Vance Dickason Home Theater Kit (1 Viewer)

[Stuart C]

Has anybody built one of these kit systems from parts Express.
Opinions?
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...16176&CATID=43

 

[Ed Payne]

I haven't built them, but I quickly researched them for a friend who was interested. I was appalled by the frequency response of the rear channel speakers: upto 3KHz. That doesn't even cut it for the Pro-logic days. ;^) I might be missing something but IMHO Madisound has a better deal with a Vifa home theater set. Later...

Ed Payne

 

[Dustin B]

That response is because the woof is on the front baffel and there is a dipole tweeter arrangement on the sides. I'm not sure how it would sound in a system, but given how Vance Dickason is reguarded I wouldn't be too worried about giving them a try.

The mid/woofs he is using are $30 Audax drivers and the tweeters are $50 Morels.

 

[Stuart C]

I've been thinking about trying my hand at a sonosub as a first project. The various pictures and satisfaction of the people who have built sonosubs seem to make it a logical first project. My friend inherited a garage full of woodworking tools. Almost have him convinced that two would be as easy as one...
Its just with "kits" you are relying on the opinions of previous builders, no chance to audition.

 

[Dustin B]

Two at the same time is definately as easy as one. The hard part is getting jigs and what not set to make the correct cuts. Once set the second cut is insignificant in both effort and time.

Building one, and then later building another is not as easy as building one.

And you're right, subs are a definate easy starting point. It's pretty hard to screw up a sub if you follow a proven design and take some care during the build process.

 

[Jeffrey D Smith]

I recently got to hear a completed kit after a year of being curious about these kits.

It sounded great! My listening experiance is limited, as I myself have nothing to write home about, but from other kits and assembled HT's I would say this kit sounds much better then the cost. Which I believe is what they say in trying to sell it.

Before being told what the setup was, (I was thinking a DIY self designed project) I was already thinking the setup sounded at least in the 2k-3k range.

I don't own this kit, and my experaince with it was limited to about 3 1/2 hours play time, but it sounded very nice for the money. Keep in mind my experiance is limited, but if I was interested in this kit and looking to buy one, I would have little reservation in buying it.

Also worth noting: The person also had bought and built up the seperate Sub for the kit, I don't believe that comes with it normally.

 

[Rich_Ave]

I built the PE Vance Dickason speaker package, and have been very pleased with them. As Dustin mentioned, the surrounds speakers use a dipole configuration with the midbass facing toward the listening area, one tweeter (in phase) facing forward, and one tweeter(out of phase), facing the rear. I believe they measured the response from the midbase, hence the 3 kHz response. This package was a big improvement to what I had before (some older Infinity speakers). I find myself listening to more music now, much more than I had anticipated for my HT room. One comment about building them. The catalog says it will take about 2 hours. Unless you're a lot faster than I was (which I would bet you are), plan on about 9 or 10 hours to build the kit. Finally, I would highly recommend that you get the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook (if you don't already have it). The book gives you a lot of the detained information on the design. Sorry for long append.

Rich