[Icedsounds]

Al has asked me to write a review with my experiance with the HT2's. This is actually a 4 part review
All listining was done in the same box size (11 7/8" depth) and ported.
Review 1. Standard crossover (solen caps) and 4" ports
Review 2. Standard crossover (solen caps) and 2 1/4" ports
Review 3. Standard crossover (solen caps) with sonicap genII bypass caps on every cap value, 4" ports
Review 4. Standard crossover (solen caps) with sonicap genII bypass caps on every cap value, 2 1/4" ports.

I bought 2 HT2 kits on the boxing day sale so side by side comparisons were easy to do. The boxes were built out of 3/4" mdf according to the plans that came with the kit. I was missing a pair of caps for the mid crossover so a quick call to Al and he shipped the missing parts. When they arrived i was suprized to see that there was a number of little bypass caps stuffed in with them. Just enough to do 1 pair of speaker crossovers.
I should note that this is my first experience with Al and RAW Acoustics and also using ribbon tweeters.

To the listening reviews:
Review 1. The sound was very nice but I could here a slight spot missing in the midrange. The tweeter seemed to stand out a bit from the mids and the low bass sounded a bit Boxy with some music. This setup had the best low range extention of all the test and can "hear" range down to 40hz area.

Review 2. Very simular sound to review 1. The gap in the midrange was still there but was squeezed together with the highs a bit more. The smaller ports did get rid of the boxy bass sound down low but couldnt reach quite as low as review 1. Tweeter stayed the same.

Review 3. This is where i found it to get a little interesting. It sounded like the high end of the tweeter was toned down a notch and the qtips were pulled from my ears. The sounds was MUCH warmer and the gap in the midrange was GONE. The mids and tweeter blended together and sounded as one. The tweeter has a much more pleasent sound without such crisp highs. Its like taking a handfull of butter and greasing everything up. The sound was smoother accross the range. Now the boxy sounding bass was still there. I was starting to think of building a new enclosure that was sealed just to try it. I would recomend this setup for a center channel though.

Review 4. Again  this was simular to review 3 but the boxy sound wad gone. The music really seemed to fill the room better with a fuller sound. This was the sound i was hoping for when i purchased the kits. You can still "here" the 40hz bass notes without a boomy sound. I tryed intagrating my sub while lising to all 4 different setups. This last review sounded BETTER with no sub, it seemed to take something away from the speakers.

Conclusion: I reccomend that anyone looking to build this kit or any other from RAW Acoustics purchase the bypass upgrade. It adds a whole new dimention to the sound from the speakers. A much warmer smoothed out sound without loss in amy area. As for the ribbons, I was expecting a harsh sounds from them. They were smoother then i expected and reached lower then the domes i have used. I wont go back to domes.
My only regret now was not to purchase full crossover upgrades since a bypass upgrade can make such a diffrence i wonder what better caps and resistors would do to the sound.

I highly reccomend the HT2's to anyone looking for a great bookshelf pair of speakers.

Steve






 

[poseidonsvoice]

What a wonderful review, but even more, what an incredible build! Excellent work  I encourage you to build more and share, your build quality is 

Best,
Anand.

[mcgsxr]

Lovely finish!

Glad that you were able to find a version that does it for you, I recall fondly my time with the HT2's and 3's.

[Bill Baker]

Greetings Steve,
 Very nice looking speakers. Job well done. You mention regrets about not going with the full SoniCap crossovers. Any thoughts of doing a third pair. If so, I would recommend going with the full SoniCap crossover and stepping up the bypass caps to the Platinum Teflon units. This would open up a whole new world

 Again, very nice build on teh speakers.

[RAW]

Al has asked me to write a review with my experience with the HT2's. This is actually a 4 part review
All listining was done in the same box size (11 7/8" depth) and ported.
Review 1. Standard crossover (solen caps) and 4" ports
Review 2. Standard crossover (solen caps) and 2 1/4" ports
Review 3. Standard crossover (solen caps) with sonicap genII bypass caps on every cap value, 4" ports
Review 4. Standard crossover (solen caps) with sonicap genII bypass caps on every cap value, 2 1/4" ports.

I bought 2 HT2 kits on the boxing day sale so side by side comparisons were easy to do. The boxes were built out of 3/4" mdf according to the plans that came with the kit. I was missing a pair of caps for the mid crossover so a quick call to Al and he shipped the missing parts. When they arrived i was suprized to see that there was a number of little bypass caps stuffed in with them. Just enough to do 1 pair of speaker crossovers.
I should note that this is my first experience with Al and RAW Acoustics and also using ribbon tweeters.

To the listening reviews:
Review 1. The sound was very nice but I could here a slight spot missing in the midrange. The tweeter seemed to stand out a bit from the mids and the low bass sounded a bit Boxy with some music. This setup had the best low range extention of all the test and can "hear" range down to 40hz area.

Review 2. Very simular sound to review 1. The gap in the midrange was still there but was squeezed together with the highs a bit more. The smaller ports did get rid of the boxy bass sound down low but couldnt reach quite as low as review 1. Tweeter stayed the same.

Review 3. This is where i found it to get a little interesting. It sounded like the high end of the tweeter was toned down a notch and the qtips were pulled from my ears. The sounds was MUCH warmer and the gap in the midrange was GONE. The mids and tweeter blended together and sounded as one. The tweeter has a much more pleasent sound without such crisp highs. Its like taking a handfull of butter and greasing everything up. The sound was smoother accross the range. Now the boxy sounding bass was still there. I was starting to think of building a new enclosure that was sealed just to try it. I would recommend this setup for a center channel though.

Review 4. Again  this was similar to review 3 but the boxy sound wad gone. The music really seemed to fill the room better with a fuller sound. This was the sound i was hoping for when i purchased the kits. You can still "here" the 40hz bass notes without a boomy sound. I tryed integrating my sub while lising to all 4 different setups. This last review sounded BETTER with no sub, it seemed to take something away from the speakers.

Conclusion: I recommend that anyone looking to build this kit or any other from RAW Acoustics purchase the bypass upgrade. It adds a whole new dimension to the sound from the speakers. A much warmer smoothed out sound without loss in many area. As for the ribbons, I was expecting a harsh sounds from them. They were smoother then i expected and reached lower then the domes i have used. I wont go back to domes.
My only regret now was not to purchase full crossover upgrades since a bypass upgrade can make such a difference i wonder what better caps and resistors would do to the sound.

I highly recommend the HT2's to anyone looking for a great bookshelf pair of speakers.

Steve






 

Nice work

The port length is sent 2 lengths now with the kits to also help with the roll off when matching with a sub or placing closer to a wall.This allows for easy control of the HT2 speakers by just pulling out the ports and pushing in the other ports.

Now the bypass caps.
We agree as you noted above.People always ask are the capacitors worth the extra upgrade in any kit.As well as the bypass caps worth the cost?Yes
capacitor upgrades with the Gen II bypass caps ,but if people select the HT2 stock they are getting a good monitor with CNC baffles which no one else offers included in the kit costs.
With the Sonicap capacitors and Gen II bypass caps (bypass on each cap value) this optional upgrade balance is very smooth in the HT2.

Then as Bill noted the HT2 with Sonicaps and Platinum bypass capacitors as the best upgrade at this time we offer.But we are also working with a new bypass capacitor as well now.

Nice review this explains some of the acoustic changes people can expect with different capacitors.More so on a ribbon than a dome due to the magnet system on a ribbon is completely different than a classic dome, and ribbons react differently to brands of capacitors than most dome tweeters do.