I think they are. The seller claims these are OEM made for some audio company ( as far as I can understand what he says on the advert ).
Cons:
Basket is different, the SS18 I have come with rounded eliptical chassis support bars, the terminals are gold plated, wider and different looking, cap is made of pressed paper with a "square" pattern, if you know what I mean, like the Veravox 5s cones, this one seems the same as the cone material. Side of the basket seems a bit rougher, the original speaker has the orange peel look but is much smoother and invisible even on high-res photos. There seems to be a consistency difference between the two pictured drivers - observe the cone slits and their relative distance to the cap, the one on the left seems to have larger spacing. The Impedance plot is not the one for a Revelator and indicates high voice coil inductane and no copper rings in the motor. FR of original Revelators has a bump at around 3Khz, these seem to be flat ( no info on how they`re measured, this is not a Scanspeak measurement ). See the solder on the terminals` bottoms, it is like on a crappy $5 chinese speaker.
Pros:
Cone looks like the original uncoated version, even if the black glue stripes usually shine more. Spider looks like the original one, magnet assembly too. Nut holes and cone slicing placement are like the original Revelator.
My 2c: I think this is either another bloody fake from Asia or it`s been custom made by Scanspeak to cut pricing following a request by the buyer ( I doubt it ).
http://audiodrivers.eu/prest/24-124-thickbox/scan-speak-15w-8531k00-revelator.jpg
Cons:
Basket is different, the SS18 I have come with rounded eliptical chassis support bars, the terminals are gold plated, wider and different looking, cap is made of pressed paper with a "square" pattern, if you know what I mean, like the Veravox 5s cones, this one seems the same as the cone material. Side of the basket seems a bit rougher, the original speaker has the orange peel look but is much smoother and invisible even on high-res photos. There seems to be a consistency difference between the two pictured drivers - observe the cone slits and their relative distance to the cap, the one on the left seems to have larger spacing. The Impedance plot is not the one for a Revelator and indicates high voice coil inductane and no copper rings in the motor. FR of original Revelators has a bump at around 3Khz, these seem to be flat ( no info on how they`re measured, this is not a Scanspeak measurement ). See the solder on the terminals` bottoms, it is like on a crappy $5 chinese speaker.
Pros:
Cone looks like the original uncoated version, even if the black glue stripes usually shine more. Spider looks like the original one, magnet assembly too. Nut holes and cone slicing placement are like the original Revelator.
My 2c: I think this is either another bloody fake from Asia or it`s been custom made by Scanspeak to cut pricing following a request by the buyer ( I doubt it ).
http://audiodrivers.eu/prest/24-124-thickbox/scan-speak-15w-8531k00-revelator.jpg
Last edited:
I wouldn't call them "fake"; they admit they're a knock-off. Might still be a good buy, not many speakers can faithfully reproduce mindbass ;-)
Last edited:
sells tweeters as well.
2pcs Pair HiEnd Tweeter Compare Favourably with Scanspeaker D2905 9300 Vifa Seas | eBay
2pcs Pair HiEnd Tweeter Compare Favourably with Scanspeaker D2905 9300 Vifa Seas | eBay
After DST (together with ScanSpeak) was bought by Tymphany, and the production was partially moved to China, a few OEM customers of DST thought "why should I pay european prices for a chinese product" and contacted asian suppliers to build their own drivers. Of course these drivers had to look exactly like the original ScanSpeaks to fit in their current designs. I don't know if they're comparable in quality.
Do not have any illusions regarding what is "original", and what is fake or OEM, you name it.... I'VE BEEN in the factory in China where they make a "Famous Brand's" tweeters, for the company in the morning, then the OEM version in the evening shift for whoever buying them. The only -I mean the only - difference is the sticker they put on it..... I know, because I tested both the original , and the OEM version. Almost all big name brands source their drivers from China. That is the (sad?) truth.
Last edited:
dragonweed: maybe you are right, but please take a look at the impedance plot of the tweeter linked by perempe20 and you'll see that the fs is around 800Hz instead of the original SS tweeter's 650Hz. In addition, it has a slight double-peaks characteristics like in case of the 9500 but not the 9300 - and a lower overall sensitivity.
So I'm quite sure that in this case this tweeter isn't an "evening shift" version of the original SS driver. Of course, irrespectively of this difference, it can be a great tweeter.
So I'm quite sure that in this case this tweeter isn't an "evening shift" version of the original SS driver. Of course, irrespectively of this difference, it can be a great tweeter.
