Building new speakers, FOCAL or SCANSPEAK ?

[jomor]

OK, i m thinking of making a pair of speakers ( and possibly a 3rd one for center channel, i ll use them 60% for music 40% for home cinema) so I need your advice on drivers selection... i m thinking of either focal W cone drivers or scanspeak. I was also considering the seas excel drivers but i chickened out a bit, even I have some experience on crossover design and i also own measuring equipment. I searched back the forum on this, but i got lost in so many threads on driver's comparison.


Here are my questions:

1) Which one of the scanspeak midbass drivers is better? There are so many scanspeak midbass models but i cant tell wich one is best. I m really interested in warm and sweet mids, not just deep bass.

2) are Focal W cone midbass drivers ( 6W4311 for example ) better or worse than the Scanspeaks ? I own a set of Focal Utopia 165W in my car, and i like them a lot, bass is deep, punchy and accurate, mids are great, highs are very detailed and not harsh (i d like them to be more warm though). I havent heard any scanspeak, so i need your help on this, does the price difference among focals and scanspeaks justify the sound performance difference ( if there is one, i see some people really admire the scanspeaks while some others say they sound too much "paper cone" for their class)

3) Which tweeter among all scanspeak models is prefferable? I see many people like the 9500, is it the best value for money or the best performance?

4) If 9500 is the best tweeter choice among scanspeaks, which one is better or worse than the ss, Morel MDT33 , Seas Excel T25CF 001 (the one with the normal magnet). Is Focal TC120 's performance close to them, or its a lower class tweeter ?

Please help!! Thanks for any reply in advance. Focal discontinued giving driver components but i see there is some stock at online shops for the time being.

[Kal]

Hi,

if you plan to use Scan Speak than try the 18 W 8546 (Kevlar cone) - it "sounds" much more dynamic than the paper/carbon versions. Recently I heard of a small German hi end manufacterer using the paper cone version (not the paper/carbon) version for 2-way-speakers. Before that that company used the famous Goerlich (Zellaton) as bass/mid-drivers and they "sound" very airy and dynamic, almost like an electrostatic.

For the tweeters keep in mind that the Focal 120 TDX is pretty hard to handle - it can "sound" very harsh. The Scan Speak or Morel tweeters are good in my oppinion. Have not heard the Excel without ferrofluid though.

[navin]

Originally posted by jomor
1) Which one of the scanspeak midbass drivers is better? There are so many scanspeak midbass models but i cant tell wich one is best. I m really interested in warm and sweet mids, not just deep bass.

2) are Focal W cone midbass drivers

3) Which tweeter among all scanspeak models is prefferable? I see many people like the 9500, is it the best value for money or the best performance?

1. which driver is best is a very vague question. however both focal and SS make very good drivers and so do other cos like PHL, Accuton, Vifa (PL line), Audax (Aerogel), etc...

2. i have used and listenened to the 9900, 9500 and MDT33 at great length. Of the 3 the 9500 might be hte best VFM. However if you need the extra db or 2 of sens and are looking a bit more resolution the 9900 is quite good too. I found the MDT33 too lispy (albeit my MDT33 were got in 1987 and they might have changed the design since).

3. The 8546 is a nice midbass. for most listening situations a pair of these will fill a 2500 cu. ft (250 sq. ft x 10 ft) room quite nicely. For HT however a dedicated sub or 2 would be required.

i suggest you listen to some commercially available speakers that use these drivers to get a better picture. I live in India and this opportunity was not available to me so I had to base my purchase on what i got from the net. I was not disappointed.

[ScottG]

SEAS:T18RE COAX/TVFC (for that much HT use)

notice the off-axis response.. critical for HT use.

http://www.seas.no/seas_line/coaxial/H1144.pdf

http://www.seas.no/images/Høytaler%2...ax.picture.htm

[Greg B]

I think you would like the scanspeak revelators best, from the description of requirements. I forget the number - the slit cone paper one.... Focal are actually my favorite of the common hifi brands, but they can be brutal to less than perfect source material or electronics. The tweeters are difficult but rewarding.

Navin- I was able to get the lispiness out of my morel MDT37's by either using an LCR trap or a steep crossover. I believe it is related to the impedance peak at Fs.. None of the morel tweeters are particularly smooth WRT impedance. Have you tried this? They can handle first order fine, but it isn't the best sound, at least without some help.

GB

[phase_accurate]

One disadvantage of Focal drivers is the fact that they are starting to be made out of unobtainium.

Regards

Charles

[Gregm]

Focal drivers (...) are starting to be made out of unobtainium

Yup. While there must be a huge stock around, Focal is no longer selling to the diy market.
Unobtainium, not beryllium,, primes.

Maybe you should stick to Scan or Seas, etc.

[jomor]

Thanks for all the input.

Suppose i stick to scanspeaks and choose the 18W/8546-01. 18W/8546-00 has yellow kevlar, while 18W/8546-01 has black, which i prefer. The 18W/8546-02 has phase plug, whats the pros and cons of a phase plug ?

Anyway 8546 for midbass, and the 9500 for tweeter. What should i choose for the center speaker then ? The 6000 for tweeter since its the only one shielded, but what about the midbasses? I cant find a 13cm shielded version of the kevlar one
, i only found the 15S/8530-00, and i dont know if i could turn to something like Vifa MG14SK09-08 or it will sound crap ( or much different than left-right speaker)

[Kittle]

Something to consider for your tweeter...

Im also in the process of searching for drivers for my next project, and just bought a scanspeak 9500 tweeter, a fostex FT48D and a vifa (dont remember model).

and despite all the talk about how scanspeak sounds the best.. I like the Fostex better. The scanspeak sounds slightly better in quality, but is HIGHLY directional when compared to the fostex. So unless the ss 9800 or 9700 is a big step up in quality... im using the fostex tweeter.

Also, the focal TC series tweeters are very good sounding -- assuming you can get a hold of them.

[markp]

I've used the SS 18w/8544 and 8546 for many years with the 9500 tweeter. They are very dynamic at all volume levels and can play loud with no strain. They are easy to crossover too. The Focals are 'harder' sounding in general, especially the T120. The SS will not disapoint.