New Ekta Grande/ZRT varation

[dotvibe]

Hi Guys,

Am thinking of doing an Ekta Grande, but need some advice on the tweeter. I was wondering if it might work with a 6600 aircirce scanspeak tweeter instead of the 7000 ring radiator. Any thoughts? Would it require a major crossover adjustment do you think?

I ask for 2 reasons. no 1, price, obviously, no. 2, the 6600 is supposedly such a fantastic tweeter for the money. It already works so well in the 2,5 ported ZRT, which is basically the same volume box.

What I want to build, basically, is a lot like a 2.5 ported ZRT with a 12M/4631-G00 and curved side panels. I find the the Ekta Grande baffle a bit scary to take on, but the box is do-able.

Thoughts, comments?

links:
Zaph|Audio - ZRT - Revelator Tower
Ekta GrandeScanSpeak 18W/

[jerome69]

Hi,

Built one of these designs
There are all good designs with high end drivers . I think the tweeter doesn't have a lot of importance in the EKTA, a XT25 is sufficient because the crossover frequency is above 4kHz.

Have fun.

[dotvibe]

Right, cool.

I am a bit wary what with using such expensive parts like the revelator drivers and a fairly involved cabinet build and then pairing it with a "cheap" tweeter like the Vifa.

I get that this sounds a bit silly when I'm trying to save by moving away from the 7000 to the 6600 scanspeaks, but still. In the long run i might be building 5 speakers using some or other combination of these drivers/tweeters, so getting the combination of value to performance right is key.

[dotvibe]

I suppose using the XT25 standard config for the EKTA Grande would make for a nice combo if I were to use a pair of Zaph ZD5's for surrounds at a later stage. keep it all in the same family.

Also saves on having to figure out new crossover topologies. Now, If only I could get those 6600's out of my head!

[dotvibe]

I have another question. Its about this whole "driver matching" deal. It's all the rage in commercial speaker packages, and when I bought my B&W package, it was real important that all 5 speakers used the same 6.5" speakers cones.

So how big a deal is it really? Say if you use 6.5" woofers in your LR's and 5.25" woofers in your centre and surrounds?

[dotvibe]

Heck, I'm talking to myself here but that ain't always a bad thing. Maybe I should check with my psychiatrist

anyways, looking at Jed's RBR kit, and it seems like the SB-Acoustics SB29RDC tweeter is a step above the XT25. . Must find out from the crossover gurus what changes will effect for the floorstanders though. Seems Clearwave prefers Scanspeak Discovery HDS these days. still relatively cheap. hmmmmmmmmm.......

[blue934]

Originally Posted by dotvibe

I have another question. Its about this whole "driver matching" deal. It's all the rage in commercial speaker packages, and when I bought my B&W package, it was real important that all 5 speakers used the same 6.5" speakers cones.

So how big a deal is it really? Say if you use 6.5" woofers in your LR's and 5.25" woofers in your centre and surrounds?

check out Zaph's recent blog entries. he just touched on this topic and basically said if all you speakers are all of similar quality design with good response characteristics, driver matching isn't such a big deal for HT. i'm not sure if that applies to DVD-A or SACD though but it makes sense.


david

[smnjn]

Check this alternative to ZRT at much lower price point: https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...c43d8434436b03 Suman Jana

[dotvibe]

thanks for the link. That basically the same configuration as Clearwave's C5, so we know it works. standard kit caps are a bit lowgrade, but easily fixable. The real question is, when you are spending that much on a decent driver & caps, is it not worth your while to sped the extra bucks on the tweeters to make the speakers really shine? Or is the sound quality of those tweets at those frequencies so similar that you might as well save your money and go for the cheaper ones?

Also, if you could tell me, in your opinion, how wide is the imaging/stage of these speakers? If I build these, then move them from stereo position to surrounds in a 5.1 (sacrilege, i know) would that work at all?

[dotvibe]

Must say the rediscoveries look VERY good. Would they work as bookshelves, i wonder...