How do you like them? Eaton has been around for some time. They are a German loudspeaker company. They have a web site. They make a quality product. I installed some Eaton drivers in a car once and also in a boat once. Both installs where over ten years ago and I remember both sounded pretty good. You shouldn't have any problem with them unless you abuse them.
The speakers I would like to build modeled exceptionally well using the manufacturers supplied data I just wish they didn't cost so much.
The speakers I would like to build modeled exceptionally well using the manufacturers supplied data I just wish they didn't cost so much.
I have for the 2 and a half years I have had speakers with Eton drivers, been very unsure about them, constantly validating and invalidating them alternately.
Everything sounds so different now, that either it is a real breakthrough or just another odd sound resulting from driver peculiarities, or at least that has been my thinking.
There is a sense of constant 'weirdness' because things are so often different from my embedded memory of them.
One particular characteristic, of the 5" driver covering 100Hz to 800Hz was a sound like a screwed up supermarket bag of the crinkly type, being crunched in the hand, appearing superimposed on drum impacts.
But this is after years of polyprop mid/woofers, smooth, but notorious for masking detail, especially in the mid.
The Etons have 'hexacone' cones, rather lighter in nature and less floppy in the damping sense.
Today, and maybe I should put this on the FM quality thread, Johnny Walker's Sounds of the 70s was absolutely outstanding in quality, and it was done from his home, and with technological adaptations to facilitate that.
The sibilants were really good, there was no mic proximity effect, unlike the BBC's usual O/P, and, ridiculous though it may be to say so, I think the sound quality was better than from my CD setup, and my aerial is not really very good.
But of course there are potentially confounding variables, Optimod settings, and lack of industrial noise being produced currently.
On the basis of today I think that the Etons are extremely good, just pure, showing the faults in the chain as never before, and the dynamics are such that I cannot listen to more than about 75dB.
I also watched a Swedish prog. on BBC4 last night, and again was amazed at the sound quality on that, far superior to the BBC's general O/P IMO.
Everything sounds so different now, that either it is a real breakthrough or just another odd sound resulting from driver peculiarities, or at least that has been my thinking.
There is a sense of constant 'weirdness' because things are so often different from my embedded memory of them.
One particular characteristic, of the 5" driver covering 100Hz to 800Hz was a sound like a screwed up supermarket bag of the crinkly type, being crunched in the hand, appearing superimposed on drum impacts.
But this is after years of polyprop mid/woofers, smooth, but notorious for masking detail, especially in the mid.
The Etons have 'hexacone' cones, rather lighter in nature and less floppy in the damping sense.
Today, and maybe I should put this on the FM quality thread, Johnny Walker's Sounds of the 70s was absolutely outstanding in quality, and it was done from his home, and with technological adaptations to facilitate that.
The sibilants were really good, there was no mic proximity effect, unlike the BBC's usual O/P, and, ridiculous though it may be to say so, I think the sound quality was better than from my CD setup, and my aerial is not really very good.
But of course there are potentially confounding variables, Optimod settings, and lack of industrial noise being produced currently.
On the basis of today I think that the Etons are extremely good, just pure, showing the faults in the chain as never before, and the dynamics are such that I cannot listen to more than about 75dB.
I also watched a Swedish prog. on BBC4 last night, and again was amazed at the sound quality on that, far superior to the BBC's general O/P IMO.
As the OP of this thread, I'd be out of my mind to buy some speaker, and I don't give two craps who made it, for the insane prices that the above mentions show.
A 6.5 inch speaker..... for several hundred dollars?
Just a speaker?...... no cabinet?.... not even any mounting screws? 😱
No diamond-ruby-emerald-encrusted pure platinum basket?
Sorry, but I'm of the "reasonable minded" crowd.😉
A 6.5 inch speaker..... for several hundred dollars?
Just a speaker?...... no cabinet?.... not even any mounting screws? 😱
No diamond-ruby-emerald-encrusted pure platinum basket?
Sorry, but I'm of the "reasonable minded" crowd.😉
I'm with you on that one. That is why I haven't built them.
It just sucks when a product you would like to use because you know it is a good product has a price tag far exceeding it's intrinsic worth. But I still want to build them and that is what sucks.
Considering the long list of things I actually need, currently and in the near future, I don't see this coming to fruition barring some unforeseen windfall, so.....
It just sucks when a product you would like to use because you know it is a good product has a price tag far exceeding it's intrinsic worth. But I still want to build them and that is what sucks.
Considering the long list of things I actually need, currently and in the near future, I don't see this coming to fruition barring some unforeseen windfall, so.....
