Indeed, the force is strong with Nat P's

[ModMark]

An observation from a lurker...

I have a $500 budget for a speaker project (L/R speakers) and have spent way too much time researching DIY speakers but in the end, the Nat P's seem to dominate the DIY world for this budget.

Now of course, a good design does not go bad. But since 05-23-2005, the Nat P's still seem to rule. And every path I take always ends up with..

Just build a pair of Nat P's....

Is it the force? And once again with a $500 budget, can anyone recommend a better speaker project than the Nat P?

[MrIgotNomoney]

Hello
Im also in the same budget range, I have been looking at the natp.
A while ago I found a pair of speaker cabinets, that are stellar, made up of inch thick wood and the finish is incredible. Obviously made by a cabinet maker.
I calc about 1.5 cuft. Im thinking they would be a great home for a pair of natp's.
Im also a short drive from Parts Express, so it makes total sense.
They look pretty hard to beat for the $$$
bob

[bbcmp1979]

Here's my measurement of the Natp I just made today. It is very smoother and digs to 40hz easily. However, I swapped the rs28a for the rs28f w/o xover mod, so it is a bit more airy compared to the rs28a.

[fbov]

I can recommend newer driver designs, but I'd also make you aware of the other 5 XO designs you can use with these drivers. They hit a sweet spot of some sort based on the large number of RS-series speaker designs. However it's hard to beat this particular value proposition. These things sound very good (took mine to Dayton DIY2009) and come with enough variants (with the rest of the Modula series) to give almost any application an optimized design, like my Modula CC in-wall.

Nomoney, 1.5 cu ft is fine ported. Mine are more like 2.5, but then I used shielded, which like a bigger box, and went for an extended bass shelf alignment. I'm now building a sealed pair in 20l boxes (0.7 cu ft) using unshielded drivers and F's (once I steal them back from my Continuums).

Speaking of A's vs F's, the difference is in the top octave which only the young and sonicly lucky can still hear (I'm good to 14KHz). I'd agree that the sound a bit airier, but not by much.

The bigger issue is sensitivity, about 1dB lower in today's RS28A/F compared with I built mine (2008). Reduce or remove R3 if the high's seem muted.

Have fun,
Frank

[Rony]

How do you compare the continuums to the rest?

[wkhanna]

Hello

A while ago I found a pair of speaker cabinets, that are stellar, made up of inch thick wood and the finish is incredible.
bob

Be aware that the bafflle widith must match Jon's original design spec in order to achieve optimum performance.

[JonMarsh]

I think for "MrIgotNomoney", that train has left the station, but it's a good warning for Rony.

Roman Bedernak did a comparison of most of the RS180 MTM designs, by simulation with FRD files, and was fairl impressed with the NatalieP. What he only mentioned in the fine print was that it was my FRD files he used to do that, as the sim results with my FRD files had the closest match to measured results for all the system... :B

This is not just a matter of the measured SPL, but getting the phase characteristics right. Still, I think they can be improve on.

And BTW, the test RS180-8 in the current configuration arrived yesterday.

[fbov]

How do you compare the continuums to the... (NatP)?

They don't compare. One's a 130mm-class TM, the other a 180mm class MTM.

NatP's have:
- flatter response
- octaves more bass extension
- much greater power handling
- much greater SPL capability

However, the Continuum will disappear into their sound field if you set them up right. Different magic.

Have fun,
Frank