I got a little more listening in tonight - Peter Gabriel on shuffle. I’m hearing more low end as the woofers break in. Still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this is a $24 8” subwoofer.
Pardon the dust. That’s the price I pay for having a shop in the basement.
I noticed that you screwed your crossover boards to a couple hardwood pieces and then glued the entire assembly to the back panels. When the glue dries, you will then be able to remove the xover boards by simply removing the 4 screws. Clever idea. Also, clever idea to increase the tweeter mounting holes to 6 by using an old flange for line up. The thin plastic flange likes to bend up into a curvy shape with only 3 screws. It looks very flat in your pictures with the 6 screws in place. How does it look when you place a staight edge across the flange?
The tweeter isn’t perfectly flat, but probably better than using only 3 screws. That plastic faceplate is way too pliable. My recess is a touch too deep, so I need to get some thin foam weather stripping to make them flush.
Lol I saw that too and had to zoom in. I was like what’s that gizmo in his box??
The three extra holes in the silkie faceplate really change its look to higher end; I like that alot.
Excellent! Makes me nostalgic for my Signet SL280s that gave up the ghost a few years ago. Would you care to comment further on the sound?
These are just head & shoulders above anything that I could design. Very smooth with great lower mids through the treble, without sounding thick or nasal at all. They also image really well, which surprised me. Thanks to age and hearing damage, I am overly sensitive to sibilance, but these don’t seem to cause me to turn it down unless it’s a bright recording. Not as much bass as I was expecting, but I haven’t played with stuffing or placement yet and they only have about 15 hours on the clock right now. Being sealed, I’m sure adding a sub to the mix would be pretty simple.
These are keepers!
I hadn’t even noticed that JR added the 3 holes. That might have been the conversation I overheard in Ankeny.
I did not add the three extra holes. I am way too lazy for that.
I added the holes as the face plate is pretty flimsy. I made a 3d printed jig to line up the holes.
Thats actually my build of JR’s Cabrini. JR was presenting them last year at InDIYana.
I will add my .02 on the sound. Smooth and easy to listen too. It really makes you wonder why there arent more 8 inch 2 ways in the world. I really wasnt expecting the tweeeter to sound as good as it does. Room placement was needed for me to get the best sound out of them but that is no suprise and should be expected, these do seem to be a little more picky on distance from the wall than some other desigs. I typically have them toed in a little almost on axis.
These are a great value and should be on anyones short list.
Did you add a sub, or do you find the bass good enough in your room?
I built a tower version of JR’s 3-way with this woofer in same sealed config. IMO it has very nice bass in a medium-small room (~11’x15’). Good tight midbass range with a palpable slow rolloff of the lower bass range: It doesn’t dig super deep, but the slow rolloff combined with room gain still gives the audible sensation like it digs deep enough to satisfy for probably 99% of music.
Yes, I have them sitting on a pair of 12inch subs but they are not needed for most music.
I found if I get too close to the back wall I get a boost in the lower mids/upper bass that makes it muddy.
Sum it up, your room probably makes or breaks the need for a sub.
I listened to these in the big hotel conference room at InDIYana last Spring. They were out what, 4 to 6 feet from the front wall. They had very nice, full, and smooth bass even in that large room that was full of people. I can only imagine they would have even better bass in the typical smaller room that we all have in our homes. Position from the front and side walls really can make a positive or negative impact.
I think in my case, the bigger box reduces the rise around 80Hz you see in the stand mount. If the track has bass, it’s still there. It’s not what I’m used to with ported designs, but I’m enjoying it, given my boomy room.
Yeah I feel like I’m pretty sensitive to boomy bass. That is why I liked the sealed design so much.
I have a lots of sealed designs and find them much easier to intigrate especially if you are adding a subwoofer. Bass is so hard to get right.
