[Rick Craig]

Fred is from Texas and of course everything is bigger in Texas so he asked me to design a tower speaker for him. 

We christened it the "TRT", or Texas Revelator Tower. It's going to be 38" tall and 9" wide. The depth will vary according to whether you want a sealed box (augmented with a subwoofer) or ported (full-range). It will have two Scan-Speak 7" Revelator woofers and a Scan-Speak AirCirc tweeter in a "MMT" format.

 For the DIY's out there you may notice that this is the same driver combination and layout as designed by Zaph Audio; however, this is going to be much different because one woofer is 4 ohms and the other 8. I look forward to the results. 

[treytexag]

I'm looking forward to hearing these!

[klh]

Very interesting. Will this be a 2.5-way design? Can't wait .

[Rick Craig]

Very interesting. Will this be a 2.5-way design? Can't wait .

Yes, 2.5-way design.

[macrojack]

When I saw the title of this thread, I immediately thought of Charles Whitman. Remember him?

[Rick Craig]

When I saw the title of this thread, I immediately thought of Charles Whitman. Remember him?

I remember the incident but of course that was many years ago and it has nothing to do with the name for this project.

[TF1216]

Rick,

I don't think you will choose one for us as it depends on different conditions but...

Would you prefer the Scan3 or V3DP sound to the 2.5-way TRT?  To me, it seems the integration obtained with the 2.5-way design surpasses that of a well designed 3-way at the loss of bass extension. 

[klh]

Rick,

Please explain the benefit of doing a 2.5-way WWT design (yours) versus a more traditional 3-way WMT (with a 4.5" or 5" mid). If one wanted three 7 inch drivers instead of two, would you then go with all 8 Ohm drivers? If so, I would think the only benefit of three drivers instead of two is decreased distortion in the lower frequencies due to half the demand on each W. Since the SS woofers are so well built, the benefit might not warrant the cost and additional complexity. Then again, going with a WWWT 2.5-way design might account for the less present low end tf121682 referred to in his post. Lots of trade offs.

[Rick Craig]

Rick,

I don't think you will choose one for us as it depends on different conditions but...

Would you prefer the Scan3 or V3DP sound to the 2.5-way TRT?  To me, it seems the integration obtained with the 2.5-way design surpasses that of a well designed 3-way at the loss of bass extension. 

A 2.5-way is normally a result of wanting a floorstander with a narrow cabinet and increased output capability versus a standard single woofer 2-way. If there's some flexibility in cabinet width (or shape with a trapezoid allowing a larger woofer at the bottom like our Galena) then a 3-way is a better option.

[FredT300B]

When I saw the title of this thread, I immediately thought of Charles Whitman. Remember him?

Thanks for bringing that up. Tall towers can be hazardous in so many different ways. I was concerned about the name, but I chose it anyway because I was afraid I would be thrown out of the Houston Audio Society if I bought a pair of speakers named the "Texas Mini-Monitors". If I lived in a smaller state like Colorado or Rhode Island it might have been different.

My greatest concern was about a different set of Texas Towers. The Texas Towers, so-called because of their resemblance to oil drilling platforms in the Gulf Of Mexico, were huge manned platforms that served as offshore early-warning radar sites during the cold war. They shook quite a bit and some thought they were hazardous. Then one collapsed in a North Atlantic storm killing all aboard. I was concerned about my Texas Towers falling over and killing one of my beloved pet spitting cockroaches, so I've ordered outriggers with audiophile-correct spikes for them.

http://www.soundocity.com/index.html

[klh]

Rick,

I don't think you will choose one for us as it depends on different conditions but...

Would you prefer the Scan3 or V3DP sound to the 2.5-way TRT?  To me, it seems the integration obtained with the 2.5-way design surpasses that of a well designed 3-way at the loss of bass extension. 

A 2.5-way is normally a result of wanting a floorstander with a narrow cabinet and increased output capability versus a standard single woofer 2-way. If there's some flexibility in cabinet width (or shape with a trapezoid allowing a larger woofer at the bottom like our Galena) then a 3-way is a better option.

Thanks for the explanation. I like the idea of doing a WWMT tower with the same drivers as the large CC you built to mate to the Galena. Having those for R and L, your large CC anchoring the middle and some SSRs as surrounds would be fantastic. I already have an IB sub so I need speakers that can match the speed, output and low distortion. How much would a 7 channel kit like that run? I need some time to work on the wife , she cut me off because I got a new watch, but usually she comes around. It probably won't be 'til next spring, but hopefully by then the frost will have melted (pun intended!). This is a setup that others might be interested in, too.


EDIT: Oops ... I quoted the wrong post. I meant to quote Rick's response to my question about 2.5-way speakers vs. 3-way speakers.

