Wow, I'd missed that. I've only just ordered some JBL parts from there but might have to try them at those prices. I notice it's a 1.5" throat. What did you use? I was hoping it was 1.4 or 2 as we have some CDs to be ordered in the NY once the Christmas shipping frenzy abates. Might even try some Radian Be phragms for the 2446s I have.
I was lucky to get a pair of 476Mgs before JBL stopped selling them as parts. You can use any of the JBL 1.5" drivers just watch the bolt pattern. There are 2 most use the smaller pattern which fits the plate. You would have to modify the mounting plate adding holes for the larger bolt pattern for say a 2451. So figure a 2450sl/52/53 and the 2430 series will fit but not sure how well you can work out the compensation for on them for the waveguide. Use the SL, coated diaphragms, they are coated and the best sounding of the options.
Rob 🙂
Ralf, The reason I posted this in DIY is there are some extremely talenteed people in this forum. Some are probably better than the engineers in the companies that sell speakers. Who better to ask than peoiple who do this as a passion. Just becuase the speaker is sold commercially does not make it good, there is quite a bit of crap out there. Knowing who the good ones are takes a bit of inside info. Just trying to improve my odds and steer me bit thats all.
I would posit that talented designers working in a commercial setting may well have to compromise a lot to sate the economic realities. Look at what actually sells in volume; few of those designs mean a lot to me, and I would assume many others here.
You are exactly right, there are compromises that are made that are necessary. However, some are marketing people with zero engineering experience. I know someone personally that knows NOTHING technical about speakers . Hde makes/sells hi end speakers, good for him. its funny when i speak to him and he gives me that glassy eyed look when I ask him a question lol.
I can believe that. I've seen some well (subjectively) reviewed speakers measure really, really poorly. Sometimes the funniest part of these is watching them do gymnastics to try to correlate the two; thinking John Atkinson here. Your guy wouldn't work for a company that starts with Z and ends in u would he? I heard some Druids once before I'd seen the reviews and they were so bad I laughed. They looked nice in the room though, a splash of red in an otherwise minimalist space.
Hs ha no not THAT company. But your not the first person that has said that it wasn't their taste. My guy is even higher end and gets accolades at all the shows lol!
Revels are a very safe option. Kevin Voecks knows what he is doing, and their products are generally very well behaved.
I have no idea where you can audition them, but if it's accuracy you are looking for, the stand mount models are very good.
I'm no booster of tower speakers as it's really difficult in most environments to get a smooth and integrated bass response in a single box without equalization, hence the stand mount recommendation above.
I have no idea where you can audition them, but if it's accuracy you are looking for, the stand mount models are very good.
I'm no booster of tower speakers as it's really difficult in most environments to get a smooth and integrated bass response in a single box without equalization, hence the stand mount recommendation above.
Problem with nowadays Hi-End brands is that they go purely after sales and not the quality (hard to blame them, it's business after all). If You know a bit more about the design then you can see clearly that they all sacrifice technical details/performance for visual efect (nice looking things sell better) and most money in design goes into fancy cases instead of transducers, crossovers etc. . End result is such that you pay mainly for nice and fancy furniture. I wont say that 100k$ speakers don't sound good, but I say that if you sacrifice aesthetics you quickly work out that in order to make close copy will be very cheap (relatively). At the same time it's not worth the time and effort to diy cheap speakers if your goal is cost effect as in cheaper speakers there's less expensive/exclusive carpentry. With cheaper speakers it's worth the time and effort to redo the crossovers.
I use regular hifi forums as well as diy, and one particular forum runs a large enthusiasts show once a year. They hire a hotel and everyone has a separate room to demonstrate their kit. Audio note K an J always seem to get good feedback, as do the BBC LS5/8 (a lot of people said these were the best sound of the show).
On the forums I use 12" and 15" Tannoy monitor golds, Vintage (and new) JBLs, Yamaha NS1000 and Rogers LS3/5a are all very popular. For new speakers the ProAc Studio SM100 and the little ProAc Tablette 10 have been getting a lot of good feedback lately. Harbeth are also popular but getting expensive. ATC are also popular but seem to divide opinion. Some say they sound a bit flat at low volumes and need plenty of power to wake them up.
That is the main reason for a lot of people i know to go diy. They don't need the fancy looks, they need a good sounding speaker. And the look of those fancy is not something all people like.
I did redesign a good soundin quality studio monitor speaker in plywood for someone because he did not like the unbraced mdf housing. We kept the original frontplate dimesions, the roundings, but made it in plywood and a bit deeper to compensate for the plywood bracing inside so the internal volume is exactly the same. For the rest the speaker (drivers, crossover, amps ...) is identical but it's a much better speaker and it does look better also. And the guy, who let this cabinet build by his brother who is an experienced woodworker (building higher end furniture) has an unique speaker now that is even better than the original (already high rated) studio monitor. You would think studio monitors for the pro market don't cut corners, but they do. I've seen it with more than one brand and model.
Heavy sturdy boxes are always better 🙂. Flimsy boxes always have it's sound. Nowadays due to easy CNC service accessibility it's quite easy to make even the most complicated shapes. My only problem with DiY is that we pay almost as big premium on parts as on ready speakers. Bigger manufacturers get drives and crossover parts for fraction of what we DiYers have to pay.
That is the power of big quantities. You buy direct from the builders of the drivers without a middelman and his cut of the benefit and you get a good price because you buy large numbers. it's the same with wood. If you buy 100 sheets of 18mm ply you pay less than halve the price of when you buy 1 sheet of the same ply.
Ended up with Vienna Acoustics. Beethoven Baby Grands Thanks. I'll let you know how they sound after I get them in house.
As to reviews you have Stereophile and ASR for backup, or vice versa dependent on your standpoint on established versus new.
Stereophile have explained why they haven't adopted the Klippel measurement system themselves. Maybe one for the future.
If you are going to part with your hard earned cash for speakers or drivers for DIY you should always do your research via the internet.
GR research may highlight a few poor ones now and then, but usually everything ends up with an upgrade, so all is well in the end.
If you have GR Subs maybe do some research on their speakers and see if they would make the shopping list.
Stereophile have explained why they haven't adopted the Klippel measurement system themselves. Maybe one for the future.
If you are going to part with your hard earned cash for speakers or drivers for DIY you should always do your research via the internet.
GR research may highlight a few poor ones now and then, but usually everything ends up with an upgrade, so all is well in the end.
If you have GR Subs maybe do some research on their speakers and see if they would make the shopping list.