BIC EV-15 Eviction Measurements

[Dogfinder]

Interesting project! However, I'm going to guess that the crossover you used is a step down from the originals. I see the crossover points listed as 850 Hz and 4000 Hz. I've never seen the stock crossover points listed, but the woofer is probably crossed at more like 300Hz. The stock crossover also probably pads the tweeter a bit more than the crossover you installed, which may explain why you are hearing a brighter tonal balance.

I once experimented with installing a cheapo 3-way crossover in some early 90s Sony three-ways and that was pretty much what I found: no tweeter padding made for a bright sound, and there was not even a gesture in the way of baffle step compensation.

Thanks Severian!

I suspect you are right. I saw some interesting 3-way crossovers (not bi-ampable) on Parts Express, but was reluctant to throw Dayton money at it.... At $26 for 2 cheapos, I was willing to take a chance. Comparing the OE and cheapo, there are more bits and pieces on el cheapo, but the piece I was able to directly compare, the 10uf caps, are half the size on the new cheapo than the Bic's. Is bigger always better? Don't know, maybe it's the motion of the ocean...

I will learn a lot when I mod the other unit, leaving the original crossover in there and focusing on damping and midrange replacement. Stay tuned, likely this weekend. Depending on how that goes, I might be resoldering up the original unit, unless you or somebody else has a great idea for a crossover upgrade that is cost effective. That's above my pay grade.

 

[Dogfinder]

Interesting project! However, I'm going to guess that the crossover you used is a step down from the originals. I see the crossover points listed as 850 Hz and 4000 Hz. I've never seen the stock crossover points listed, but the woofer is probably crossed at more like 300Hz. The stock crossover also probably pads the tweeter a bit more than the crossover you installed, which may explain why you are hearing a brighter tonal balance.

I once experimented with installing a cheapo 3-way crossover in some early 90s Sony three-ways and that was pretty much what I found: no tweeter padding made for a bright sound, and there was not even a gesture in the way of baffle step compensation.

Thinking more about your comment - I would think that 850hz is way high for that 15" woofer. Like you, I don't know what the crossover points are for the stockers - since my new midrange is published with a lower range of 500hz, I wonder how that factors into that low end and will play with the stock crossover. What is the range of the GSMs you put in?

Another rabbithole: Do you think upgrading the caps of the original unit (at the factory capacitance values) is a useful excercise?

 

[mhardy6647]

Another rabbithole: Do you think upgrading the caps of the original unit (at the factory capacitance values) is a useful excercise?

heck yeah (don't tell anybody at ASR that I said this!)

 

[Dogfinder]

heck yeah (don't tell anybody at ASR that I said this!)

Your secrets are safe with me. So... pushing deeper into the rabbit hole.

I Identify 3 capacitors on the stocker:
1) 10uf, looks like a Dayton 10uf goes around $9
2) 17uf, Dayton for $8 (why is this physically smaller than the 10uf??)
3) MET 225J? Looking this up, it sounds like its a small capacitance, but I am having trouble locking down an actual value. For discussion, lets just call it $5 for an "upgrade."

I am beginning to get philosophical about this... How much money do you put into these things? To replace functional caps in the stocker (which offends some part of me), we are looking at something around $23 for one unit, $46 for both. I also see some huge, pricey, exotic capacitors that seem totally ridiculous for this effort, bit I don't know where diminishing returns begin. Are there even cheaper options that are worth a look?

All this is jumping cart before horse, please forgive my enthusiasm.

For my project, current status:
Currently I have one damped cabinet with a new midrange and new crossover, the other is bone stock. Results are mixed so far. New is cleaner with less mud, but noticeably less low end. Much more mid/vocal clarity, less reverb, "gymnasium sound" boxiness. Qualitative ear stuff is all I can measure by, no data, sorry.

