Prefab Dayton RS TMWW using the RS180?

[Dennis H]

I was doing a bit of speaker daydreaming while I was watching football. For HT, it would be nice to have a speaker that would cross seamlessly to a sub at 80 Hz. In a perfect world, to use the sub XO built into most/all HT receivers, the speaker would be a sealed box, Fb = 80 Hz, Q = .7. There's just no way you can get there with the RS225. You can't get a sealed box to tune much above 50 Hz so the published 3-way is out.

But what about the RS180? It can come really close to an 80 Hz tune with each driver getting 9-10 liters or so. So, you could build a ModulaMTM/NatP/ModulaMT in a small box and get there. Or you could use a prefab box and use styrofoam blocks or whatever to reduce the volume.

But there's just something special about 3-ways. So I started comparing the RS225 to the RS180. Damn! The SPL and impedance curves are so close up around the 300 Hz crossover of the MTWW that it looks to me like they are drop-in replacements other than box tuning.

Okay so we need a box for the non-carpenters. Behold the Madisound MD-02 tower enclosure. It's too narrow for the RS225 but it's just right for the RS180. You can shuffle the braces around to get whatever volume you want for the top and bottom parts. With the solid brace in the top position and the RS180s in the bottom two bays, I'll bet it would work well enough with any of the published TMWW crossovers. Baffle step might be off a touch but pretty damn close. The woofers would be closer to the floor than the original but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You could use the center bay for a driver, getting the woofers higher, but you'd need to cut off the ears for the mounting screws and you wouldn't be able to use the stock grill because it has a center bar.

Just one of those things that makes you go hmmmm......

[kgveteran]

I ended up helping my RS WTMW's at 100hz by adding some rolloff with a PEQ at 100hz. 24db + 24db sounds great in my room. As you stated the inbalance of 12db/24db needs some help.It's a THX thing.

[Outfitter]

Interesting......very interesting. I'll be following along to see how this develops. The attractive thing is a 3-way center that uses the rs180, and will be a little smaller.

[Dennis H]

Interesting......very interesting. I'll be following along to see how this develops. The attractive thing is a 3-way center that uses the rs180, and will be a little smaller.

The total box volume could be smaller but you couldn't make the baffle much shorter vertically. The M+T is taller than the RS225 so switching to RS180 wouldn't really help.

[Outfitter]

The total box volume could be smaller but you couldn't make the baffle much shorter vertically. The M+T is taller than the RS225 so switching to RS180 wouldn't really help.

Right, but the 16" depth is what concerned me. So if total box volume decreases, then it will be beneficial for my HT.

[dlneubec]

Hey Dennis,

Interesting concept. Too bad the cabinet wouldn't work for both the RS225 and RS180.

Along the same lines, lets say you have a 2.5way TMM or even MTM using RS180's. I wonder if you cold drop in the RS225 in the .5 slot and tune the box lower without changing the crossover?

Any thoughts?

[Dennis H]

Along the same lines, lets say you have a 2.5way TMM or even MTM using RS180's. I wonder if you cold drop in the RS225 in the .5 slot and tune the box lower without changing the crossover?

I don't see why not. Here are plots of PE's Clio files. Pretty dang close up where it counts. These are IB plots so the LF stuff will be affected by box tuning more than the crossover.

[rumatt]

The attractive thing is a 3-way center that uses the rs180, and will be a little smaller.

+1

The existing WMTW center is enormous.

[Jim Holtz]

I was doing a bit of speaker daydreaming while I was watching football. For HT, it would be nice to have a speaker that would cross seamlessly to a sub at 80 Hz. In a perfect world, to use the sub XO built into most/all HT receivers, the speaker would be a sealed box, Fb = 80 Hz, Q = .7. There's just no way you can get there with the RS225. You can't get a sealed box to tune much above 50 Hz so the published 3-way is out.

But what about the RS180? It can come really close to an 80 Hz tune with each driver getting 9-10 liters or so. So, you could build a ModulaMTM/NatP/ModulaMT in a small box and get there. Or you could use a prefab box and use styrofoam blocks or whatever to reduce the volume.

But there's just something special about 3-ways. So I started comparing the RS225 to the RS180. Damn! The SPL and impedance curves are so close up around the 300 Hz crossover of the MTWW that it looks to me like they are drop-in replacements other than box tuning.

Okay so we need a box for the non-carpenters. Behold the Madisound MD-02 tower enclosure. It's too narrow for the RS225 but it's just right for the RS180. You can shuffle the braces around to get whatever volume you want for the top and bottom parts. With the solid brace in the top position and the RS180s in the bottom two bays, I'll bet it would work well enough with any of the published TMWW crossovers. Baffle step might be off a touch but pretty damn close. The woofers would be closer to the floor than the original but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You could use the center bay for a driver, getting the woofers higher, but you'd need to cut off the ears for the mounting screws and you wouldn't be able to use the stock grill because it has a center bar.

Just one of those things that makes you go hmmmm......

Hi Dennis,

This sounds like what your musing about. Madisound cabinet and all.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070208131839/http://www.selahaudio.com/id114.html



Build it sealed and you've got it.

Jim

[rumatt]

Hi Dennis,

This sounds like what your musing about. Madisound cabinet and all.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070208131839/http://www.selahaudio.com/id114.html

Build it sealed and you've got it.

Jim

Only $540/pair for the kit shipped. Wow. Has anyone heard these?

[Jim Holtz]

Only $540/pair for the kit shipped. Wow. Has anyone heard these?

The kit doesn't include the cabinet. It'll be all of the drivers, crossover parts and Rick provides cabinet instructions for those that want to build their own.

I have a lot of Rick's designs in house including my linearrays. His designs are excellent and priced at about what the parts would cost you if you bought them individually. He's very reasonable. It'll sound excellent.

Of course, so do the RS 3-ways, Natalie P's, Modula M/T's etc. listed here. It just depends on what fits your needs best.

Jim

[rumatt]

The kit doesn't include the cabinet.

Ahhhhh. I missed that part.

[digital desire]

Anyone follow through with this?
Replace the woofers with the 180's, keep everything else close to the same (and sealed), and vol`a, a smaller, more or less matching center to go with the wwmt's?

EDIT: Eh, maybe not. As I understand it for the center you would need the m/t to be vertical, and the width would not let this happen. (I would need the cabinet to lay on its side.) I can only assume that if the m and t were splayed a bit that everyting else would be also. The wwmt center is much too huge for me though.....

[speedle]

Those madisound boxes look soooo cool! And the size is just right for what you're talking about, or any number of other things too. Has anybody tried any of those new madisound boxes?

[Rick Craig]

Those madisound boxes look soooo cool! And the size is just right for what you're talking about, or any number of other things too. Has anybody tried any of those new madisound boxes?

I've used all of them and been very happy with the quality of the cherry and black ash cabinets. The maple cabinets also have a nice finish but I prefer the more expensive veneer versions of maple - birdseye,quilted, curly,etc. - not much figure with these cabinets.