Ultimate Speaker IV from Solen.ca

[tobuiltaspeaker]

Hello everyone,

I am interested in The Ultimate Speaker IV kit design by Solen in Canada.
Has anyone has any experience with this speaker or bought any speaker kit from Solen? How they sound like?

Here are info and links
:
A Solen cost no object Design

The Ultimate Experience IV.


The UE4 is a four way bass reflex enclosure.
This extraordinary loudspeaker can produce 135db from 35Hz to 18KHz -3db.
Frequency response 25Hz to 22KHz -5db.
Efficiency: 94db 1w/1m.
Power handling: 300w rms, 600w music.
All the drivers are high efficiency drivers used in studio recording.
The tweeter is a modified version of the 1" dome Scan-Speak Revelator.
The high mid is the ATC SM75-150 3" dome.
The low mid is the 10" Volt BM2500.4 mounted in a 2 cubic feet sealed enclosure.
The woofer is the JBL 2245H 18" mounted in a 8 cubic feet ported enclosure.
The crossover is a second-order Linkwitz-Riley,
with crossover points at 160Hz, 800Hz and 3800Hz
and all drivers have their own impedance compensation.
The crossover is mounted externally.
Each box weight over 400lbs.
They are made with 1" thick braced MDF.
The woofer front baffle is made with 3" MDF.
The low mid, high mid and tweeter front baffles are made with 2" MDF.
All inner surfaces are coated with 1/8" dampind pad
and covered with convoluted foam.
The outside is veneered with ebony macassar!
They have a fabulous image and breathless dynamic.


The System

http://www.solen.ca/domont/ue4/ue4sys.jpg

UE4

http://www.solen.ca/domont/ue4/ue4front.jpg

http://www.solen.ca/domont/ue4/ue4xovtp.jpg

http://www.solen.ca/domont/ue4/ue4plan.jpg

http://www.solen.ca/domont/ue4/ue4xovsc.jpg

Any advices or info are appreciated

Thank you in advance

TP

[robertwb70]

I often wonder about a speaker made with high efficiency drivers -for increased dynamics- the problem is the low excursion they offer -but if you just use larger drivers that is customary for the given freq range I think it would work- would be really interesting at least

what's the cost for building a pair of those?

Jeez-look at the size of that inductor!(and they're not positioned well-but you could fix that)

[ThomasW]

Sorry to say that nothing in that particular system strikes me as what I would define as "ultimate" in any sense of the term, other than probably the price.

It sort of looks like Solen chose the most expensive driver from several of their product lines and created a speaker around them.

I'm sure it plays loud. And if you need a high quality PA system for you local gymnasium it maybe a good choice.

What you might want to do is provide some info as to your room, listening habits, budget and over all expectations. Then some informed suggestions could be offered.

[tobuiltaspeaker]

Reason to choose Ultimate IV

Dear ThomasW and Roberwb70

I am looking for a pair of speaker that can handle well when i play karaoke and also in listening music, both with an awsome dynamic, accurate, lively sound.
My buget is $3500.00

Thank you .

[ThomasW]

Do you need 135dB for karaoke?

How big is the room?
How loud do you listen?
Primarily what kind of music so you listen to?
Do you have high power amps or do you really need a high efficiency speaker

[tobuiltaspeaker]

I need it play lound but not 135 db

My room is big ( it's long ). we do lound karaoke but not 135 db. Music: pop, easy listening, sometime Jazz.
we have Yamaha M85 . as long as tweeter is not burn out or mid , bass can handle when we play lound.
Just to let you know: we did burn tweeter of Vienna Accoustic once.

Thank you

[tobuiltaspeaker]

Did use Klipsh RF 7

HI

Orient family take Karaoke very serious. Sound sould remain clear, dynamic, no color when play very volum or low volum.

Klipsh RF 7 is great for karaokei in high volum but terrible when in llistening music at normal volum.

Thank you

[Dennis H]

Was this system designed by Solen? If so, the 3rd hand rumor is their crossovers are relatively primitive, i.e. simple textbook crossovers done without the benefit of real driver responses plugged into CAD software. As I said, this is a rumor but it's one worth checking out before you spend big bucks on a kit. When you spend that kind of money on drivers, you sure don't want to use a funky crossover.

[cdwitmer]

If we are talking about a first-time DIY project, I would definitely recommend going with a "fullrange" (broad range) driver as the "core" of the system. Such a driver should be able to cover all but one or two octaves of the entire audible range. The parts that the broad-range driver can't handle would be covered by either a supertweeter, or subwoofer, or both. So you would be talking about at most a 2-way or 3-way system. If you have a subwoofer that provides good, clean bass, you will have no desire to listen to music at 135dB, believe me. There is a definite tendency for volume levels to go down as the sound quality of the low end improves. So get a less complex loudspeaker system and make sure you have a good subwoofer beneath it.

[ThomasW]

Unfortunately no fullrange driver I'm aware of can function both as a real PA system and a high quality home stereo.

As a matter of fact these two needs are almost incompatible IMO.

Most people fail to understand the demands placed on drivers being used for 'live' sound reproduction (note this includes mic'ed human voice). These demands are why compression drivers and horns exist.

So if one likes the sound characteristics of high end compression horn systems, then those are one possible solution. The issue there is that high quality horn systems TAD, JBL etc are quite expensive, physically large and weigh a ton.

[cdwitmer]

Point well taken. I had forgotten that with karaoke, the voice is indeed being reproduced live, and that does make a world of difference. An exception (sort of) to the rule that fullrange drivers don't excel at both PA use and home audio use is found in the Fostex PS300. In the past I have used this driver in 2-way loudspeakers designed by Tetsuo Nagaoka with results that were outstanding for both PA and home audio. However, in the end I guess your rule still applies because even though the unit is classified as a fullrange I was crossing it over well below 2000Hz.

[Brian Bunge]

Maybe he should use a pair of Adire's HE12.1 kits?