Smaller Cabinet for Zaph's ZRT 2.5 Way?

[treytexag]

I'm interested in Zaph's recent ZRT 2.5-Way Revelator speaker. Madison sells the kit, sans cabinets, on their site for around $1,500. Zaph says they can be built in a 38 liter sealed cabinet, the tower sold at Madison. I'd like to do it, if possible, in a smaller sealed stand mounter, like the PE 1.0 cubic foot cabinet. These would be used 1/2 for critical 2 chennel music listening, and 1/2 for FL and FR HT use.

Is it possible to use the existing kit / XO design in a smaller sealed cabinet? Or does moving the second W closer to the other W require a different XO design?

I apologize in advance for the noobie question.

Thanks,
Trey

[M.Roberts8]

Is there a reason why you wouldn't just do the 2-way in a sealed cabinet?

[tktran]

If I was going to spend all that cash on any 2.5 way, I'd want as close to full range performance as possible. So I'd go the full hog with the 65L cabinets.

1 cu ft sealed for a pair of 18W8531G is really too small...

[stangbat]

I agree with tktran. I'm not a designer but here is my opinion and I'm sure I'll get corrected if I'm way off base. Any drastic changes you make to the enclosure volume are going effect the bass extension, tuning, and the final result. And changing the design volume by 30% is going to effect the tuning of the woofers, the crossover can't change this fact. Two woofers in parallel require double the volume of one, so if you want the 2.5 design you are going to have to live with a larger enclosure.

If it were me, and since I'm not a seasoned designer with all the measurement and design tools, if I was going to spend $1500 on just the components, I wouldn't fiddle with things. Have you read John's "email" page? He answers some typical design change questions there.

Positioning the lower woofer right below the top one is mentioned on the ZRT page, and he discusses the differences between that configuration and the configuration using the Madisound cabinet where the lower woofer is further away. No crossover changes are necessary if you move it closer.

Are you set up to build cabinets? You'd have a little more flexibility with the cabinet footprint if you can. You don't want to change the baffle width or driver layout (beyond moving the lower woofer as mentioned earlier), but you could make the cabinets deeper and shorten them up a little.

[ThomasW]

If you want to put this in a small box you need to consider building the 2-way, not the 2.5way.

Thing is putting small boxes on stands takes up the same amount of floorspace as a mini-tower box.

[xyrium]

I figured it was better to ressurect a thread than take up space with a new one. I am considering the ZRT sealed two way for a studio monitor installation. Therefore, nearfield, and desk mounted. Has anyone built the 2 way sealed in the MD20 cabinet as Zaph suggests, and measured the F3?