Next steps:
1) I will damp the remaining stock cabinet, put in the new Goldwood driver, and compare new cheapo crossover to the OE crossover (by having one of each condition and listening) in the otherwise identically modified speakers. I predict OE x-over will be better, but we will see.
2) Based on that, if I think the OE is "better" than the cheapo, put the old crossover back in place...
3) At that point, to test for incremental improvement, consider recapping the OE on one speaker, and leaving one bone stock. Compare again.

Why the Caps? Because I don't know much about this, can't design a crossover, the the caps are labeled, the inductors aren't, and I am not sure what difference the quality of resistors make (although they are labeled). Caps are low-hanging fruit, and the interwebs say that caps are super-important for SQ (cough)...

Goals: I am trying to make relatively low cost improvements to a cheap, interesting speaker that I generally liked to begin with. Yes, my testing process is totally subjective (my ear, no graphs), and qualitative, and my knowledge and skillset are totally limited. But I am working towards an incremental modification process and comparison. Who knows, maybe after this, others with this speaker might be able to make a slightly more informed guess on what might make sense doing, what is likely just a waste of time and money, or efforts that actually make things worse (definitely possible).

Is the low hanging fruit of recapping worth another $46? Something else I haven't thought of? Photo is a better view of the removed OE crossover.

Thoughts and opinions are welcome and appreciated.

 

[mhardy6647]

225J is EDIT: 2.2 uF

Capacitor ConversionTable | ES Components

. This is a handy table that makes it easier to convert capacitance values between picofarads, nanofarads, and microfarads. It also explains Vishay's three digit encoding system for MLCC capacitor part numbers.

www.escomponents.com

225 means that the capacitance is 22 with a multiplier of 10^5, in picofarads
Thus, 225 means 2 200 000 pF = 2 200 nF = 2.2 uF

The J means (I think!) 5% tolerance.

​

 

[Philbo King]

After many years, I finally took some fairly detailed measurements of the BIC EV-15, following @Dennis Murphy's measurements that showed them to be a bit of a trainwreck.

Here’s my makeshift outdoor measurement rig: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oo5r2fcbhmfvyws/BIC-Measurement-Rig.jpeg?dl=0

I have achieved measurements very comparable to others on other well-known speakers (JBL 3-series, Pioneer BS-22, etc) although I have reason to believe that my mic (a calibrated UMIK-1) may measure slightly too hot in the upper treble region. The mic alignment is a bit off-kilter in the photo; for the actual measurements I used a protractor and level to keep things reasonably correct.

The first set of measurements were taken on the vertical tweeter axis. We’re commendably flat up to 2khz, at which point things fall off of a cliff.

At this point I was considering BIC’s claims of “24Hz-20kHz +/- 3dB” to be downright fraudulent.

View attachment 68983

The next set of measurements was taken on the midrange axis. Here things look more sane. It is clear to me that BIC’s claims must be based on measurements taken on the midrange axis.

View attachment 68984

I decided to take another set of measurements approximately 1-1.5ft. above the tweeter axis. Here we can see the woofer and the midrange continuing their epic battle, this time lower in the frequency range.

View attachment 68985


Objectively, These Speakers Suck. Why Would Anybody Enjoy Them?

Well, lots of people have poor taste and/or hearing damage

I’ve given these speakers lots of praise in the past. Other people love them too, but it is abundantly clear that objectively, there are issues.

They are pretty reasonable on the midrange axis. In my garage, I typically have them placed on 1’ platforms. I did this to reduce floor bounce from the woofers, but a side effect is that I was listening closer to the midrange axis than the tweeter axis. It seems this contributed to my positive feelings.

Motherflipping dynamics. Thanks to massive size and power handling, they can really shine on music with high dynamic range. There are no other speakers in this price range that come remotely close.

Deep stereo bass. Two woofers reproducing deep bass. This eliminates a whole range of typical issues with subwoofers. No crossover issues in the crucial 80hz region. And dual woofers will go a long way toward avoiding the room modes that tend to occur with a single subwoofer.

