I don't know how familiar you are with SEAS speakers? I grew up with SEAS around me since SEAS is Norwegian and I am Norwegian and since the store where I bought speaker components sold SEAS. I have built speakers out of SEAS speakers and my friend has also done it. I would say that SEAS is not more HIGHEND than other speakers if you listen to the sound out of them. SEAS is NOT very good at making speaker crossovers. The speaker kit they sell doesn't sound so good with the original SEAS crossover! SEAS is too expensive if you look at what you get. Therefore, not many people buy SEAS!
@@dalesmth1 the driver does? or the whole moniter? this thing has active crossover with DSP, probably an ADAU1701 chip. you can actively boost any frequencies you want. that being said, with a box sizes of 20L, i can get an $25 dayton audio classic 6.5" woofer to an f3 at 32hz with a simple box and port. no crazy engineering like double bass reflex designs or something
I'm really glad to see coaxial designs finally making stir in the studio world. I tried all the monitors, cheap ones expensive ones, passive/active, ect... Once I landed one a good pair of coaxial studio monitors (Presonus Sceptre S6) I was done, never looked back.
I used to have the Sceptre S8 monitors! Loved how they imaged. I still remember listening to Hungry Like The Wolf on them and being blown away by the imaging. Very good speakers for the money! Thanks for watching
Thank you for watching. I thank SEAS for an amazing design I'm still enjoying daily. Might upgrade the cabinets to floor standers with some passive radiators next. Thank you for your comment
Hi , I have a pair of Transmission Line cabinets that I built myself about 40ys ago, they had Peerless and they sounded great, until one of the drivers popped, so I contacted Eric at Soundimports from the Netherlands, and they set me up with 8 inch drivers and tweeters from, SEAS , 150w NAD AMP , And what a transformation these now sound amazing, I am in my 70s and I listen to classical heavy metal the blues and Viking music just name a few bits, Luckily, I live by myself in the French countryside, and I enjoy my music to say the least, Very interesting territorial on building your SEAS audio monitor speakers, 🔊, Phil from the moulin France .
Thanks so much for your comment, Phil. Yeah SEAS have been a revelation for me and hearing music naturally. Thanks to Soundimports for the great recommendation!
I had the good luck of buying 2 of the first iterations of this Seas coax back in 2012. To this day the speakers I developed around this coax are in my main listening system to this day and I'm looking at them right now. I think I will try teaming with a ScanSpeak 30W subwoofer and gauge the results. this is an amazing build and thank you for sharing your insights.
Thanks for your comment. Yeah the coax is magnificent. Such a great transparency to it. Tomorrow I'm releasing a speaker review for this kit! Let me know how the ScanSpeak sub works out!
Amazing video, very well pit together man! Thanks you for the time, it defensively will help a lot of people. It would be amazing to be able to upload Sound ID profiles.
Amazing work and video ! I was searching for such a long time an explanatory video to help me build my own 3-way Studio Monitors and yours is by far the best !!! Thx a million !
Really well done video and edit. Excellent choice on speaker kit. As a contractor I winced at your use of the table saw.. never run it with the balde that high.. it cuts the same when it is just getting thru the top of the wood and teter tottering kneeling over that high of a blade make me hold my breath and pray for you.. great work but sketchy and janky table saw location and use. Now that being said I appreciate the content. Truly love audio and video. Prayers
Yeah, I hope you saw in the video I apologized for my inexperience in the wood working department. I'm used to just dealing with the speaker and amp components, but thank you for the recommendation. Glad you enjoyed the video (aside from my heart palpitation inducing saw use) 😂
I loved your build. I've been a diy speaker enthusiast for quite a long time. Years ago, I built a couple of subs utilizing the SEAS L26ROY 10" with plate amps and paired them with a couple of Zaph Audio ZA5.5's, both from Madisound. The setup sounded very good, especially the low end. The SEAS back then were about half the cost they are now. Recently I went with another Zaph design, the ZRT 2.5, and revamped the SEAS sub enclosures to match the new speakers. I am extremely happy with their sound, about the best I've heard, the low end is still fantastic. I certainly would've considered this kit if my budget was a little higher, but I'm extremely happy with the ZRT's. Thanks for sharing.
Nice work and great outcome on the response . When you used a guide on your router to cut out the holes for the amplifier board , I would have just made a jig by air nailing pieces of mdf together to make a perfect jig for a bushing under the router to follow after you clamp it to the rear panel . Also you could install a bigger bushing and go right through the inside perimeter where it needs to be open . It would be clean and as accurate as if it was done by a CNC router table . I see you used sound deadening mat . Just wondering if you compensated for the additional displacement. One other thing I thought I’d mention is when I used to build subwoofer cabinets for car audio back in the 90’s , I used to brush on fibreglass resin on all the internal seams . Once it dries it makes them practically bullet proof ,and no way in hell of leaking or coming apart .
Such a giant effort to film and document all of this, amazing work! Thanks for putting it together! Seeing you squatting down at the garage floor for hours cutting and routing the panels, I almost want to buy you a pair of saw horses, so that you can work on a table standing up, man! 😅
Hahaha, I forgot to ask Santa for some saw horses. I'll have to ask the Easter Bunny! Thanks for watching and thanks for your comment and care for my spinal health! Have a good one
I just had to delete my comment as I went back and read the description again. They went full active crossover with DSP for these speakers and that's really quite a bold move. I'm a huge fan of speakers that don't need separate subwoofers and these really do look like a great option if you're considering something like the KEF R3 Meta but wanted active speakers with monitoring potential. I think the only change I would make, if you ever want to refinish the cabinets in the future, would be to add corner bracing to the front baffle and then use your table saw set at 15, 30, 45, and 60 degrees to pre-form the edges of the front baffle so you can sand them down into a massive round-over to reduce baffle edge diffraction. It's not strictly necessary, though. In case you were curious: you can totally just use truck bedliner to paint your speaker cabinets. It has the benefit of being incredibly durable, but also offers sound damping effects as well due to the thickness and density of the material, but also due to the high-durometer silastic nature of the material.
These are the best speakers I've listened to in my studio and I've tried a lot of different speakers. Active, passive, 2 way, 3 way, point source, all kinds. These are my favorite and these get me excited to go to work and listen to music. SEAS actually had the edges rounded on the MKII version of the speaker but said it wasn't required as the impact with the DSP correction is almost non-existent. Thanks for the comment!
Yeah there's a bit of getting used to the software, learning where things are located etc. But I'm still tweaking the placement and DSP and I know the software really well now. So don't let that be too intimidating! Thanks for the comment
@anythingbox Thanks for watching! Final cost all in was about $3300 with the extras I added in and the wood and paint. I used the smaller amp because it didn't have a fan and it's still giving the drivers what they ask for RMS power wise. The time is harder to estimate because I was trying to film it all while doing the actual labor which was so much more time intensive than I thought it would be.
If you put the drivers upside down you can move easily position them to drill the pilot holes for mounting and or putting in fittings to use bolts. These look pretty awesome!
Amazing build video, thanks for uploading! My only points of note are that the edges could do with being rounded off to reduce diffraction and the leads to the drivers seem a bit low gauge to me.
Hey! Thanks for your comment. I briefly mentioned in the video that the MKII had rounded corners but the MKIII had additional biquads to deal with it in the correction. The wire leads were coming directly from the amplifier harnesses so it's as thick as I could use given the connections (14 AWG). I was just trying to build this out according to the kit. I'm thinking of building new floor standing cabinets with the passive radiators and I'd round the corners on those cabs to see how different they measure
Super well done video production, you could pass as a Professional 😁😉 The first time I tried a SEAS product was an H253 (IIRC) 1" flush soft dome tweeter, coupled with a SEAS 6.5" paper cone mid/woofer and blew away Polk monitor 4s in 1983 (you were a bit young then 😜) and a guy in the stereo shop (where I'd brought them for comparitive listening) folloeed me to the ARCO and offered me 7 time$ what they co$t me to build. My first successful speaker design/build/sale. I'm going to give this kit serious consideration. 👊😏👍
Thanks so much for the video. So wish I could listen to these. Say where did you find the information about the tower versions? I'm not finding anything.
