Image Loudspeakers - Revelation / Paragon Clone?

[soundengine355]

Hi All,

I found a very nice commercial loudspeaker which look like a good candidate to clone.

Both the Revelation and Paragon use the same drivers, just a different enclosure design.

http://www.image-loudspeakers.co.nz/...revelation.asp

http://www.image-loudspeakers.co.nz/...ts/paragon.asp

They use a Morel Tweeter, Seas Midrange and dual Peerless woofers.

What you guys think?

[sdclc126]

Well, I think a good question to ask about any attempt at cloning is: "Why do you want to clone this particular speaker?" The second question is "Why would you want to clone ANY speaker?"

The reason I say this is because, if you're goal is very high accuracy in sound reproduction (I'm assuming it is) there are other, simpler, easier ways of getting there. Some people clone for looks, others clone for sound, many for both; for many cloning is a challenging hobby.

But to do an accurate clone, assuming the drivers in the commercial speaker are the same as those available to the DIY market (often they are the same model but may be modified for the particular manufacturer) you will need to clone the crossover, which means you need to know its design.

If you don't know this but want to build a speaker with the particular set of drivers, your best option is to feed their stats into a good software program and design a crossover that way. Or, have someone to do it for you. You may actually end up with a design superior to the commercial speaker, but that all depends on how good a job they did in the first place.

Which leads to the question, what is your real goal here? Have you heard these speakers and so do you want to get the same sound, or do you simply want to achieve great sound? The simpler, easier, and often cheaper way to do this is to build one of the myriad established designs that are out their in the DIY community already. Look at the Zaph Audio, Troels Gravesson, Tony Gee, Jay_WJ, etc. sites - you will find designs there that at least equal and many that surpass the speaker you want to clone.

Edit - the drivers in question are all very good, by the way, and these are very robust speakers with dual woofers and thus lots of bass I'm assuming; the exception would be the Morel tweeters in terms of value - I believe better can be had for less money, namely the Prestige line by SEAS.

[soundengine355]

I'm looking for a TMWW design.

Have not found a good one yet using dual 8 or 10inch woofers.

[Dave Bullet]

Getting a single mid to match the sensitivity of 2 8" or 10" drivers can be a challenge. Maybe why there aren't many designs out there? (I can't recall seeing any either).. This either requires an unusually sensitive midrange driver (midwoofer) or pairing smaller mids to match bass sensitivity (even taking into account 3-5dB bafflestep).

Curt Campbell's statements on htguide use dual Dayton RS225s
http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=28728

Troel has a couple of designs not sure if he has any dual 8" or larger woofer designs:
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Diy_Lou...r_Projects.htm

I suppose the next question is - why dual 8" woofers or larger?

David.

[sdclc126]

You might also consider active bass units (1 or 2 woofers) coupled to passive 2-ways. You can adjust the amplifier gain to get a good match with the mids.

[ttan98]

Build the "The "Elsinore Project" Thread " by Joe, it lists all the parts used, x-overs and cabinet dimensions, minimun passive components used, and MOST important you get good sound.

I think Joe will help you if you have any questions.