[WerTicus]

I decided to pop into war again to hear the reference ones in action again, after I had heard the orions and was pleased to find that the reference ones prime location was now taken up by a new pair of speakers

I took these to be the new design Pat was telling me about last time I visited.

I asked Pat what he had called them and he said they were 'unnamed' so i said 'ref 0's?' and he laughed and said 'yeah' but I dont believe that is their actual title.

They use the raven 3 tweeter from 500hz to 40khz and two focal 10" woofers in each (separate) enclosure to drive everything below 500hz.

The first thing I noticed was the raven 3 tweeter is MASSIVE... the ribbon itself is litterally 5 or 6 inches long, and being a self enclosed unit was larger than seems remotely sane for a tweeter.  Pat said the unit measures near perfectly and the whole speaker from 20 to 20khz its only + or - HALF a db!

This is one serious tweeter, of course you would want it to be for $3 thousand australian.

the bass is twin focal 10 inchers, in a 40 litre or so box (guess)

Anyhow I only got to listen to them for 30 or 40 mins so I wont post anything comprehensive about them except to say:



 'holy shit'




going back there next week and ill write a review and include some pics if Pats okay with me taking some.

[mgalusha]

Kinda looks like this?



Zalytron sells this as a kit - the parts are $4350 US and the cabienets are $600ea. They call it "The New York Noise Maker". I believe it was shown at the 2000 "New York Noise" Audio Design Exhibition. I don't know if it's the same as what you heard but it appears to be similar. It uses two Focal 10K6411 woofers and a Raven R3 tweeter and is crossed over at 500Hz. Pretty sweet looking IMO.

[lonewolfny42]

I believe AC member Rocket/Rod uses W.A.R. speakers. And Zalytron is five minutes away for me , tho I've never stopped there.

WerTicus, looking forward to your second listening comments and pictures. [/list:u]

[Ravi]

Werticus, were the dual focal woofers ported?  Do you know if they were front or rear ported?  Any impressions of the bass?

Thanks.

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

Yes mike the new york noise makers are very similiar to the war audio speakers.  I had a listen to them a couple of weeks ago.  Pat is using 2 x utopia drivers which are a little different to the kevlar drivers.  The raven 3 sits atop the bass cabinet.

From my memory the cabinets are sealed and not ported, i'll have to check them out to make sure though.  I'm not sure of the cost of the speaker, but they would be a lot more expensive here in oz as by the time we add customs and freight it usually doubles the price of the product.

I also have a pair of war audio speakers using raven 1 tweeters and 2 x 7inch focal 7k4211db mid/bass drivers in an mtm setup.  I heard the reference 0's (as werticus refers to them) and although my speakers sound good they aren't in the same league as those monsters.  In fact i had to wait a couple of days to listen to my system again as i didn't like the sound.

Most of the zalytron designs are in fact orca manufacturing designs (they are the makers of the raven tweeters) and pat obtains some of his speaker designs from this company as he is one of their dealers.  He then designs his own xover for the speakers.

I'm toying with the idea of a new war audio speaker utilising either a raven 1 or 2 ribbon tweeter, 6.5 inch phl midrange driver and a 10 inch phl bass driver in a floorstander version.

My current speakers and the above design are totally original designs.

I'll let you know how i proceed.

regards

rod

ps there are so many talent speaker/amp designers who go unrecognised for the work around the world.

[mgalusha]

I knew that Orca designed most of the stuff for Zalytron, I didn't realize they designed stuff for other folks as well.

I ran across another picture of the same speaker but this one looks sealed and has the Raven in an enclosure.

[WerTicus]

Kinda looks like this?.

Yes! Very much like that... cept with a different pair of woofers ... but otherwise... yeah I am sure its similar.  However the reference zeros were digitally actively crossed over and bi amped... with bel canto tripath gear, Which im sure makes a lot of difference.


Ravi: I believe they were sealed but I have yet to have a proper look... the bass was, utterly gob smacking... with the 300w behind each pair at 91db efficiency though sound be  The cabinets are made out of many many layers of the hardest stiffest plywood at 60 dollars a sheet.

A friend and I agree its the most real bass we have ever heard.   If you can hear a design like it go and listen! NOW! RUN!

The cost of the new speakers is somthing like 25kaust though its not set, yet.


pics next week!