[daniel_ronquillo]

Hi Rick,

I have read that Wavecor drivers are attracting the attention of those in the DIY world.
Have you had any experience with such units? If so, please comment.

Thanks,
Daniel

[navin]

Daniel,

I am not Rick ( ) so please accept my answer with appologies.

We have discussed Wavecor drivers here
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=33449.msg1068348#msg1068348
and here
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=107260.msg1100887#msg1100887

Any driver is only 10% of a loudspeaker system. The crossover, box, cabin (room), electronics all need to integrate to perform well. Like manymanufcturers some Wavecor drivers are better than others, some of them may suit a 3 way config better than a 2 way and vice versa.

Is there a specific driver or application you had in mind?

[stlrman]

I have Wavcor woofers in my speakers. Small 5 inch drivers produce powerful, deep, super tight and fast response. Amazing really.
Todd

[Rick Craig]

Hi Rick,

I have read that Wavecor drivers are attracting the attention of those in the DIY world.
Have you had any experience with such units? If so, please comment.

Thanks,
Daniel

Here's the MA-1 which uses Wavecor drivers with a RAAL tweeter (I believe we were the first U.S. manufacturer to design with Wavecor).

[daniel_ronquillo]

I am thinking of a monitor with RAAL tweeter and 6-inch Wavecor mid-woofer. Is this a good design? Or is it a mismatch from the point of view of the RAAL? I found this design in another company's website, but if it can be successfully implemented the Selah way, I want Rick to do it for me. I feel more confident going with Rick, not only because of his speaker design abilities, but also due to very positive comments about his business ethics. I'm still going back and forth with another option I asked Rick about. But that's in another thread.

Rick, please pardon my vacillation.
Daniel 

[Rick Craig]

I am thinking of a monitor with RAAL tweeter and 6-inch Wavecor mid-woofer. Is this a good design? Or is it a mismatch from the point of view of the RAAL? I found this design in another company's website, but if it can be successfully implemented the Selah way, I want Rick to do it for me. I feel more confident going with Rick, not only because of his speaker design abilities, but also due to very positive comments about his business ethics. I'm still going back and forth with another option I asked Rick about. But that's in another thread.

Rick, please pardon my vacillation.
Daniel

It depends on which RAAL tweeter you're considering. If it's the 70-10D I have another woofer of similar size that I like better than the Wavecor.

[daniel_ronquillo]

Yes, I'm thinking of the RAAL 70-10D tweeter. What woofer do you have in mind, Rick? Do you have a price for this one assembled?

In another thread I asked about mating the SB tweeter in the Vicino with the 7-inch Revelator woofer in the SSR. How would you compare the sound of the two?

 

[Rick Craig]

Yes, I'm thinking of the RAAL 70-10D tweeter. What woofer do you have in mind, Rick? Do you have a price for this one assembled?

In another thread I asked about mating the SB tweeter in the Vicino with the 7-inch Revelator woofer in the SSR. How would you compare the sound of the two?

$1,295/pr.  plus shipping. The woofer I can discuss via a PM. Obviously the differences are a more compact cabinet and less bass extension / dynamics with the smaller woofer. Very good midrange quality and exceptional highs with the RAAL tweeter. My preference is for the RAAL versus the SB tweeter but there's quite a bit of difference in cost between the two.

[navin]

 

$1,295/pr.  plus shipping. The woofer I can discuss via a PM. Obviously the differences are a more compact cabinet and less bass extension / dynamics with the smaller woofer. Very good midrange quality and exceptional highs with the RAAL tweeter. My preference is for the RAAL versus the SB tweeter but there's quite a bit of difference in cost between the two.

Have you seen this?
http://www.wavecor.com/Angara.pdf

Daniel, I know you don't know me but I am in the process of building 2 pairs of tower speakers, a centre, 6 small surround speakers and 3 subwoofers all designed and supplied by Rick. I am building the cabinets in India, some pictures of these cabinets are in a thread of mine in The Lab section of this forum.

While I was deciding and vacillating over my speakers Rick replied to over 100 emails over 4 months from me. Having designed and built speakers in that past some of these questions were technical and some were just plain stupid ( the thing with emails are that once you hit the send button you cannot stop the mail). Rick patiently answered each email in detail.

Then we got to another hurdle. I live in India where the customs will take every opportunity to harass you if your paperwork is not in absolutely correct order. Typos are not forgiven. You are guilty until proven innocent. Again Rick drafted his invoices multiple times till they satisfied my import agent.

In addition to this the packing was so well done that every including RAAL tweeters arrived in good shape. Not a speaker box was dented or scratched leave alone the contents. The drivers were sent via Sea Freight (air was frightfully expensive) and over land and some terrible roads in India. Not one was damaged.

I can vouch for Rick's integrity, competence and attention to every detail. He is just simply a  superb human being beside being a good speaker designer.

[daniel_ronquillo]

Navin, hats off to Rick. "Selah" is a very suitable name for his website, a reflection of the person who runs the business.

Rick, a big percentage of the music I listen to is of mediocre recording. Pandora also takes up a lot of playing time, to give you an idea. Add to that the music of choice of my teenage children: Christian rock that is mostly recorded from a live event. My fear is that the virtues of the RAAL tweeter will just be wasted. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Will I be served better by the SB tweeter? I feel I need a full sounding monitor to easily fill our 12x20x8 listening area (which opens to the dining and kitchen). That's why my thoughts about the 7-inch Revelator.

Full-bodied and more forgiving of less than perfect recordings, yet still accurate and detailed to a musical extent. I think this is what I'm looking for. Will the SB/7-inch Revelator combo fit the bill? Or will the RAAL/Wavecor-substitute combination serve me just as well? I have two 12-inch subs, but I want to use them sparingly for music.

