Any thoughts on preferences?  I am thinking of building a set of the ZF15M but now wondering about the 10"  the curve does look really great.  I have a Decware Rachel amp.

To my knowledge, on this forum, the only one who has had both in their lineup is Palomino. You can PM him and ask his opinion, unless he weighs in here. Oh, and of course, Caintuck Randy is another one you can consult with.

I can say that I love my C10’s coupled with two W-15’s.  But I have never heard the F15’s. The C10’s require bass supplementation, but whether you would need one or two W-15’s, depends on your room and personal preference. And you would also need a subwoofer amp, so this route is much more expensive than using the F-15’s.

Or, I remember reading that Steve said that a ZRock pairs nicely with the C10’s.

And something new that I read the other day on a different forum, is that Lii just started using a different magnet with the F-15’s that they think make a pretty nice improvement - so that is something else to consider. Decisions, Decisions!!!

Good luck!

Geno

-  Hi Beerfab , per Geno's recommendation I sent a Personal Message to Palomino asking about the different drivers and I thought I would post his reply here so you can read it too -


--  Sender: Palomino

To: hallcon83

Subject: Re: Need advice on speakers please

Date: Yesterday at 17:18:36

--  Its been a while since I heard both sets of speakers.  I loaned the F15s to a friend before covid and haven't seen them since!

That said, I should tell you what I have for my C10 speakers now.  They have evolved a bit in recent years.

The Crystal 10s are in a Baltic birch rectangular open baffle along with Acoustic Elegance LO15 full range drivers.  I have also added an upfiring tweeter on each baffle and a sub.  Basically the tweeters provide some air, the C10s go from around 15Khz to about 160 Hz, then the LO15s go to about 30 Hz and the sub covers the low end.

In my opinion the C10 based speakers need low end augmentation.  The F15 baffles can use some as well but not as much as the C10s.  I know Steve add a piece of hardware to up the low end on his C10 based baffles and it helps, but still left me wanting for more bass.  I can listen to the F15 and the bass that's there is very tight and detailed/musical.

Back before I added the tweeter and sub, a friend described the difference between the two speakers as the C10s were more "audiophile" and the F15 baffles as more "hi-fi".  Basically, the F15 are more forgiving.  The C10s are more detailed.  Both produce a great soundstage although the F15s soundstage is bigger.  Both image well.

I was never fatigued with the F15 after hours of listening.  I have experienced some fatigue with the C10s, but only after extended listening.

If I ever get the F15s back from my friend, I will be tempted to try them with the up firing tweeters to give them a little more sparkle in the high end.

As you can see in my current C10 description, I think they need more to augment them overall.  After all my tweaking, I prefer them to the F15s. The F15 are more - out of the box - ready.

Hope this rambling response helps.

i7 Mac Mini with LPSU/SSD running Audirvana 3.5, Uptone Audio Regen on LPSU, Mytek Brooklyn DAC+, Ven Haus DIY Silver ICs, 25th Anniversary Zen, PS Audio P5 Power Supply, PS Audio Power Cords, Zen Styx Speaker Wire, DIY Big Betsy and Crystal 10 Open Baffle Speaker

Wow that was an excellent response from Palomino!

Geno, Have you replaced your binding post on your LII audio drivers?

Thanks,

jec3504

jec,

Sorry, but I did not see your question. No, I did not replace the binding posts on my drivers. I don't remember why folks were repacing them, but I've never had an issue with mine.


hallcon,

I don't know what super tweeters Palomino is using, but that is definitely something that I've been wanting to try. I've read several times that it can really add sparkle to the top end.

Best,

Geno

Archie,

I remember now. For some reason, they skimped on the F-15 terminals, and some of the other models lower in the line. An effort to keep costs down?

The Crystals have better terminals, but my W-15's have the cheaper ones.

Best,

Geno

Besides the desoldering and resoldering I had to drill out the mounting holes since the new posts were much bigger in diameter.  I then had to wrap them with electrical tape so they wouldn't short out on the metal frame.  There wasn't enough meat to drill large enough holes to use the supplied insulation sleeving.

jec,

I'd be nervous doing the work without the drivers in a vertical position.  So many opportunities to damage the cones with solder or dropping stuff on them.  As it is, I felt uncomfortably close to the paper.

-  Hi Everyone, I sent a message to Palomino asking about the tweeters he used on his Open Baffles,


- I received his reply and thought I would post his response for anyone else that was interested -  :)


-------------------------

Palomino

-  " I think they are Vifa , now Peerless BC25SC08-04 , but I'd have to look at them to know for sure (I'm out of town).  They came to me as part of a bundle of drivers and I was only interested in a couple of them, but kept the tweeters lying around just in case I needed them.  

I got the idea from the fellow who designs OBs for Lii Audio drivers (Leon?) and also from Steve's "eggs" if you remember when he built those prototypes.  I want to say the cap is a Clarity cap 3.3uf.  I pulled it when I upgraded my capacitors in my DM945 clones.

I did it just for the heck of it, but thought they added some air and later added the suspended balls above the tweeter for better dispersion.  I felt they were too directly firing into my ceiling."



----  

Best regards, Dean

Hi Geno,

Did the Lii Audio Silver-10's replace the C-10's?

Here are my test baffle all in around $1000. They are eventually heading to the north woods with my Schiit Audio system. Must say the F-15's play nice with my 6SN7 pre amp. The W-15 is powered by a plate amp. The finish will match their new home. Going to get serious and build some real baffles once I come up with a good plan and pick the drivers.

Beefy!  My base has a different design so I added "shot boxes" which both stiffen the baffle and ad mass (25# lead each).

Quote:


I must admit that I wanted to try the Silver 10’s when they were introduced. But I’m really happy with what I have now, so it will remain as is. Continues to put a smile on my face

I like your design. Love the rustic look. How do they sound?

By the way, I followed Archie’s lead on the lead shot. His box is a cool design. I wasn’t that original - I just have the bags of shot on top of my bases.

Archie, I forgot about the brass weights on the back of your baffles. I remember yours and Steves postings about using them. Can you shed some light on their weight and determined locations, as well as the effect?

Thanks,

Geno

Geno,

They sound GREAT!. The question is how will they sound with a MK5. They are staying with my 1st system forever. Really want to mock up some Silver 10's and give them a rip. Time will tell. Think I'm at a point where having my Decware amp would really help out. Palomino response to hallcon83 was fantastic . Time will tell. Feels like I'm on the right path. Thanks for everyone's help!

Joseph