[jrebman]

Does, or has anybody tried these, if so which ones, and are they in the recommended BR enclosures or something else?  I only ask because opinions on these seem to be one extreme or the other so I'd like to hear from anybody who has something to say about it.

Thanks,

Jim

[JLM]

I like the way you spelled "Nervana".   

[Charivari]

John Hoffman of Affordable$$Audio has reviewed the 8"ers here and currently uses a pair of 12"ers as his mains. He'd be a good one to contact.

- JP

[JLM]

The David Dicks cabinets I heard years back were very poorly braced, making them an ideal candidate for producing more overall sound than the driver itself.  So you should consider buying the plans and adjusting the internal dimensions for the needed bracing/wall thickness.

[FredT300B]

Does, or has anybody tried these, if so which ones, and are they in the recommended BR enclosures or something else?  I only ask because opinions on these seem to be one extreme or the other so I'd like to hear from anybody who has something to say about it.

I built recommended 2.8 enclosures for a pair of the standard Audio Nirvana 8" drivers. I did this based on David's comments about these drivers' suitability for a bass reflex enclosure. Bottom line is a bass reflex enclosure isn't the best design for these speakers' very low advertised QTS of 0.194. The bass was weak, and combined with their rising frequence response of about 15dB between 60hz and 1khz they sounded very bright. A filter consisting of an eight ohm resistor in parallel with a 1.5mH inductor helped to tame the brightness, but they still were too bright for my ears. I'm not suggesting they are terrible sounding speakers or anything like that, and I do realize some people like them. That seems to be a matter of whether you like the "presence" added by drivers with a rising response curve. l find it unnatural sounding, and after a few minutes of listening I feel compelled to turn the system off. The plus side is that even with the filter they were still sensitive enough to be used with a 3.5 watt SET amp. They're advertised as 95.4dB sensitivity, but notice the response curve is closer to 100dB above 1khz.

I believe the Fostex equivalents are a better choice, especially in a transmission line enclosure like the ones Bob Brines offers. I've heard 6" and 8" Fostex drivers in Bob's enclosures, and with the filter he recommends there's good  bass response down into the 40's combined with treble response that's not overly bright.