Your advice will really be appreciated. Thanks.

[ricardojoa]

Navin, hats off to Rick. "Selah" is a very suitable name for his website, a reflection of the person who runs the business.

Rick, a big percentage of the music I listen to is of mediocre recording. Pandora also takes up a lot of playing time, to give you an idea. Add to that the music of choice of my teenage children: Christian rock that is mostly recorded from a live event. My fear is that the virtues of the RAAL tweeter will just be wasted. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Will I be served better by the SB tweeter? I feel I need a full sounding monitor to easily fill our 12x20x8 listening area (which opens to the dining and kitchen). That's why my thoughts about the 7-inch Revelator.

Full-bodied and more forgiving of less than perfect recordings, yet still accurate and detailed to a musical extent. I think this is what I'm looking for. Will the SB/7-inch Revelator combo fit the bill? Or will the RAAL/Wavecor-substitute combination serve me just as well? I have two 12-inch subs, but I want to use them sparingly for music.

Your advice will really be appreciated. Thanks.

Daniel, im not Rick or Navin, but i thought i could give you a suggestion about fountek ribbon tweeter. They are pretty good and Rick had worked with them. They are much cheaper then raal but perform pretty good , that the game of building speaker, is all about what you wanna trade.

[navin]

Daniel, im not Rick or Navin, but i thought i could give you a suggestion about fountek ribbon tweeter. They are pretty good and Rick had worked with them. They are much cheaper then raal but perform pretty good , that the game of building speaker, is all about what you wanna trade.

Ricardo, I agree. Many of Fountek's ribbons might be better value than the RAALs. The example of Wavecor woofers in my earlier post used the NeoPro 5i. The new NeoX tweeters are a degree better then the older CD series. Another really VFM planar tweeter is B&G's Neo3. I was once contemplating a design that used Wavecor's WF152 and this tweeter. Of the dome tweeters the SB29 linked below and the OW4 offer good value. Of course there are better tweeters but few as good under $100.

http://www.sbacoustics.com/index.php/products/tweeters/sb29rdnc-c000-4/

[Rick Craig]

Navin, hats off to Rick. "Selah" is a very suitable name for his website, a reflection of the person who runs the business.

Rick, a big percentage of the music I listen to is of mediocre recording. Pandora also takes up a lot of playing time, to give you an idea. Add to that the music of choice of my teenage children: Christian rock that is mostly recorded from a live event. My fear is that the virtues of the RAAL tweeter will just be wasted. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Will I be served better by the SB tweeter? I feel I need a full sounding monitor to easily fill our 12x20x8 listening area (which opens to the dining and kitchen). That's why my thoughts about the 7-inch Revelator.

Full-bodied and more forgiving of less than perfect recordings, yet still accurate and detailed to a musical extent. I think this is what I'm looking for. Will the SB/7-inch Revelator combo fit the bill? Or will the RAAL/Wavecor-substitute combination serve me just as well? I have two 12-inch subs, but I want to use them sparingly for music.

Your advice will really be appreciated. Thanks.

If you want to avoid using the subwoofer on music then a 7" woofer is going to be a better choice. As far as choosing a tweeter keep in mind the voicing is most important. The larger domes like the SB Acoustics do have a softer presentation from the off-axis rolloff versus say a ribbon. In rooms that are more reflective (lots of hard surfaces)  and /or walls being close on the sides then the SB might be more room friendly.

[daniel_ronquillo]

Rick, how about an all-SB Acoustics 8-inch two-way monitor? Can this design deliver what I have described as my needs above for less dollars? I am starting to think that maybe, for my music and application, the 7-inch Revelator might be overkill.

[Redefy Audio]

the 8" prob suitable for floorstander, as it required large volume. if im not mistaken about 70-80L.

[navin]

Rick, how about an all-SB Acoustics 8-inch two-way monitor?

I dont know if the SB 8" (SB23NRXS45-8) can be used in a 2 way. It seems happiest crossed over under 1khz. Maybe the Vifa NE225W can be used but it too would need 40 liters. Another alternate 8" could be the Eton it too prefers a 40 liter bass reflex box.

If you are looking at a 8" 2way consider soft cones (with smooth breakup). Focal's older Neoflex cones and many doped paper cones will suit this. Metal/Carbon/Kevlar cones wont.

Similarly a large dome tweeter (30mm) would also help as it can XOed lower. Some time in 1987-88 I had build a ported MTM using Focal 8N515 and Morel's MDT33. It worked well.

[Rick Craig]

Rick, how about an all-SB Acoustics 8-inch two-way monitor? Can this design deliver what I have described as my needs above for less dollars? I am starting to think that maybe, for my music and application, the 7-inch Revelator might be overkill.

The interior volume needed for the 8" is much more than possible for a standmount plus I'm not a fan of 8" 2-ways due to the compromises involved.

[daniel_ronquillo]

I'm just amazed at the amount of experience and knowledge being shared here. It demonstrates the advantage of custom designs over the fixed offerings out there by other speaker manufacturers.

 

[navin]

I'm just amazed at the amount of experience and knowledge being shared here. It demonstrates the advantage of custom designs over the fixed offerings out there by other speaker manufacturers.

No commercial manufacturer (read as B&W, Theil, etc...) can customise their speakers around a room. Some offer bass tuning options (either via a passive radiator or via a tuned port) but DIYers have the advantage of matching the sound AND aesthetics of their speakers to their rooms and their taste.

At the very low end (under $300) there might be little savings for DIYers but as one gets into speakers costing $2000/pr and more the savings can be considerable.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=108383.0