Highest Quality 2-way

[Bas Horneman]

since you mentioned tube amplification I would suggest the following 2 way that is inside your budget...

Bastanis Dragonfly

(I am dealer for that product so you can take my suggestion for what it's worth..to be sure if you ever order them don't order them from me..I would not want to be seen pushing products I sell..but rather this is an attempt to steer you a little outside the box...so to speak)

A single driver inside your budget the New CCS FR125S
http://www.planet10-hifi.com/css.html

I have to admit that I have not heard that one..I did order them..to evealuate. But according to the folks that have tried them they are something else..but you would have to use the PP2A3 not SE 2A3.

Dave Dlugos is a fellow diy'er and moderator so again folks might think there is conflict of interest..but I gain nothing financially from that..once again an attempt to steer you a little outside the mainstream...(because there are real gems to be had outside of mainstream)

[amirmk]

I will use them on stands.
Speakers bought for 1,200 cannot compete with speakers built for that much, and i would like to get the most out of my budget and amp. Maybe I could trade my current amp for a more powerfull one using pentodes or PSE, that is not very important.

Can you post links to projects or designs of such speakers? thanks.

[Bas Horneman]

The stands rule out Dragonfly's (They are kits by the way..you get everything without the wood....)

Here is a discussion thread on the CCS drivers and implementation :
CSS FR125S ... production units playing now...

Here is a sample enclosures :
http://www.planet10-hifi.com/boxes.html

[ucla88]

Originally posted by conscious
I would agree, a-noob that an actively crossed 3 way can and should be better than an actively crossed 2 way, but I was talking about within the budget given.

Actually, this bring up the real point that I was making, which was that active speakers are so much more superior than passive. Many believe that they can overcome this by purchasing better drivers but passive crossovers always introduce problems with phase shift, delay, voltage ringing in capacitors, inductor compression, complimentary induction between inductors, compression from heat generation in resistors and capacitors, variances in component values (usually +/-10%) and decoupling of the amp from the driver (e.g. damping factor).

The fact that you can get this all very well sorted out for you in a pair of Mackies for $1200 seems like the deal of the century.

Yea, except the Mackie's are still mating an essentially 9" driver to a dome and crossing at 1800. There will be power response issues. No way around that, even with active. As to the "problems with phase shift, delay," well, the makie is just a "plain ole 4th order LR" so group delay will be the same. There is some modest truth to issues with passive components, but they can be mitigated.

I think you can build better than the Mackies for $1200. Now, if you didn't have an amp, that would be different. Since you do, you can do better. Don't get me wrong; the Mackies seem pretty nice and there's a nice bit of flexibility in the active xover.

In your room there will be substantial room gain starting somewhere between 40-60 hz. A two way 7" based system would be fine. Depending on the level of bass you're looking for you could even use a sealed configuration.

The 8545/9500 is a tried and true standard configuration. It's quite good. I did a sealed one that has impressive bass in a 3m x 3m room.





I'm sure there are a bunch of others. My baffle was complex, and, probably not worth the effort since it uses a 4LR. Still, it sounds very neutral.

ps sorry about the lousy pix...

[Pallas]

Originally posted by 454Casull

A 15" driver doesn't have enough cone area?

In a monopole, sure. (In a dipole, I'm not so sure.)

I think you missed the point of the comment you quoted, which was that I like well-designed 2-way speakers, but not small 2-way speakers. (Or small 1-way speakers, or small 3-way speakers, or small 10-way speakers.) The Gedlee Summa is certainly an example of a well-designed 2-way speaker, with controlled directivity in the crossover region and enough volume displacement to reproduce energy-dense passages like massed strings. Hopefully I'll get to hear a pair someday, because Dr. Geddes has managed to explain a lot of the stuff that I was hearing but never knew why.

[pamaz]

once again i'm here to "sponsorize" the 2 way minimonitor of Jim Griffin.
I'm using them in a room that is only larger than the 2x4mt you mention.
One more plus of these beauties is that in the case you don'like them , it would be a matter of minutes selling their components here on the forum, giving you freedom to make other attempts.
Just as side info, recently i had the opportunity to compare them both with Ensemle pa1 reference silver (no longer made but extraordinary speakers for sure) and with Sonus Faber guarneri homage, that costs 10 times what a jim griffin monitor costs).
Both the owner of these boxes where disappointed enough to admit that the Jim Griffin design was (at least in my room) superior to their speakers.
I agree BTW that if you would listen to hard rock, any compact speaker , no matter which model or brand, will be deluding.

Ciao

Paolo


p.s. still not made an attempt for a sort of dedicated SW, but one day i'll do it and let you know.

[amirmk]

Not hard rock actually, hard jazz. Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, The Jazz Messengers, Interstellar Space and other late coltrane recordings.
Can you post a link to jim griffin's Design? Is there anyway to improve it even more? I worked hard for that money, performing in Weddings and things like that, and i want to get the most out of it.
Is there any reason to use even more expensive drivers? I think that 500$ for four drivers is more than what most ten grand speaker makers are paying for drivers, but music is my joy, playing, recording, listening. I own about thirteen hundred CDs, Cassettes (which is rarely listen to) and Records. I Went to diy because those 7,000 nis Speakers were not as good as i thought they would be.

[pamaz]

so we have similar musical tastes.
Actually i think that jazz , along with small/medium classical ensemble are the territory where the JG minimonitor excel.
Take note that i used to have monitor audio studio 20, that now are sitting in a corner after the minimonitor has come at home.
ciao

[Bill Hobba]

Originally posted by amirmk
I will use them on stands.
Speakers bought for 1,200 cannot compete with speakers built for that much, and i would like to get the most out of my budget and amp. Maybe I could trade my current amp for a more powerfull one using pentodes or PSE, that is not very important.

Can you post links to projects or designs of such speakers? thanks.

They are the speakers I mentioned in my reply. Here are the links again:
http://www.audioroundtable.com/Sing...ssages/950.html
http://maxhawk.bravepages.com/diyatl/2004results.htm

Thanks
Bill

[derf]

Is there any reason to use even more expensive drivers? I think that 500$ for four drivers is more than what most ten grand speaker makers are paying for drivers

I think when you start spending above that kind of money on the same size drivers, it becomes a case of diminishing returns.

TBH, if you can fit/justify 8"/10"/12" woofers in your room(the bigger, the better), I'd go with that. They'll have an order or two magnitude of lower distortion than a 6" driver and be a more dynamic for the hard hitting jazz stuff you like, generally with a less strained reproduction.