[Oscillate]

Hi Danny

I recently finished lining the insides of the five X-CS enclosures being built
with VCT tile. After attaching the baffles I will be lining with either 1" thick,
reticulated, open pore foam or stuffing them with polyester fiberfill. I really
DO NOT want to mess around with fiberglass no matter how effective it is
...thanks.

Three questions please:

Would you consider reticulated, open pore polyurethane foam or
polyester fiberfill more effective in a sealed X-CS enclosure?

If using the foam (97% void space), should I opt for the 20 PPI
or 30 PPI (Pores Per Inch) variety?

If stuffing with polyester fiberfill, how much fiberfill (by weight)
should be equally distributed throughout each X-CS enclosure?

Thanks

[Danny Richie]

Lining the cabinet with a foam then adding some loose polyfill behind each woofer will be fine.

[pecker]

Does anyone know when the drivers were manufactured for these X series kits, and what the life expectancy of them might be?
AV123 was selling them assembled back in the mid 2000's, so they could be 8 to 10 years old already.

[HAL]

I have Dynaco A25 speaker with butyl rubber surrounds and paper cones woofers and silk dome tweeters made in the early '70s and still sounding good today.  Over 40 years so far.  The capacitors are all film style and no real wear mechanisms.  The other parts are just as robust.  You should be good for many decades to come.

EDIT: Forgot to mention I have two pairs of X-LS Classics from the early production run of piano gloss rosewood cabinets and still going strong since I received them. 

[Danny Richie]

Does anyone know when the drivers were manufactured for these X series kits, and what the life expectancy of them might be?
AV123 was selling them assembled back in the mid 2000's, so they could be 8 to 10 years old already.

They are not that old. Most of it was manufactured in 2010. And they are still new in the box.

[JDCrae]

I sent Ruben a message a while ago and still have not heard back from him.  Does anyone have a different method to get in touch with him other than pm here?

Thanks

Jeff

[ebag4]

I sent Ruben a message a while ago and still have not heard back from him.  Does anyone have a different method to get in touch with him other than pm here?

Thanks

Jeff

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=123675.0

[hydrovac]

Hi Danny,

I'm looking for a 6 1/2" woofer MTM kit for my home theater build... one that would give me the ultimate compromise between high fidelity and bang-for-your-buck value. Any suggestions?

thanks in advance

[Danny Richie]

Hi Danny,

I'm looking for a 6 1/2" woofer MTM kit for my home theater build... one that would give me the ultimate compromise between high fidelity and bang-for-your-buck value. Any suggestions?

thanks in advance

X-CS and X-MTM kits. See first page.

[mlundy57]

Hi Danny,

I'm looking for a 6 1/2" woofer MTM kit for my home theater build... one that would give me the ultimate compromise between high fidelity and bang-for-your-buck value. Any suggestions?

thanks in advance

From my experience, for the ultimate compromise and bang for the buck, go for the Encore models. X-CS Encore for a monitor or X-MTM Encore for a floor standing tower and stick with the stock kits.

But to seriously upgrade the high fidelity and still get a great bang for the buck upgrade the crossovers to Sonicaps, Mills resistors, Erse XQ inductors (point-to-point wire the crossover networks like with Danny's other kits), and Sonicap Gen II by-pass caps for both the tweeter and woofer circuits.  To really max out the sound quality use Platinum by-pass caps in the tweeter circuit. Also, fully line the cabinets with NoRez.

Granted, the upgrades I've suggested cost more than the original kit but the resulting speakers are well worth it. Then again, you don't have to do all the upgrades. You can do as little or as much as you want or your budget will allow.

Mike

[Danny Richie]

Hi Danny,

I'm looking for a 6 1/2" woofer MTM kit for my home theater build... one that would give me the ultimate compromise between high fidelity and bang-for-your-buck value. Any suggestions?

thanks in advance

Here is a link to Mike's X-CS and X-MTM build: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=128392.0

[rajesh]

I'm looking for a 6 1/2" woofer MTM kit for my home theater build... one that would give me the ultimate compromise between high fidelity and bang-for-your-buck value. Any suggestions?

Welcome to Audio Circle.  Fully agree with Mike (Mlundy57). The best bang for the buck would be the Sonicap upgrade which will make a huge difference in SQ. The other upgrades would step up the SQ incrementally.

To really max out the sound quality use Platinum by-pass caps in the tweeter circuit.

That is not part of upgrade options that the GR Research site gives. Now where do we get it, the values et al!

