maddog07
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Hey ProggRob…
I’m certainly not telling you what to do, but if you already have Hawthorne Trio’s and are looking for more speed and “rez” (I was), what you need to try, is to swap out the Hawthorne coaxial driver and the crossover and replace it with a full-ranger (w/no xover on the full-ranger). I could never get the snap and rez from the Hawthorne coaxial driver, no matter what I did, that I was accustomed to hearing from the Audio Nirvana 12” cast frame Alnico driver running full-range that I have mounted in a 5.6 cu. ft. bass-reflex box. I was about to take my AN 12” Alnico driver’s out of the bass-reflex boxes and put them in the Trio baffles and give them a listen, when I came across a guy locally selling a pair of Audio Nirvana cast frame 15” ferrites. So I bought them, worth the money, with the idea I would likely upgrade to Alnico or Neodymium AN 15” drivers someday “if” I liked the 15” ferrite AN in the Trio baffles in place of the Hawthorne coaxial driver.
Let me just say that I don’t think I could be happier with the 15” AN full-ranger in the Trio baffles. This will sound like hyperbole, but in 35+ years of chasing the holy grail of audio, I have never had sound this good in my room. By “good”, for me, I mean sounds “real” – “live”, as in “they are here” or “I am there” good. And as best as sonic memory can serve, I have never heard another pair of speakers that I honestly thought was better (overall – all aspects considered) than the sound I have now – price no object – bar none. I am coming to learn, at least I haven’t heard a case yet, where putting passive parts, i.e. crossovers, in series between your amp and drivers, that does not retract from resolution, speed, dynamics, etc. One of my friends, who is a true music lover, but not really an audiophile, refers to my crossoverless speakers as “snappier” than any speakers he’s ever heard. I have a vintage pair of Klipsch at 101db efficiency and a pair of Martin Logan Vista's. My xoverless Trio's with the AN drivers have more rez and speed than either of these - I kid you not. I couldn't believe my ears the first time I heard them side-by-side.
Save yourself a lot of time, money and frustration, and replace the Hawthorne coaxial and xover with a 15” full-ranger from Audio Nirvana and run it without a xover. And if this doesn’t do it for you, then take out that second mortgage for Voxativ’s or Teresonic’s, etc.
In fact… I might be able to help you out in this regard to try this –relatively inexpensively. I’ve been itching to try a pair of Audio Nirvana’s newest Classic series drivers. David Dicks (the guy behind Audio Nirvana and CommonSenseAudio) claims the new Classic series 15” Alnico driver is the best sounding driver he now offers. He’s located in west St. Louis, MO area. I have been to his place in the past and saw the operation and seen/heard several AN based speakers. He’s a bit of a curmudgeon and holds very strong opinions about audio and especially his speakers, but he mostly “speaketh the truth” if you can ignore the arrogance – I have had good experiences dealing with him. Anyway, I currently have three pairs of Audio Nirvana drivers. I have the 12” cast frame Alnico’s in the bass-reflex box. And I have the 15” cast frame ferrites in my Trio baffles. And I bought a pair of cast frame 12” ferrites from RandyInCaintuck on this forum, thinking I would do “something” with them some day. If you know Randy, he can offer you some insight to AN drivers as well as having more experience with a multitude of open-baffle drivers than any single person I know of.
I can share with you how (verbiage and pictures) I have adapted the 15” AN drivers to my Trio baffles. And I could sell you one of my pairs of Audio Nirvana drivers, worth the $$, for you to try before you go down the rabbit hole - if you’re so inclined. The 12” cast frame ferrites are just sitting in their boxes doing nothing at the moment – I would sell these. I don’t think I’m ready to part with the 12” Alnico’s I have in a bass-reflex box – these drivers in this box have a “special” sound. I might be inclined to part with the 15” cast frame ferrites that are now in my Trio baffles and replace them with some new 15” Classic Alnico’s, which is what I’ve always kind of had in my head to do from the outset since putting Audio Nirvana’s in my Trio’s. PM me if you’d like to discuss further.
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Decware Torii MK3, Wyred4Sound DAC2, Theta Digital Miles, Emotiva XMC-1, Emotiva XPA-5, Aesthetix Calypso, Wyred STP-SE, Martin Logan Vista, Audio Nirvana 12" Alnico's, PS Audio PW P5, Goertz, Kimber, Nordost and DIY wires, PSA pwr cords, Cary SLI-80, DM945's.....
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