Excel W21EX001

[ggta]

I am planning to build a 2 way with a pair of Morel MDT33 that I got and a pair of Excel W21EX001. Do you think, this will make a good combination? The Excel has got a paper membrane not magnesium.


Is there somebody who has already heard this speakers? What do you think of it?

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

Hoping that your link led to a photo, I tried it. Instead I got a photo of a white cow in a snowstorm.

[JohnL]

I have used the W21 paper cone Excels, they sound nice, but they aren't terribly flat in the FR. The published curves are pretty accurate, take a look at it and see if you are comfortable designing a crossover for them.

John

[5th element]

The woofer has a breakup (indicated by the bump in the impedance curve) at about 700hz. This is not ideal, but lots of other drivers have break up like this and they are fine.

The graphs SEAS produce have 6dB of bafflestep built in due to how they are measured, so the rising response is not as bad as it looks. But the driver does have a rising reponse even if you take this into acount.

This rise starts at about 1khz and continues to 3khz, this is all on axis. We dont typically listen that far off axis anyway, so it would be important to deisgn the speaker to be flat on axis.

If you crossover at about 2khz or a bit lower this should make for a good response off axis. You are lucky that the MDT33 can be crossed over low. Im not sure how low, but id take it as low as you are willing to go.

A rising reponse is a doddle to design a crossover for if you have measuring software & good design software, if you dont it can present much more of a problem, but dont give up. Although not perfect using an 8", a good low xover will sound good if done right.

[ggta]

Thank you for the replies.

I add this link for the caracteristics of the speaker =>ici

Do you have any other speaker to recommend to me for approximately the same price? (that could be easier to cross over and could fit with the Morel)

[5th element]

Ahh I was under the impression that you already had the driver.

OK

Do you really need to use a 8" driver? Although I would really like to make a 2 way with a paper seas and a suitable dome it would be hard without software.

6" drivers are much more abundant and are more suitable for a 2 way design.

The excel woofer you have decided on is a really nice driver with regards to quality and although it doesnt have the magnesium cone of the other excels it still uses the same basket and motor, so its top of the range.

You have about $300 to play with there which is a nice price to spend.

The other magnesium excels are really good too, but if you are not confident to design an xover for a rising response then adding the complication of the resonance peak with the metal cones is a nono too.

For 8" you have the seas standard range to look at, CA21RE, P21REX, P21RFX/P. For SEAS 6.5" drivers the CA18 drivers.

From peerless the 850439 HDS for 6.5". The 8" HDS is the same as the 8" excel you chose, not the easiest to build with.

Vifa doesnt really have any 8" that are good in a 2way near your price (obvisouly you can spend less if you want). The PL18WO09-08 is a much better bet.

IM sure you are getting picture here if you have looked at the frequency response graphs for the drivers I have recommended, FLAT is what you are looking for. The peerless scan vifa group
(D-S-T.com) have baffle step sorted for in the way they measure the drivers, seas dont, which is why before I mentioned the 6dB drop into the bass before.

Im sure you are capable of looking thru the list of 6.5" and 8" drivers the companies have and make a good choice. Just post back here if you have any other questions or drivers you want us to look at.

Cheers Matt

[santi]

Hi, Matt
Could you told the difference between SS 8535, SS 8531, Seas W18E001?

[5th element]

I cannot compare directly because I have not listened to any of the scan drivers, nor the seas excel. But I do use the W15cy001 which is just the seas but smaller.

The w15 is a very detailed and clean sounding drive unit but can sound a bit rough with less then perfect recordings. This is not unpleasent, but you can tell when a less then perfect recording is playing.

The Scan drivers have a reputation for being less detailed then the seas but are more forgiving with poor quality recordings. They are meant to have a more "warm" more full bodied presentation. The seas are meant to be stark and cold, not my experience with the W15, but thats what some people say.

The scan drivers probably have better bass then the W18 especially the 8531 which I have read is a super unit in the bass.

They are all very good drivers and its a matter of personal taste.

[santi]

Thanks Matt
Very useful info. I will try to find people who use those driver and let me listen to whose system. May be Seas W18E001, Seas W22EX001, Seas Millenium, SS 8535 and SS 8513. I hope I could found the SS 8531 later.

Have you ever heard the SS 9800 aluminum dome?

[454Casull]

Originally posted by santi
Thanks Matt
Very useful info. I will try to find people who use those driver and let me listen to whose system. May be Seas W18E001, Seas W22EX001, Seas Millenium, SS 8535 and SS 8513. I hope I could found the SS 8531 later.

Have you ever heard the SS 9800 aluminum dome?

Linkwitz's distortion testing indicates that the Seas T25CF002 and 9700 both perform better (measurement-wise) than the 9800.