Having no patience, I stuck the Coral Holey Baskets on top of open baffle (back open) box housing Philips 12" full-range Alnico drivers (AD4200M), replacing the 1.4" compression drivers. Same outboard active crossover at 1kHz.
Well shoot, I keep getting shockingly good results with these paper Alnico drivers. From what I've read, I was expecting the Coral to sound nicely rich in midrange but probably rolled off, lacking detail, etc, but I am not really missing sparkle or detail compared to my 1.4" CD! Being open-baffle top to bottom is also giving that air and ambience wrapping around the room sensation. If anything, the Coral seems a bit "too detailed" (shouty?) in the 2-5kHz region and had to be DSP'd down more than the 1.4" CD, but perhaps I need to add some more absorption/diffusion on the bare bottom surface they are sitting on and/or back wall..
BTW, I was looking for some nice wood to mount the Corals on open baffle, but crossing at 1kHz, do I even need a baffle?
Well shoot, I keep getting shockingly good results with these paper Alnico drivers. From what I've read, I was expecting the Coral to sound nicely rich in midrange but probably rolled off, lacking detail, etc, but I am not really missing sparkle or detail compared to my 1.4" CD! Being open-baffle top to bottom is also giving that air and ambience wrapping around the room sensation. If anything, the Coral seems a bit "too detailed" (shouty?) in the 2-5kHz region and had to be DSP'd down more than the 1.4" CD, but perhaps I need to add some more absorption/diffusion on the bare bottom surface they are sitting on and/or back wall..
BTW, I was looking for some nice wood to mount the Corals on open baffle, but crossing at 1kHz, do I even need a baffle?