They actually are objectively very good, at the the most important frequencies. It’s true that they have a lot of issues at 2khz and above. However, most fundamental frequencies in music are lower than that, and the BICs actually perform quite well in that range.

View attachment 68706

At the end of the day, these are certainly not "audiophile", but I think many would enjoy these as a second or third system in the basement or garage. If you're willing to sacrifice some efficiency -- which wouldn't be a major problem, especially if you have lots of amplifier power on tap -- you could potentially EQ these into something pretty appealing.

Addendum / Updates

I have updated the graphs thanks to helpful feedback from @napilopez. Measurements are gated to 12ms, vertical scale has been changed to 50dB, and smoothing has been changed from 1/6 to 1/12 octave. Additionally, here is the .mdat file from REW if anybody is interested: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mmi9e6hghcwy3t5/BIC Measurements Grill Off.mdat?dl=0

Edit: Never mind; I see this has been brought up in numerous other replies...

Seems to me that unless you trim room reflections from the REW Impulse Response, you are measuring Room+Speaker.
Can you post a FR curve made with the IR trimmed?

 

[Dogfinder]

225J is EDIT: 2.2 uF

Capacitor ConversionTable | ES Components

. This is a handy table that makes it easier to convert capacitance values between picofarads, nanofarads, and microfarads. It also explains Vishay's three digit encoding system for MLCC capacitor part numbers.

www.escomponents.com

225 means that the capacitance is 22 with a multiplier of 10^5, in picofarads
Thus, 225 means 2 200 000 pF = 2 200 nF = 2.2 uF

The J means (I think!) 5% tolerance.

​

Thanks. Based on the cap ratings (2.2, 10, 17uf), I am trying to guess at the crossover points for the Bic. The 8ohm chart I am using me is giving me... strange frequency values. Clearly I am missing something. Or everything.

Maybe 4500 & around 560?

 

[JohnBooty]

Wow! Thanks for the interior photos! It's just as cheap inside as I suspected. There's definitely plenty of low hanging fruit there, when it comes to damping/bracing the cabinet and the woofer baskets.

I've actually never opened mine up, because typically I'm not driving them very hard at all, so the construction hasn't been an issue really. But at higher output levels those sorts of damping mods you did would likely start to pay off.

I've got to say, I'm not sure those random crossover and driver replacements seem likely to bear too much fruit. I would probably go in the direction of measuring and correcting with DSP. Of course, all that really matters is you're having fun.

Thanks. Based on the cap ratings (2.2, 10, 17uf), I am trying to guess at the crossover points for the Bic. The 8ohm chart I am using me is giving me... strange frequency values. Clearly I am missing something. Or everything.

Maybe 4500 & around 560?

You could remove the metal bars that connect the bi-amping speaker terminals. This would allow you to amp just the woofer, or just the mid+tweeter. By running frequency sweeps you could then figure out the xover frequency between the woofer+mid.

 

[Dogfinder]

Wow! Thanks for the interior photos! It's just as cheap inside as I suspected. There's definitely plenty of low hanging fruit there, when it comes to damping/bracing the cabinet and the woofer baskets.

I've actually never opened mine up, because typically I'm not driving them very hard at all, so the construction hasn't been an issue really. But at higher output levels those sorts of damping mods you did would likely start to pay off.

I've got to say, I'm not sure those random crossover and driver replacements seem likely to bear too much fruit. I would probably go in the direction of measuring and correcting with DSP. Of course, all that really matters is you're having fun.


You could remove the metal bars that connect the bi-amping speaker terminals. This would allow you to amp just the woofer, or just the mid+tweeter. By running frequency sweeps you could then figure out the xover frequency between the woofer+mid.

Thanks for the response.

