[jsalk]

skidro -

Love the look with drivers flush-mounted instead of in a baffle. JIM, does this affect sound quality in any way at all? Also, are the SEAS w-18 drivers used in the HT-2 TL's available in black, or only as pictured in these photos? I'm contemplating a pair in automotive finish dark silver metallic, and black drivers flush-mounted might make quite a striking look.

The "baffle-less" set-up has no effect on sound quality (the baffle is the same width as normal).  In black or an automotive finish, this makes no differrence in terms of price.  However, with a veneered speaker, you have to insert harwood on the cabinet edges to alow for a roundover (which is normally done on the black baffles).  This requires extra labor plus the cost of the hardwood trim used.

The W18's were once available in black, but no longer are.  I think this was a special order.

If dark gray would work, you could always do a "custom" version with the W18 Nextel drivers, but personally I would stick with the standard W18's.  I think they would look just fine with a dark gray metallic finish.


- Jim

[skidro]

Thanks for the quick reply Jim. I'm also curious as to your preference if an automotive finish is desired. Would you want to pick your own paint from your own supplier to match the customer request, or would you want the customer to pick the paint and send it to you? How much paint would be required if I wanted speakers and plinths all painted to match, and how does picking an automotive finish affect the cost (assuming standard satin finish with baffle-less front)? I am asking these questions in the forum instead of a personal mail since I thought other prospective customers might be interested as well. I do agree with your suggestion to stick with the standard w-18 drivers, just thought black might look extra nice if available due to the contrast. The room they would go into has silver-gray carpeting with light gray walls, and I may still consider the basic satin black option, but the dark silver metallic automotive finish seems to be calling out to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any chance you could photo-shop a picture to give an idea of the possible result?

Greg Rowe

[Toka]

Its been a long day and my eyes are tired, but are the tweeters in the HT2-TL pictured here off-centered? I could have sworn earlier pictures had them in the middle of the baffle. 

[DMurphy]

Its been a long day and my eyes are tired, but are the tweeters in the HT2-TL pictured here off-centered? I could have sworn earlier pictures had them in the middle of the baffle. 

Quote:
Originally Posted by earthbound 
Also, have you changed the design by offsetting the tweeter like on the Songtowers? My drivers are all on the vertical centerline. I apologize if this has been discussed but confess that I haven't been on this or the Audiocircle forum for sometime due to several things going on, including a 6,000+ mile roadtrip over the last few weeks, which really fatigued my ears BTW.

earthbound -

Good catch!

We needed to generate new templates, so we decided to offset the tweeters in the process just like on the SongTowers. As a practical matter it doesn't make much difference, but offsetting them smooths out diffraction artifacts just a little. I seriously doubt you would hear any difference but the perfectionist in me just couldn't resist.

- Jim

[Rocket]

Hi,

I can't speak for Jim but I did a google and these seas w18 nextel drivers are available from madisound (personally I like the look of the standard excel w18):

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1596

I think that there was a version a HT3 version that used the nextel range of midbass drivers a few years ago.  I'm not sure whether it worked okay and whether there needs to be a xover modification.

Do you want to have the tweeter/drivers configured in such a way that they aren't flush mounted?

Jim has Dennis Murphy design a number of his speakers but also uses other designers like Jeff Bagby.  I'm yet to find a speaker manufacturer that offers the finish and sound quality that Jim does.  I should know because I have researched extensively (I'll probably get called out for 'shilling' now  )

Regards

Rod

[Nuance]

earthbound -

Good catch!

We needed to generate new templates, so we decided to offset the tweeters in the process just like on the SongTowers. As a practical matter it doesn't make much difference, but offsetting them smooths out diffraction artifacts just a little. I seriously doubt you would hear any difference but the perfectionist in me just couldn't resist.

Wow, that's pretty nice.  Team Salk and Dennis are always finding new ways to further increase performance.  Too cool!

[Toka]

We needed to generate new templates, so we decided to offset the tweeters in the process just like on the SongTowers. As a practical matter it doesn't make much difference, but offsetting them smooths out diffraction artifacts just a little. I seriously doubt you would hear any difference but the perfectionist in me just couldn't resist.

- Jim

Cool, thanks!  Missed that earlier post. 

[DMurphy]

We needed to generate new templates, so we decided to offset the tweeters in the process just like on the SongTowers. As a practical matter it doesn't make much difference, but offsetting them smooths out diffraction artifacts just a little. I seriously doubt you would hear any difference but the perfectionist in me just couldn't resist.

- Jim

Cool, thanks!  Missed that earlier post. 

No need to inflict pain--that was from a different forum.  As for the nextel version of the W18, I did a version of the HT3 with it because we were afraid some people might start believing the urban legend that the regular W18 sounds bright.  I thought the nextel version sounded fine, but Jim never really took to it.  In any event, there wasn't any demand and the whole issue kind of died.  But if anyone has his heart set on the look of nextel, I'm sure I could cook something up.