Part of good crossover design IS equalization of driver responses.. In fact, that midrange bump is a characteristic of all those Seas aluminum drivers. That SHOULD be taken care of in a speaker this expensive so the end user doesn't have to resort to electronic equalization to fix it. Just my opinion.Actually seems really good. Assuming you use EQ(which you should always), you can easily EQ down that midrange bump. I mean even with the midrange bump, it seems to be one of the highest rated "small ID manufacturer" speakers we've seen, and it's quite EQable.
Maybe that's what they're trying to do. If so, kudos.Potentially a smart move..if, like Schiit, they learn from the measurements and comments, and come up with something much better - at 1/4 the price..
Just curious (no irony), how much bamboo adds to costs against some standard generic MDF? Maybe just an accident, but I often see bamboo finish among products priced towards "more luxurious".. I mean price of raw material may be not high, but not so processing?
I know it uses a SEAS tweeter that's ~$250/pair (with no bulk order discount), but I can't help but think the ~$30/pair Peerless BC25TG15-04 gives similar performance for much cheaper.
https://hificompass.com/en/speakers/measurements/peerless/peerless-bc25tg15-04
https://hificompass.com/en/speakers/measurements/seas/seas-t25cf001
Peerless:
View attachment 58672
SEAS:
View attachment 58673
Peerless:
View attachment 58674
SEAS:
View attachment 58675
Peerless (~99dB):
View attachment 58676
SEAS (~98dB):
View attachment 58677
Peerless:
View attachment 58678
SEAS:
View attachment 58679
________________________
To make this speaker more competitive, having the Kimber wiring and WBT binding posts as a Level 1 upgrade (silver upgrade as Level 2) and offering regular wiring and binding posts as the default would be something I would consider.
Just curious (no irony), how much bamboo adds to costs against some standard generic MDF? Maybe just an accident, but I often see bamboo finish among products priced towards "more luxurious".. I mean price of raw material may be not high, but not so processing?
According to your simulations, one could almost think that the crossover was simply calculated rather than designed - without taking the influence of the baffle into account.
Well you would have thought the manufacturer would have understood the testing regime and what would be considered a good or bad result. Assuming they have measured their design there should have been no surprises.Actually feel bad that the manufacturer took the risk to send the speaker only to see it get beat up here.
Not many will take that risk knowing that only the facts will be presented and not softened by advertising dollars.
We do need to be more charitable in these cases, and that includes myself.
To be fair, you can also consciously choose to ignore the baffle step influence. There are developers who do not fully compensate for this.I just don't understand how the manufacturer didn't test it enough to notice the hump before putting this out. I know they probably don't have the test kit amir has, but REW and a mic would have shown this clearly.
This extraordinary speaker delivers a slightly warm and soulful sound with deep bass extension from a stand-mount speaker that will surprise you....
This is what it looks like, no baffle step compensation.To be fair, you can also consciously choose to ignore the baffle step influence. There are developers who do not fully compensate for this.
However, if the manufacturer uses a speaker setup as shown on the website as a reference, you shouldn't be surprised. The shown corner placement should raise the low bass by a good 10-15dB.
View attachment 58707
Which in turn would explain the statement on the website:
The manufacturer should turn the "weakness" into a "strength" and add the following note
"Optimized for corner installation"
You can see the distortion in graphs I posted, not that much better.The SEAS drivers have pistonic motion to a higher level, and lower distortion for a given SPL for their size than almost any driver. Linkwitz didn't use them in his (then) reference Orion speakers for nothing.
I don't know that everything has to be priced low. Speakers are also basically furniture and there is plenty of crazy expensive furniture out there too; much of it based on style. Check out the $5000 beauties:
Not taking into account sound, 5K for a small bamboo box represents poor value as furniture. If it was one of the rare and extremely expensive veneers perhaps the argument could be better justified.Yep, the new Klipsch Heresy IV and JBL L100 Classic come immediately to mind. We just have to decide if they're bookshelf or floor standers.
You going soft mate ? What's happened, have you fallen in love or something?Actually feel bad that the manufacturer took the risk to send the speaker only to see it get beat up here.
Not many will take that risk knowing that only the facts will be presented and not softened by advertising dollars.
We do need to be more charitable in these cases, and that includes myself.
Actually feel bad that the manufacturer took the risk to send the speaker only to see it get beat up here.
Not many will take that risk knowing that only the facts will be presented and not softened by advertising dollars.
We do need to be more charitable in these cases, and that includes myself.
Yep, the new Klipsch Heresy IV and JBL L100 Classic come immediately to mind.
And that's for those that could get past the (IMO only of course) pug fugliness of those two speakers in order to actually consider how significantly flawed the sound produced by them is. Of course, that's influenced by age as much as anything else, and purely subjective in nature - but definitely still a factor in selection of something that would visually dominate any room I could put either of them in.The L100's measured performance is far from stellar, and I won't even mention the Heresy's...
I am pretty sure the L15.
To be fair, you can also consciously choose to ignore the baffle step influence. There are developers who do not fully compensate for this.
However, if the manufacturer uses a speaker setup as shown on the website as a reference, you shouldn't be surprised. The shown corner placement should raise the low bass by a good 10-15dB.
View attachment 58707
Which in turn would explain the statement on the website:
The manufacturer should turn the "weakness" into a "strength" and add the following note
"Optimized for corner installation"