fpitas
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I really really wanted to get a 1503 or 1803 in my listening room.Looks like we've come to the right place!
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Crazy PA Coaxials for Hifi
- Thread starter voodooless
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mhardy6647
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Go for it!
Pretty sure with a cherry picker I could get a pair into mine if I took out the windows on the east end...
fpitas
Master Contributor
Restoring old ones would be even more work than massaging 511s. But they are super coolGo for it!
Pretty sure with a cherry picker I could get a pair into mine if I took out the windows on the east end...
mhardy6647
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I am sure they are -- I've never run across either in the field...Restoring old ones would be even more work than massaging 511s. But they are super cool
fpitas
Master Contributor
I played with 1803s in my misspent youth, with 288s on them of course. Very niceI am sure they are -- I've never run across either in the field...andeven though I know some folks who are big into such arcana.
I now know that the polar pattern of a 511 may just be a little better, although some judicious EQ is required. And you know I think the 802 is an also-ran at best. The old multicells needed damping too, being fairly thin sheet metal. Unfortunately, the tar-filled examples are super expensive, and in any event the tar has turned to hard chunks. I imagine them needing a trip to the hot tank at the local automotive machinist, followed by a new coating. These days I'd use truck bed liner.
I've seen an online web shop for new Kef drivers, sorry I don't have the link. The UniQ is a very nice sounding driver, you can make crazy coax of it by adding proper woofers
Setelec? It's shut down forever, they say
Exactly. I would be looking for it to take over at about 500 hz as a fullrange ‘point source’ supported by big woofers. But it seems they are unobtainable as new units.
HarmonicTHD
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I think it is “only” the drivers for the Q series, none for the R series or above. I faintly remember it was a France based online shop but not entirely sure.
Setelec is closed, see post #187. (Ignore list? Well done, guys, so wise.)
HarmonicTHD
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Yes it was Setelec. Thanks.
HarmonicTHD
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Works for me
But didn’t check if they still carry the Q UniQs.
Edit. You are right that either is a different company and or they indeed discontinued the UniQ spares. Sorry to hear.
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I see, may be the mothership of French' repair shop. Anyway, when addressing my bookmark setelec-shop.fr I'm redirected to the 909 page. As they refer to pending orders, well, that's quite an indication for the address to be real. They didn't carry the meta version anyway, only up to I think the plain Q's, but not R's. Delivery time was counted in months, and so again, the closure is plausible.
As this is about pro/ p/a targeted drivers, what about .Kartesian (watch the dot)? They have a 6,5" incher that is pretty loud but expells some hifi virtues too.
It is discussed there: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/kartesian-cox165_vpa-reviews.374689/
Alas, those guys don't understand the *very* wide directivity of the tweeter part. So they get severe interference from the chassis perimeter, not countersunk. They take it for a resonance in the tweeters waveguide LOL why does it disappear at angles?
My only caveat against the specimen I had was the "cone edge" resonance @800Hz or so, wich is the surround's resonance actually. Very strong IM generator, but then it is very narrow; I couldn't decide for keeping it.
Sad to see that. But if you want, you can buy smallest Q-series, which is quite cheap or maybe LS50 Meta, which is still somewhat within most budgets.
If I was to make a new PA coax, I'd look into these BMS speakers.
If I was to make a new PA coax, I'd look into these BMS speakers.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #197
So, yeah, these things still fascinate meLooks like we may have a new contender for the top crown of Crazy PA Coaxials:
18HTX100 8 Ω - Triaxials - B&C Speakers
www.bcspeakers.com
View attachment 277422
They will set you back € 809/piece if you buy two. Not to bad if you consider the cost of the coaxial tweeter and the horn alone.
Seems like you could just combine this with an 18" PR with enough excursion, making it much easier to build vs a long reflex path. The Dayton 18" PR seems to do the trick. Also get's to 110 dB max at 20 Hz with 400gr of added mass to the PR. Surprisingly a single PR seems to be enough to tame the beast, making it even economically not even that bad of a choice either I've also tried to sim a PSICarAudio 18" PR, which has a bit more excursion, but it looks hideous and you don't really gain that much performance. It's also hard to get to the EU probably.Also, you can probably get away with the stock passive crossover for the horn (or a cheaper clone), and then just have it work as a 2-way DSP solution.
ParametricPi
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Ha, this is a cool thread! I have the big 15 inch tricone fullrange drivers. At home theater levels, you can barely feel the cone vibrating. I have a nice recording of the 5th symphony by Mahler, which opens with a single trumpet in a large concert hall, and after a bit of trumpet doodling the rest of the orchestra and (especially) the percussion comes in at 11. This is basically my test track for dynamic range and IMD. A lot of fullrange drivers struggle to reproduce the startling burst of dynamics, but the 15 inch drivers are impeccable. And this was with just the two fullrange drivers, no woofers or subwoofers, no high pass below acoustic bass cut off. Note that the whizzer cones move *with* the main cone as well. While a stiff baffle or a horn that doesn't vibrate/is the cone is obviously the better platform for the tweeter, I think that the real world consequences are relatively small. For really big coaxials.
The issue I did have with them was their not so well controlled directivity. They are shelved now and I am trying to decide on either a different design for them, switching to fully front loaded horns, or go big coaxials.
So I 'll following this for ideas.
The issue I did have with them was their not so well controlled directivity. They are shelved now and I am trying to decide on either a different design for them, switching to fully front loaded horns, or go big coaxials.
So I 'll following this for ideas.
