, I'd consider them a steal at $735pr and so would many other people who didn't manage to obtain one of the 250prs of Fostex FE208ES-R drivers ever made and that's a fact!
So please John show me where I was specifically providing such gushing accolades as you claimed, about these beautiful looking, Sonodyne SD-855 drivers.
Thetubeguy1954
Interesting,
The phase plug looks rather odd--figured they would of put a taper on it. The response looks rather choppy--the jump from 79 to 100 dB at around 120 to 140 Hz would be very annoying.
Paper has a nice sound, I've always liked it but I'm generally more concerned with the other stats--flat frequency response, SPL and power handling. For cables, I use 14 AWG flexible Rapco cables since the Monster Cable 80's are long gone. If a voice coil or inductor ever gets larger than 14 AWG--then I'll care (but I still won't)
Does Sonodyne make a 4 or 5 inch full range? One day I'll build a BIB with a full ranger but run a subwoofer with it to give me bass. Interesting find, hope they roll out some more drivers of different sizes and materials.
The phase plug looks rather odd--figured they would of put a taper on it. The response looks rather choppy--the jump from 79 to 100 dB at around 120 to 140 Hz would be very annoying.
Paper has a nice sound, I've always liked it but I'm generally more concerned with the other stats--flat frequency response, SPL and power handling. For cables, I use 14 AWG flexible Rapco cables since the Monster Cable 80's are long gone. If a voice coil or inductor ever gets larger than 14 AWG--then I'll care (but I still won't)
Does Sonodyne make a 4 or 5 inch full range? One day I'll build a BIB with a full ranger but run a subwoofer with it to give me bass. Interesting find, hope they roll out some more drivers of different sizes and materials.
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http://profile.imageshack.us/user/thetubeguy1954 SPL vs FREQ
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http://profile.imageshack.us/user/thetubeguy1954 SD-655
Hello 18Hurts.
I believe the odd looking phase plug is probably just their wooden version of the metal phase plug that Zu Audio & Decware Audio are now both using in their full range drivers. I'm also in agreement with your assessment about the response looking rather choppy, but I like that Sonodyne isn't providing specs that aren't matched by listening tests. In addition I like that their two drivers don't have an almost constant rise in the freq resp. like Fostex or Lowther drivers do!
Personally I like the sound of paper quite a lot and really want to hear what the Han Ji ---{the correct spelling}--- paper sounds like quite a lot. As far as cables goes I use Stealth Audio's Dream speaker wires, Sakra ICs and M-21 Super power cords. I don't really care if other people believe wires can or cannot influence the sound, because for me, in my system I know they can. In fact, one of the diyAudio moderators Sy, should be coming to my home ---{hopefully this year}--- to do a controlled DBT to see if I can differentiate my wires from others under controlled conditions.
In case you're interested I run my present Fostex FE208ES-R drivers in Sachiko double-back-loaded horns (thank you Scottmoose) allowing them to run directly from the amp. In the Sachikos their freq resp is approx 80Hz to 10Khz. To augment the highs I use the incredible Pioneer HW-7, alnico, 16 ohm horn tweeters that are the very best tweeter be it ribbon, dome or horn I''ve heard to date! They XO in at about 5Khz and are good to about 25Khz. For subs I'm using Hawthrone Audio 15 inch "Augies" in an OB confiquration from 100Hz and below.
Finally to answer your question about whether or not Sonodyne makes a 4 or 5 inch full range or not. The answer is from what I've found I'd say no, but they do make a nice 6.5 inch full range called the SD-655 that sells for $658.50/pr and has a less choppy response and the follow specs:
* Revc = 5.800 Ohm
* Fo = 115.013 Hz
* Sd = 122.720sqMM
* Vas = 8.101Ltr
* Cms = 378.762m M/N
* Mmd = 4.274 g
* Mms = 5.056g
* BL = 6.624 TM
* Qms = 2.737
* Qes = 0.483
* Qts = 0.411
* Voice coil diameter = 25 mm
* Net weight : 1.6 kg
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Hello again amp-guy! I'm in 100% agreement with you on that point. I too, expected to see some alnico. Unfortunately not all manufactuers apparently agree or believe, alnico sounds best...
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
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