Scan Speak Revelator Drivers (1 Viewer)

[Jason Bosch]

Hey everybody. I was just curious what you guys thought about these drivers. Specifically the D2905/9900 1" Textile Dome Tweeter, the 15S/8530K-01 5-1/2" Woofer, and the 18W8531G-00 7" Woofer. I was thinking that I might be able to make some really fantastic speakers from these. I was looking into using the tweeters and the 7" woofers. To make some killer 2-way Towers. On the design of those they would basically be about 4 feet tall, 8 inches wide, and 10 inches deep or so. Made from 3/4 or 1" MDF and covered in a nice rosewood veneer. They would be setup up with the tweeter up top and the woofer right below it in a seperate enclosure aprox. 10 inches tall with the rest of the tower really just serving as a stand, and maybe to help make the bass more solid. They'd probably have a small port exiting the rear. For the rest of my system I would make 3 2-way bookshelf speakers using the same tweeters and the 5-1/2" woofers. 1 for the center channel and 2 for the surrounds. I don't think I'd be able to make a horizontal center because If I used 2 woofers it would drop the impedance to 4 ohms and wouldn't match. Plus I've heard bad things about those kinds of center matching with mains anyways. So anyways I just wanted to see if anyone else thought this would be relativly feasable to do. The main problem I see with this is getting good enough crossovers to do the system justice, as I have no clue how to make those. I know that Adire does them for like $250 each... seems like alot to me. And I don't know how well just some $20 dollar ones from Parts Express would do. Beyond that I know i'll have to read the loudspeaker cookbook, and get a piece of software to help me in designing perfect enclosures for these. If anyone has any advice or opinions on this please reply. Thanks everyone

 

[Brian Bunge]

You could check with Madisound to see what they charge for crossover design. The PE crossover would be a complete waste of money.

 

[Brian Foley]

From what I've read, that tweeter is very hard to deal with, and needs a carefully designed crossover. If you are going to spend that kind of money on the drivers, I strongly suggest that you consider purchasing one of the North Creek Music kits that uses those drivers. They have several kits that use the Revelator tweeter, and one that uses it along with the 15S/8530K-01.
I recently built 5 of their Borealis kits (the SS9500 version) and am very, very happy with them. I have never seen anyone say that they were less than pleased with any of the North Creek kits.

 

[Chris Carswell]

As it has been written so many times before, I'll write it again: The best drivers, in the most solid cabs, with the best XO parts will still sound bad if you have a bad XO design. A XO is the guts of a speakers. Getting them correct is an Art. Since you have no problems shelling out $1250 for drivers I say spend 10% more (if you are dead set on using those drivers) & have the xovers done for you by a professional. Madisound or Meniscus should be able to do it for less than $140. You could go the kit route as well. With those deep pockets of yours there are tons of choices .
As for not being "able to make a horizontal center because If I used 2 woofers it would drop the impedance to 4 ohms and wouldn't match." This is not the case at all. The Z of the woofers doesn't have to match that of the tweeter. More importantly it's a case of can you amp handle the load.

 

[Jason Bosch]

Thanks for the responses. Yeah I know all about the crossovers being extremly important. But I don't have extremly deep pockets. The reason I want these drivers is because my taste for regular dealer buyable speakers are Vienna Acoustics, Sonas Fabur and the such. I can't afford nor do I even want to spend that much money on speakers. I have been hoping I could build as good or even better for less money. I will be doing these pretty much just 1 speaker at a time as I can afford it. But I will have the crossovers built by professionals for a good match with the speakers. And on the center I heard the horizantal configuration doesn't disperse the sound very well. It's probably untrue at least in my case because i've had 3 or 4 different centers like that and I've never had a problem with them. Plus I don't know if the amp I will choose is going to be able to handle 4ohm loads. I'd rather just stick with a easy 2 way design and keep the 8 ohm load. So thanks for the help guys. I'm going to get the cookbook and some software and see if I can't design some good cabinets for em. 1 more question if I may on the towers I want to make would you have a port leading down into the lower half of the cabinet and the have a port out the back of the bottom of the cabinet? Would that theoretically improve bass response? Or should I keep the whole thing sealed?

 

[Jason Bosch]

Oh and thanks for the link to north creek. They do have some fantastic looking speakers.

 

[Brian Foley]

Alternatively, you might consider Dave Ellis' 1801 kit:
Ellis 1801
Everyone who has built or heard these speakers raves about them (Audioreview reviews), and the Hiquphon tweeter is preferred by many DIY'ers to the Scan-Speak tweeters. Both of the drivers are rated at 8 ohms, and the kit costs less than $700. These would cost you a lot less money to build, and you would be guaranteed to get fabulous results. Food for thought.

 

[Mike Keith]

These drivers you chose are very good if dealt with properly, but as Chris, and Brian mentioned you need a very good crossover and some compensation networks on the Tweeters, they also work very well with a Active network 4 order LR. As far as the woofers go I'd use the 8530-K00, especially if you go vented, but even for sealed these IMO work best, but these are very inefficient woofers and dont work well alone, so I would recommend 2 in parallel in either a MTM or TMM design.

 

[Dan Wesnor]

You should use the 12cm mid, one of the 8" or 10" woofs, and the Hiquphon OWI tweeter. Also suggest you get someone experienced to do the XO for you. If you'd like to drop the boxes and drivers by my house, I'd be glad to do it (seriously, I only live 170mi away...).

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Dan would be a great guy for help. Most crossover gurus are pretty stingy with their help (as they end up getting treated like free labor), so take Dan up on this

 

[Jeff Mills]

o a search on the net. You can most likely find a crossover design usung the drivers you would like.
Check out www.diyaudio.com
Under the loudspeakers section, I recall seeing a post for a crossover for the above drivers not too long ago

 

[Chris Carswell]

Hey Mike, I'm thinking Jason only sited the 15S/8530K-01 for the shielded applications but why do you like/prefer the 8530-K00 over the 8530K-01?
BTW Jason, no matter what drivers you select I would seriously consider taking Dan up on his offer. I'm sure they will turn out great. I just hope gas isn't that expensive

 

[Mike Keith]

Chris:

The K00's have a larger magnet structure, and in the opinion of many that I trust is a better driver for a DIY'er, and it will work well in either a Sealed or Vented design, the K01 will not.