A few questions about altering the Ariels

[CamMan595]

I was looking on NorthCreekMusic's site and found this:

This system was originally designed with the Scan Speak D2905/9000 tweeter, which was 5dB down at 20kHz, so the original design was made a bit on the bright side to compensate. It is now supplied with the North D28-06S, which has a very slight rise as it approaches 20kHz.

My 1st question: Is the North D28-06S a suitable replacement? I'm not trying to be cheap but, why spend $250 on drivers when $35 drivers will sound just as good.

I am considering making the cabinets out of 3/4" MDF "slices" that would be CNC routed so that when they are laminated together they form the proper cabinet shape. I am not describing this very well so let me try it again. Imagine you are standing in front of one of the speaker cabinets and you sliced off a 3/4" piece off of one side and then did it again and again... until you reached the other side. I am going to have those "slices" routed out of 3/4" sheets and then put them together. I would then have the driver holes machined after putting it together.

My 2nd question is: "Would it be advantageous to smooth out the labyrinth so that it is has a constant cross section and no sharp corners or would it be better to make it the same as it is now? Years ago, I saw something like this from a company on the net that was making the laberinth out of custom bent laminations. I haven't been able to find those cabinets for several years.

Lynn,
Please don't think I am trying to reengineer your design. That is not the case at all. When you designed the Ariels, the North drivers didn't exist and as for the cabinets, I know you designed them so that anyone with some good carpentry skills could make a pair without having to have access to a CNC router.

[CamMan595]

Never-mind about the sliced cabinets. The CNC shop said that the MDF could not handle the thin (1/2") walls without taking such small cuts that the cost would be too excessive.


Any comments about the North Tweeters?