New speaker Poll

[Jed]

I've recently updated my website with lots of driver harmonic distortion measurements and a poll at the bottom of the homepage. I hope to get your input.

Thanks,

Jed

Edit:

A quad of D6.8s is in the lead so far. I'd like to get 100 votes.

A little more info:

A quad D5.8 in 30L will get down to 40HZ f3 and allow a very narrow cabinet but less sensitivity.
A quad D6.8 in 45L will get down to 42HZ f3
Dual D6.8s in 45L will get down to 35HZ f3 but have less power handling
3 RS180-4 in series in 45L will get down to 42hz f3 and cost much less

I'm not willing to go much larger than 45L in the above configurations to keep these speakers as compact as possible in the flavor of the original Maxx theme.

[Johnloudb]

Jed,

Really good idea on the poll. Can the quad D5.8 be used in the old cabinet? Just curious, since I've not build that. Though it might influence others who have.

[---k---]

I really don't have an opinion. What does the cost difference look like between the options?

[Jed]

Jed,

Really good idea on the poll. Can the quad D5.8 be used in the old cabinet? Just curious, since I've not build that. Though it might influence others who have.

Yeah, it would work.

[MuaDibb]

Hey Jed, I see you're considering using 3 woofers. I was wondering about this the other day, you almost never see that configuration. Is there any upside or downside to using 3 woofers, and how would you wire them?

[Jed]

Hey Jed, I see you're considering using 3 woofers. I was wondering about this the other day, you almost never see that configuration. Is there any upside or downside to using 3 woofers, and how would you wire them?

All 3 would be in series using the 4 ohm driver and the net is around 91DB sensitivity and an easy load on the amplifier. With a crossover in place I'd imagine it would be around 8 ohms or so.

[Jed]

I really don't have an opinion. What does the cost difference look like between the options?

The dayton option saves $250-300 or so..... but it's ANOTHER DAYTON DESIGN :Z



Money talks though... so we'll see.

[Hdale85]

Ah common its not another Dayton design....who has seen a design using just dayton woofers in that configuration? An MTMWWW hasn't been done so its still quite unique! Not to mention the woofers would be the only dayton.

[---k---]

The dayton option saves $250-300 or so..... but it's ANOTHER DAYTON DESIGN :Z

HEY!!! I take offense to that!

Money talks though... so we'll see.

Yeah. That is my thinking. Though, I'm not sure the truth shows up on a poll. I'm pretty cynical. I admire your devotion to designing for the community rather than just yourself.

[Hdale85]

Well problem with the voting system is people are picking what they would dream of and not what they would actually buy Buying 4 D6.8's is not cheap. Also probably only a handful of the voters would actually build them.

[Silversmoky]

Good choices on your poll Jed. I really like the dayton drivers, as most do I would guess. Great drivers. Actually pretty much most of my setup are dayton designs. On the other hand, though, I love seeing other drivers in designs and they seem to catch my eye now more than dayton designs. I like the (4) 6.8's idea. That would be a great looking speaker too!

[ific]

Jed,

Why not dual RS180-4? It's cheaper and a center channel could be created with the same driver set.

Ific

[Hdale85]

Whats wrong with 3 RS180's in the tower and 2 in the center? That would be the goal if he goes with the Dayton's I'm sure. Even if he went with the 4 D6.8's more then likely the center would just have 2.

[Jed]

Well it looks like the RS180-4 design is pulling ahead. Interesting. I'd like to reach 100 votes, though.

I'm not worried about whether or not someone who votes would actually build it. I'm just trying to get behind the concept of what people want or need. Nothing wrong with just a pair of RS180-4s in series for mains, but I like the wow factor of an MTMWWW or MTMWWWW.

I've pretty much decided the W4-1337 is one of the best sounding midranges available at ANY price.

Take care guys and thanks for taking the time to think this through and vote in the poll. It's kinda neat to see the numbers rise too. Come September I hope to have 4-5 new speaker designs based on a combination of these drivers.

Regards,

Jed

[Hdale85]

Hmm it has pulled out ahead with quite a large lead.

[Paul Ebert]

I haven't voted because I can't envision building them (I'd go for the three RS-180s), but I will comment that perhaps the SB SB17NRX35C should be considered...

[Jed]

Vote for whatever you think would be interesting or meet the needs of the most people. It's not a vote for what you plan on building next poll.

As for SB acoustics, the bass harmonic distortion doesn't look that good for a 3-way. I'm sure it would work well for a 2 way or as a midrange where one could take advantage of its excellent midrange performance. Plus it won't work that well in small ported boxes.

[jkrutke]

Vote for whatever you think would be interesting or meet the needs of the most people. It's not a vote for what you plan on building next poll.

As for SB acoustics, the bass harmonic distortion doesn't look that good for a 3-way. I'm sure it would work well for a 2 way or as a midrange where one could take advantage of its excellent midrange performance. Plus it won't work that well in small ported boxes.

I voted for the quad of D6.8's. I've always been intrigued by this woofer as the only inset voice coil driver that doesn't suck. (that I've tested) The RS180 is an awesome driver, but like some others I think there's enough designs out there using it. I wasn't even going to release the RS180 3-way design I did, though somehow it ended up in the flyer.

Have you ever tested the D5.8?

