kit281's or speakerpage K08T23's?

Philip_G · 10-05-2003, 02:06 PM

Help me pick my mains!

I have a pair of acoustic research floorstanders I bought long ago used for dirt cheap, while they've been good speakers, it's time to move on. I built everything else in my system, so they're next. My center channel is a speakerpage 3 way MTM kit (I think it's been out of stock for awhile) I've been very pleased with it, though I think I'll clean it up a little and veneer it to look better than the sock over it now.

Anyway, I'm torn between the adire kit281, I have a clone of the rava and love it and adire's products, and the K08T23 from speakerpage, I've never heard either of these before and the cost difference is pretty negligable, about 300 bucks for the speakerpage kit including the baffle, and I think about 369 for the adire kit, a little more wokr involved, but that's half the fun.

they both look like great speakers, I'll post the charts for both since it's all i really have to work from.

K08T23

kit281

so, which would you build?

Brian Bunge · 10-05-2003, 02:33 PM

I haven't heard the KIT281's but I have heard the K08T23's. I've been really impressed with them so far. It looks from the graphs that it may have a small advantage over the 281's in midrange, but the 281's look like they'd have a little bit smoother top end. Also, the 281's will have higher SPL capabilities as well as being almost 4dB more efficient. You also have to take into account that the 281's are a 4 ohm speaker. So to say one is better than the other could be a tough call.

Since you already have the SCH center I'd be more inclined to go with the SCH towers.

Michael R Price · 10-05-2003, 04:47 PM

Philip, how loud do you want to go? (That probably should figure into a choice.)

I've owned Kit281s for awhile so I could tell you about them in good detail, if you have any questions. I'm afraid I have not heard any SCH kits.

Philip_G · 10-05-2003, 05:53 PM

well, my theater room is fairly small, the front stage is about 10 or so feet wide, and I sit no more than 10 feet back, so it's a small almost square room. I really don't play anything all that loud because I live in a townhouse. When I need to smother out noisy neighbors I usually just turn the sub up

I don't have a very powerfull amp, they'll be driven by an elite 35tx which IIRC is about 90 watts per channel.

having a SCH center already swayed me a little, but none of the drivers are the same, or even the same brand. The center has a vifa tweeter and mid, and generic 6.5" woofers, I'm sure they'll blend in just fine, heck I can't tell any difference between the center and my current mains, so it could probably stick out like a sore thumb and I'd miss it

Did you build the vented or sealed 281? I read through some old posts and can't say that I've found a single person with the sealed kit 281s. One thread indicated the sealed was harder to build, which I don't understand..

oh, another advantage, adire give syou the FULL plans and cut sheet ahead of time, so I can build the cabinets and order the kits last, I like that.

I'm almost inclined to take the better midrange over smooth high end, I really don't listen to music very often on them, a few times a year is about it, so 99.99% of their use will be TV and movies.

Brian Bunge · 10-05-2003, 06:14 PM

Philip,

I'm not sure which version of the center you have, but the ones we've used had a Vifa mid, 2 Vifa 5.25" woofers and a Peerless mid.

Also, the plans on the SCH website are good enough to build the cabinets. Most of the other stuff you get with the kits is how to assemble the XO, etc.

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James W. Johnson · 10-05-2003, 06:17 PM

The Kit 281Vs extend really low in the bass dept, enough that I don't use a subwoofer when I listen to music with mine. The wide frequency response comes in handy when you call upon them to take on movie and TV viewing. They really are a jack of all trades IMO.

Philip_G · 10-05-2003, 06:35 PM

Quote:

I'm not sure which version of the center you have, but the ones we've used had a Vifa mid, 2 Vifa 5.25" woofers and a Peerless mid.

it's the K05C26. I'd have to take them out, but I could have sworn the mid and tweet were vifa and the woofers weren't. I must be mistaken

Michael R Price · 10-06-2003, 09:07 AM

Philip,

I think I've heard of some people using sealed 281s but mine are vented along with probably 90% of others. And I don't know how much amplifier power matters - I've used 15, 100, and 400+ watt amps, with pretty obvious differences.

The midrange quality of the Kit281 is debatable. The speaker uses 8" woofers with a breakup mode at 2.2 KHz and its response is only about 6db down at that point, so it is probably audible. I hear a little slowness in the midrange, or lack of detail, perhaps. But in my opinion it's a real exaggeration to call this speaker "harsh" or "bright" because of it. The SCH woofer is a little better in that respect, their graph at 1/3-octave smoothing shows a rise around 4db between 2-4KHz. I couldn't tell you what kind of difference in the sound that makes, though.

Hank Frankenberg · 10-06-2003, 12:15 PM

I can vouch for the sound quality value of the SCH towers. I built the predecessor version about 3 years ago and a pair of modified (larger volume) current version two months ago for a customer (he's very happy with them). The 8" woofer is very good indeed. Very good system design and best value I've seen.

TimForman · 10-06-2003, 05:23 PM

I can vouch for the 281 opinions so far. High's are crisp with wide dispersion, mid's could be better, and the vented enclosure goes very deep. They can get very loud. Probably better in a large (400+ sq.ft.) room.