Questions about Accuton Drivers

[jainbaby]

Hello,

I have a few questions on Accuton Drivers?

Anyone know if they are shielded?

I am considering building either a two way with the 1" tweet and 7" mid or a three way with the 1", 3.5" and 7".

Does anyone have any experience with either setup? How did they turn out? What were the major challenges?

I have a relative that has Loudspeaker design software and DEQX so I can test a few scenarios but I need to select drivers at this point.

I am building these speakers to replace a pair of Dynaudio Countour series speakers. I have a Primare CD, Ayre Preamp and Electrocompaniet Amp.

The room is medium size.


Any an all help or opinions are appreciated

[Cloth Ears]

Hi Jainbaby,

There's a wealth of posts on Accuton drivers. Some more recent ones are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 for example. And Tony Gee has a couple on his website, being Soup and Cup-a-Soup.

I think Zalytron used to have some designs on their site for Accutons, but they seem to have dropped off and only stock the drivers now. Orca don't seem to have the drivers either. WAR Audio, in Australia, have a couple of designs. Madisound also have the drivers, but no kits for Accutons.

From other people on this site, I would suggest that for a first speaker project, using Accutons might prompt you to give it away before you even start. From some of the feedback on them in the threads I posted above, they are finicky, being very dependant on good quality components in the signal path and requiring a good deal of design work on the crossover. That's why I've bought a pair of mid-basses...

If you want to specify what sort of music you listen to, then I'm sure someone could scome up with a suitable option (or alternative) for your 'needs'. Otherwise, you could look seriously at the Soup idea from Tony Gees' HumbleHomeMadeHiFi site.

Just an opinion

EDIT: If you didn't have a nice amp already, I'd suggest that you might want to look at the Orion from Linkwitz. Maybe not my cup-of-tea - but sounds pretty good.

[jainbaby]

Hello Cloth,

Thanks, I guess I was a little vague. I listen to Jazz, Rock, a little R&B and a little Hip Hop and some Pop such as Jon Mayer and David Gray.

Tony Gee's project looks cool, But I want a floorstander and those are way too big for what I want.

Also, I will be relying on my Uncle for a lot of this project, he has a full CNC shop, a wood shop and Vacumn system for Veneering a spray booth, and tons of other tools that I have no idea what they do...

He has never used Accuton, but builds speakers and cabinets for some aftermarket speaker companies. I do not want to mention who he builds cabinets for, but they are very nice. He has used Focal, Seas, Raven, Scan Speak and a few other Manufacturers,

So it is safe to say that the cabinet will be top notch and he has all of the testing equipment necessary for testing and building crossovers. I am pretty sure he can build a very adequate Xover, this is my first project, but he will have a lot to do with it.

I guess I am wondering more if people have had better results with the two way setups or three way using all accuton drivers?

I will check out all of the other links you have listed here, if anyone else has any links or suggestions, feel free...

[Cloth Ears]

Whew! Do you wanna swap uncles? Kidding

[wigginjs]

Also, I will be relying on my Uncle for a lot of this project, he has a full CNC shop, a wood shop and Vacumn system for Veneering a spray booth, and tons of other tools that I have no idea what they do...

You really shouldn't have said that. Now everyone on this forum hates you

[jainbaby]

I know I should not have said that...He has a full shop, he is working on his own speaker that he wants to bring to market in the future.

I work in the electronics industry and about 10 years ago, before I went into the electronics industry, I worked retail and sold Audio. I have always wanted to build a pair of speakers but had never had the confidence to go through with it...Plus at the time i always felt I would never get the xover right.

[Cloth Ears]

Originally posted by m0tion
You really shouldn't have said that. Now everyone on this forum hates you

C'mon, m0tion, don't you mean envy? Unfortunately none of my relatives are into big wood shops, and none would ever consider building a speaker.

jainbaby, I hope you're buying him a nice present for Monday (if you're that way inclined). When you said...

Originally posted by jainbaby
But I want a floorstander and those are way too big for what I want.

...what exactly did you mean? The Soups are floorstanders, and reasonably small, around 4 feet tall and about as small as you can get for the 3-way Accuton that you're looking for (and still justifying the price of buying the Accutons, that is).

[jainbaby]

Well, I was looking for something around the size of 36-39 inch high, depth is not an issue, but they need to be somewhat thin

Maybe that answers the question right there, maybe a 2 way like the Kharma

[Cloth Ears]

Don't be scared to look at Audio Technology ('2' in my list of links above). Zaph has done quite a lot of testing on various drivers that you might also use as an alternative to Accuton mid-basses.

Oh, and you'll probably not use the first drivers you buy anyway. So prepare some space to store them all for that 'next project'. Think I'm kidding...? Just you wait and see!

[wigginjs]

C'mon, m0tion, don't you mean envy?

Oh yeah, definitely. Hence the smiley face, it was all sarcasm. Thats an unbelievable resource though and I'm sure you'll end up with really excellent speakers. I'm going back to my Skil saw =).