New 2-way speaker design

[ShinAce]

A friend of mine is finding himself in a new home and wants a 5.1 surround system for his living room.

1) Subs are covered.

2) Mains. I've been thinking the recession buster kit. Assuming the stock is still there, I'd build 4 of them and look at the center separately. I'm thinking of even buying the kit 6 times, leaving me with a spare tweeter and crossover. I would use D'appolitto's geometry to build the center with 2 woofers and add resistors to the woofers to keep the same load on the corssover and amp.

What else can you guys suggest? This guy is a neurosurgery resident, which means he has few hours to watch movies and doesn't even make that much money. I'm trying to keep it as cheap as possible without going to inferior quality.

It's mostly for music but will need to suffice for HT.

The space is average; roughly 12' x 15' .

[Face]

If you call Madisound, they will sell you an odd number of kits.

I'm not sure if there are any RB kits left, but I believe they have plenty of the new RBR kits left, which may be over his budget. http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=35_38_436&products_id=8644

[Face]

There's also Zaph's new kits. I haven't heard any feedback on them yet, but there is one made specifically made to be used as a center channel.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=zaph

[ShinAce]

Just noticed the Vifa kit is sold out.

Zaph's ZA5.2 TM 2-Way looks pretty good. I'll run him through the cost of doing 2 sets of these plus the center channel.

I would gladly do the RB reference for myself, but not for him. There's no knowing if the speakers will still get use 2 years from now. He still needs to get himself a flat panel TV to boot.

[zingo]

I've been eyeing the ZRT kits lately. Even though they are pricey, it sounds like the performance is unmatched.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/images/zrt-v2.jpg (http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=35_425&products_id=8362)

[royalty]

wow those crossovers are ridiculous

[zingo]

wow those crossovers are ridiculous

Ridiculously well built. :D

[GV#27]

Zaph's ZA5.2 TM 2-Way looks pretty good.I have a pair of ZMV5's http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74167&highlight=METAL+MINI+MONITOR .The ZA5.2 is basically the ZMV5 with Zaphs custom version of the woofer and one .1uf cap added to the xover.

They are a good sounding little speaker but I found that the original MCM version of the woofer reached it's excursion limit's rather quickly (even for a 5") with any bass heavy conent even at normal listening levels.Zaph's updated version should be better in this regard but I think hi pass filtering and using sub will be mandatory for HT use.


Too bad the Vifa RB2 ' are sold out,I was considering getting another pair.

[danz1906]

I've been eyeing the ZRT kits lately. Even though they are pricey, it sounds like the performance is unmatched.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/images/zrt-v2.jpg (http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=35_425&products_id=8362)

Sweet!

[zingo]

If I can scrape together the money, I'll be considering the 2.5 version of the ZRTs. $2K for the complete kit, but it seems like there may not be a better set for the money.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/images/zrt2-5-cab-v2.jpg (http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8671)

[Face]

That's my favorite tweeter next to the Be tweeter in Focal's Utopia line.

[zingo]

That'd be a fun shootout. :D

[Face]

That'd be a fun shootout. :D
Considering the difference in price, I'd take the Air Circ's. ;)

[zingo]

Have you heard Usher's new BE tweeter? It starts on their rebuild of the Tiny Dancer and has only received great reviews.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/usher2/front2.jpg

[Face]

No I haven't, there are no Usher dealers near me.

These look pretty interesting though: http://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/d3004_664000.pdf

Too bad the off axis response isn't better though.

[zingo]

Those off-axis charts are pretty steep, but it seems like that tweeter does have loads of potential.

http://www.riviera-acoustics.com/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=1140&language=en

[zingo]

Upon doing some more reading, AVguide claims that the MSRP of those new tweeters is $1000 a pair. :eek: