Mr pass please tell us about the seas exotic

[bigfishe]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to know the sound of the new seas. Thanks in advance

 

[bigfishe]

I sold and saved for these speakers , about 2200$ and would like to do a mjk type OB with the gooldwood 18"

 

[bigfishe]

Maybe someone could chime in?

 

[Nelson Pass]

OK, for starters here's some measurements in an OB.
Note that we are looking at CS (current source amp) and
VS (voltage source).

By the way these are the new ones at about $130 each.

 

[bigfishe]

Those are the prestige. How do they compair with the Exotics?
Or are we paying for a pricy alnico magnet!

 

[Spooky Electric]

Response with CS Amp looks very promising. $130/€100 sounds like peanuts compared to €750 for the Exotic (or Lowther in the same price/quality league). A good mate for the Eminence Beta 15 in B.O.B.?

 

[Nelson Pass]

Here's some curves of my Exotics.

 

[Nelson Pass]

Response with CS Amp looks very promising. $130/€100 sounds like peanuts compared to €750 for the Exotic (or Lowther in the same price/quality league). A good mate for the Eminence Beta 15 in B.O.B.?

One advantage of the SEAS drivers is that they don't
particularly require a bass driver.

 

[bigfishe]

Seems the Prestige measure slightly better.
Would you say they sound better then the exotics?

 

[mp9]

One advantage of the SEAS drivers is that they don't
particularly require a bass driver.

that was what i was thinking from your transfer function plots.
i'm not clear on how the cs amp and vs are affecting the fq. resp. across the bw? If i try a pair of these FA22RCZ drivers solo on a ob, what could i expect driving them with my Fi 2A3 set amp and can you guess whether they'd require a correction network or the like?

 

[Nelson Pass]

There is an obvious bump-up in the bottom when using
a high-output-impedance amp, but with the SEAS there
is not an obvious lift in the top as is often seen with other
speakers. One other advantage is that it's very easy to
adjust the top a bit by loading the amp at high frequencies.

These are things you can also achieve with impedance
inserted with a voltage source amp, but for some unknown
reason the perception of the sound is different - probably
due to the amplifiers themselves.

In any case, I found a pleasant improvement was available
on the Prestige pieces with a properly loaded current
source.

 

[mp9]

Ok, thanks.
I'll keep them in mind for a simple ob project after i do something with the MA A12 or 10gen2's.

 

[wrenchone]

I haven't seen the $130 speakers hit Madisound yet. Are they out, and if so, who has them?

 

[Scottmoose]

Been meaning to thank you for those graphs Nelson -so many thanks. Very useful to see those.

 

[chrismercurio]

Nelson,

Can you contrast the Exotic to the Prestige or at least give us an impression of the overall performance of the Exotic? It's obvious from the measurements that they both look okay...but what about the sound? $1500 is a fair bit to shell out for two drivers if $200 will do just fine.

Thank you for your time,

 

[Nelson Pass]

At the moment I am only going on memory, not having
played with the Exotics against the Prestige. If I get the
time to do an apples-to-apples I'll make a comment.

In the meantime, there have been so many complaints
about the price of the Exotics, I would be surprised if
many cared.

 

[chrismercurio]

No doubt they are expensive. Tough to find a current production alnico anything though these days and certainly not out of the Danish driver manufacturers if you do.

Thanks!

p.s. I'm not that far away and would love to visit for the comparison if it ever goes down.

 

[borispm]

The price of the Exotics is comparable to those Lowthers, so if people can afford the Lowthers, sure they can afford the Exotics...

The Prestige seems like a steal as the not so well built FE208En costs something similar anyway...

 

[Tea-Bag]

Nelson - could you shed some light into the CS amp your using for tests?
Signed, greedy boy!

 

[Nelson Pass]

Here is the article:

http://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_cs_amps.pdf