Vintage speaker update with ESS Heil

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I just replaced the horn in my vintage EV Marquis speaker with a set of the large ESS Heil drivers. The original mid-horn was crossed over at 800 hz, and in this case was probably crapping out about 12khz. It sounded horrible.

I bought these beautiful cabinets for $200 complete with a set of SP12 Alnico woofers. 100db/1 watt. They sound very good, but don't play low.

The mid-horn was so harsh, I had wondered if the diaphragm was bad, or the crossover. It was convenient to just disconnect the horn, and wire in the ESS. Even with no break-in period, they sound very good, Very dynamic. I was shocked how well they imaged on certain CD's I listen to a lot.

I bought these after reading a post by pelanj about a project he is working on. I had no idea the Heil would play so low. My thought was to do the double stack so many people are doing over on the Klipsch site. But after the first 2 hours of listening, I don't think it is needed for these particular speakers.

Now I'm wondering about a good woofer that will play solidly down to 35-40, in a cabinet about 3 cubic feet net. The current woofer is a 12 inch, but the speaker was also available with a 15'. I have a pair of DIYSG 15" buyout woofers, but they are only about 89 db/1 watt. The cabinet internal dimensions are 17.5 wide x 13" deep x 26.5 high. There is about a 3" round-over molding that creates a shallow horn look on the baffle, so a 15" can fit inside, and part of the rim would be behind the round-over. The current woofer is back-mounted. I will likely make a new baffle, and it would be back-mounted also.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a 12" or possibly 15" woofer from someone like SB, Faital, BMS, or Beyma, perhaps? I'm not interested in any drivers from Dayton, fwiw.

PS: I want to order another set of the ESS, and use some of my TAD 12" mid-bass drivers, and build a bigger 3 way, but that is a different project, for a different time. The vintage speaker is for my shop.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
i have 4 ess amt great heils per side with 2x15 inch jbl2226h woofers each side and 1 jbl 2405h tweeter each side in an active system managed with a DBX PA2 unit.i cross the heils at 900hz currently and will most probably double stack them in 2 vertical,2 horizontal and cross them at probably 450hz,with the 2405 taking over at 7000hz,this system is very loud and very clean all driven with vintage yamaha power amps(mx1000,mx2000 and m80 in a horizontal configuration.my tip is get a DBX(you can adjust everything on the fly with this on your iphone or tablet with the free download) and go active,you won't look back.i play vintage vinyl as CD's give me an earache.at 64 my ears only go to 12khz but i feel everything,just a suggestion,cheers.
 
ESS update

i have 4 ess amt great heils per side with 2x15 inch jbl2226h woofers each side and 1 jbl 2405h tweeter each side in an active system managed with a DBX PA2 unit.i cross the heils at 900hz currently and will most probably double stack them in 2 vertical,2 horizontal and cross them at probably 450hz,with the 2405 taking over at 7000hz,this system is very loud and very clean all driven with vintage yamaha power amps(mx1000,mx2000 and m80 in a horizontal configuration.my tip is get a DBX(you can adjust everything on the fly with this on your iphone or tablet with the free download) and go active,you won't look back.i play vintage vinyl as CD's give me an earache.at 64 my ears only go to 12khz but i feel everything,just a suggestion,cheers.

Karl Sartori:

I'm curious, why do you want to put the JBL 2405h in your system, with the Heil capable of playing very well up high? Do you prefer the sound of the JBL?

I have a bunch of 2404H NOS, could easily do something similar, but I don't see the point. I want to get used to how the Heil sounds. Right now, they are doing the job nicely, and I don't feel the need for a second one on each side to drive the crossover point lower. But that could all change. I was thinking of rigging up my TAD 12" midbass, and run them roughly to 700/800, but that would mean doing something with subs on the bottom end.

I'm hoping to keep the vintage box intact as much as possible.
 
ESS updated vintage cabinet

a B&C 15DS115 could fit, it's a pro woofer driver, but one of the better kind, and the vas is about 3cu feet, so...

waxx: Thanks for the tip. I'll look at that driver. Yesterday I was looking at the Beyma SM-115N 15".

I think I need to pull the motor-board out of these, and verify exactly how they are held in place. These cabinets use those old fashioned narrow slot vents in the rear of the cabinet. It seems to work well with the vintage woofer, but won't likely make the cut later in the project.
 
i'll use the 2405s to take a bit more load off the heils to get a little more sizzle up there.i know the general consensus is to throw in a midbass driver but i'd rather let my ears find the right combo.also those heils will go down to 400hz if stacked so with 4/side they share the load and they sound pretty happy about it.i also am doing this because i can,cheers.
 
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