high end 2 way on a budget

[fillemon]

hello,

i'm new here.
but not completely new to diy audio.

i'm looking for a high end 2 way on a budget.
I don't have the time nor the skills to develop a speaker from scratch, so i stick to "proven designs".

the contenders i'm looking at

Zaph's SR-71
Dennis Murphy's Usher 2-way
David Ralph's Chameleon
Mark K's ER18DXT

a few people told me to build the sb acoustics eka.
I read more about sb acoustics, and must say, i'm imprest by their products.

The question i would like to raise is: what designs with SB acoustics is considered as the best. there are the sb desings like eka and elok, but there is also the chameleon and mandolin.....

thanks a lot

[5th element]

If you want high end on a real low budget then you cannot beat Zaph's own designs using his ZA14 driver.

If I had to pick out of the 4 designs above I'd go for the ER18DXT.

[Jayhrc51]

I built the SR71's about a year ago and I have been extremely impressed with them. I've been using them as my mains for about 50/50 music and movies. I haven't found a single thing to complain about them. I just moved to a new house with a two story family room and a wide open floor plan, and I can tell that I'm going to have to move the SR71's to surround duty eventually; it's just too large of a room for them to have the impact that they used to have in my old house. Beyond that, I still love them. I may even move them to stereo only duty in the master bedroom. Who knows....

[fillemon]

thanks guys,

i didn't know that zaph, had made a speaker with the new driver ?

can you point me to it ? i know he held a competition for the crossover design;

i have read somewhere that the sb chameleon beats all the other desings on almost all fronts but one: the bass does not goes so deep as the er18dxt or the sr71...

still i haven't made up my mind yet,
thanks again

[5th element]

The designs can be found on Zaph's website. They are a little harder to find and it took me a while to realise where the links are. On his home page, just above where it has the link to his Blog there is a line that reads.

Looking for Zaph Audio commercial projects? See ZA14W08, ZA5, SB12.3.

The ZA5 is the link to the designs using his ZA14 driver. All of the designs are based around it and the DQ25 tweeter from vifa.

[john trials]

thanks guys,

i didn't know that zaph, had made a speaker with the new driver ?

can you point me to it ? i know he held a competition for the crossover design;

i have read somewhere that the sb chameleon beats all the other desings on almost all fronts but one: the bass does not goes so deep as the er18dxt or the sr71...

still i haven't made up my mind yet,
thanks again

Zaph's stuff can be found at Madisound: http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com...earch_str=zaph

[fillemon]

thanks guys,

why would you pick the er18dxt ?

i have looked around the za5 costs 200$; the er18dxt 350$; it's a big difference, BUT a difference i don't mind if sonically it's a better by a bit.
(i know that at some point spending extra money is gaining only a few % in qualities.)

thanks

[5th element]

I'd pick the ER18DXT design because I really like the way that wave-guide loaded tweeters sound. The DXT might not have all the magic of a larger wave-guide but it's better then nothing.

The other reason I like the ER18DXT design is for it's great off axis set of curves. The ZA5 designs should have good off axis responses too as they cross to the ZA14 at 2kHz, before it starts to beam.

I have to be honest with you, a two way using the ZA14 + the DXT would be my personal pick of high end on a budget, but that doesn't exist.

[agrippa]

Zaph|Audio ZA5 series seems to have it all (needs sub though) for a great price. John does some good work. The series is well thought out and is most likely going to end up in my house some day.

[kmibb]

http://speakerdesignworks.com/Invictus_1.html

[agrippa]

http://speakerdesignworks.com/Invictus_1.html

Yeah...word...true dat. Wait, that is not right. Anyway, I agree. However, it may be beyond his price range. I think it would cost you about $1000 once everything is taken into account.