Replacing the midrange was sort of a response to the badness I interpreted in your graphs at 1 & 2kHz, as was adding the slight tilt (if badness happens off-axis - change the axis), as well as some negative stuff that Dennis Murphy had said about the mid. That, and at $12/unit, the risk wasn't so high, compared with a 15" woofer swap, which costs more and would change the aesthetic character of the beastie that I kind of like (yep, I said it). Plus I was okay with the stock bass output. Aaand, I don't know how to approach doing anything with those horns other than add damping. With the rig apart, It looks like the horn is one big piece of plastic, with the little tweeter embedded in the butt. It was not a threaded driver & magnet assembly attached at the end of the horn that I was expecting.

I agree the crossover swap was poorly considered (actually, not considered at all). I will learn exactly how bad a move it was in the next step. I am definitely in the good money after bad phase of the project.

What kind of gear do you suggest for the frequency sweeps? I admit, this effort might be more useful with some data for the data-minded. I will also take a true photo of the stock cavity when I crack the other unit open, maybe tonight. The photo you saw was in process, and had some of my applied damping on it already, so it was defiled. The reality is even worse.

 

[JohnBooty]

Thanks for the response.

Replacing the midrange was sort of a response to the badness I interpreted in your graphs at 1 & 2kHz,

We're at the edge of my limited knowledge here but a big dip like that is most likely cancellation between the tweeter and midrange, rather than simply one driver or the other being crap. They're out of phase here and canceling each other out in the regions where they overlap.

The next most likely cause is, I guess, that the designers crossed over both drivers early because one or both are total ass in that region, and they knew a big dip in the frequency response is perceptually preferable to audible garbage.

Random driver replacements may or may not address those issues.

They're almost certainly not addressable by crossover tweaks alone, unless BIC's crossover designer completely screwed up. Which is totally possible, but IMO BIC's speakers seem competently designed to me. They're definitely going for max output over high fidelity, and are built to a price point that limits what they can achieve, but within those harsh constraints I think they hit their design goals as well as they can possibly be hit.

I agree the crossover swap was poorly considered (actually, not considered at all). I will learn exactly how bad a move it was in the next step. I am definitely in the good money after bad phase of the project.

Hey, nothing wrong with that. Every hobby starts with fun, messing around. How far you want to take it is up to you! Important thing is that it remains fun. And it sounds like you're having that. Hell I'm having fun reading your posts.

What kind of gear do you suggest for the frequency sweeps? I admit, this effort might be more useful with some data for the data-minded. I will also take a true photo of the stock cavity when I crack the other unit open, maybe tonight. The photo you saw was in process, and had some of my applied damping on it already, so it was defiled. The reality is even worse.

I think the cheapest recommended calibrated mic is the Dayton one. $54... damn, that's nice, thought it was more than that.

Home

Dayton Audio EMM-6 Electret Measurement MicrophoneThe Dayton Audio EMM-6 is a precision electret condenser microphone designed for measurement and critical recording applications. The extremely flat frequency response and true omni-directional polar pattern make it perfect for use with room...

www.parts-express.com

You would use this in conjunction with something like REQ (free, multiplatform)

REW room acoustics and audio device measurement and analysis software

REW is free software for room acoustic measurement, loudspeaker measurement and audio device measurement and analysis

www.roomeqwizard.com

There are a lot of videos on YouTube. If you want to learn how to use REQ to exactly measure each driver's output without room response tainting things look for something like "REW close mic measurements gated." You'll need to do it in an open field for best results but if you don't want to get that crazy, close mic gated measurements should suffice. This will let you determine if the drivers are doing the right things... or not.

If you want to measure the speaker + room response together look for "REW moving microphone technique" which will let you average the actual speaker response from various places throughout the room and e.g. output a room correction EQ file that you could feed into a DSP. This is what you would do once the speaker itself is behaving, or if you were just using a stock speaker without major surgery you would skip directly to this step. This step is basically what Audyssey or Dirac do for you, in a more automated fashion. And in fact, simply using Audyssey is a solution I endorse too -- can always grab a factory refurb from Accessories4Less and be done with it.

