There have been some recent developments with my speaker kit company. Here is the latest about the Tombstones.
Clearwave Loudspeaker Design, Tombstones: A no compromise dipole MTMW using Seas Excel drivers. Kit pricing minus cabinets is $2400 via paypal or check. Includes: drivers, wire, finished crossovers, all poly caps, air core inductors (14 gauge in series on woofer circuit), screws, dampening materials, dual binding post cups, silver solder, cabinet plans, unlimited support via PM or email). No charge for R&D!
I've also received interest in finished Tombstones speakers. Please email me for a quote. To give you an idea about finished pricing- finished in cherry like pictured, the cost is $3800 and will take 3-4 weeks to complete since these are built to order. Exotic veneers are available as well. Shipping is extra.
The Tombstones were designed with full baffle step compensation. So in most rooms with an ideal placement 3 feet away from room boundaries, the Tombstones will have a full bass down below 40hz. The Tombstones have a sealed bass alignment for fast transient response and better room integration than most bass reflex designs. This gives the bass a quickness and naturalness that sounds like real music. They also feature a dipole midrange down to 250hz, so the soundstage is wide and expansive without box colorations or the rear wave reflecting back through the cone. The woofer in mounted near the floor boundary, thus sidestepping the floor bounce cancelations at normal listening positions.
I got excellent feedback from Roy Allison at the Dayton DIY competition (in fact he ranked my speaker highest in the unlimited class), so I feel this setup is doing its job properly. The woofer mounted low, near the floor, is a close power match to the dipole radiation pattern, since the low frequencies have a gain near the floor boundary while behaving more omnidirectional below 250hz. The result is a wide and deep soundstage with integrated mids and bass.
The tweeter is a custom blend of the Seas DXT waveguide dome assembly placed on the Seas H1212 motor assembly for the absolute lowest distortion possible. The measurements that are documented in my webpages show the H1212 greatly improves the low end harmonic distortion profie of the stock DXT tweeter, while the waveguide helps integrate a smooth power response and wide dispersion. The result is a very lively, dynamic, yet neutral treble.
The crossover slopes are all 4th order acoustic (LR4) and the drivers operate within their lowest distortion passbands. Everything about the design, from final measurements, to crossover layout and impedance equalization, to tonal balance, were optimized over several months time. An amplifier that is stable into 4 ohms is necessary. I recommend an amplifier rated at 100W into 8 ohms as a minimum.
Thanks for looking.