[mlundy57]

Welcome to Audio Circle.  Fully agree with Mike (Mlundy57). The best bang for the buck would be the Sonicap upgrade which will make a huge difference in SQ. The other upgrades would step up the SQ incrementally.

That is not part of upgrade options that the GR Research site gives. Now where do we get it, the values et al!

You are correct, they are not listed on the website. You can contact Danny directly to get the platinum caps.  I put them in my N3-TL's and am very pleased with the performance. So much so I added platinum by-pass caps to the LGK Wedgie kit.

Mike

Mike

[Captainhemo]

I put them in my N3-TL's and am very pleased with the performance. So much so I added platinum by-pass caps to the LGK Wedgie kit.

Mike

 I have used  the Neo 3 both with and without the Platinum caps and know they  do make a big difference with that twweter but I seem to remember a thread a while back where  guys were discussing using  the Platinum caps with the Peerless tweeter. and the X series kits in general.  I'll  have a look for the thread and  link to it if I can find it.  (EDIT:  here is that link and I guess  like most things, it is very subjective ,
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=115595.msg1209009#msg1209009 )

Did you ever end up trying the platinum caps withthe Peerless tweeter Mike ? Would be interesting to know your results if so.

Hydrovac,  I know you   said you were lookig for  an MTM design using the 6.5" woofers but I wouldn't over look  the AV3 TL's either.  They are an MTM but  use Danny's 5.25 M130 driver in an MTM design along with the GR tweeter.  In the TL of the AV3/N3 they produce amazing bass, rich and clean down to  40hz if I remember correctly.  I know a few guys who actually prefer the  GR tweeter  over the Peerless tweeter used in the Encore kits.   I haven't  heard the GR tweeter so I can't make any  first hand comparison
I am not trying to steer you  in any particualr directin,  just   pointing out it may be somethig  worth discussing with Danny

-jay

[Plund]

Considering adding some rear surrounds to my N3 TL-based system.  The A/V 1RS's would seem to be very likely a good choice, but not wanting to miss out on one of these "Best deals ever", any thoughts on how a pair of the X-CS's, which are also sealed, would function if mounted high on a rear wall, facing toward the ceiling?  The boxes could be built a little larger than, but similarly angled to the A/V 1RS's.

Pete

[mlundy57]

What you are describing is exactly what the AV1-RS was designed for.

The X-CS is a big heavy speaker. My cabinet alone weighs 33 pounds, without the drivers. You really don't want to try wall mounting these. They are designed for front end duty, left and right mains and center channel.

Stick with the AV1-RS for surround duty.

Mike

[Danny Richie]

Considering adding some rear surrounds to my N3 TL-based system.  The A/V 1RS's would seem to be very likely a good choice, but not wanting to miss out on one of these "Best deals ever", any thoughts on how a pair of the X-CS's, which are also sealed, would function if mounted high on a rear wall, facing toward the ceiling?  The boxes could be built a little larger than, but similarly angled to the A/V 1RS's.

Pete

Wall and ceiling placements are very tricky. There is a huge gain from coupling with the wall and ceiling in the lower ranges, and then at a fixed distance there is a cancellation from the reflection being out of phase with the direct output. So all of that has to be taken into consideration. So the speaker has to be lean in the bottom end. There has to be a lot of driver overlap in the cancellation area to fill that in and it has to be really strong up top to compensate for the highs being attenuated by the reflections and be being off axis.

The A/V-1 RS does all of that and produces a very accurate in room response. No other speaker will do the same in that application.

[Plund]

Thanks Mike and Danny.  I am glad I asked the question and now understand, for multiple reasons, the A/V 1RS is the clear choice for my rear surrounds!

Pete

[Oscillate]

Danny ...I'm getting close to finishing up the X-CS x 3 build. I still need to
solder the wires to the drivers and to the cross-over boards. You supplied a
winding of red and white wire that needs to be cut to into individual lengths.
What is the appropriate lengths to cut the wire(s) to?

Likewise, the black tube 'shrink-wrap' that will protect the connections also
needs to be cut into lengths. What is the correct length to cut that to please?

[Danny Richie]

Danny ...I'm getting close to finishing up the X-CS x 3 build. I still need to
solder the wires to the drivers and to the cross-over boards. You supplied a
winding of red and white wire that needs to be cut to into individual lengths.
What is the appropriate lengths to cut the wire(s) to?

Likewise, the black tube 'shrink-wrap' that will protect the connections also
needs to be cut into lengths. What is the correct length to cut that to please?

Set the crossover in the floor of the box and then measure from the board to each driver and from the board to the binding post cup.

The heat shrink can be cut into little 1" lengths or so.