 

[Dogfinder]

We're at the edge of my limited knowledge here but a big dip like that is most likely cancellation between the tweeter and midrange, rather than simply one driver or the other being crap. They're out of phase here and canceling each other out in the regions where they overlap.

The next most likely cause is, I guess, that the designers crossed over both drivers early because one or both are total ass in that region, and they knew a big dip in the frequency response is perceptually preferable to audible garbage.

Random driver replacements may or may not address those issues.

They're almost certainly not addressable by crossover tweaks alone, unless BIC's crossover designer completely screwed up. Which is totally possible, but IMO BIC's speakers seem competently designed to me. They're definitely going for max output over high fidelity, and are built to a price point that limits what they can achieve, but within those harsh constraints I think they hit their design goals as well as they can possibly be hit.

Thanks again.

If the mid and tweeter are fighting one another, my stuff isn't going to fix that! On the crossover side, I went ahead and got some Dayton poly capacitors, and will swap those onto the original xover, and give it a listen. Hoping for, but not expecting miracles. Hoping to get the bass back at least!

Hey, nothing wrong with that. Every hobby starts with fun, messing around. How far you want to take it is up to you! Important thing is that it remains fun. And it sounds like you're having that. Hell I'm having fun reading your posts.

Having fun, and learning quite a bit in the process.

I think the cheapest recommended calibrated mic is the Dayton one. $54... damn, that's nice, thought it was more than that.

Home

Dayton Audio EMM-6 Electret Measurement MicrophoneThe Dayton Audio EMM-6 is a precision electret condenser microphone designed for measurement and critical recording applications. The extremely flat frequency response and true omni-directional polar pattern make it perfect for use with room...

www.parts-express.com

You would use this in conjunction with something like REQ (free, multiplatform)

REW room acoustics and audio device measurement and analysis software

REW is free software for room acoustic measurement, loudspeaker measurement and audio device measurement and analysis

www.roomeqwizard.com

There are a lot of videos on YouTube. If you want to learn how to use REQ to exactly measure each driver's output without room response tainting things look for something like "REW close mic measurements gated." You'll need to do it in an open field for best results but if you don't want to get that crazy, close mic gated measurements should suffice. This will let you determine if the drivers are doing the right things... or not.

If you want to measure the speaker + room response together look for "REW moving microphone technique" which will let you average the actual speaker response from various places throughout the room and e.g. output a room correction EQ file that you could feed into a DSP. This is what you would do once the speaker itself is behaving, or if you were just using a stock speaker without major surgery you would skip directly to this step. This step is basically what Audyssey or Dirac do for you, in a more automated fashion. And in fact, simply using Audyssey is a solution I endorse too -- can always grab a factory refurb from Accessories4Less and be done with it.

I may do this, but it will be after the final result, with multiple mods (damping, midrange, and xover caps). Will be harder to tease out what causes what maybe, but who knows!

In the meantime... I went ahead and replaced the grill cloth with the guitar amplifier fabric... Loving the reduced opacity, hinting at what's underneath. There's a stock shot too, to refresh memories. I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea, but that's why there's lots of different teas...

 

[Dogfinder]

Next steps are in the books… here’s some shots of the stock cabinet. Polyester fill. Empty cab with the blanket removed, look at your glorious bracing!! That tweeter…

And a few progress shots of my damping build, also did a midrange replacement, but no xover mods. (Yet)

Happy to teak a break and clean up the big mess I made while plying music and breaking the new driver!

 

[Dogfinder]

The adventure continues...

After modifying the second speaker, I added the damping and the cosmetic "upgrades", and spending some time listening, the OE Xover is much better than the cheepos. Hands down. The cheapo is "thin" sounding, it's losing a lot of midrange and bass, and just inferior. Surprise, surprise! The OE with the damping mods and new Goldwood midrange has much sweeter vocals than it used to (#flamesuit), based on my memory of the old version (+plus wallet & time coeffecient). I definitely think the tilt (6 degrees) and new grill cloth is a nice visual change, ymmv.