[Hdale85]

Don't think he has. We were talking about it a bit in PM and I think he just kind of figured it would perform around the same level of the D6.8 except the obvious differences you'd expect in a smaller driver.

[Johnloudb]

Come September I hope to have 4-5 new speaker designs based on a combination of these drivers.

Regards,

Jed

Any chance one of these will have an open baffle midrange like your Tombstones? There was some interest the RS Tombstone you mentioned ... maybe, an OB Maxx would be of some interest? I could be interested that as well.

[Jed]

yeah I probably shouldn't assume the D5.8 will perform like the D6.8, but they seem like they share more than they differ so... maybe I'll pick up a pair to test.

Now that people know what John voted for it will be interesting to see how that sways the polls. :B I didn't think I'd get endorsements for this poll... :lol:

[Jed]

Any chance one of these will have an open baffle midrange like your Tombstones? There was some interest the RS Tombstone you mentioned ... maybe, an OB Maxx would be of some interest? I could be interested that as well.

I'm looking into a tapered closed or open transmission to diffuse the back wave. Though in a few tests I've found that a simple oversized closed enclosure sounds almost as good. If I can get an open baffle to work on a skinny width it would be an interesting option.

[tktran]

What about 3 Exodus Audio 6.5...

(I voted for a quad of D6.8)

[Hdale85]

That was talked about. We just felt it wouldn't fit into the design very well I believe. Also they are more expensive then the other drivers up for consideration.

[tktran]

That's strange.

According to my Madisound pricing for the Hi-Vi 6.8, it's only $12 less than the EX6.5. Factor into the reduced weight from shipping neo-magnet wofoers and it's a push. I'm sure Jed's XO will also be a no-barred approach- in the grand scheme of things the price differences are small.

You could use a quad in 52L, tuned around 40Hz. Wired in series-parallel.

[Hdale85]

He wants to keep it 45L or less I believe.

[Jed]

That's strange.

According to my Madisound pricing for the Hi-Vi 6.8, it's only $12 less than the EX6.5. Factor into the reduced weight from shipping neo-magnet wofoers and it's a push. I'm sure Jed's XO will also be a no-barred approach- in the grand scheme of things the price differences are small.

You could use a quad in 52L, tuned around 40Hz. Wired in series-parallel.

Tktran, that does look very good and the sensitivity is very high. A quad will also work in 45L beautifully. The bass seems to be more extended with the D6.8 and RS180-4 though.

[Hdale85]

Also when your buying 8 woofers 12 bucks less each is quite a bit Unless its 12 bucks difference total.

[augerpro]

Jed I dig the HiVi drivers myself but I wonder if using 4 each on a speaker will push the price so far up that other designs will "compete" for attention so to speak? If I were looking at something to build why would I build this compared to say the version using the L16, or some Statements, or even you own Tombstones? Using the Dayton drivers helps this design fit a certain pricepoint well. If someone could spend more, and thought the Statements were too big, I would think they would want to build the L16 version?

[Hdale85]

Well even with the HiVi drivers it will never approach the cost of the Tombstones. Also with the HiVi or the Daytons this speaker should play quite a bit lower then the L16 and the W5's. The cost even with the HiVi's is only going to be something like 150-200 more. With the RS180's could be near the same price as the current Maxx's.

[Jed]

Jed I dig the HiVi drivers myself but I wonder if using 4 each on a speaker will push the price so far up that other designs will "compete" for attention so to speak? If I were looking at something to build why would I build this compared to say the version using the L16, or some Statements, or even you own Tombstones? Using the Dayton drivers helps this design fit a certain pricepoint well. If someone could spend more, and thought the Statements were too big, I would think they would want to build the L16 version?

My hope is the RS180 option is better than the L16 and cheaper too.

I like the Hivi as well, but the specs don't look as good, the RS180 is a good bit cheaper. So... it looks that's why most are picking the RS180 option as something they would like to see, even though the D6.8 option has the sex appeal.

[augerpro]

Yeah, tough call. The HiVi's look cool as hell, and their big advantage is being able to use a smaller box than the Dayton's. But if you can use the Dayton's in the 45L box you have, than really the question is should I spend a whole lot more money for a driver that looks cool?

[tktran]

$96 more than the D 6.8,


But you're missing the opportunity gain. At 1/4 the price of a quad of ScanSpeak Illuminator. With all that stroke, a quad per side will annoy the neighbours. ;x(

[Jed]

Any conspiracy theorists out there? The Hivi D6.8 dual woofer option just shot up like 20 votes in a few minutes. The poll is set up to only allow one vote per day. hmmmmm.

Edit:

Ah- I figured out how they did it. If you disable the cookies in your browser you can vote multiple times. Don't do that.

Jed

[Hdale85]

Yeah pretty easy to get around those. They should do it by IP instead of cookies.

[---k---]

I voted to the D6.8. I assumed it was IP based. I thought about resetting my modem to vote more than once, but was too lazy.

I think there is a lot of loyalty to PE and the Dayton brand, and this is the reason for the RS180's lead. -not that that is a bad thing.

[Jed]

Well, the poll is now closed. Now to interpret the data! :T

I posted the final results on my webpage.

[Hdale85]

Well we were looking at the different configurations FR plots and the dual D6.8's in 45L has an F3 of 31hz which is quite astonishing Thinking I like that idea now.