I've had various Eminence coax including cast frame versions of 12"& 15" - there's tradeoffs
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
It was so long ago now I forgot I had bought the 10" version after selling the 15's. I had hoped the 10" would play better with the CD but it didn't. Ended up selling those too.
They would probably sound much better with one of the good Radian CD's, but I wasn't willing to invest that kind of money in "probably".
Sorry, this is all OT anyway.
They would probably sound much better with one of the good Radian CD's, but I wasn't willing to invest that kind of money in "probably".
Sorry, this is all OT anyway.
Thanks for all the great measurements.
OK, much too high for a typical 15". Just because it's coincident doesn't mean one can ignore the basics of good speaker design.
OK, to my way of thinking/experience, an OB is the inverse of a horn/WG, so unless severely BW limited, it needs the same sort of attention to design detail which brings me back to what I postulated earlier WRT baffle size.
GM
FWIW, there was early on a cooperative reconfiguration of the XO by a builder and the system designers to ameliorate some of the issues in the mid-range, but all accounts it remains pretty much a love 'em or leave 'em sort of thing ( the same could be said for a lot of my own speaker builds )
The 2 occasions on which I've heard a pair of the SI15 with the budget compression driver and updated XO didn't make me a fan, but then I didn't much care for the HD Super12, which was widely acclaimed as well
)The 2 occasions on which I've heard a pair of the SI15 with the budget compression driver and updated XO didn't make me a fan, but then I didn't much care for the HD Super12, which was widely acclaimed as well
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I've wondered why every time I've heard them as well.
Maybe just repeating the hype from the advertisement site/forum;
or haven't heard much else to compare to?
Or maybe different peoples tastes really are that different...
I really don't find any of the Hawthorne/re-labeled products anywhere near e.g. Altec 604, much less good Tannoy quality-- (which yes, I find colored, but really like).
Sorry about reviving an old thread.
Bit the bullet some years ago and got the Sterling silver iris 10".
They are very dusty from 2 years of storage. Really liked the Radian driver, ran it with some beta 15's from about 120hz down to 50 or so where my old 320 l (now scrapped) TH took over.
Have been contemplating stuffing it in a 60l sealed box for a while now, and possibly do some new xo for it, but then again I might just let it collect more dust until they can be used for something interesting.
Bit the bullet some years ago and got the Sterling silver iris 10".
They are very dusty from 2 years of storage. Really liked the Radian driver, ran it with some beta 15's from about 120hz down to 50 or so where my old 320 l (now scrapped) TH took over.
Have been contemplating stuffing it in a 60l sealed box for a while now, and possibly do some new xo for it, but then again I might just let it collect more dust until they can be used for something interesting.
you could possibly use them in a closed box with an active crossover and linkwitz tranform to change the woofers Q.
Linkwitz Transform | MiniDSP
as they come from hawthorne they are pretty much useless in my opinion. no waveguide, (high xover and bad dispersion) fullrange on the woofer with obvious breakup and distortion, and so on.
i honestly cant belive how these people still stay in business after a decade with no logical improvements to their designs at all.
the 15" PSI i had still gives me the shivers..
Linkwitz Transform | MiniDSP
as they come from hawthorne they are pretty much useless in my opinion. no waveguide, (high xover and bad dispersion) fullrange on the woofer with obvious breakup and distortion, and so on.
i honestly cant belive how these people still stay in business after a decade with no logical improvements to their designs at all.
the 15" PSI i had still gives me the shivers..
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Usually when someone describes a speaker as giving you the "shivers" its a really good thing. Despite what multitask might try to say, I own the PSIs and really like them. In the right OB they're great. I suspect multitask didn't bother to optimize the baffle before giving up on them. I don't think they'll work in an enclosure unless its huge -- the Qts is too high.