I absolutely agree with this. All one has to do it look at the Oppo Bluray player. About a dozen A/V companies have licensed its design, and made subtle improvements, and priced them 3-5 times Oppo charges. It is made in China with Oppo's approved specifications.
Let's throw in video panels and all sort of audio equipment into that same soup.
The tweeters on the photos have nothing to do with ScanSpeak, since they are Vifa XT25 ring radiator clones. Their parameters match the original within 10%, in fact (IMHO) they might even sound slightly better than the Vifa-s. Mechanically idistinguishable (well, except the non-gold plated terminals), same magnet size and strength, same pole pieces, faraday ring, resonant chamber, etc. So actually they are pretty good. BTW, I have about 70 pieces to sell, due to a failed order from a customer.....
The Le of the OEM is higher than the scan original, but is still relatively low so there could very well be copper or alu rings in the gap.
I would assume that even a knockoff cannot use the SD motor as that's scan patented, so the two wont be identical, but the cone seems as well controlled as the original and the progressive spider's there. It probably performs very well, a scan it is not though, but it could still have low distortion. For the price, if the motor's as good as Peerless' exclusive range, it's certainly not a bad deal. I'd like to see comprehensive and well executed distortion sweeps though.
I would assume that even a knockoff cannot use the SD motor as that's scan patented, so the two wont be identical, but the cone seems as well controlled as the original and the progressive spider's there. It probably performs very well, a scan it is not though, but it could still have low distortion. For the price, if the motor's as good as Peerless' exclusive range, it's certainly not a bad deal. I'd like to see comprehensive and well executed distortion sweeps though.
You are forgetting that patents aren't worth the paper they are written on in china. In fact there is a trend to not patent things these days as the Chinese are less likely to work out how to copy it if they don't have access to a patent telling them how it works.
Even if they had access to the sd1 designs, it would probably be far too costly to produce the tooling to make them in low volume,, unless they were manufacturer of the motor in the first place. Its likely that scan distributes parts production to prevent complete knockoffs being produced.
back to tthe original question... has anyone tried these out?
Compared to the 15w's I have there's a LOT of severe differences, they look like 'aesthetic copies'... which means I'm guessing they sound awfull. At £60 I'd give them a punt, but £130 a pair without any proof of quality is SERIOUS money in my books, what do you guys think?
I've messaged the seller with a 'put your money where your mouth is' statement - Told them to send a sample for review and advertise it.
Out of interest, can I get a shout here from anyone who'd want to buy them if they turn out to be as advertised? Maybe we can nuudge zaph...
Compared to the 15w's I have there's a LOT of severe differences, they look like 'aesthetic copies'... which means I'm guessing they sound awfull. At £60 I'd give them a punt, but £130 a pair without any proof of quality is SERIOUS money in my books, what do you guys think?
I've messaged the seller with a 'put your money where your mouth is' statement - Told them to send a sample for review and advertise it.
Out of interest, can I get a shout here from anyone who'd want to buy them if they turn out to be as advertised? Maybe we can nuudge zaph...
These are garbage. Don't bother. I bought a kit with a pair of these in along with some vifa tweeters(which are ok).
The ones I had looked even worse than the ebay photo, think they picked out a half decent looking pair for the photo's
These definitely don't use any original ss parts whatsoever. No grasshopper basket, no symmetric drive motor, no faraday ring, no variable rib spider.
Like all copies they've paid the most attention to the bit you see - the cone but even that's not ss either.
Save up for real ss or buy one of the other great drivers out there. Avoid these.
The ones I had looked even worse than the ebay photo, think they picked out a half decent looking pair for the photo's
These definitely don't use any original ss parts whatsoever. No grasshopper basket, no symmetric drive motor, no faraday ring, no variable rib spider.
Like all copies they've paid the most attention to the bit you see - the cone but even that's not ss either.
Save up for real ss or buy one of the other great drivers out there. Avoid these.
I'd bet, if you held one of our "name brand" manufacturers(ScanSpeak, Vifa, Eminence, Celestron, Tang-Band,....Etc, etc.)....'feet to the fire'....they would grudgingly admit to Chinese made. It just doesn't make sense to hire workers @ $20+ Hr to assemble drivers in the States, Canada, UK or any other "First World" country.....when it can be done elsewhere for literally pennies on the dollar. Now, if these factories decide to crank up the assembly lines in the dead of night for "their" versions that's a different story.
_________________________________________________Rick........
_________________________________________________Rick........