eton 11.2 or modula mtm

[gimpy]

Jon, sorry to be such a pain in the behind, but I have a couple of questions. I had just about decided to build your modula mtm (or less possibly, Evil Twins' Natalie P's) when I was thrown a curve ball the other day. I began looking at Madisound's Eton 11.2 speaker kit. It appears to be a pretty nice speaker (And I know your designs are all good speakers, also). All things being equal, which one would you rather have as your main speakers, the modula mtm's or the 11.2's?

The reason I ask for this comparison, it seems that I read somewhere that you have either heard/listened to/or once owned the Eton 11.2's? If so, I was just wondering which you considered the better speaker? In the sometime near future, I hope to get a chance to listen to the Eton's (I have not as yet). I am really looking forward to this as I have not ever had the occasion to listen to anything better than "entry level" type speakers/equipment.

thx, Frank

[ThomasW]

5+yrs ago we designed with the 6.5" and 8" Eton woven and hexcone kevlar units. Since our discovery of good reasonably priced metal cone drivers, there are boxes of unopened Eton drivers gathering dust in my basement.

[JonMarsh]

The 11.2 is a nice kit design. Eton makes some drivers with fairly nice cone designs, and rather mediocre motor designs. They have fairl good pistonic characteristics to higher than average frequencies compared with many mainstream paper and polypropylene drivers, but if you measure LF non-linear distortion or even midrange nonlinear distortion in their midwoofers, the results are not so favorable as the Excel series, or as newer bang for the buck drivers like the RS180s. The Eton LF drivers like the ones available for DIY are in no where near the same category as the RS265HF and RS315HF, based on LF distortion performance, while the RS have very stiff, dead cones also.

Still, the 11.2 is a fairly nice sounding system, and the crossovers are pre-built (a big plus if you're not familiar with electrical construction), and you'll wind up with more low bass in all likelihood, unless you go with the suggestions for larger cabinets (~50 liters, ported at 32-34Hz) You should- it's a more expensive system.

If you're looking in the range of $1000 before cabinets, you might want to check out CJD's three way design using RS drivers- would more than give the 11.2's a run for the money.

~Jon

[gimpy]

Thx, Thomas and Jon for your responses. I only mentioned these because, like I said, I hope to get to listen to them in the near future. Hopefully, this will give me some idea what "good" speakers sound like. Right now, I can only compare them to the sound of my Adire 281's with my Yamaha AV receiver. The Eton's are set up with better equipment than what I have. I don't know how much sound difference that makes, but hopefully will find out. The 281's are a good speaker (especially for home theater), but I'm thinking that these others are better.

It is also possible that these speakers might come up for sale later on and if the price range is about what the mod mtm's are and if they look nicer than something I could build (cabinet wise-eton's were done professionally, I think, and the wife seemed very interested in this fact--tell you something about my diy prowess ops: , although I will continue to build speakers ), then I was considering them. But, good sound is still utmost in my decision for newer/better speakers.

thx again, Frank

[toddw]

and if they look nicer than something I could build (cabinet wise-eton's were done professionally, I think, and the wife seemed very interested in this fact--tell you something about my diy prowess , although I will continue to build speakers ), then I was considering them. But, good sound is still utmost in my decision for newer/better speakers.

If you opt for one of the two of Jon's MTM designs, you'll note that he used the Parts Express 1.0ft³ enclosures. You'll only need to cut holes in the baffle and in the rear for the port, and add the tweeter 'sub-enclosure'.

I've only seen the piano black in person, and it's very acceptable.