Check out the links in the description. You want the PDF Assembly Guide from SEAS and then go to the bottom of page 6 - Tips and Alternatives. To quote the passage "For even more low end-output, the system can be made into a floor standing speaker by extending the subwoofer enclosure height with 50cm and adding two SEAS SL26R passive radiators. The subwoofer DSP-filters then needs to be recalculated."
Not to knock this guys efforts, time, blood, sweat, tears and occasionally annoying the neighbors. I guess I would say "These are the best speakers I ever heard". 😂😂😂😂
Nice :) The correction curve for the sub is crazy, but the only way to reach sub level in a closed box with this monster of a woofer. Really impressing this possibility. You left some room for built upgrades, big rounded corners to improve interference in the mids and some other details, but a solid job you've done. I like the idea of the coax for the studio monitoring, good to work with. For home use I would go for seperate drivers to avoid IM and waveguide effects between them.
Yeah I just built these directly according to the plans. I think I'm going to convert them into bigger floor standing speakers with passive radiators in the future
What a great video. Many thanks for it all. They're clearly wonderful units. The Hypex electronics is obviously great too (I already use an NAD C298 class D amp), and the DSP is the icing on the cake. I live in New Zealand so the freight for the kit would probably be crippling.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I checked freight for the parts from Sound Imports and they're showing €125 to NZ so it's probably worth it!
Thanks for your reply. By my reckoning that would be close to NZ$300.00. In addition, I would probably have to get someone to do the cutting etc for me as I don't have any woodworking tools and I'm past my used-by date!!.
I am in Australia and looked at shipping. Cheapest is UPS at $478.19 USD. This puts me at $5600 AUD for the kit delivered and then I need to work out how to build the box.
You could fit a simple on-off toggle breaker switch on the fan amp module so as to be able to turn the fan of during critical times...the fan should only kick in if running above a preset temperature setting...eg...running the amps/speakers at loud level's for extended periods...that's a good quality looking bass/sub unit...i used to use SEAS drive units back in the '80's to design various loudspeakers...my favourites built were 3-way transmission line speakers with 8" bass units, 5 1/4" mid units & 1" silk dome ferro-fluid cooled tweeters with a very low 550hz resonance, the bass rolled in at 200hz which was the speakers -6db baffle step point, as the bass unit was 90db 1w/1m it matched the second order x-over on the midrange unit nicely,200hz - 2.2khz, padded the tweeter down with a 3rd order x-over with an L resistor set up to match the tweeter levels with the midranges...i bought the best polypropylene caps, air cored inductors, high quality resistors, 4mm connectors etc i could afford at the time..had them for 10yrs, i wish i still had them...the bass & mids were so good, good with so much depth & detail over the whole speakers range -3db 28hz - 25khz....nice speakers,i luv coaxial drive units, Kef Uni-Q, Tannoy, Flyde etc..... Well made speakers bud....
I gotta say the 250 RMS feels like plenty for the speakers. There's no shortage of power when they need it. But yeah the toggle switch could work but then my anxiety that I turned the fan off when it's needed would take over and drive me crazy. Sounds like you had some really nice SEAS speakers. I love how good their drivers sound. Big fan here!
@The Social Club Studio Those studio monitors are beautiful, I can imagine how they sound, if I could afford the system and speakers I would love to build it, but I am not a carpenter. Plus I don’t have 5000.00$+ or 6500.00$+ for that type of studio monitors. Great job, I have cheap studio monitors by sterling, a pair of Yamaha HS5 too, KRK Rockit 12 subwoofer
Application can work for both. I decided to use them as my main studio monitors and they're exactly 5 foot apart. Which puts me right on the edge of Near Field and Mid Field. The original design from SEAS was for compact full range speakers that can play with incredibly high fidelity. These fit that description and thanks to being able to touch up the DSP myself, they are the flattest speakers I've EVER heard. And I just adjusted my room yet again to get the room null down to 27Hz so I'm flat thru 30Hz now
@@SocialClubSound I learned a lot from your video. However, there are many good TPA3255 boards out there, so that I plan to make my own amplifier with dsp. What is your dsp chip or board?
Wow! What a interesting video! Thank you so much for that, I know what it means creating a video like this! I’m thinking to build these beauty. I read that Ex Machina’s speaker use a more rigid MDF called Valchromat, which is more acoustically inherent than classic MDF. Do you think it could be an improvement for this kit? Also I was thinking on painting some Acoustic-x paint inside for improving transient response. Thank you in advance, I learned so much from this🔥💪🏼
Thanks for watching! Yeah valchromat is more inert, but it's a lot more expensive and difficult to work with than MDF. But like I said, Ex Machina is bleeding edge tech. I'm more than happy with these Kings. 👑
I'm in Australia, and I am looking for a superb cinema speaker to use as an LCR. I've seen DIYSG, Toids and others. Looked at JBL, QSYS and others. I preference neutrality, absolute clarity, 60Hz up, and capacity for extreme dynamic response. High sensitivity and wide dispersion. Dedicated room with baffle wall is my P.s . I use 2 small VAF i91SE speakers which use the SEAS coaxial and it is an absolute amazing little cube.
Seas are good speakers and I use them myself in DIY, this project of yours is great for a good price, you make a similar clone of TAD speakers with an added amplifier. Like all loudspeakers, this one also has a downside, I would never use a coaxial mid/tre unit because when moving the midrange, which acts as a waveguide for the tweeter, it strongly colors or changes the treble sound image.
I know what you're saying about the mid-range as a waveguide but the crossover is at 210Hz so there's really minimal mid-range movement. You can't see any excursion, all the excursion is happening on the subwoofer. Hope that helps clarify how it will works so well
Very interresting. Question: is it really necessary to setup a +6db filter under 200hz for the third amp ? For me it is the tweeter amp and its doing nothing at these frequences, or i'm wrong ? This kit is on top of my list, this amp is marvelous.
That +6dB isn't on the tweeter amp it's a filter over the incoming signal. And since it's a low shelf at 200Hz it just helps amplify the signal for the subwoofer. Hope that helps clarify. Thanks for watching and commenting! 🙏🏼
@@SocialClubSound OMG! I have the Orea Bronze under my Focal Solo 6 s! Sounds fantastic. Another thing you might look at is upgrading the fuses to synergistic purple!
Fantastic video! Really enjoyed that. And loved the build because I myself am no cabinet building expert so I laughed at some of the techniques as it’s probably how I would do them and then cringe when watching back. Regarding the poly fill, have you removed the drivers since finishing them? I think there is a chance the material will, over time, fall and clump at the bottom of the cabinet. This will probably have the biggest effect on the coax where you the filling is there to absorb reflected sound reaching the back of the mid driver. Reflex foam is a good alternative as it won’t move once fitted securely. Or some netting could be used to support the poly fill in several layers across the cabinet. Another question, does the optional remote allow you to adjust output volume level of both speakers at the same time? I’m thinking about those that connect a digital source directly that does not have variable digital output. Once again, great video. 👍🏻
I've opened them once to check since they've been used and the poly fill is holding it's spot for now. I'm other builds I've done I've used foam inside and I've been happy with the result. Using the wool and poly fill in this kit was a lil different than I was used to but it still worked nicely. And yes, the remote can control both at once. Inside the software you use for the DSP you can link the speakers together. A helpful addition I'm sure!
Great video. You got any buzzing coming from just the tweeter? I build these around the same time as you and I get audible buzzing from my set. I tried a power conditioner with no luck.
I think we were just chatting on the ASR forum. I'm running these through a conditioner and they're dead quiet. Even when I run no signal but crank the volume knob on my monitor controller there's barely a hiss at max. They should be very quiet. Did your FA.503 amps come with ac power cords? My FA.253 amps did not.