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good for you if you like them.. but i have built lots of speakers, and none are anywhere near as bad as the silver iris.
there is a reason why not a single brandname speaker on the market comes close to this configuration, because its a horrible idea!
the only one i can think of is Tannoy glenair 15, 1.1khz crossover (2.order woofer, 1st order tweeter) with a small "waveguide" in the coax. less than half of the load the silver iris carries.
what really ticks me off is that hawthorne sells speakers on a false premise. they advocate "low fatigue factor" all the time, repeating it over and over again when the opposite is true.
for one thing i have never heared a more distorted lower tweeter ever! (besides the inaduquite dispersion) both woofer and driver have some serious issues. i did swap the drivers for selenium d220 on a seos waveguide with the minidsp 2x4 running 1300hz 12db. they were much better already, even without EQ. but the midrange still sounded like cardboard!
many people have complained about this, but Hawthorne audio doesnt want to listen or understand the physics of a speaker.
i gave mine away, the first day the new owner said they were awesome, after a week thou he said they had some integration problems. after a couple of months he got rid of them.
a pair of econowaves from diysoundgroup or similar walks all over these.. when you try something with a sensible crossover and driver combo you will know what im talking about.
there is a reason why not a single brandname speaker on the market comes close to this configuration, because its a horrible idea!
the only one i can think of is Tannoy glenair 15, 1.1khz crossover (2.order woofer, 1st order tweeter) with a small "waveguide" in the coax. less than half of the load the silver iris carries.
what really ticks me off is that hawthorne sells speakers on a false premise. they advocate "low fatigue factor" all the time, repeating it over and over again when the opposite is true.
for one thing i have never heared a more distorted lower tweeter ever! (besides the inaduquite dispersion) both woofer and driver have some serious issues. i did swap the drivers for selenium d220 on a seos waveguide with the minidsp 2x4 running 1300hz 12db. they were much better already, even without EQ. but the midrange still sounded like cardboard!
many people have complained about this, but Hawthorne audio doesnt want to listen or understand the physics of a speaker.
i gave mine away, the first day the new owner said they were awesome, after a week thou he said they had some integration problems. after a couple of months he got rid of them.
a pair of econowaves from diysoundgroup or similar walks all over these.. when you try something with a sensible crossover and driver combo you will know what im talking about.
Multitask:
My opinion echoes yours regarding the 15". I also gave it away. There was a big difference to be found when playing with polarity of the drivers, but it is a very cheap alternative to begin with. Pick two: Big/Cheap/Good. It had some good points, so I decided to give the Sterling 10" a try. It certainly is better, mostly because of the Radian. Have not tried the diysoundgroup.com offers personally, am currently drooling over the very cheap, compact Fusion 6 kit. In the market for something compact.
My opinion echoes yours regarding the 15". I also gave it away. There was a big difference to be found when playing with polarity of the drivers, but it is a very cheap alternative to begin with. Pick two: Big/Cheap/Good. It had some good points, so I decided to give the Sterling 10" a try. It certainly is better, mostly because of the Radian. Have not tried the diysoundgroup.com offers personally, am currently drooling over the very cheap, compact Fusion 6 kit. In the market for something compact.
the sterling could be alot better at less than half the price. often the main difference between a cheap and expensive compression driver is the frequency range it can cover, but in this coax its not utilized at all ! still the same high "crossover" with ridiculously expensive capacitors and coils. ($800 worth a pair)
schematically only a resistor is the difference between the crossovers on the PSI and sterling.
also the woofers are the same, besides the cast frame.
the stock eminence beta with a cheap but effective driver on a waveguide capable of ~1.2khz
would make any coax from hawthorne sound like crap in comparison.
you could also check out the volt series from diysoundgroup, its a compromise compared to waveguide kits, but atleast its better implemented than hawthorne. they dont offer them larger than 10", for ovious reasons.
schematically only a resistor is the difference between the crossovers on the PSI and sterling.
also the woofers are the same, besides the cast frame.
the stock eminence beta with a cheap but effective driver on a waveguide capable of ~1.2khz
would make any coax from hawthorne sound like crap in comparison.
you could also check out the volt series from diysoundgroup, its a compromise compared to waveguide kits, but atleast its better implemented than hawthorne. they dont offer them larger than 10", for ovious reasons.
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