The next phase was to recap the existing OE and compare that head to head. Didn't go as planned. The new caps had much thicker leads than the OE, and I tried to drill the openings on the circuit board. Bad idea? Definitely. When I screwed it all back together, I only had a working tweeter channel, mid and woofer were DOA. But the tweeter sounded oh-so-sweet (lol). My ham-handed craftsmanship for the win! Long story short, BIC sells the crossovers for ~$35 +shipping. So I ordered one. I'm deciding whether I want to butcher that new one with these fancy new caps I have sitting around or just pop it in there. Cruising eBay, though, I saw some Eminence 3ways there with crossover points of 500 and 3500 Hz for around the same price. Could be a fallback option if I destroy the new crossover too...

Challenges/Lessons:
1) I popped a hole in a midrange driver screwing it in. I tried to glue it, but it definitely had a scratch in output. Ham-handed! $14
2) Don't use zip stretch tape as gaskets. It is stickier than hell, and has some tackiness even on the back side. It bond itself to everything like a mothereffer. Removing the woofers again afterward is a bear, and it even wants to rip off the veneer, particularly around the tweeter horn for some reason. Good for window construction, bad for speakers. Do something else. Or nothing.
3) These things can take a lot more dynamat, I now have 7.5 sf in each cab, and the more I add, the more I enjoy the speakers, but dislike moving them. Could easily take 15sf per cab. Double it up where it counts (back and front baffles, imo). Yes, it's heavy. I believe mass is good. Word of warning: The silver foil liner of the dynamat inside the cab is visible through the port openings. On the last speaker, I put some nylon stocking ends over the insides of the ports. Conceals the sparkly foil, can't tell a difference in sound from the nylons. I wonder what actual bracing could do?? hmmm.
4) I liked it less with old bath mat in the base (was done because of scarcity of dynamat). Pulled it out from the bottom (there is a piece still glued to top plate of cab interior), added more dynamat to the base, and back & front baffles and sides. Having fuzzy bathmat (with rubber backing) in the bottom "seemed" to negatively muffle the bass. As for mass, it weighs less than the same area of dynamat. Scientific, right?
5) These beasts are definitely not built for frequent disassembly and reassembly. They have been assembled and disassembled multiple times each so far. I have the little glue-on triangular braces falling off left and right, and I have wallowed out one of my woofer screw holes. I'm sure your more surgical hands can do better than my caveman mitts, but be careful.
6) I now have a little buzz in one speaker around the woofer (that has the wallowed out hole) at certain frequencies and volumes. I think it's that plastic ring. It's not the end of the world, but you know it's one of those things that gets in your head and you can't unhear. I am unsure, maybe it's that hole that I overtightened and stripped, and it needs some wood glue to get better compression on that ring. Maybe I can readhere that ring more positively. Or just replace the woofer... Can you paint a cone ?
7) I have no idea if the sonic barrier product I put in is doing something good or bad. Hard to tell making so many changes at once. I know one thing: its expensive, so that must mean it's good, right?!

Things to think about! Still need a microphone to take some measurements... and get scientific! And quantify this midrange/vocal bump that I am enjoying.

 

[mhardy6647]

For future reference:
PartsExpress's gasket material is pretty good and easy to work with (IMO and FWIW).

Shopping

www.parts-express.com

Home

Parts Express Speaker Gasketing Tape 1/8" x 1/2" x 50 ft. RollFinally! A foam gasketing tape designed specifically for loudspeakers! This specially designed foam tape is excellent for making an airtight seal around drivers, terminals, handles, horn lenses, or any other item that needs installed...

www.parts-express.com

 

[Dogfinder]

That looks more appropriate!! Thanks!

