It might be heresy, but....

[whoaru99]

anyone do an "audiophile" build of something akin to Cerwin Vega D-9?

I have a pair in the back room and they get really loud for rock/party, but wondering about something with better SQ and similar "punch", sensitivity, etc.

[TacoD]

You can look at TAD

[JonMarsh]

Anything is possible, but because of the size you wind up with making a moderate efficiency 15" system, it's not as popular an approach for "starter" systems. Branwell has been playing with high efficinecy mids, woofers, and tweeters- this is a step up in efficiency and sound quality from even what the Cerwin Vega's would probably deliver.
But then with small waveguides and compression drivers, and rather specialized midranges, you'd expect some nice results.

The big decision would be the tradeoff between sensitivity and LF output with low distortion- the Cerwin Vega tend to be tuned for midbass punch, not an extended bottom end below 40 Hz, so there would be a lot of decisions to make about how close to that recipe you want to adhere. Folks who grew up with those speakers tend to really like them; at the least, they're very robust and will play much louder than the typical 6-1/2" dual woofer three way you might find sold as "high end" at BB and other mass market chains these days. The closest thing to a D9 these days is probably the VE-15F, and while they publish some nice glossy brochures with pictures, you won't see any frequency response plots. There's probably a reason for that...

My old X1 Klones could probably be called an "audiophile" attempt at that sensitivity and robustness over a wide frequency range, using a combination of Eton midwoofers, Focal tweeter (very similar to the original X1), and Audax Pro audio bass drivers (had 'em on hand).



I'm planning on reviving these some day with better midwoofers, improved diffraction control, and Aurasound drivers in a slightly smaller bass cabinet.

These days one could do something similar for a reasonable budget with all Dayton RS drivers. Cabinets are a bit of work, to say the least. :W

And if this is too over the top, just cut back on the # of drivers - say, an RS390HF, find a midwoofer with 90 dB sensitivity (the Dayton's are only 87 dB, like many other popular midwoofers with moderate travel), and drop in a tweeter with a little higher than average sensitivity and power handling- like the 66000. Me, I'm sticking with my Focal TD120's- you can find those, too, if you look around a little.

~Jon

[Nathan P]

Jon you must be the king of funny shaped DIY cabinets.

[Jed]

I'm planning on reviving these some day with better midwoofers, improved diffraction control, and Aurasound drivers in a slightly smaller bass cabinet.


~Jon

Hmmmm- come October you might have new Eton 7" replacements.

The Aurasound is really something special too. There's only so much time to try out all the new stuff that's coming out.