[Rick Craig]

Very, very nice design.

I assume that ribbon tweeter is padded way down to match sensitivity with the Accuton and particularly Aurasound drivers ?  I bet this would be a good speaker for active multi-amping.

The system sensitivity is about 84db. Because of the dipole operation any active crossover would need to be very flexible in order to optimize the transfer function (DEQX,etc).

[klh]

Will you do kits?

[Rick Craig]

Will you do kits?

Sorry - a kit won't be available for the 3D.

[Rick Craig]

New pictures posted here :

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=299

[tdangelo]

Believe it or not,  this was the only room that brough tears to my wifes eyes - Bryan played "Ghost in this House" (think thats the name) by Alison Krause - very nice indeed!!  That song makes her cry at home too, hehehe   Very nice speakers - one of my favorite rooms.  The room treatments helped alot.  I'm suprised more rooms didn't have treatments!

Tony D.

[Rick Craig]

Believe it or not,  this was the only room that brough tears to my wifes eyes - Bryan played "Ghost in this House" (think thats the name) by Alison Krause - very nice indeed!!  That song makes her cry at home too, hehehe   Very nice speakers - one of my favorite rooms.  The room treatments helped alot.  I'm suprised more rooms didn't have treatments!

Tony D.

If we can convey the emotion of the music like that we must be doing something right 

Thanks for coming by to listen!

[95bcwh]

I must admit that the Selah room is one the best rooms of the show. The imaging is as good as speakers costing 20 times more.

[AB]

I agree. I was very impressed by the 3D speakers and the room, one of the best sounding at the show.

It was hard not to just buy them right then and there and it's still hard not to just buy a pair today. I don't need a new pair of speakers...I don't need a new pair of speakers....

[Bingenito]

I am glad to see that everyone enjoyed our room. We knew going into the show that we would be faced with the typical challenges of trying to get great sound from a hotel room. I am really glad that we hooked up with the guys at GIK early on. They came prepared and installed what we needed.

This allowed the gear and speakers to operate better then I expected. This was also the first time I heard the Selah 3D speakers. As others have mentioned the detail, soundstage and imaging were impressive . We spent 4 days in that room and I honestly did not get fatigue. After the show I took a seat to hear some of my own music 

Nice work Rick! "Spe Kar sound good man"

[bubba67]

Rick and Bingenitto,

Can you compare and contrast the sound of the RC5 to this new 3D speaker design.

Derek

[Bingenito]

Having spent months with the RC5 I will do my best. The comparison is not easy because the rooms and gear are very different.

* Both speakers (RC5 and 3D) have similar voicing since they are both designed by Selah Audio.
* Both speakers use the same woofer so the bass response is similar.

* Dispersion seems about the same. The 3D's dipole midrange adds depth regardless of placement. I get the same depth with the RC5 but placement is key.
* The tonality is somewhat different being that one speaker uses a ribbon and the other a dome.

As myself and others have said the 3D is very impressive, now if you add another 10" woofer and another midrange you have a larger speaker which is very smooth and extremely dynamic. I can honestly say there is no best here. I could live with either speaker and be very happy. Bigger is not always better- the right speaker would be determined by room size and listening (dynamics/ SPL).


RC5:


3D:



Bryan

[Christof]

Bryan

Can you eloborate a little more on the differences you hear b/t the tweeters and why your prefer one over the other?  The 3D appears to have the Neo3, what tweeter is used in your RC5's?

Thanks
Chris 

[Bingenito]

Can you elaborate a little more on the differences you hear b/t the tweeters and why your prefer one over the other?  The 3D appears to have the Neo3, what tweeter is used in your RC5's?

The RC5 uses the flagship Seas Excel- Crescendo fabric dome. For the RC5 the dome is really a better choice because it allows a much lower crossover point with the MTM. I really do not have a preference because the tweeters sound similar and are integrated seamlessly into each design.

Bryan

[Rick Craig]

Rick and Bingenitto,

Can you compare and contrast the sound of the RC5 to this new 3D speaker design.

Derek

The 3D's dipole midrange section has a greater degree of soundtage depth and is very open sounding. Being a dipole the sound is more diffuse and room acoustics will have a greater impact. The RC5 of course has more output capability and greater dynamics due to the extra woofer and midbass drivers. The MTM section of the RC5 has more controlled directivity so imaging is more specific. Hope this helps.

[Greggo]

Hey Gang,

I just wanted to add that I thought the 3Ds easily made my own "top ten rooms" list and possibly the top 5.  I am, despite some of my critical postings elsewhere on the IDS-25 (audioroundtable), still a big line array fan and right now kind of torn between DIY and commercial product purchase, and between line array versus point source designs.  Having said that, my personal preference might require a bit more dynamic range than the 3D provides, but in certainly every other category I would argue vehemently that the 3D is a world class speaker and that Selah audio deserves the opportunity be considered, reviewed, auditioned, etc... within that context.  I had a lot of fun at the show, was there during just about every minute that the doors were officially open, and generally chatted with anyone/everyone at every opportunity (except during any obvisouly critical listening under way...).  I probably sent at least a dozen people into Rick's room via my elevator pitch (which was actually done on any one of the many elevator rides required to cover the show), and in one case Rick also happened to on the elevator with me!