Perhaps I'm unusual in this day and age, but I've used reasonably-priced drivers with thoroughly satisfying results.
Dayton Classic woofers, CTA tweeters, never had an issue.
And I retained more funds for other things in life.
🙄
Dayton Classic woofers, CTA tweeters, never had an issue.
And I retained more funds for other things in life.
🙄
I thank you for promoting speaker products that only a handful of nations on my part of the world can produce. However it could also lead to closure of speaker factories in developed western countries and loss of jobs. Therefore I question the wisdom of your "reasonable minded".
Your points wiseoldtech, and it is your thread, I hope do not rule out that fact that on occasionally some expensive things are so because they have had a great deal of R&D put into them, for eg. formula one cars where one wheel nut costs - I cannot remember the precise cost - but it is jaw dropping.
I hope that what we all abhor, is BS, and fakery in which lots of money does nothing but make sellers rich, and often on the basis of lies and misrepresentations.
You may be alluding to Eton drivers as being insanely priced, or unreasonable, I don't even know their prices, and they are notably uncommunicative IME, but they could just be very good; surely we all want value for money.
My difficulties over the last couple of years with mine I now think are comparable with the way in which the bringer of bad news is often wrongly chastised for the news he brings.
A better product in Hi-Fi terms is often one which exhibits no character of its own.
I hope that what we all abhor, is BS, and fakery in which lots of money does nothing but make sellers rich, and often on the basis of lies and misrepresentations.
You may be alluding to Eton drivers as being insanely priced, or unreasonable, I don't even know their prices, and they are notably uncommunicative IME, but they could just be very good; surely we all want value for money.
My difficulties over the last couple of years with mine I now think are comparable with the way in which the bringer of bad news is often wrongly chastised for the news he brings.
A better product in Hi-Fi terms is often one which exhibits no character of its own.
This is "diyAudio" not "diyHi-Fi", such a forum would have much fewer and more useful posts.
That might be the case, but no one on diyAudio is making lo-fi amps for listening to music.
Bang for the buck? In about a month I will have a pair of Micca RB42 speakers which have good reviews and a small footprint. They even use a 10 part, 18 dB / octave crossovers! For 180$ CAD apparently you get a lot of speaker. The 83 dB sensitivity sucks compared to my Energy speakers with ~95 dB in room, but they are also the size of a tissue box.
This to me seems like a reasonable price for a design like this. We'll see how they stack up. If they suck, I'll just return them.
Micca RB42 Reference Bookshelf Speaker: Teardown, measurements, and review : BudgetAudiophile
Bang for the buck? In about a month I will have a pair of Micca RB42 speakers which have good reviews and a small footprint. They even use a 10 part, 18 dB / octave crossovers! For 180$ CAD apparently you get a lot of speaker. The 83 dB sensitivity sucks compared to my Energy speakers with ~95 dB in room, but they are also the size of a tissue box.
This to me seems like a reasonable price for a design like this. We'll see how they stack up. If they suck, I'll just return them.
Micca RB42 Reference Bookshelf Speaker: Teardown, measurements, and review : BudgetAudiophile
Last edited:
The consumer market has been flooded with variations of the compact table-top 6.5 inch woofer and single tweeter design, and a ported tube in the front or back.
Tower systems sometimes have 2 (or more) of these woofers.
The brand names of these speaker systems are endless - and from budget-priced to high-end models.
But what you've got is a small woofer(s) pushed to the limits, ported for maximum impact and impressive sonics - for what it is.
I've been inside everything from lowly MTS ($149) bookshelf speakers up to the insanely priced floorstanding Focals ($600+)
And the mass-marketed Radio Shack Optimus systems.
They're all basically a 6 inch woofer and tweeter system with little difference.
Of course, since the consumer has never really heard all of them to judge, they rely on reviews of some compensated reviewer's flowery impressions.
Unlike years ago, when Speaker systems actually had their own sonic signature and design - you could tell an Advent from a JBL, or a Sansui multi-driver behemoth.
Air-suspension system from a ported.....
Back then, you actually had choices, and purchased with your own ears instead of relying on some reviewer's suggestions.
You got a hefty 10 or 12 or 15 inch woofer that moved substantial air and rocked your room.
And even some tweeter controls to play with.
But today, you don't have too much of a choice - it's all generic 6 inch stuff in un-original packaging.
Tower systems sometimes have 2 (or more) of these woofers.
The brand names of these speaker systems are endless - and from budget-priced to high-end models.
But what you've got is a small woofer(s) pushed to the limits, ported for maximum impact and impressive sonics - for what it is.