Amazing work. I use atm Neumann KH150 with an Bass Array (DBA / Bass Array - 4x Scan Speak 30w4558T00 in 62L Cabinets) - and always wanted to go someday the DIY way. Because this setup is mainly for Film and Music, its always hard to find a speaker wich is detailed, punchy and just correct. Do you know sources where you can get DIY Plans like yours ? Its hard to find any Active Speaker Plans in the web, with Monitor Qualitys but also higher SPL possibilitys
Very nice video. Maybe to long, i used fast forward sometimes. Frequency respons is almost perfect! Maybe i missed when you told what program you used. But i think Rew. (And umik) I use it to. I my small music room response looking not half as good as yours. For 32hz its only a small problem. 8db is nothing for room nod. I got 15db. Going to buy membraneabsorber.
Yeah it ran long, but there was so much to cover, I didn't want to gloss over anything. Valid point tho! Since the video I've improved the sound even more and shifted my speaker and listening position a bit farther back in the room and now I have the null down to only -6dB at 27Hz for the combined pair!
Good morning 🌅, very interesting, you are in a recording studio, so it is going to sound how you want it, + all of the electronic equipment , I built a pair of transmission line that speaker caplets about 30 to 40 years ago, using Peerless speakers , these sounded great, powdered by NAD , I had to replace the driver’s because one of the subwoofers blew, so I contacted somebody in Denmark, cannot remember the name of the company at the moment, and they recommended using the SEAS 8 inch subwoofer. I can’t remember the name of it part number and a Twitter., I haven’t changed the crossover, not yet a project for the winter time, but since I’ve changed the drivers these cabinets now sound amazing, My room is approximately 4 1/2 m wide by 7 m deep, And I listen to a very wide variety of music, From heavy rock to classical, Opera , blues, the cabinets are rated at 150 W, though my amp at the moment, lacks some power, I’m hoping later to acquire another amp, When you was assembling your bass driver unit, did you put the rubber gasket under it? As I did not see you do it? I saw you do it under the Twitter. , Something you might be interested in if you have a router table or a router that is man enough to do the job there’s a 45° finger joint interlocking cutter. You can get help with the alignment of the joints because they only will go together one way., and a lot easier to clamp up as they will not slide, I listen to vinyl on a Linn LP12 , pioneer CD player, Nakamichi DR-2 deck, retired English man living in France, in a rural area with no neighbours,
The subwoofer comes with a rubber gasket pre installed on the basket. So it was already there for that driver. The coaxial had no gasket so I installed it there. Thank you for your comment!
Perhaps. But as a studio engineer it's not like I set the level loud and just let it play. It's a lot of starting and stopping and working on different areas of the song. And when I press stop I'm afraid I'll hear the fan. That said, someone did tell me they had success replacing the stock fans with upgraded silent ones.
If this is already playing from 20-20k, is there anything really to be gained from extending the box to be floor standing and adding radiators or a port?
I hope to find out in the near future. But, all it really does is it takes some of the stress off the low end DSP boost by having that bottom octave mostly covered with the passives.
@@SocialClubSound Ah okay, makes sense. I think I'm going to try the ported route, WinISD is showing me a lower tuning frequency and those passive radiators are pretty damn expensive!
Great video only thing I would change are the speaker stands, metal is a poor material to use because of ringing, oak much better and 4 feet are not as good as 3 due to micro vibrations, much easier to get 3 feet to sit probably. Especially with pointed cones, this will prevent smearing in the HF.
Another upgrade if you could source it would be the addition of Kef MAT technology, it's a circular, plastic structure that sits behind the tweeter and effectively absorbs 99% of the unwanted distorting sound that radiates from the cone’s rear into the cabinet. This technology has proven to be very effective in KEF speakers that have it, winning KEF the Innovation of the Year Award when it was first introduced. The latest R Series speakers are equipped with the latest version of MAT technology, making them even better at reducing distortion and producing a clear, accurate sound.
Measurements are the King RO4Y MKIII monitors alone. Those subs they sat on top of weren't even plugged in. And I don't need them with the Kings in my corner. 👑
I don't think Dayton has 1:1 equivalents for these parts but I'm going to be doing a video on a high end 3 way with Dayton parts. Hopefully that's more to your liking
This product is designed to go onto MDF or plywood directly and can serve as it's own self primer (according to the label). I've found it to be amazing at helping keep the cabinets safe. You can thin it out with a little water to get more of an orange peel texture.
Just watching this video and hv a question. Why cut the panels with a 45 instead of straight cuts when it can be finished with veneer anyway? Seems way easier. Maybe I am missing something?
I didn't design the kit, I just built it to their specs. But as someone who has built cabinets in the past this does make it easier to get a perfectly square box. I do know part of the idea behind the kit was to make it easy for DIY people to do it. It rolled up great.
That's really nice ! Thank' a lot, i was hopping for this video to come till a long time ! Do you use classic MDF for your build or some more heavyest one like HDF ?
Thank you ! And how do you control the volume with this speakers ? Do you know if there is some way to control de volume after the DSP ? Changing the volume digitally before the DSP make you loose dynamic.
Superb video of a speaker I want to make so desperately. I want a bookshelf fullrange and this is it. Unfortunately I don’t get seas in my country. Wondering if anyone has some suggestions some other coaxial or FullFrange drivers and subwoofer so like a FAST speaker fullrange assisted subwoofer
Right now I use Yamaha HS8 & HS8s subwoofer and Sonarworks helped me a lot calibrating the speakers to my room . I saw that the sound of SEAS King RO4Y MKIII is flat but do you think that It is necessary to use these speakers with Sonarworks , does it help ?
Sonarworks does A LOT to help sort out room issues and is a form of DSP on its own. I have it but I don't use it with these since they have their own DSP processing built in. I'm currently working on a review video of these speakers and I'll do more in depth at how and why I use it to improve what I hear. The main difference between the two different set ups will be the quality of the parts. This kit cuts no corners in the parts quality department, as where Yamaha are more mass produced. Any other questions or if you want more clarity in my answers, please ask!
Thanks a lot , I wish I could find your tutorials before I bought my Yamaha HS studio speakers , six years ago ! I don't say that they are bad but I'm sure that's a significant difference between HS & this kit .
I'm not trying to say the HS8 aren't up to the job. They are remarkable speakers given the money. But yeah there's levels to all this stuff. I hope you keep watching!
Oh , yes !!! Anything that will make this kit sound even better is my deepest concern ! I probably watched this video a couple of times to see every detail because when I'll start building these I wanna be very well informed !
Hi, I've had a chance to experience a lot of great monitors Hifi and studio (Amphion 3 way 25a vs Dutch and Dutch 8c in same room, pmc 6-2 with 8-2 subs etc.). You've also experienced ex Machinas and probably other great ones. How close do this compare to them. Ex machinas went even more cutting edge as you said but how would you compare it based on what you've heard? How close this gets. I know that for money nothing can beat them but anyway just to make some feeling about how got they are sounding versu each other? Ex machina pulsar doesn't go to 20hz so here is the one difference on paper. How this translates to reality?
The Ex Machina speakers are very linear and flat speakers. Super tight frequency response via their DSP. I'm sure anyone dropping money on them will feel they got their money's worth. What I still prefer about the King RO4Y MKIII is the ability to dial in the DSP for the sub in the room. You can't edit the DSP on Ex Machinas which mean room cancellations can still hamper you response. I like the bigger 10" sub in the King RO4Y. If you sat me down blindfolded I don't know if I could tell a King RO4Y from a Quasar. The larger sub gets me down to 20Hz with help from DSP and thoughtful room placement to avoid nulls. I honestly don't know if I can hear a difference in the materials used as I haven't had a chance to directly A/B them in the same space at the same time. I'm still amazed at how well the King RO4Y MKIII images and the resolution it has. How did you like the Amphion One25A?
