Yes, nice looking.
..considering the likely resulting dispersion pattern it's:
Cardioid above 2 kHz. (..waveguide/cone shape)
Dipole below 700 Hz. (..below the point of baffle effects)
(something in-between Cardioid and Dipole for the 700- 2 kHz range)
..and pretty much omni in the modal range at any reasonable distance from the speaker.
Oh, I see it now that the two big drivers are different size. At first glance I thought it was an MTM configuration, with just one of the M's open backed.
Nonetheless, I think a cardioid mid + monopole tweeter might be a nice solution for forward directivity. Might be worth toying around with some day.
The mids could be cardioid *like* if there was thick insulation packed behind it.
Robs Open baffles
My old OBs were always a bit of a prototype and a compromise, I wanted to do it properly designed from scratch with new drivers. Eminence Beta15a with a 1st order 250hz low pass. wide range mids are a Celestian 5" buyout, super flat to 5kHz and subsequently have a band pass from 250hz to 5kHz. The highs are handled by a Dayton Audio PT2C-8 Planar Tweeter which for the money cannot be beat and outperforms ribbons 3 times its price. 2nd order 5kHz highpass on the PT2C-8. last photo is a shot of the old being replaced by the new.
My old OBs were always a bit of a prototype and a compromise, I wanted to do it properly designed from scratch with new drivers. Eminence Beta15a with a 1st order 250hz low pass. wide range mids are a Celestian 5" buyout, super flat to 5kHz and subsequently have a band pass from 250hz to 5kHz. The highs are handled by a Dayton Audio PT2C-8 Planar Tweeter which for the money cannot be beat and outperforms ribbons 3 times its price. 2nd order 5kHz highpass on the PT2C-8. last photo is a shot of the old being replaced by the new.
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Just installed my new RAAL 140-15D Dipoles on Friday, here's the left channel. I had to remove the top SEAS W22EX001 to make room for the giant RAAL, hence the leftover "arch" on top which will be removed soon. Most incredible tweeters I have ever heard in my life! The other drivers are a SEAS W15CY001 and three Acoustic Elegance OB15's per side.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I'm in two minds if I would say the RAAL 140-15D dipoles are the best tweeters I've ever heard, because I have the 140-15D monopoles as well. I would say that they are different in the way they fill the room with sound, but both are excellent tweeters. Best speaker decision I ever made was going with the RAAL.
I notice you're not using the foam pads...
I notice you're not using the foam pads...
Haven't had a chance to apply them yet, it's been one of those weeks. Next week for sure. Fully agreed, best speaker decision I have made as well.
i'm also building a speaker using the RAAL dipole tweeter
right now i am working on the passive crossover between mid and tweeter, but even with a sub-optimal XO the tweeter sounds amazing!
hopefully it wont be too long before i am happy with the XO and baffle shape and can start constructing the speaker properly.
right now i am working on the passive crossover between mid and tweeter, but even with a sub-optimal XO the tweeter sounds amazing!
hopefully it wont be too long before i am happy with the XO and baffle shape and can start constructing the speaker properly.
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Architect7 both mids and mid woofers are from the Illuminator series.
DJN I wish they only cost $800 by time I got the AM model landed they were close to $1000 ea, but I don't regret the purchase for a second I love the RAAL tweeters.
I have heard the Heil and to me there is significant difference, especially when used with a decent active Xover to let it reveal everything.
DJN I wish they only cost $800 by time I got the AM model landed they were close to $1000 ea, but I don't regret the purchase for a second I love the RAAL tweeters.
I have heard the Heil and to me there is significant difference, especially when used with a decent active Xover to let it reveal everything.
Here is what I did with my ESS cabs. This write up is from April 2005 over on AK.
My ESS E-waves are complete. Here is the story as it unfolded. I only bought the ESS AMT 1Cs for the Heil tweets and planned on baying the rest of the bits….but then I started reading the Econowave thread and I was a goner.
Here are the ESS’ as I first saw them (paid $200.00 for the pair) notice the missing PRs and crappy grills.