Since it has been a few years since I was steadily hitting all the high end audio shops, it is easy to lose track of just how good a value Rick's products are.  RMAF was great not just for the opportunity to hear so many different products and meet so many different folks, but also to see just how good a 10-15k room can sound compared to a 50-500k room.  It was a nice wake up call for me regarding just how easy it is to stumble onto very high prices (I used to have to work at it, now I work at finding stuff that cost less than a new ford escort), and to compare Rick's speakers to others costing 2 (many did not hold up at that point), 3, and even 4 times the price was a real eye opener.

Keep up the great work Rick!

And now for something completely evil/differnet!

Rick,

Since many are obivously game for something like the IDS-25 that was at the show, how would a challenge around something like this strike you:

One pair of 7.5 ft towers with 6 each Aura 10 inch woofers driven by killowat pro sound amp
One pair of 7.5 ft towers with 25 Morel MDM-55 mid domes and as many fountek ribbons as will fit (remove face plates and come up with a custom mounting scheme to keep everything tight and the baffles of the towers nice and narrow...)

Then at the next RMAF, we could have a real line array showdown!

Regards,

Greg Jensen

[boead]

The cabinet design is quite a bit better than my version.

You're not exactly slouching there yourself.   Really nice work, Gitarretyp



 

Very similar to the Alon speakers (now called Nola) made in the late 1980’s. These are the Alon model 1’s. One of my favorite speakers.

[Occam]

Dang Rick, those sure are purty -

And I've gotta ask, whats the powerconditioner??? in back of those beautifully implemented speakers?

But where do you put the cat necessary for diffraction and absorption of the dipole's rear wave?

[Bingenito]

And I've gotta ask, whats the powerconditioner??? in back of those beautifully implemented speakers?

The PLC is the Blue Circle BC602 passive line conditioner with a BC62 cord.

Scroll down about 1/2 way http://www.bluecircle.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=102&Itemid=81

[Rick Craig]

Dang Rick, those sure are purty -

And I've gotta ask, whats the powerconditioner??? in back of those beautifully implemented speakers?

But where do you put the cat necessary for diffraction and absorption of the dipole's rear wave?

Actually Alon suggests two cats, one on each channel, for optimal imaging 

[Rick Craig]

Hey Gang,

I just wanted to add that I thought the 3Ds easily made my own "top ten rooms" list and possibly the top 5.  I am, despite some of my critical postings elsewhere on the IDS-25 (audioroundtable), still a big line array fan and right now kind of torn between DIY and commercial product purchase, and between line array versus point source designs.  Having said that, my personal preference might require a bit more dynamic range than the 3D provides, but in certainly every other category I would argue vehemently that the 3D is a world class speaker and that Selah audio deserves the opportunity be considered, reviewed, auditioned, etc... within that context.  I had a lot of fun at the show, was there during just about every minute that the doors were officially open, and generally chatted with anyone/everyone at every opportunity (except during any obvisouly critical listening under way...).  I probably sent at least a dozen people into Rick's room via my elevator pitch (which was actually done on any one of the many elevator rides required to cover the show), and in one case Rick also happened to on the elevator with me!

Since it has been a few years since I was steadily hitting all the high end audio shops, it is easy to lose track of just how good a value Rick's products are.  RMAF was great not just for the opportunity to hear so many different products and meet so many different folks, but also to see just how good a 10-15k room can sound compared to a 50-500k room.  It was a nice wake up call for me regarding just how easy it is to stumble onto very high prices (I used to have to work at it, now I work at finding stuff that cost less than a new ford escort), and to compare Rick's speakers to others costing 2 (many did not hold up at that point), 3, and even 4 times the price was a real eye opener.

Keep up the great work Rick!

And now for something completely evil/differnet!

Rick,

Since many are obivously game for something like the IDS-25 that was at the show, how would a challenge around something like this strike you:

One pair of 7.5 ft towers with 6 each Aura 10 inch woofers driven by killowat pro sound amp
One pair of 7.5 ft towers with 25 Morel MDM-55 mid domes and as many fountek ribbons as will fit (remove face plates and come up with a custom mounting scheme to keep everything tight and the baffles of the towers nice and narrow...)

Then at the next RMAF, we could have a real line array showdown!

Regards,

Greg Jensen

I missed hearing the IDS-25 but it seems like their are conflicting reports about them. Thanks for your kind comments about the sound in our room. You really ought to go hear the RC5's if you're looking for something really dynamic