What to do with scanspeak 9500 and 8545 drivers?

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Hi all,

I have a pair of scanspeak 9500 tweeters and 18W8545 mid/woofers that are currently being used with a crossover detailed here http://www.speakerbuilding.com/content/1021/. The cabinet volume is only about 15L (ported) rather than 20L as per the M1 design. My problem is I am just not happy with the sound, in particular the very limited bass response and the lack of any real soundstage.

So I'm looking to build something along the lines of the Galtis which uses a 9700, and 8545 and an 8535.

So do you think I can use the Galtis crossover designed for the 9700 with my 9500 tweeter? Or would I be better trying something like the Amish?

Cheers,
Al
 
Hi Al,

I don’t normally come here, but was lurking and saw your post. Having used both drivers, of the two designs you mentioned, I’d suggest the Amish as your better bet. The enclosure size is close to what I’d call correct, and the crossover looks well thought out, even thought I do think it may be crossed a bit high for he 8545. I would build it just a bit larger and tuned a few Hz lower. 28 liters and a 32 Hz tuning. In my experience, this will result in a more natural sounding bass when the room reinforcement is considered. The orange plot is my suggested tuning in the thumbnail below, while the gray is the Amish tuning.

Later

C
 

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No you shouldn't use the 9500 tweeter instead of the 9700 for the Galtis, without altering the crossover.

The impedance curve of the 9700 is different, thus the filter's will affect it differently (the 9700 uses faraday rings in it's "SD-2" magnet system, whilst 9500 does not)

The Amish is probably one of the better designs you'll see for the 8545/9500.

Although the power response looks good, the XO point is probably little high, as can been seen from dip at 3Khz.

The ideal XO point would probably be 2Khz, but Troels didn't seem to have much luck with a parallel crossover on that narrow baffle, so settled on the 3KHz series crossover, and was satisfied with the sound.

These are minor criticisms from an armchair commentator.
Despite all this it probably sounds very good.
 
I have to admit I am no x-over designer however I have seen many x-over designs and I would like to offer some tips.

The speaking building design has some faults, the main culprit is the LT1 and RT1, both are too large and will tend to make sound of the 8545 close/shut in.

A quick fix to see whether my hunch is correct, short them out. Remember this is not a permanent fix, I think the sound will open out.

More tweaking needs to be done for a permanent fix.

Try it, it will not damage your speaker.

8545 is an excellent driver..
 
Thanks for all your responses. Very much appreciated.

I think that everybody agrees that a bodged Galtis would be a bad idea especially considering I have no measurement equipment and any crossover changes needed due to the tweeter change would be extremely hit and miss.

I have emailed Troels to ask him how he thought the Amish compared to his Proac2.5 and his response was that he actaully preferred the Amish. Very encouraging news.

@ttan98 : I will bypass the baffle step correction bit of my current crossover just to see what the difference is. Good idea. Thanks.

So I think my next step (when the weather is more agreeable) is to build a test cabinet and give the Amish a try. I also have the crossover design for the Wilmslow Vogue speakers which use the 9500 and 8545. The cabinet size is very similar to the Amish although the tweeter is not offset. I may also give this a go aswell as I already have the necessary crossover components.

Just need some decent weather and some time now!

Thanks all.

Al
 
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