I've been inside everything from lowly MTS ($149) bookshelf speakers up to the insanely priced floorstanding Focals ($600+)
And the mass-marketed Radio Shack Optimus systems.
They're all basically a 6 inch woofer and tweeter system with little difference.
Of course, since the consumer has never really heard all of them to judge, they rely on reviews of some compensated reviewer's flowery impressions.
Unlike years ago, when Speaker systems actually had their own sonic signature and design - you could tell an Advent from a JBL, or a Sansui multi-driver behemoth.
Air-suspension system from a ported.....
Back then, you actually had choices, and purchased with your own ears instead of relying on some reviewer's suggestions.
You got a hefty 10 or 12 or 15 inch woofer that moved substantial air and rocked your room.
And even some tweeter controls to play with.
But today, you don't have too much of a choice - it's all generic 6 inch stuff in un-original packaging.
Last edited:
There has been a tremendous shift in importance of music systems in the last 50 years.
In the early 70s there were many individual companies with their own heritage trying to produce good speakers, and at that time music was a major cultural force.
Everyone I knew of my age, and even my parents' generation wanted a good system, and there were parts of London where streets contained many dedicated warehouses selling it, with cut margins and high volume selling.
Music does not have that primacy now, and most households I see have a tiny £150 system in which the speakers are either side of a 9" cube containing a CD player, tuner, and amp, and often with a speaker spacing of about 2".
This surely has forced the manufacturers to change from producing high quality stuff, except of course for the really expensive which is designed to appeal to the really wealthy, but which seems to have great visual appeal.
In the early 70s there were many individual companies with their own heritage trying to produce good speakers, and at that time music was a major cultural force.
Everyone I knew of my age, and even my parents' generation wanted a good system, and there were parts of London where streets contained many dedicated warehouses selling it, with cut margins and high volume selling.
Music does not have that primacy now, and most households I see have a tiny £150 system in which the speakers are either side of a 9" cube containing a CD player, tuner, and amp, and often with a speaker spacing of about 2".
This surely has forced the manufacturers to change from producing high quality stuff, except of course for the really expensive which is designed to appeal to the really wealthy, but which seems to have great visual appeal.
I don't think anyone on this forum (or anywhere else) would consider $600 speakers as "high end".
jeff
This is the price of the highly regarded Denon Ceol and the embedded loudspeakers are equipped with atrocious and cheap mylar tweeters.
Not really... There is "Prosumer", professional studio quality gear etc... "Comsumer" these days refers to the 15$ coffee maker at wal-mart instead of the 200$ Keurig or the thousands of dollars the professional machines they use at your local Starbucks cost...
Same with a computer... The average cumsumer will buy the 500$ craptop, the gamer will buy a video card that cost more than that, the guy who wants to do complex math will buy an even more expensive system than that (Looking at you, AMD with your 64 core processors!)
To me, a product that is 90% as good but cost 50% less is a better product (and deal).
If I retailed my amplifiers and a publication gave them an award, it would be the "best value" award, for sure!
Commercial grade coffee machine costs more mainly because of its design for heavy duty use. You can brew high quality coffee with $15 machine as long as you know what you are doing.
Computer price will depend on the required speed and capacity for the task that the consumer is buying it for. If you are just doing personal bookkeeping and word processing, you won't need to buy a gamer computer. Well, one can and brag about it but what good will that do other than massaging that person's ego.
My last two $500 craptops have convinced me never to buy ASUS or HP again.
As with anything, there are machines targeted for specific use cases. IE, a cheap craptop or even a netbook (if you trust the cloud) for personal bookkeeping and word processing..... $2000 "gaming laptops." Not much in between. Try to find a laptop in the $1000 range for video editing and music making, not happening.
I bought a brand new mid range MSI gaming laptop on a Black Friday sale, ripped it open and swapped out the memory and boot SSD, then added a 2TB NVME SSD drive.....a good video editing machine for $1100, but I reused the stuff I pulled out, so I'm into it for about $1000.....now if I could only turn off that ugly glowing dragon on the lid.
I'm sure that people would call spending $1000 on a laptop crazy.....It's my choice, and I'm OK with it. I'm not going to spend $1000 on stereo stuff since I can make my own...…..
The "dog" is alive, and squeezes 20 watts at 3% THD out of a pair of 50C5 tubes from old radios. It passed the "all night at full power" test, so a PCB layout is underway. There will be a thread about it in the tubes forum in the next few days. My internet is slow or nonexistent these days with all the people in their houses streaming video.