I had forgotten about this thread...
I love how excited you are! Building them yourself makes them that much better, doesn't it?
Man, I really need to grab those vintage speaker cabinets from my dad. Based on the things you and others have said about e-waves and thier like I need to build a pair for my future listening room (almost done).
You have to remember a little something about what e-waves are, and what I built are.
E-waves were something Zilch had come up with to give older vintage speakers new life with a much smoother sound with a low budget in mind. Hence econo-wave.
His speakers were meant to take a stock box, keep the woofers, and replace the rest of the drivers with a wave guide and a decent compression driver for it. His project also is a very refined crossover, to smooth out the response, especially of the upper end. You will still pretty much be stuck with the bass response that is built into the cabs and the woofer combination.
I went way past those lines.. For starters, my build was way far from econo.... I wanted to try something that I knew would be able to take massive amounts of power, and do it with a clarity you don't often find in higher powered speakers. I sure surpassed my expectations with that piece of the puzzle as a goal..
I also did a lot of research and figuring to end up with the woofers I did, that would fit my box, and trying to figure out how best to tune them... I got beyond lucky this far exceeded my expectations, and I will admit, I didn't think these would have the bass I was looking for, and that I would also have to build a sub box...
Also, the crossover I used, is not tuned like the econowave crossovers are. These are something that Zilch has been using for testing other horns that aren't standard for his true ewave project. These are basically Altec Model 19 crossovers, that he has modified slightly and that do work pretty well for the intended purpose. I would love to have something that would give a little more control over the horn without having to bi-amp an active crossover system.
I got really lucky, and some people helped me a lot, and gave me a lot of guidance on what to do, and how to tune and such.. and in the long run, I closed my eyes and swung, and got damn lucky and hit it outta the park... I do believe though I am only getting part of the potential. I believe a better crossover tuned for this particular CD would be even better. I do plan to try bi-amping to see just how far I can hit...
I am glad though that I gave someone else the desire to try something different, and at least take a serious look at what Zilch is doing. If you do have the money though, I say take it over the top, because what you will end up with will be beyond every penny you spend. You are also right, the coolest thing about it is... I built them.. and that does give a person a certain pride.. and I believe it also makes you more critical of the sound... Kind of like at artist is so critical of their work, and it's never perfect to them, but they settle.. I think I am still going to be tweaking for quite a while to try and pull all the potential I can out of these..
I wish you luck, and highly encourage you to build a pair with what ever you can. No matter what, I seriously doubt you will be disappointed.
