Anybody else having trouble getting SS 9500s? (1 Viewer)

[Pete Mazz]

I've had these on BO from PE for a month. Called today and found out they weren't going to be back in stock for over another MONTH!!! Checking other sites seemed to indicate everyone's out of stock. This is the Eros project from the Rev's site (Speakerbuilder.net). It's an MTM using the Vifa PL18WO-09-08 and the SS 9500. Luckily(if you look at it that way), I have one so I can play with the enclosure and xover. I've got it sounding pretty good, but may still try another baffle layout. I'm seeing more roll off at 10-20kHz than I'd like to. Not sure if it's the driver or something going on with ETF and my mic. Of course, since I don't have another one to test against.... When they are back in stock I'll request a matched pair. Don't know if I can hang out till June, tho.

Pete

 

[ThomasW]

Pete

Speaker city, Madisound, Meniscus, are sold out too?

 

[Pete Mazz]

Speaker City is. Madisound wouldn't budge on pricing, and didn't get as far as seeing if they were in stock. I've never heard of Miniscus, but a quick check of their site doesn't show the 9500 with the rest of the SS inventory. Zalytron doesn't carry SS, as far as I can tell.

I guess I'll have plenty of tweak time on these!

Pete

 

[Brian Bunge]

Pete,
Have you checked with North Creek Music? They sell them for $168/pair "soft matched" +,- 1.5dB before breakin, or "perfect pairs" for an extra $30.
www.northcreekmusic.com
Brian

 

[Pete Mazz]

Thomas,
I was cruising Home Depot today and thought I'd do a check for material that might make good damping material. I have been playing with different felt material after reading some of your posts and the article on your site. Wandering thru the carpet dept, I picked up some carpet felt padding. It's probably a manmade fiber but $16 for a 6' x 12' piece was hard to resist.
Have you ever played with this stuff? I was thinking to use it to line the walls with and then throw in some polyfill. The current test enclosure is made of 1 1/4" particle board and stuffed with poly. Even with that there is still some resonance.
We've also been using a light weight MDF at the shop. I had the spec sheet faxed over to me but I left it at work. It's quite a bit lighter than std MDF, but other than that still works the same. It may have some possibilities as a lighter weight alternative than MDF or PB. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough to do an enclosure. I'm going to order a sheet in and put one together for the next box.
Another product I was looking at at HD was the 1/2" composite board for backing up ceramic tile. I'm guessing it's made up of a concrete type material. It would certainly add enough mass to an enclosure!
Pete

 

[Pete Mazz]

Yea, Brian, I did. Didn't check stock, tho. I just hate to spend that much more for them.

Pete

 

[Brian Bunge]

What kind of price are you getting from PE? I show they're $83.90, which is pretty close to the standard North Creek price. That it, of course, unless you have a dealer account with PE. If so then you're saving enough money that it might be worth the wait.

Brian

 

[Pete Mazz]

That's what kind of ticked me off about Madisound. I get all my Canare stuff from them, as well as some other things. I just don't do enough volume with them to get into their three stage pricing scheme.
Pete

 

[Brian Bunge]

Canare stuff from Madisound? It's not on their website is it?

Brian

 

[Pete Mazz]

DOOP!

I was thinking of Markertek. I buy even less from Madisound.

Pete

 

[ThomasW]

Pete

I find that Madisound is usually competitive on most drivers. I've never tried to 'deal' with them. I've been a customer for a decade +, they're good people.

Nope never used anything other than the high wool content felt gasket material.

Have a friend that used the thick concrete backer board to line a WMTMW tower speaker. Attached it with the epoxy based mastic. Worked well but the speakers ended up weighing 460lbs ea.

Am experimenting with a DIY version of SoundCoat. Am using a water based elastomeric membrane (roofing sealer) with a ton of sand blended in. Techinque is to coat the inside of the cab with a couple coats of the plain sealer. Then put on as many coats of the sand mixture as desired. Finally seal with a couple more coats of the straight sealer. Does lower the cab resonance. We'll be testing it against a non-treated cab in early May, when we test the sealed M8a-MKIII design.

There will always be a cab resonance. As long as it's not in the drivers passband it's not a problem

 

[Pete Mazz]

Am experimenting with a DIY version of SoundCoat. Am using a water based elastomeric membrane (roofing sealer) with a ton of sand blended in. Techinque is to coat the inside of the cab with a couple coats of the plain sealer. Then put on as many coats of the sand mixture as desired. Finally seal with a couple more coats of the straight sealer. Does lower the cab resonance. We'll be testing it against a non-treated cab in early May, when we test the sealed M8a-MKIII design.

Interesting. All the roof or driveway stuff I've ever worked with has a terrible odor. I know the latex stuff is more docile, but does it dry with no smell? What does the added sand do for it, besides allowing a faster build up? How do you test for cabinet resonances, specifically?
Has the article been published yet on the MKIII?
If you scream in a vacuum, can you hear anything?
Pete

 

[ThomasW]

Pete
It's H2O based a roofing compound ('Kool-Seal' from Lowe's). Didn't come with a Haz-Mat sheet, and basically smells like latex paint. The sand is simply to add mass. The cab with the coating does pass the 'knuckle-rap-test' = lower pitch.
I'm not sure if the water will be a problem with the MDF. As an afterthought; it might have been a good idea to seal the inside with something benign like a sanding sealer, prior to starting the coating process.
We are limited on our ability to scientifically test it. The ideal test would be a cab with one removable side. Using a accelerometer one would measure the differences between coated and noncoated inserts. Sorry but we don't have an accelerometer. So instead we'll just see if there are any measurable differences in the MLS plots between the coated vs uncoated cabs.
We'll put the test data from the M8a-MKIII sealed box on theAudioWorx site. It will be a continuation of the DIY article already there. Info about the larger ported box design we can't post to the site until the DIY article has been published in Audio-X-Press. We have no idea when Ed Dell will publish the article. He's been known to hold copy for almost a year depending on his needs/wants.
If I scream in a vacuum I hear it

 

[Pete Mazz]

If I scream in a vacuum I hear it

Wrong! It's actually a blonde joke. The correct response is: "Is the vacuum on or off?"
I can't imagine a latex roof sealer will penetrate the MDF much. Once the first coat is dry, the rest should certainly not be a problem. But, I can't say as I've ever tried it!
Will you be putting the xover up on the site?
Pete
Edit: Never mind. Wow! That's a hell of a xover.