[Rick Craig]

Rick,

I don't think you will choose one for us as it depends on different conditions but...

Would you prefer the Scan3 or V3DP sound to the 2.5-way TRT?  To me, it seems the integration obtained with the 2.5-way design surpasses that of a well designed 3-way at the loss of bass extension. 

A 2.5-way is normally a result of wanting a floorstander with a narrow cabinet and increased output capability versus a standard single woofer 2-way. If there's some flexibility in cabinet width (or shape with a trapezoid allowing a larger woofer at the bottom like our Galena) then a 3-way is a better option.

Thanks for the explanation. I like the idea of doing a WWMT tower with the same drivers as the large CC you built to mate to the Galena. Having those for R and L, your large CC anchoring the middle and some SSRs as surrounds would be fantastic. I already have an IB sub so I need speakers that can match the speed, output and low distortion. How much would a 7 channel kit like that run? I need some time to work on the wife , she cut me off because I got a new watch, but usually she comes around. It probably won't be 'til next spring, but hopefully by then the frost will have melted (pun intended!). This is a setup that others might be interested in, too.


EDIT: Oops ... I quoted the wrong post. I meant to quote Rick's response to my question about 2.5-way speakers vs. 3-way speakers.

$900 each for the CC and L/R kits. $730 / pr. for the SSR kits.

[klh]

Gracias senor .

[Rick Craig]

I hope Fred and all of the Houston area AC guys are doing well after the storm. Having been without power for ten days after Hugo I certainly can understand what you are encountering. Hang in there!

[kato]

Rick,
What would be the depth of the two different versions, and how much would a kit cost?
thanks

[FredT300B]

I hope Fred and all of the Houston area AC guys are doing well after the storm. Having been without power for ten days after Hugo I certainly can understand what you are encountering. Hang in there!

Thanks for the kind thoughts. I must be leading a charmed life. Left Houston last Wednesday to get out of Ike's way, spent a few days in the Austin condo, then returned Sunday morning to find no damage at all except for a couple of blown out fence boards. By Thursday we still had no power, it was beginning to get hot, and I was beginning to feel audio withdrawal symptoms, so I returned to Austin for a few more days. Returned home again last nite and found I have power and all the associated amenities we take for granted, like TV, electric lights, music, and power tools for building even more speakers. I'll be doing the driver cutouts for Trey's Seas/Morel/Fountek three-ways this week. 

[Rick Craig]

Rick,
What would be the depth of the two different versions, and how much would a kit cost?
thanks

11" sealed and 14-15" ported. The kit cost will be determined by the final crossover which is in progress.

[treytexag]

I hope Fred and all of the Houston area AC guys are doing well after the storm. Having been without power for ten days after Hugo I certainly can understand what you are encountering. Hang in there!

Thanks for the kind thoughts. I must be leading a charmed life. Left Houston last Wednesday to get out of Ike's way, spent a few days in the Austin condo, then returned Sunday morning to find no damage at all except for a couple of blown out fence boards. By Thursday we still had no power, it was beginning to get hot, and I was beginning to feel audio withdrawal symptoms, so I returned to Austin for a few more days. Returned home again last nite and found I have power and all the associated amenities we take for granted, like TV, electric lights, music, and power tools for building even more speakers. I'll be doing the driver cutouts for Trey's Seas/Morel/Fountek three-ways this week. 

Fred, you ARE living a charmed life!  You get to build speakers while I get to chop trees and gas-up generators    I'm really looking forward to hearing your Texas Towers and the new 3-ways Rick is working on for me.  I was thinking if I like the new Texas Towers, I may have to set up a separate two way only listening room in another part of the house!   

Trey
Houston

[Rick Craig]

I hope Fred and all of the Houston area AC guys are doing well after the storm. Having been without power for ten days after Hugo I certainly can understand what you are encountering. Hang in there!

Thanks for the kind thoughts. I must be leading a charmed life. Left Houston last Wednesday to get out of Ike's way, spent a few days in the Austin condo, then returned Sunday morning to find no damage at all except for a couple of blown out fence boards. By Thursday we still had no power, it was beginning to get hot, and I was beginning to feel audio withdrawal symptoms, so I returned to Austin for a few more days. Returned home again last nite and found I have power and all the associated amenities we take for granted, like TV, electric lights, music, and power tools for building even more speakers. I'll be doing the driver cutouts for Trey's Seas/Morel/Fountek three-ways this week. 

Good to hear that you fared so well. The TRT is coming along!

[Rick Craig]

The sound is just outstanding, better than any MMT I've ever listened to (including a few of my own). I look forward to the Houston audiophiles listening to the TRT.