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I tried putting the cheap $5 exciters one on either side (both in and out of phase) on a cardboard panel and in both cases the results were terrible. It seems there is a lot of cancellation when one does that.
I wonder of these exciters could be shipped in a padded envelope, as a personal letter, and whether it would speed the transit? I might be willing to assist, contact me with a PM
Have anybody tried some expensive but powerful exciters from Dayton like say the 427 ?I mean instead of installing several little exciters everywhere the panels, is there any interest in using only one, but powerful unit instead ?
Success???...................this is totally insane...........on a small scale it can be done............large scale..............forget it!!........the CC wants to bloat, bend and warp............you can't fight this fact.For those that have nerves of steel and endless patience.............use something else or use nothing and save yourself a lot of frustrating effort.I got two matching CC panels up and running on my main system last night(untreated.......of course).Played what is probablY the greatest percussion CD on this planet(I can post details is you like)...........weird label, one off find.Results?, ...............after 5 minutes the backs of the exciter casings were uncomfortably warm to hot. After 20 minutes..............I was concerned that they would start to glow RED.On top of this, the adhesive exciter mounting rings (the proper ones supplied by NXT) were softened by the heat and looked like they were beginning to release their adhesion.Further to that, with two identical panel materials playing, I noticed that they have a sonic signature.............cardboard........ ....what else?You can now openly accuse me of constantly changing my opinion on this technology, breaking out in over excited, premature enthusiasm(and you would be 100% correct!), but it is a known fact that the choice of panel material will greatly influence the final tonal output........and this is the most deceptive and annoying part of all!! At first impression, CC sounded much better than all other materials tried so far, and it does...............but, they have a sound that reflects what they're made of.............as does everything else.This is without doubt the most unpredictable, fussy, temperamental speaker technology I have ever encountered...........and I'm fed up with it.''Mother of tone''?.........yes it's there, it's more real than foam boards but it's not the ultimate..............I don't know what is.Frustrated, I connected up the Gatorfoam panels that had 6 exciters and repeated the tracks at the same volume setting, noting the temperature...........same thing..........2 extra exciters won't provide the necessary power handling for any music with severe transients.On top of that, the Gator has it's own sound............muffled and weird tonality..........go figure.I can conclude that if you listen to ''tame'' music at soft to medium levels with a ''medium'' powered amp, you can live with these speakers and enjoy them for what they are. Use CC as it's the best sounding.Beware though, that these cheap(and even the expensive more powerful ones - 15watt ....?? ............yeah..........impressive!) exciters have VERY LOW power handling capability and are inefficient..........VERY.Now,............here comes the dilemna..........you add more exciters to increase power handling...............which it does, to a point.............with NORMAL levels/music.........BUT!............as we have found, more exciters is not allways good and in most cases leads to a detrimental effect on vibrational modes.In other words, it kills and confuses them.So, .............we reduce the number of exciters...............REVELATION...... ............NOT! (power handling goes to shit!)Some may say that this is a balancing act.................yes it is.In my case and I know there are others out there who will agree, there comes a time when you wan't to hear a full symphony orchestra at live levels for an extended period of time (I mean ''LIVE'' not just loud.....however you gauge that) or a closely miked percussion one or something similar because you wan't to blast yourself to the back wall..........just for fun and the adrenalin rush!.............without having to worry that your exciters are going to melt or get damaged due to over excursion and going ''pistonic''..........which they WILL!! It's o.k for the reviewers at 6 moons to say that the Podiums can reach ear damaging levels. Maybe they can............but for how long?..........and............ they have the luxury of using a panel material that is half the weight of our lightest diy offerings and consequently, they will sound at least twice as loud..........NXT advised me of this fact when I enquired on how and where to get the Nomex panels and what the result would be.We all know that the cost factor prohibits any practical efforts to obtain this stuff and that Podium have a single company specially manufacture their panels to their specifications..............great I leave this with you for comment if you like. I've been factual and honest with all here. I believe that we have come as far as we can go within the limits of a diy panel.To me it's a speaker that can be used for some music, but fails on a good chunk of others and is dependant on transient severity and power input to survive.Where to from here?....................................... ....................................... ....
jeffac has access to what I believe may be the ultimate CC..........XITEX.
But I must say that even though the thought of a full range panel is very exciting ,I do have problems with the thought of one exciter producing high level sound from say 5 hz to 20 k and beyond ,I can not see it at its best ,it may sound good but is probably going to end in a bang.Even if I do end up with a large full range panel I would probably roll off the low fs to a sub ,I do not know the answers for everyone but I do know what is best for me.But that does not stop us from trying!
wonder if it would make sense to have more than one panel for each channel. A large panel for the LF and a smaller perhaps more rigid panel for the HF. From my experience with the few panels I tried the problem if the HF rolloff.
Well, could we try to summarize the info on panels, first the definite points :- most exciters are to be used horizontally (i. e. facing floor or sky), would they have a shortened life when used vertically ?
my very high power exciter was ordered recently