I put the wave guides on top, after taking off the Heils just so see if they had promise….they did, in scads...and that was with the original ESS crossovers!!!. After ginning up the crossovers (thanks for the parts Bauhausler) and sticking them on top as well as the horns just to see how they sounded I was floored, and, that was without the replacement PRs. Urizen PMed me offering a pair of unused PR kits for a very reasonable price (thanks Urizen), so I tore the cabs apart and repainted the black parts and sanded and restrained the wood veneer, (thanks for the stain Kegger)
I started out with the lower eff version of the crossovers and because I ended up bi-amping, I did not need the reduce horn signal so I just swapped out the parts ( R1, R2, and C3) and I am now getting much more SPLs out of my horns. I then (upon Kegger's suggestion) took C2 to 6.3 vs, the 12uF it calls for on the schematic. That brought up the upper vocals in the woof and just filled in the area a bit. At first I was running the woofs with an Adcom GCF510 and the horns with my 300B. Kegger also brought over some of the foam he is using in the throat of his horns and scupled plugs for mine. Those make all the difference in the world. You can crank up the volume and the highs sound just as good but with no extra sharpness. The bass was unbelievable…way down to the lowest bass note without rolloff, the mids were as clear and dynamic as you would expect from horns with ABSOLUTLY no horn sound. The high are sweet, sweet, sweet. After a while I started feeling fatigued from the bass so I took out the Adcom and I am now running the 300B on the woofs and the Decware Zen on the horns. The bass is just wonderful so detailed and creamy to the ears and if you want to crank it, it will punch the breath right out of you. The horns with the Zen amp sound very rich, detailed, and present. Here are the finished products. Actually I still have to redo the other grill but I am waiting for a larger time window so I can make a picture tutorial to post of the web. It took me three hours to figure out how to redo them, but once I figured it out, it went smooth. The top of the grills had a piece of thick cardboard in the recessed top but I am going to replace that with glass so I can show off my crossovers.
So thanks to Keg, Urizen, Bauhausler, and all of you who took the time to perfect this project. Cheers.
My ESS E-waves are complete. Here is the story as it unfolded. I only bought the ESS AMT 1Cs for the Heil tweets and planned on baying the rest of the bits….but then I started reading the Econowave thread and I was a goner.
Here are the ESS’ as I first saw them (paid $200.00 for the pair) notice the missing PRs and crappy grills.
I put the wave guides on top, after taking off the Heils just so see if they had promise….they did, in scads...and that was with the original ESS crossovers!!!. After ginning up the crossovers (thanks for the parts Bauhausler) and sticking them on top as well as the horns just to see how they sounded I was floored, and, that was without the replacement PRs. Urizen PMed me offering a pair of unused PR kits for a very reasonable price (thanks Urizen), so I tore the cabs apart and repainted the black parts and sanded and restrained the wood veneer, (thanks for the stain Kegger)
I started out with the lower eff version of the crossovers and because I ended up bi-amping, I did not need the reduce horn signal so I just swapped out the parts ( R1, R2, and C3) and I am now getting much more SPLs out of my horns. I then (upon Kegger's suggestion) took C2 to 6.3 vs, the 12uF it calls for on the schematic. That brought up the upper vocals in the woof and just filled in the area a bit. At first I was running the woofs with an Adcom GCF510 and the horns with my 300B. Kegger also brought over some of the foam he is using in the throat of his horns and scupled plugs for mine. Those make all the difference in the world. You can crank up the volume and the highs sound just as good but with no extra sharpness. The bass was unbelievable…way down to the lowest bass note without rolloff, the mids were as clear and dynamic as you would expect from horns with ABSOLUTLY no horn sound. The high are sweet, sweet, sweet. After a while I started feeling fatigued from the bass so I took out the Adcom and I am now running the 300B on the woofs and the Decware Zen on the horns. The bass is just wonderful so detailed and creamy to the ears and if you want to crank it, it will punch the breath right out of you. The horns with the Zen amp sound very rich, detailed, and present. Here are the finished products. Actually I still have to redo the other grill but I am waiting for a larger time window so I can make a picture tutorial to post of the web. It took me three hours to figure out how to redo them, but once I figured it out, it went smooth. The top of the grills had a piece of thick cardboard in the recessed top but I am going to replace that with glass so I can show off my crossovers.
So thanks to Keg, Urizen, Bauhausler, and all of you who took the time to perfect this project. Cheers.
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