@@SocialClubSound Great tnx for your response. We listen Amphions in a hotel room cause it was Hi-fi event so the place was not acousticaly treated but they corrected both (meassured with mic) dutch and dutch 8c and amphions 25 via Rme Adi pro fs2 so they played similiar in those conditions. Different sound between them Amphions are a little more detailed on the top and dutch a little more smoother, bottom end is also different between them it's hard to tell cause dutch is very impressive in low end with tightness but at the same time also amphion is so both are amazing :) the difference subjectively is not so big so you go ether way hapilly but on the end if we need to choose we said that for studio work Amphion is probably closer to what we need (subjectevly) based on what we heard. But of course you can work with both easily :) so if King Ro4y MKIII is there on that level with them and of course with a slight difference in sound presentation cause they are all slight different..then that is crazy good! :)
Cool! Yeah I love the coaxial in the King RO4Y. I had Amphion One18s before these so I'm used to that Amphion sound. I think the time alignment for phase is still one of the biggest advantages to the King RO4Y MKIII. Does absolute wonders for reverb tails and delays clarity. Thanks for the response!
@@SocialClubSoundI'm curious Amphion uses 700 W of power for the same 10inch sub driver and then 2x 205W for mid and tweeter. So does King Ro4y have enough power based on that comparation? And also about the cabinet. Amphion also sealed have 2 chambers inside. I also thought about that for King Ro4y does one chamber maybe negativly impact sound cause usually speaker manufacturers make some kind of labyrinth inside:)?
The subwoofer has an RMS rating of 250W so the Hypex 253 amp provides the recommended RMS power. But these subs are like tanks so I'm sure it can take the 700W from ICEPower without blinking. I don't think 250 is underpowered, they sound great with their rated power.
Nice work! You’re not going to want to eq frequencies above 100Hz to compensate for in room response. Only correct for direct sound that also is cincistent on and slightly off exis.
Yes, thanks. Long indeed. I just wanted to try to cover all the things you might run into or need to do during a build but I agree it's long, longer than most movies 🤪 As long as you got something out of it!
MDF is pretty much sonically dead. But really isn't that strong plus absorbs moisture and very easily strips out screws and such. The better choice would be something like Baltic birch. Birch will also give you a better finish
Not to my knowledge. I believe it's only PCM but it is 32 bit up to 192khz. From what I understand the DAC chip is a AK4454 which supports DSD but the digital inputs use a SRC4382 which doesn't support DSD. So I don't think there's any way to get the digital DSD signal to the actual converter on these plate amps. I hope that helps!
I may have missed you pointing it out and you obviously included it in the design but, you could spell out that the Hypex plate amps (and other brands too) are not sealed with regard to air leakage; especially the FA503! Even with a vented enclosure, and certainly a sealed one, you have to fabricate some kind of enclosure or partition for the plate amp to maintain the air seal of the woofer enclosure. It’d be nice if the plate amp was sealed but, you have to accommodate that omission.
Yeah I tried to cover it somewhere in that 2.5 hours of content but you're right. The 503 has a fan so obviously that's not air tight and the 253 uses slits in the plate to accommodate convection cooling. I used the silicone to make sure the amp barrier partition was sealed off and the woofers had their necessary sealed chambers. Thanks for watching and the thoughtful comment!
Yes you can! Do a Google search for the MKII version of the speaker. In there there's a passive crossover for the coaxial. And an active crossover for the sub at 210Hz. Hope that helps
Personally, I'd go with the ncore amps. I've found them to sound nicer than the ICE Power modules, but they're both great quality. Also 1200 W is going to be overkill for most speakers
I wouldn't kill you for asking a question! That's what I'm here for, to answer questions. These were originally designed at SEAS to be a full range hifi setup and boy do they succeed. They're good enough to be studio monitors but are absolutely at home in a hifi setup as well. Hope that helps! Thanks for your comment.
You need the internal volume to be the same. The box is square around so if you want to make it more narrow you'll need to conpensate by making it deeper. If you keep the internal volume the same you'll be ok
Hi I have 2 of the FA 503, ive had it for some time but only recently unboxed them. so all the latest softwire is downloaded but NO pre set filters ? Hypex just keep sending links back to there website which is a complete waste of time. Programing custom filters is extremely long winded , so my questing is , the pre sets you have can you edit ? also where are they and how many is there? all the very best from Japan ..
I'm not really sure how to answer you. I had an easy time setting up the filters beacause SEAS provided the guide and filters to do so, not Hypex. Seems like if you want to use the DSP you have to have measurements from the individual drivers. Not 100% sure that's accurate but that seems to be my interpretation.
Nice build would probably have used spray adhesive instead of messing around with staples for the reason that staples are puncturing your sound deadening and providing a path for vibration just following principles of sound isolation
With both speakers in the same cabinet you will get a lot of distortion. Best would be to separate the mid&high from the bass driver with a separator. By doing this when the bass driver goes low it doesn't affect the mid driver's movement.
They are separated. Check when I roll the cabinet together, I insert the horizontal brace that separates the coaxial cabinet space from the subwoofer cabinet space
great video, but but but why dsp? yes, ok, you can tune them for ruler flat response, but the sound/input you feed them with can still be bad/incorect. what am i missing?
Not sure I fully understand your question. You're asking why use the DSP? Because it lets us see if the sound input we're feeding them is wrong. I'm using them as studio monitors so I need them to be analytical. Hope that helps clear it up!
many thanks for replying. let me phrase it differently. say you adjust the dsp so that the frequency is as flat as possible for your room. i get that. then you mix a track based on that dsp setting. it sounds great. but you adjusted your track to sound good for that dsp. if i listen to your track on my non-dsp speakers, and let's say they are ruler flat too, your track probably will not sound that good because i do not use your dsp setting. maybe i'm talking utter garbage here. i would like to build your speakers myself. am i right in saying that by having dsp speaker i basically adjust the digital signal for my environment thus altering the original digital signer, just like me altering a digital image to suit the color mode of my monitor, so in fact i never know what the original picture looks like. another thing is the amplifier. it so tiny compared to stand alone amps with big transformers etc.@@SocialClubSound
OK, I think you're confusing the DSP correction with the source audio playback. Here's how the DSP in this speaker is working. The DSP is there to correct irregularities in the frequency response of the drivers and then I further modified it for my specific room. That DSP is only accurate for that specific speaker in that position, true. But... I'm listening and making my judgements on the flat response playback of the program audio, not on the DSP's correction curve. Think of this more like Sonarworks built into the monitors. The only thing the DSP is doing is correcting the speakers response for the room. It isn't affecting the program audio signal at all. All the corrections are handled BEFORE the program audio is played back. That allows the speaker's performance to be corrected first and playback flat. I'm only hearing the corrected response playing the source material. So I'm making my mixing and mastering judgements on the flat response the speaker has, not on the correction it is performing. I hope that helps clarify but if not, ask again and I'll try to attack it from a different angle. Thanks!
An easier way to braid the wires is to use the drill driver. Clamp one side of wires in the drill driver and the other side in your hand. Now gently let the drill driver turn til the wires are "rigid".
The sound is decelerated when it meets another medium, and the role of the speaker case is to reduce the sound from the back of the double-sided vibration (front and back) of the woofer. Therefore, the reason for not attaching aluminum plates to all sides is to reduce the sound from other media when it is reflected. to be exposed to. It is exposed to an aluminum plate surface and a surface made of a material different from the aluminum plate.
anyone know of a place or forum i could possibly get help on building a crossover for to build a non powered pair of these!? i just bought a yamaha AS-2200 and looking for a pair of nice bookshelf speakers.
Check the plans for the MKII version of this speaker. The MKII had a passive crossover for the coax. You could at least copy that and then you just have to worry about the sub crossover. Hope that helps
Safety tip, no need to have that table saw blade as high as you had it when cutting the MDF. It only needs to be around 1/2" higher than your material.
@@SocialClubSound I have a shop and a $150,000 investment now that I am getting close to launching. Everything is contained at my house. I am an Audiophile, and have been intrigued with certain types of speakers over the years. First, the Dunlavy SCV. I own a pair and they are tough to beat. I also took a big interest in the Nearfield Acoustics Pipedreams speakers which is now bankrupt. I very much believe in bi-amping. I have McIntosh 451 amps which is dual mono on single chassis which has 150w tube amp to do the mids and highs, and a 300w solid state to do the bass drivers. I believe real high end guys get switched on by methods like this. I have the production capability and skill. What I am missing is the crossover design etc. Any advice? I'm based in Hershey PA area.
