[Rick Craig]

....The other thing I was considering was having the Aircirc or HDS substitute for the tweeter.

All may put you just above your budget though.

Best of luck.

Regards,
Jeff

I am interested to know the sonic differences between the AirCir and the HDS tweeters.  The larger dome size of both tweeters hopefully would not lead to a beaming effect, which is what I'm trying to avoid.  Unless the AirCirc has some magic to it, I don't think it is justifiable to spend 4x the price of HDS?   But then again one could say the same with RS drivers vs. Excel drivers.

...My rec would be the Seas H1212 given your penchant for detail and clarity without harshness as I take your words to mean.  Then the mid could be an MTM of the Dayton RS 180's or the Seas L18s. The woofers could be either the Dayton RS270's or the Seas L26, but I'd go for two in each speaker....

Josh, what would be your reasoning to use metal in the mids vs. the Nextel W15LY?

I think it is now established that the LF will be handled by dual L26's in a front firing config.  The enclosure will be sealed.  The upper MTM portion of this design is yet to be determined but I like the idea of the HDS tweeter, Rick is familiar with it and certainly it falls within the budget demands.  I am, however, still looking for reason(s) not to use the HDS tweeter.  It may be important however to first establish the mid drivers.  To get around the nasty oil can upper response of the L26 I think it will be important to cross the mids fairly low but I must stop here and remind myself that the XO will be Ricks job entirely. 

The sole purpose of this study is to find a combination of 3-5 drivers, using the input of many people, in a sort of think-tank, then carefully narrow the selection down and hand the group of drivers over to Rick.  This study is in no way intended to raise questions about Ricks ability to select drivers.  He has demonstrated his ability over and over again.  If anything this study will demonstrate Rick's ability to adapt his design genius.  I really appreciate everyones input and Rick's willingness to tolerate such madness:thumb:

Lets discuss mids, since I feel that this is probably the area that I will be most critical.  I want to feel the mids.  Simply hearing the "chop" of David Grisman's mandolin or a rim shot from Billy Martin is not enough, I want to feel it.  The sound and feel of stringed instruments is THE most important thing to me.  Perhapse the mids will consume a better part of the driver budget?

What will it be, Nextel W15LY, W15's, RS180's......

Thanks again, everyone, for chiming in on this thread.
-c.

The AirCirc has superior off-axis response to virtually any other 1" dome that I've seen. The only problem is that the production units aren't shipping yet 

The HDS is a fine tweeter and probably will give you 85% of the same sound at a much lower cost.

[Christof]

wwmtm: L26, Nextel w15 & HDS

Josh, talk me out of the HDS tweeter or the hammer is going to fall

[JoshK]

I'm not going to talk you out of it.  I think it looks like a good tweeter, I just don't see what it offers objectively over the H1212. 

[Christof]

   Stay tuned!

[bpape]

I suspect it may be more of a preference thing for those of us who have an aversion (valid or not) to metal domes.

Bryan