 

[Dogfinder]

So, hypothetically... if we were looking at the 15" woofer for replacement... there seem to be a bewildering array of options.

The first thing that jumps off the page about the stated speaker specs is the overall 95dB sensitivity. I tried to match the midrange (Goldwood 85/8 @ 96dB) to this, and the whole thing seems to be more forward now in that department. This is a little surprising, unless this is a case of a manufacturer not being totally forthright in their spec listing, or am I missing something (certainly possible).

Anyway, finding a 95dB 15" woofer seems to be achievable, but escalates price considerably. I find things on Parts express, but they are more accessible (read: cheap)in the Pro Audio department.

In their listing, the cheapest 15 with 95 db is this:

Home

LaVoce WAF153.00 15" Ferrite Woofer 8 OhmThe LaVoce WAF153.00 is an impressive 15" woofer that features an impressive aluminum basket which provides exceptional cooling. The excellent 99 dB sensitivity is perfect for mating to other high-efficiency drivers. The gasket on this driver allows it to...

www.parts-express.com

$190, 99dB, rated down to 40Hz. ( somehow shows up as both home and pro audio, go figure) Seems pricey for this application.. but....

For contrast, the "cheapo" Goldwood home woofer:

Home

GRS 15PF-8 15" Paper Cone Foam Surround WooferThe GRS 15PR-8 speaker is the best choice you can make if you need to replace a worn out, blown 15" woofer. Thanks to its carefully optimized parameters, the GRS 15PF-8 15" poly-laminated paper cone woofer provides a high degree of compatibility when...

www.parts-express.com

$39, 87dB, but down to 25 Hz.

Pro Audio woofers seem to have more sensitivity, at relatively lower costs.

Shopping

www.parts-express.com

$65, 90dB, 35 Hz.

I don't know stuff about stuff, but I would imagine that if you wanted the cheapo approach, with such low sensitivity, you would have to tamp down the mid and hi pathways also, which leads you to crossover mods (above my pay grade). Or spend tons on this La Voce or similar woofer. Or split the baby and get decent sensitivity (say 92-93) for a reasonable price and hope? I am not opposed to leaps of faith, or making mistakes. Thoughts?

Side note, I saw on eBay crazy listings for woofers will all kinds of high sensitivities for next to nothing. Not that I believe any of it, but always looking for the diamond in the rough.

 

[Dogfinder]

So... After getting a mic and screwing around with REW...

1. Here is the stock crossover with damping mods and the goldwood midrange:

I am not sure why the top end waterfalls off a cliff at >4.5khz


2. Here's the same mods with a cheapo crossover:

Almost 10Db down 2-5kHz. Interesting, I suppose.

Mic was positioned 3' away, 3' from ground. I was not in a field. Likely lots of user methodology/room issues, but, here we are!

 

[JohnBooty]

This is the total opposite of scientific, but:

I gave the (completely stock) EV-15 something close to a full "workout" at a party last weekend, for the first time. I had the Crown XLS amp turned up nearly all of the way which I had never had the guts to do before. I was probably giving the speakers something close to their rated "430 Watts Peak, 225 Watts RMS" although as we all know music is much peakier than test tones.

The speakers seemed to gladly drink that power and ask for more. Audible distortion was low and the max output was frightening. Easily 90dB+ from 50' away outdoors.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to take anything in the way of objective measurements. My brother and I only had a few minutes to play around before guests started showing up, and I could not in good conscience harass the neighbors with literal rock concert levels of output for more than a few minutes anyway. I don't have a lot of experience with pro audio gear but this sounded significantly better than any small portable DJ or live audio setup I've ever heard. (A low bar to clear, admittedly. But I am always shocked at how bad they sound)

I can see why people like messing around with pro audio / HT / auto gear.

While I am at heart primarily a hi-fi/"audiophile" type it is definitely kind of addicting to mess around with obscene amounts of firepower sometimes.

 

[Curvature]

@JohnBooty I love the name of these speakers.