@@SocialClubSound Cool. I'm in the Lebanon Valley so about 45 minutes west of you. I have a fair sized shop with CNC machine etc. I am considering building speakers for resale. I would probably lean towards using Scanspeak drivers. The area I am lacking is the crossover. Could be an interesting conversation. I'll check out if you have an email on the main page and I'll send a message.
Damn them floor standing tower build on these things will probably be like what 15-20k a pair? I guess thats amazing for probably the only speakers you will ever need for life no need too ever upgrade or replace these..
Vince and I are going to huddle up and see what the floor standing would run us from a production and cost standpoint. Thanks for watching the live premiere with me!
@SocialClubSound thanks for sharing you got a very special craft for building amazing speakers. im interested for sure in the near future on purchasing some builds off of you. I had these headphones they sold at radioshack it was their own brand by radio shack they had volume knobs on each ear they were muff headphones as i called them and they were loud and they had bass supposedly they were 20hz-20k frequency response i never understood what that meant back them. But they were like 25-30$ and they were my favorite headphones.. again i dont remember if i could hear things i never heard before in songs but i know i enjoyed them and everyone of my friends all enjoyed them as well..
Oh man, I miss Radio Shack. They were usually over priced on small adapters and stuff but they had EVERYTHING. So many times in the late 90s I was running to radio shack for some weird connector I needed. If you have any questions about any of the speakers I've built just ask! Thanks again for checking out the premiere
@SocialClubSound i dont even know everything you built or build currently but i respect the craft ill have tons of questions for sure so much information behind how speakers operate i had no idea it was so complex..
Use epoxy, PU or normal wood glue on the seams not silicone. It's flexible which you don't want, and it also gives off fumes and vapours you don't want in with your other parts. wood glue is strnger than the wood. Those joints will not fail. use plenty and clamp properly.
Finally a highend speaker kit on youtube! :D
I'd been waiting for someone to make a video about this kit but no one did so I had to do it myself!
I don't know how familiar you are with SEAS speakers? I grew up with SEAS around me since SEAS is Norwegian and I am Norwegian and since the store where I bought speaker components sold SEAS. I have built speakers out of SEAS speakers and my friend has also done it.
I would say that SEAS is not more HIGHEND than other speakers if you listen to the sound out of them. SEAS is NOT very good at making speaker crossovers. The speaker kit they sell doesn't sound so good with the original SEAS crossover!
SEAS is too expensive if you look at what you get. Therefore, not many people buy SEAS!
Really? This is child's Play compared to some of the videos out there that already exist
Masterful. And all digits preserved 😄
Indeed! Thanks for watching and commenting
Wow, 20 to 20 in a monitor 😮. I need this in my life.
A legit game changer for me here! Hearing everything so linear is a revelation. Like I said, holographic!
The sub has an F3 of 50Hz.
@@dalesmth1 the driver does? or the whole moniter? this thing has active crossover with DSP, probably an ADAU1701 chip. you can actively boost any frequencies you want. that being said, with a box sizes of 20L, i can get an $25 dayton audio classic 6.5" woofer to an f3 at 32hz with a simple box and port. no crazy engineering like double bass reflex designs or something
@@sportbikeguy9875I believe they use the newer ADAU1452 DSP chips 🤙🏼
Thanks for putting this video together in an easy to follow tutorial. I appreciate your personal input at times too. Nice work!
You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. Let me know if there's any content you would like to see in the future!
I'm really glad to see coaxial designs finally making stir in the studio world.
I tried all the monitors, cheap ones expensive ones, passive/active, ect...
Once I landed one a good pair of coaxial studio monitors (Presonus Sceptre S6) I was done, never looked back.
I used to have the Sceptre S8 monitors! Loved how they imaged. I still remember listening to Hungry Like The Wolf on them and being blown away by the imaging. Very good speakers for the money! Thanks for watching
Best DIY Quality Speaker Build. You established a Quality Standard
Thank you for watching. I thank SEAS for an amazing design I'm still enjoying daily. Might upgrade the cabinets to floor standers with some passive radiators next. Thank you for your comment
Hi , I have a pair of Transmission Line cabinets that I built myself about 40ys ago, they had Peerless and they sounded great, until one of the drivers popped, so I contacted Eric at Soundimports from the Netherlands, and they set me up with 8 inch drivers and tweeters from, SEAS ,
150w NAD AMP , And what a transformation these now sound amazing, I am in my 70s and I listen to classical heavy metal the blues and Viking music just name a few bits, Luckily, I live by myself in the French countryside, and I enjoy my music to say the least,
Very interesting territorial on building your SEAS audio monitor speakers, 🔊, Phil from the moulin France .
Thanks so much for your comment, Phil. Yeah SEAS have been a revelation for me and hearing music naturally. Thanks to Soundimports for the great recommendation!
Were you not aware and you can have speakers rebuilt here in the States?
I had the good luck of buying 2 of the first iterations of this Seas coax back in 2012. To this day the speakers I developed around this coax are in my main listening system to this day and I'm looking at them right now. I think I will try teaming with a ScanSpeak 30W subwoofer and gauge the results. this is an amazing build and thank you for sharing your insights.
Thanks for your comment. Yeah the coax is magnificent. Such a great transparency to it. Tomorrow I'm releasing a speaker review for this kit! Let me know how the ScanSpeak sub works out!
Tack!
Thank you so much!!!
Amazing video, very well pit together man! Thanks you for the time, it defensively will help a lot of people.
It would be amazing to be able to upload Sound ID profiles.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the comment!
Excellent work on this 👏👏👏
Thank you so much!!!
Amazing build, wish i could listen to them and good work
Thank you! That really sound amazing
I liked how you were able to fold all of the side panels together with the blue tape
It helps so much! Thanks for your comment
Amazing work and video ! I was searching for such a long time an explanatory video to help me build my own 3-way Studio Monitors and yours is by far the best !!! Thx a million !
Glad I could help! Check out Madisound they were very helpful. And yeah these things are amazing
Great details and excellent build. Respect from India.
Thanks for checking it out! Glad you enjoyed it
Really well done video and edit. Excellent choice on speaker kit. As a contractor I winced at your use of the table saw.. never run it with the balde that high.. it cuts the same when it is just getting thru the top of the wood and teter tottering kneeling over that high of a blade make me hold my breath and pray for you.. great work but sketchy and janky table saw location and use. Now that being said I appreciate the content. Truly love audio and video. Prayers
Yeah, I hope you saw in the video I apologized for my inexperience in the wood working department. I'm used to just dealing with the speaker and amp components, but thank you for the recommendation. Glad you enjoyed the video (aside from my heart palpitation inducing saw use) 😂
Good catch! It actually cuts even better when just through the top.
I must congratulate you on superb desicion and making super build video. Top class and first one of this category
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it
Really good video. I appreciated all the detail and the time stamps helped considerably.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching and commenting
I loved your build. I've been a diy speaker enthusiast for quite a long time. Years ago, I built a couple of subs utilizing the SEAS L26ROY 10" with plate amps and paired them with a couple of Zaph Audio ZA5.5's, both from Madisound. The setup sounded very good, especially the low end. The SEAS back then were about half the cost they are now. Recently I went with another Zaph design, the ZRT 2.5, and revamped the SEAS sub enclosures to match the new speakers. I am extremely happy with their sound, about the best I've heard, the low end is still fantastic. I certainly would've considered this kit if my budget was a little higher, but I'm extremely happy with the ZRT's. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah these subs are monsters. Love how detailed the lows are. Thanks for your comment!
Nice work and great outcome on the response . When you used a guide on your router to cut out the holes for the amplifier board , I would have just made a jig by air nailing pieces of mdf together to make a perfect jig for a bushing under the router to follow after you clamp it to the rear panel . Also you could install a bigger bushing and go right through the inside perimeter where it needs to be open . It would be clean and as accurate as if it was done by a CNC router table .
