bookshelf speaker project advice

[milen007]

i am ready to build my next project. My preferences and goals:
- clear Warm sound rather than analytical
- Clear bass rather than lowest notes
- smooth treble
- small room size
- range of music mainly jazz, vocal
- amp 100W valve amp per channel
- other components are cyrus cdp 8x, amc amp and pre(tubes 12ax7 and 12au7)
- bookshelf

there are three choices. please help me choose:
1. AR.COM kit using the Seas parts (27TDFC (H1189) Textile dome and P18RNX/P (H1350) 7" Poly Cone Woofer)
2. Selah Audio SA1 kit. This uses the Vifa XT18WO09 woofer and the Fountek NeoCd3.0M tweeter.
3. Zaph Audio kit. This kit used the new Seas reed paper cones and the 27TDFC tweeter. http://www.zaphaudio.com/SR71.html

Erwin

[milen007]

anyone idea?

[peter_m]

1. I can't find the site to look at them. The drivers are nice though.
2. XT18 is very nice in the midrange but limited in the lower frequencies. Ribbon tweeters are a no no for me.
3. Do it, do it now!

[bastek]

I have built the SSR from Selah Audio. It's a great sounding monitor.
The sa-1 should sound a little warmer.

[Cacophonix]

Echo bastek's comment.

I've built the SSR and its a wonderful monitor. Has the right amount of warmth and detail. I'd go with Selah's design.

[milen007]

two confliction ideas, sa1 and sr7. that means no to ar.com. anyone? thanks guys

[Jay_WJ]

If you room is small, you may not want too much baffle step compensation. More so if the speakers will be placed close to walls or in a real bookshelf (or in whatever place with significant boundary gain).

Because you use a valve amp, depending on its damping factor, you will need an impedance compensation circuit.

Regarding these issues about the SR-71 kit, see this (section "Comparison to Zaph's design):

http://www.geocities.com/woove99/Spk...18RNX_2Way.htm


Also, you may want to consider the PE Usher 701 kit. If you like low-distortion yet warm tonality, the Usher woofer is a better choice, IMO. To know better about this kit, read my web page:

http://www.geocities.com/woove99/Spkrbldg/Usher_701.htm

[milen007]

Hi Jay

About the sr71, madison also offer crossover with impedance compensation. is it the same as you suggest?

usher 71 got rave reviews, yep, that should go into the consideration. but i got no idea how to evaluate the frequency graph, so any advices is appriciated

forget to mention that i already own a pair of spendor s3/5. would any of the suggestion above turn out an improvement over spendor s3/5?

[sreten]

Hi,

One could argue a high quality subsystem (mono but two boxes,
one with the amplifier, the other simply a speaker) added to
the Spendors would be the sensible way to proceed.
The above done properly will give you genuinely deep bass.

However the more efficient speakers with larger drivers
will outperform the Spendors at high levels / large rooms.

Given you description in post #1 I'd say go for the added sub.
A high quality compact solution is advised. The Spendors are
very difficult to better for purpose in small rooms.

/sreten.

[Jay_WJ]

How small is your room? Room shape? What kind of speaker placement are you planning?