[rockdrummer]

I'm finishing a pair of AV 1's as we speak and I'm going to be building a speaker setup for my brother.  When the av 1s are finished, we will have those to use as a listening guide, but I don't know what to suggest.  And he is new to this company too.

I want to steer him to a servo bass set-up, maybe two of the new 8's or one 12 in a stand alone cabinet, and paired with ???????????.  Not sure what.  I think he would like to keep the cost below $900.  I have wanted to hear an open baffle servo sub so that's what I would like him to get. 

He listens to everything from really heavy metal to acoustic and simple.  His listening levels are modest to moderate.  Not a cranker by any means. 

He will be running them with a basic receiver and probably won't upgrade that in the near future.

Any ideas would be great.  Thanks for sharing!

Ben

[TRADERXFAN]

Not quite sure that I understood what you were asking, sorry if the following is off the mark...

A pair of 12"  open baffle servos (recommended 2 or 3 drivers per baffle/per amp) will be 740 before shipping or cabinet materials, alone.  The two 8's, alone, are probably not what you are going to want as an external sub.

At that pricepoint, on a high performance/cost ratio, since you are up to building it yourself, I would recommend building an N3. You will get very good bass extension, good output since it is about 90db, great tweeter, etc. Just a great design.  I have the OB7 and its great, similar in some ways to the n3, but its sealed. I have a ported ob2x, for a small room, as well (a design Danny did for another company, with similar midrange drivers) and the ported bass is quite pleasant on that one without a sub, within limitation. The transmission line, by all reports, should be better but I haven't personally heard it.

-Tony

[rockdrummer]

Thanks Traderxfan for the reply.  I guess I was looking at one 12 or two 8" woofers.  That leaves somewhere between $350 and $450.  I guess we're pushing the budget because of smaller incidentals.  Not sure if it would be worth doing a pair of N series bookshelves with servo subs.  I am under the impression that the servos will integrate nicely with almost anything.  Just not sure what would be worth it.

I could see him being happy with a small sub and a pair of AV1 mini monitors but I want him to have something better.

ben

[brother love]

 + 1 on the N3 transmission line speakers, esp. w/ No-rez & Sonicap bypass capacitor upgrades.  I own a pair that I love.   They have a  90.5 db efficiency,  so don’t require gobs of power to drive (I'm using 45w/ ch). They dig down to 40 Hz range & it is excellent, clean bass. The bass was so good in my 11’ x 17’ room, that I sold my GR Research/ Rythmik servo sub!  Note that I’m not a bass head though, so that factors into the equation.   

[corndog71]

A single 12" with servo amp is $560 before shipping.  Make a well-braced sealed cabinet and for under $650 you'll have one of the best subs out there for the money.  Add a pair of X-LS Encore for $150 (plus cabinets) and he'll have a way better than average stereo set.  You'd have to spend a lot more to get the same performance from store bought speakers. 

With open baffle subs it seems to get the best out of them you really need a quad of 12" or six of the 8" with a pair of amps.  All of which runs over a grand before you even get to the cabinets.

[Cheeseboy]

Check out this New Age Intergrated from Peachtree.  Refurbished Decco2.  40 watts, Tubed Preamp, DAC built in with plenty of ins and outs.  $549.00.

This might be the Receiver for him to buy as well. 

http://www.peachtreeaudio.com/buy-now.html

[Danny Richie]

I have two questions first.

Room size?

And how far is he willing to pull them out from the wall?

[rockdrummer]

Right now the room they will go in will be about 12' X 14', and there is lots of flexibility to move them out at least 3 feet into the room.  However, that will not be long term.  When he moves it may be an apartment and have little to no flexibility in room placement.

Ben

[Captainhemo]

Hi all,  not trying to hijack this thread but  had a coouple  quetions about the  N3/N3S's too.,
 I've narrowed my choices down, I'm  going to either order the A3's, The N3's, or a pair of N3S's.

Being that they will  be approx 11" from the rear wall, I'm thinking the  N3S's woould be my besst choioce.  Can the N3 florstanding  be front vented like the A3's ?
  I'm a bit worred about how a pair of N#S's woiuld "blend" with my sub which is a CSS 10" with 2 10" PR's tuned to 22 Hz, powered by a Bash 300W amp.
These  speakers  won't be in  large room,  it's only about 20'x14'.
Are the N3/N3S a big step up  from the  AV3 ?  Guess I'm trying to justify the cost difference
Whichever way I go, I'll be doing the Sonicap upgrades.

Anyway,  I'm  just  trying to make a final decision then I'll be placing the order .

Thanks
-jay (captainhemo)

[Danny Richie]

Right now the room they will go in will be about 12' X 14', and there is lots of flexibility to move them out at least 3 feet into the room.  However, that will not be long term.  When he moves it may be an apartment and have little to no flexibility in room placement.

Ben

With the room being that small and going into a room that will limit placement then I would not advise our open baffle models like the OB-5, OB-7 or X-Statik's.

To stay within his budget and meet those goals I'd consider our A/V-3, or one of the X-CS, X-MTM models. Those have higher sensitivity and will give him good output levels from even a modest receiver.

If his budget would allow it then you might consider stepping up to an N3 too.

All of those speakers have an easy impedance load that the receivers will like too. 

[Danny Richie]

Can the N3 florstanding  be front vented like the A3's ?

Yes, you can flip flop the braces that make up the transmission line back to front and let it exit out the front.

And if crossing them over to a sub it is much easier to do so and get a seamless blend if crossing them over at a low crossover point. So the floor standing version is easier to blend with a sub than the sealed box version.

Are the N3/N3S a big step up  from the  AV3 ?

The Neo tweeter take resolution levels up a notch.

[Captainhemo]

Can the N3 florstanding  be front vented like the A3's ?

Yes, you can flip flop the braces that make up the transmission line back to front and let it exit out the front.

And if crossing them over to a sub it is much easier to do so and get a seamless blend if crossing them over at a low crossover point. So the floor standing version is easier to blend with a sub than the sealed box version.

The Neo tweeter take resolution levels up a notch.

Hmmm,  I guess  I should be going with the floorstanding ..... was kind of hoping I could get away witht he sealed  N3,  woould save me some $$ on no res  andthe additional shipping wight.  I'm kind of at the edge of my budget and I have a feeling  that no res is really going to drive up the price of shipping.
3 sheets for the N3's ?  Probably 2 for the sealed versions ?
How much does a sheet weigh ?

jay (captainehmo)

[Danny Richie]

As for No Rez you'll need three sheets for a pair of N3's and about a sheet and a half for a pair in the sealed box (N3S version).

The cost of shipping one sheet of No Rez or three sheets is just a few dollars difference.

[Captainhemo]

As for No Rez you'll need three sheets for a pair of N3's and about a sheet and a half for a pair in the sealed box (N3S version).

The cost of shipping one sheet of No Rez or three sheets is just a few dollars difference.

Ok, I guess I'll be n touch for a quoate.  I'll email you the details as I'm  sure you  know, your inbox is full  here