I see you used sound deadening mat . Just wondering if you compensated for the additional displacement.
One other thing I thought I’d mention is when I used to build subwoofer cabinets for car audio back in the 90’s , I used to brush on fibreglass resin on all the internal seams . Once it dries it makes them practically bullet proof ,and no way in hell of leaking or coming apart .
Such a giant effort to film and document all of this, amazing work! Thanks for putting it together! Seeing you squatting down at the garage floor for hours cutting and routing the panels, I almost want to buy you a pair of saw horses, so that you can work on a table standing up, man! 😅
Hahaha, I forgot to ask Santa for some saw horses. I'll have to ask the Easter Bunny! Thanks for watching and thanks for your comment and care for my spinal health! Have a good one
Great job! Ive been curious about the coax driver since the 1st version 10 yrs ago. It's fun to watch the build with intelligent narrative.
Thanks so much for the comment! Glad you enjoyed. The coax sounds so transparent. I'm in love!
I just had to delete my comment as I went back and read the description again. They went full active crossover with DSP for these speakers and that's really quite a bold move. I'm a huge fan of speakers that don't need separate subwoofers and these really do look like a great option if you're considering something like the KEF R3 Meta but wanted active speakers with monitoring potential.
I think the only change I would make, if you ever want to refinish the cabinets in the future, would be to add corner bracing to the front baffle and then use your table saw set at 15, 30, 45, and 60 degrees to pre-form the edges of the front baffle so you can sand them down into a massive round-over to reduce baffle edge diffraction. It's not strictly necessary, though.
In case you were curious: you can totally just use truck bedliner to paint your speaker cabinets. It has the benefit of being incredibly durable, but also offers sound damping effects as well due to the thickness and density of the material, but also due to the high-durometer silastic nature of the material.
These are the best speakers I've listened to in my studio and I've tried a lot of different speakers. Active, passive, 2 way, 3 way, point source, all kinds. These are my favorite and these get me excited to go to work and listen to music. SEAS actually had the edges rounded on the MKII version of the speaker but said it wasn't required as the impact with the DSP correction is almost non-existent. Thanks for the comment!
Great vid. Thanks for the time and energy it took to make it. 👍
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching
Marvellous build! Congratulations!
Thank you!!! Still loving listening to them every day
Great work. I can appreciate the effort and amount of time dedicated to producing a masterpiece like this.
Thank you! That's very much appreciated
very cool and complete video on assembling this kit! Looks suitably high end.. but wow configuring the filter studio software looks way complicated
Yeah there's a bit of getting used to the software, learning where things are located etc. But I'm still tweaking the placement and DSP and I know the software really well now. So don't let that be too intimidating! Thanks for the comment
This was excellent! If I had the time and energy, I'd build a pair of these for sure. What was the final cost of the build in terms of $$$ ??
@anythingbox Thanks for watching! Final cost all in was about $3300 with the extras I added in and the wood and paint. I used the smaller amp because it didn't have a fan and it's still giving the drivers what they ask for RMS power wise. The time is harder to estimate because I was trying to film it all while doing the actual labor which was so much more time intensive than I thought it would be.
If you put the drivers upside down you can move easily position them to drill the pilot holes for mounting and or putting in fittings to use bolts. These look pretty awesome!
Good tip!
Cool tape trick for cabinet panels
I love the sound its so cool
Amazing build video, thanks for uploading! My only points of note are that the edges could do with being rounded off to reduce diffraction and the leads to the drivers seem a bit low gauge to me.
Hey! Thanks for your comment. I briefly mentioned in the video that the MKII had rounded corners but the MKIII had additional biquads to deal with it in the correction. The wire leads were coming directly from the amplifier harnesses so it's as thick as I could use given the connections (14 AWG). I was just trying to build this out according to the kit. I'm thinking of building new floor standing cabinets with the passive radiators and I'd round the corners on those cabs to see how different they measure
Super well done video production, you could pass as a Professional 😁😉
The first time I tried a SEAS product was an H253 (IIRC) 1" flush soft dome tweeter, coupled with a SEAS 6.5" paper cone mid/woofer and blew away Polk monitor 4s in 1983 (you were a bit young then 😜) and a guy in the stereo shop (where I'd brought them for comparitive listening) folloeed me to the ARCO and offered me 7 time$ what they co$t me to build. My first successful speaker design/build/sale.
I'm going to give this kit serious consideration.
👊😏👍
Yeah I've been consistently blown away by the accuracy of SEAS drivers. Sounds like the DIY bug bit you awhile ago! This kit is worth the effort!
Thanks so much for the video. So wish I could listen to these. Say where did you find the information about the tower versions? I'm not finding anything.
Check out the links in the description. You want the PDF Assembly Guide from SEAS and then go to the bottom of page 6 - Tips and Alternatives. To quote the passage "For even more low end-output, the system can be made into a floor standing speaker by extending the subwoofer enclosure height with 50cm and adding two SEAS SL26R passive radiators. The subwoofer DSP-filters then needs to be recalculated."
fantastic and inspirational video !
Glad you enjoyed, thanks for your comment!
Not to knock this guys efforts, time, blood, sweat, tears and occasionally annoying the neighbors. I guess I would say "These are the best speakers I ever heard". 😂😂😂😂
Nice :) The correction curve for the sub is crazy, but the only way to reach sub level in a closed box with this monster of a woofer. Really impressing this possibility.
You left some room for built upgrades, big rounded corners to improve interference in the mids and some other details, but a solid job you've done.
I like the idea of the coax for the studio monitoring, good to work with. For home use I would go for seperate drivers to avoid IM and waveguide effects between them.
Yeah I just built these directly according to the plans. I think I'm going to convert them into bigger floor standing speakers with passive radiators in the future
Yep, I’m gonna have to build these though I have 4 way eve sc408s, I’m going to put these in my mastering room 😉
What a great video. Many thanks for it all. They're clearly wonderful units. The Hypex electronics is obviously great too (I already use an NAD C298 class D amp), and the DSP is the icing on the cake. I live in New Zealand so the freight for the kit would probably be crippling.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I checked freight for the parts from Sound Imports and they're showing €125 to NZ so it's probably worth it!
Thanks for your reply. By my reckoning that would be close to NZ$300.00. In addition, I would probably have to get someone to do the cutting etc for me as I don't have any woodworking tools and I'm past my used-by date!!.
I am in Australia and looked at shipping. Cheapest is UPS at $478.19 USD. This puts me at $5600 AUD for the kit delivered and then I need to work out how to build the box.
You could fit a simple on-off toggle breaker switch on the fan amp module so as to be able to turn the fan of during critical times...the fan should only kick in if running above a preset temperature setting...eg...running the amps/speakers at loud level's for extended periods...that's a good quality looking bass/sub unit...i used to use SEAS drive units back in the '80's to design various loudspeakers...my favourites built were 3-way transmission line speakers with 8" bass units, 5 1/4" mid units & 1" silk dome ferro-fluid cooled tweeters with a very low 550hz resonance, the bass rolled in at 200hz which was the speakers -6db baffle step point, as the bass unit was 90db 1w/1m it matched the second order x-over on the midrange unit nicely,200hz - 2.2khz, padded the tweeter down with a 3rd order x-over with an L resistor set up to match the tweeter levels with the midranges...i bought the best polypropylene caps, air cored inductors, high quality resistors, 4mm connectors etc i could afford at the time..had them for 10yrs, i wish i still had them...the bass & mids were so good, good with so much depth & detail over the whole speakers range -3db 28hz - 25khz....nice speakers,i luv coaxial drive units, Kef Uni-Q, Tannoy, Flyde etc.....
Well made speakers bud....
I gotta say the 250 RMS feels like plenty for the speakers. There's no shortage of power when they need it. But yeah the toggle switch could work but then my anxiety that I turned the fan off when it's needed would take over and drive me crazy.
Sounds like you had some really nice SEAS speakers. I love how good their drivers sound. Big fan here!
Great video.. well done👍👍
Thank you 👍
Awesome video!
