[smithsonga]

Hi Guys, been lurking awhile, thought I would ask this:

I finally finished my basement including HT and can start considering DIY speakers.  I have been mainly considering the Ellis 1801F (floorstanding version...skinny/tall) and probably MBOW1 for rear surrounds to give me same tweeter but much lower cost speaker given its purpose.

I plan on a sub given it is a HT...sure we will listen to music also, but not sure the cost of a larger speaker is justified if I am going to get a sub anyway.

So, I am drawn to the Tanzanite and 'matching' center Sardonyx (although if the tanzanite's image so well, is a center REALLY needed?).  If I dont want to use stands, can these Tanzanites be built into a floorstander?  Basically I could seal the inside of the cabinet to get the correct volume, but continue to cabinet to the floor...obvious have to do something with the empty box to dampen it...

And for rear surrounds?  The SA-1?  Although $450/pr is still a bit high for surrounds in my opinion....and it is kinda large...

FYI, my room is 15x19, 9 ft ceilings.

Rick - I travel to Greensboro often for business, do you have any showroom or listening room in Raleigh?

thx
Jim

[MarkM]

I have built both the Carnelian and RC3R.   I built the RC3R to be a  floorstanding speaker.  

What I did was seal above the woofer(mid-dome and tweeter) and created the volume in the lower half of the cabinet.  The SS8545 or whatever is impressive in bass response.  I do not feel I need subs
unless it is movie time.  

A 3 way is the way to go imo.  2 ways have their appeal, especially the 1801, but the Tanzinite will be a better design with each driver operating in their optimum range.  

To do movies right, you need a center.  Rick's speakers will throw out a big precise soundstage, but a center is needed for those not in the optimal spot.  I also opted for the Sardonyx.  It is bigger than I would like and probably down the road will look Rick up to to design something with 5" woofers vs 7".  I almost went that way originally, doh. Irrelevent info for you.

I would be willing to bet Rick probably has another design up his sleave if you want something smaller for a surround, with a 5" woofer if that is what you are considering.

Good luck, good choices.

[Rick Craig]

Hi Guys, been lurking awhile, thought I would ask this:

I finally finished my basement including HT and can start considering DIY speakers.  I have been mainly considering the Ellis 1801F (floorstanding version...skinny/tall) and probably MBOW1 for rear surrounds to give me same tweeter but much lower cost speaker given its purpose.

I plan on a sub given it is a HT...sure we will listen to music also, but not sure the cost of a larger speaker is justified if I am going to get a sub anyway.

So, I am ...

It would be easy to convert the Tanzanite to a floorstanding speaker; in fact, you can also integrate a side-firing woofer if needed. For surrounds I can do a custom design that would match the other speakers in tonality and be smaller than the SA-1. Let me know what cabinet size you feel comfortable with and I'll give you a quote.

As Mark noted in his post it's a good idea to have a center channel with point source speakers like this. Feel free to contact me to arrange a time to stop by and listen. I have a set of XT8's right now and another floorstander today but the other models come and go depending on what orders I have at the time.