Has anyone built the Seas Odin kit?

[mickster1972]

Just wondering if anyone has built or auditioned the Seas Odin kit, or something similar, and could give me feedback on the sound quality. From what I gather reading the various threads, the Millenium tweeter is highly regarded.

I just finished the Dayton/Vifa MTM kit offered by partsexpress, and am looking for something a bit better in terms of accuracy. I will be using it for my home theater setup, which includes a Rotel 1075 amp, Onkyo TXNR-900 receiver (used as a prepro only), Infinity Alpha center and surrounds and infinity alpha bipole/dipole/monopole surrounds. All use the ceramic-metal diaphragms (CMMD).

I am currently using an Alpha 37C as center channel, does anyone have a sense as to whether the Millenium excel tweeter will be somewhat voice matched to the Infinity CMMD 1" tweeter?

Thanks!

-Sean

[JonMarsh]

Truthfully, probably few of us over here in DIY land have any idea what an Infinity CMMD tweeter sounds like... it would be nice to simplify and say that everyone strives for neutral, accurate sound, but often that's not the case. Sometimes products are built or designed to stick out a bit in the showroom floor, just to get attention.

Then, too, it's not what the raw tweeter response is, it's how it's voiced in the crossover of the speaker. Maybe you could post around at a number of fourms and find someone who has a set of Odins you can listen to.

The Odin kit is very high quality, though the Thor would be a better full range speaker, especially if you can open up the line a bit. Reportedly the final cross section area of the TL was reduced by 1/3 to make it a more palatable size speaker cabinet. The Millenium Excel has been used in many high end DIY kit systems, and it has a well deserved reputation. That said, at $150 it should have a very good reputation, and perhaps also a little bit more sophisticated motor than it currently does. It's curious that it uses a copper colored front plate entry, which might imply the use of Farada rings in the motor, which it does lack- probably it's only significant shortcoming as a very high end tweeter.

Sorry I can't be of more specific help. Good luck in your search.

~Jon

[mickster1972]

Thanks, Jon. How does the Millenium tweeter compare then to the Vifa D25AG-35 (1" aluminum dome). I've found that it is similar to the Infinity tweeter. I think there is a zobel on the Vifa/Dayton kit, not sure what this does to the voicing of the Vifa tweeter...

[JonMarsh]

The zobel is normally used for impedance compensation to make the crossover development more straight forward, and the impedance load more consistent.

The Vifa tweeter is spittier in the top end (get rid of that phase plug assembly they use, PLEASE!, doesn't go as low, doesn't have as flat a response, and of course, costs a lot less. In that kind of price range, I prefer the 27TDFC from SEAS or the aluminum equivalent from SEAS. Different strokes, etc. YMMV.

~Jon

[Kramer]

As a [past] Infinity owner, I found the sound to be harsh and bright. I guess if you run any metal tweeter hot, you could come close to the same sound.

What is your attachment to the Alpha center anyway? At the cost of the high-$$ drivers that you are looking at, you could easily go three across the front (either "equal", or "related" designs) at a lower cost-point, and not have to worry about unmatched voicing.

Yes, I agree. That PE MTM you built is not that good of a speaker. But dont go thinking that its due to the cost (maybe thats why you are looking at high $$ drivers). There are a lot better designs that would have cost less.
:T

[mickster1972]

I have no particular affinity for Infinity. The more I listen to them, the more I think they are bright and harsh. A telltale sign of their fatiguing nature is that my wife is always asking me to "turn it down". It's not like I'm listening at 80dB! If I like whatever MTM I end up creating, I will definitely build another pair, one for front channel and one for rear channel duty (I have a 5.1 setup, with 6.1/7.1 expansion capability)

Anyway, I ordered a set of the Dayton RS180 today and will drop them into my MTM setup and see what happens. I will also take Jon's advice and remove the phase plug assembly from the Vifa tweeters. I looked more closely at the crossover and it appears to be a second order crossover with a resistor on the tweeter high pass circuit, I guess to pad the 6 ohm tweeter down to the 4 ohms of the 2 drivers??

Thanks to both of you for your insights. This could quickly become a new obsession for me! :T

[leandro girard]

Hi guys! almost 15 years from last post, hope someone see this. Im planning on doing a pair of seas odin, but i have my doubts regarding the XO. Mickster 1972, have you finished your project? did you used standard crossover or the redisign from jimanjie1973 on the thread about the seas thor?.

Tanks very much
Leandro