Thanks for checking it out man! Much appreciated
Congratulations on your new speakers :)
Sad that these components aren't available here in Brazil
Thank you, sorry to hear you can't access the parts in Brazil!
@The Social Club Studio Those studio monitors are beautiful, I can imagine how they sound, if I could afford the system and speakers I would love to build it, but I am not a carpenter. Plus I don’t have 5000.00$+ or 6500.00$+ for that type of studio monitors. Great job, I have cheap studio monitors by sterling, a pair of Yamaha HS5 too, KRK Rockit 12 subwoofer
Thank you! The best system is the one you know inside and out!
very cool and wow i hope to do it one day but smaller. are these are designed for near field mixing or far field non-mixing ?
Application can work for both. I decided to use them as my main studio monitors and they're exactly 5 foot apart. Which puts me right on the edge of Near Field and Mid Field. The original design from SEAS was for compact full range speakers that can play with incredibly high fidelity. These fit that description and thanks to being able to touch up the DSP myself, they are the flattest speakers I've EVER heard. And I just adjusted my room yet again to get the room null down to 27Hz so I'm flat thru 30Hz now
Thank you so much for sharing.
Happy to share what I've learned! Thanks for watching and commenting
@@SocialClubSound I learned a lot from your video. However, there are many good TPA3255 boards out there, so that I plan to make my own amplifier with dsp. What is your dsp chip or board?
thank u, this video is super help full and this chanel also , got a new sucriber
Thanks for the sub! And I'm glad the video was helpful
Wow! What a interesting video! Thank you so much for that, I know what it means creating a video like this! I’m thinking to build these beauty.
I read that Ex Machina’s speaker use a more rigid MDF called Valchromat, which is more acoustically inherent than classic MDF. Do you think it could be an improvement for this kit?
Also I was thinking on painting some Acoustic-x paint inside for improving transient response.
Thank you in advance, I learned so much from this🔥💪🏼
Thanks for watching! Yeah valchromat is more inert, but it's a lot more expensive and difficult to work with than MDF. But like I said, Ex Machina is bleeding edge tech. I'm more than happy with these Kings. 👑
@ thank you so much for answering! I think you’re right I will use MDF 🔥
I'm in Australia, and I am looking for a superb cinema speaker to use as an LCR. I've seen DIYSG, Toids and others. Looked at JBL, QSYS and others.
I preference neutrality, absolute clarity, 60Hz up, and capacity for extreme dynamic response. High sensitivity and wide dispersion.
Dedicated room with baffle wall is my
P.s . I use 2 small VAF i91SE speakers which use the SEAS coaxial and it is an absolute amazing little cube.
Outstanding!
Thank you! Cheers!
Your neighbors must love you...😂
As far as I can tell they do... Which is good enough for me
@@SocialClubSound cool, great job on the monitors
Thank you! Thanks for the comments
Hi, thank you for making the video. Just liked and subscribed!😎
Thanks for the sub! Good luck in the contest!
Seas are good speakers and I use them myself in DIY, this project of yours is great for a good price, you make a similar clone of TAD speakers with an added amplifier. Like all loudspeakers, this one also has a downside, I would never use a coaxial mid/tre unit because when moving the midrange, which acts as a waveguide for the tweeter, it strongly colors or changes the treble sound image.
I know what you're saying about the mid-range as a waveguide but the crossover is at 210Hz so there's really minimal mid-range movement. You can't see any excursion, all the excursion is happening on the subwoofer. Hope that helps clarify how it will works so well
Nice, I dig the classical as you're cutting the MDF. Who's music is that?
Thanks! It's Josef Suk, Serenade, Op 6
Very interresting. Question: is it really necessary to setup a +6db filter under 200hz for the third amp ? For me it is the tweeter amp and its doing nothing at these frequences, or i'm wrong ? This kit is on top of my list, this amp is marvelous.
That +6dB isn't on the tweeter amp it's a filter over the incoming signal. And since it's a low shelf at 200Hz it just helps amplify the signal for the subwoofer. Hope that helps clarify. Thanks for watching and commenting! 🙏🏼
Great video! Thx. I would have screwed the Isoacoustics Gaia IIIs to the bottom or the Oreas.
I've seen those but I've never worked with them. Have you used them already? I'd be curious to know how they perform. Thanks for the comment!
@@SocialClubSound OMG! I have the Orea Bronze under my Focal Solo 6 s! Sounds fantastic. Another thing you might look at is upgrading the fuses to synergistic purple!
OK great to know!!! Thank you for the recommendations! It's such a wide world out there I'm always happy to get a recommendation on things
Fantastic video! Really enjoyed that. And loved the build because I myself am no cabinet building expert so I laughed at some of the techniques as it’s probably how I would do them and then cringe when watching back.
Regarding the poly fill, have you removed the drivers since finishing them? I think there is a chance the material will, over time, fall and clump at the bottom of the cabinet. This will probably have the biggest effect on the coax where you the filling is there to absorb reflected sound reaching the back of the mid driver.
Reflex foam is a good alternative as it won’t move once fitted securely. Or some netting could be used to support the poly fill in several layers across the cabinet.
Another question, does the optional remote allow you to adjust output volume level of both speakers at the same time? I’m thinking about those that connect a digital source directly that does not have variable digital output.
Once again, great video. 👍🏻
I've opened them once to check since they've been used and the poly fill is holding it's spot for now. I'm other builds I've done I've used foam inside and I've been happy with the result. Using the wool and poly fill in this kit was a lil different than I was used to but it still worked nicely.
And yes, the remote can control both at once. Inside the software you use for the DSP you can link the speakers together. A helpful addition I'm sure!
@@SocialClubSound awesome. Thanks for replying
A question, my friend... does each monitor have its own amplifier?
Yes, each speaker has a 3-channel plate amp in the back. Recommended models are the Hypex FA253 & FA503
@SocialClubSound thanks!
Great video. You got any buzzing coming from just the tweeter? I build these around the same time as you and I get audible buzzing from my set. I tried a power conditioner with no luck.
I think we were just chatting on the ASR forum. I'm running these through a conditioner and they're dead quiet. Even when I run no signal but crank the volume knob on my monitor controller there's barely a hiss at max. They should be very quiet. Did your FA.503 amps come with ac power cords? My FA.253 amps did not.
Amazing work. I use atm Neumann KH150 with an Bass Array (DBA / Bass Array - 4x Scan Speak 30w4558T00 in 62L Cabinets) - and always wanted to go someday the DIY way. Because this setup is mainly for Film and Music, its always hard to find a speaker wich is detailed, punchy and just correct. Do you know sources where you can get DIY Plans like yours ? Its hard to find any Active Speaker Plans in the web, with Monitor Qualitys but also higher SPL possibilitys
Loved it! ❤
Thank you!! Glad you loved it!
Very nice video. Maybe to long, i used fast forward sometimes. Frequency respons is almost perfect! Maybe i missed when you told what program you used. But i think Rew. (And umik) I use it to. I my small music room response looking not half as good as yours. For 32hz its only a small problem. 8db is nothing for room nod. I got 15db. Going to buy membraneabsorber.
Yeah it ran long, but there was so much to cover, I didn't want to gloss over anything. Valid point tho! Since the video I've improved the sound even more and shifted my speaker and listening position a bit farther back in the room and now I have the null down to only -6dB at 27Hz for the combined pair!
Good morning 🌅, very interesting, you are in a recording studio, so it is going to sound how you want it, + all of the electronic equipment ,
I built a pair of transmission line that speaker caplets about 30 to 40 years ago, using Peerless speakers , these sounded great, powdered by NAD , I had to replace the driver’s because one of the subwoofers blew, so I contacted somebody in Denmark, cannot remember the name of the company at the moment, and they recommended using the SEAS 8 inch subwoofer. I can’t remember the name of it part number and a Twitter., I haven’t changed the crossover, not yet a project for the winter time, but since I’ve changed the drivers these cabinets now sound amazing, My room is approximately 4 1/2 m wide by 7 m deep, And I listen to a very wide variety of music, From heavy rock to classical, Opera , blues, the cabinets are rated at 150 W, though my amp at the moment, lacks some power, I’m hoping later to acquire another amp,
When you was assembling your bass driver unit, did you put the rubber gasket under it? As I did not see you do it? I saw you do it under the Twitter. , Something you might be interested in if you have a router table or a router that is man enough to do the job there’s a 45° finger joint interlocking cutter. You can get help with the alignment of the joints because they only will go together one way., and a lot easier to clamp up as they will not slide, I listen to vinyl on a Linn LP12 , pioneer CD player, Nakamichi DR-2 deck, retired English man living in France, in a rural area with no neighbours,
The subwoofer comes with a rubber gasket pre installed on the basket. So it was already there for that driver. The coaxial had no gasket so I installed it there. Thank you for your comment!
