[nature boy]

I am toying with the building a pair of open baffle speakers after hearing really good things about the Tang Band W8-1808 8" full range drivers.  Anyone had any dealings with Jeff @ ZillaAudio.com?

Here is a link to the speaker kit - looks very interesting:
http://www.zillaaudio.com/boomer-tb.htm

Total cost of the kit with a 4'x8' sheet of MDF will come in less than $700.

NB

[studiotech]

If the kit does not include any compensation for the rising response of the TB, it is very aggressive sounding.  I have one here that I bought to see if I could make it work as wide range mid and even with filtering, I don't enjoy the sound.  I always have a good listen BEFORE taking any measurements as a little game to see if I can spot any problems......it was apparent after only about 15 minutes of demo material that these were very boosted in the top end.  To my ears, even with filtering in place, there is some sort of a resonance(maybe from the whizzer cone?) that pervades any music listened to.  Too bad, I was really hoping to take that direction for my open baffles, but I've never met a high sensitivity, full-range driver I've liked.

Greg

[fakamada]

Greg, did you listen to them off-axis ? Since the TOP end is the main  issue, maybe toeing-ouy would be helpful enough ?

[studiotech]

I was listening to a single driver only.  I did sit both on and off axis.  Toeing out seems like a bad idea too, because now you have all of that excess HF energy bouncing around the room.

There also seemed to an issue lower in its range.  On some demo material, we were hearing what sounded like a resonance that had never been heard on any system before.  Tested many other drivers in the same cabinet and never had that problem.  I will try to get some new measurements of if before it goes up for sale.  Anyone still want it for less than P.E's price after my wonderful review?

Looks like I'm holding out for the Lambda TD6 or TD8.  Hopefully that doesn't take too much longer.....

Greg

[DanH]

I've had a pair of w8-1808's in a 90 liter bass reflex box for about six months now and I really like them. In my case the brightness faded away after about month of listening. I have not had a chance to try them in a OB setup yet. I have built speakers using small Fostex drivers and one using the now defunct Hemp Acoustics FR8 and I have enjoyed this Tang Band driver more than any of those.

[studiotech]

And how could the brightness "fade away"?  This whole driver burn-in thing doesn't change parameters that much and generally only for the bass range.  Is it more logical that people just get used to a new "sound" after a while?  I just don't see how such a rising boost in treble output could magically go away....

Greg