Surely by the time the fan came on the power put through the speakers would be so loud hearing the fan would be next to impossible?
Perhaps. But as a studio engineer it's not like I set the level loud and just let it play. It's a lot of starting and stopping and working on different areas of the song. And when I press stop I'm afraid I'll hear the fan. That said, someone did tell me they had success replacing the stock fans with upgraded silent ones.
If this is already playing from 20-20k, is there anything really to be gained from extending the box to be floor standing and adding radiators or a port?
I hope to find out in the near future. But, all it really does is it takes some of the stress off the low end DSP boost by having that bottom octave mostly covered with the passives.
@@SocialClubSound Ah okay, makes sense. I think I'm going to try the ported route, WinISD is showing me a lower tuning frequency and those passive radiators are pretty damn expensive!
Great video only thing I would change are the speaker stands, metal is a poor material to use because of ringing, oak much better and 4 feet are not as good as 3 due to micro vibrations, much easier to get 3 feet to sit probably. Especially with pointed cones, this will prevent smearing in the HF.
Another upgrade if you could source it would be the addition of Kef
MAT technology, it's a circular, plastic structure that sits behind the tweeter and effectively absorbs 99% of the unwanted distorting sound that radiates from the cone’s rear into the cabinet. This technology has proven to be very effective in KEF speakers that have it, winning KEF the Innovation of the Year Award when it was first introduced. The latest R Series speakers are equipped with the latest version of MAT technology, making them even better at reducing distortion and producing a clear, accurate sound.
I see you placed these on some large subs. Was that frequency response measurement done with your subs on, or just the monitors alone?
Measurements are the King RO4Y MKIII monitors alone. Those subs they sat on top of weren't even plugged in. And I don't need them with the Kings in my corner. 👑
Does the coaxial have a different chamber to the bass unit ?
Yes it does. When I roll up the cabinets you can see me put in the divider. Thanks for watching!
Practical question: Can you ‘clone’ this offering with Dayton Audio parts?
I don't think Dayton has 1:1 equivalents for these parts but I'm going to be doing a video on a high end 3 way with Dayton parts. Hopefully that's more to your liking
is that paint water based? usually you prime or seal mdf w very specific products. i’m a painter but unfamiliar w that product.
This product is designed to go onto MDF or plywood directly and can serve as it's own self primer (according to the label). I've found it to be amazing at helping keep the cabinets safe. You can thin it out with a little water to get more of an orange peel texture.
Just watching this video and hv a question. Why cut the panels with a 45 instead of straight cuts when it can be finished with veneer anyway? Seems way easier. Maybe I am missing something?
I didn't design the kit, I just built it to their specs. But as someone who has built cabinets in the past this does make it easier to get a perfectly square box. I do know part of the idea behind the kit was to make it easy for DIY people to do it. It rolled up great.
That's really nice ! Thank' a lot, i was hopping for this video to come till a long time ! Do you use classic MDF for your build or some more heavyest one like HDF ?
The build plans from SEAS call for 18mm MDF or Baltic Birch plywood. You could absolutely use HDF tho!
Thank you ! And how do you control the volume with this speakers ? Do you know if there is some way to control de volume after the DSP ? Changing the volume digitally before the DSP make you loose dynamic.
There's an optional remote control and you can link the two speakers so the one remote controls both at the same time
Superb video of a speaker I want to make so desperately. I want a bookshelf fullrange and this is it. Unfortunately I don’t get seas in my country. Wondering if anyone has some suggestions some other coaxial or FullFrange drivers and subwoofer so like a FAST speaker fullrange assisted subwoofer
Honestly seas really are just not that great
Check out Dayton
@@incredifunk is dayton tweeter is better than seas
Right now I use Yamaha HS8 & HS8s subwoofer and Sonarworks helped me a lot calibrating the speakers to my room . I saw that the sound of SEAS King RO4Y MKIII is flat but do you think that It is necessary to use these speakers with Sonarworks , does it help ?
Sonarworks does A LOT to help sort out room issues and is a form of DSP on its own. I have it but I don't use it with these since they have their own DSP processing built in. I'm currently working on a review video of these speakers and I'll do more in depth at how and why I use it to improve what I hear. The main difference between the two different set ups will be the quality of the parts. This kit cuts no corners in the parts quality department, as where Yamaha are more mass produced. Any other questions or if you want more clarity in my answers, please ask!
Thanks a lot , I wish I could find your tutorials before I bought my Yamaha HS studio speakers , six years ago ! I don't say that they are bad but I'm sure that's a significant difference between HS & this kit .
I'm not trying to say the HS8 aren't up to the job. They are remarkable speakers given the money. But yeah there's levels to all this stuff. I hope you keep watching!
Oh , yes !!! Anything that will make this kit sound even better is my deepest concern ! I probably watched this video a couple of times to see every detail because when I'll start building these I wanna be very well informed !
Hi, I've had a chance to experience a lot of great monitors Hifi and studio (Amphion 3 way 25a vs Dutch and Dutch 8c in same room, pmc 6-2 with 8-2 subs etc.). You've also experienced ex Machinas and probably other great ones. How close do this compare to them. Ex machinas went even more cutting edge as you said but how would you compare it based on what you've heard? How close this gets. I know that for money nothing can beat them but anyway just to make some feeling about how got they are sounding versu each other? Ex machina pulsar doesn't go to 20hz so here is the one difference on paper. How this translates to reality?
The Ex Machina speakers are very linear and flat speakers. Super tight frequency response via their DSP. I'm sure anyone dropping money on them will feel they got their money's worth. What I still prefer about the King RO4Y MKIII is the ability to dial in the DSP for the sub in the room. You can't edit the DSP on Ex Machinas which mean room cancellations can still hamper you response. I like the bigger 10" sub in the King RO4Y. If you sat me down blindfolded I don't know if I could tell a King RO4Y from a Quasar. The larger sub gets me down to 20Hz with help from DSP and thoughtful room placement to avoid nulls. I honestly don't know if I can hear a difference in the materials used as I haven't had a chance to directly A/B them in the same space at the same time. I'm still amazed at how well the King RO4Y MKIII images and the resolution it has.
How did you like the Amphion One25A?
@@SocialClubSound Great tnx for your response. We listen Amphions in a hotel room cause it was Hi-fi event so the place was not acousticaly treated but they corrected both (meassured with mic) dutch and dutch 8c and amphions 25 via Rme Adi pro fs2 so they played similiar in those conditions. Different sound between them Amphions are a little more detailed on the top and dutch a little more smoother, bottom end is also different between them it's hard to tell cause dutch is very impressive in low end with tightness but at the same time also amphion is so both are amazing :) the difference subjectively is not so big so you go ether way hapilly but on the end if we need to choose we said that for studio work Amphion is probably closer to what we need (subjectevly) based on what we heard. But of course you can work with both easily :) so if King Ro4y MKIII is there on that level with them and of course with a slight difference in sound presentation cause they are all slight different..then that is crazy good! :)
Cool! Yeah I love the coaxial in the King RO4Y. I had Amphion One18s before these so I'm used to that Amphion sound. I think the time alignment for phase is still one of the biggest advantages to the King RO4Y MKIII. Does absolute wonders for reverb tails and delays clarity. Thanks for the response!
@@SocialClubSoundI'm curious Amphion uses 700 W of power for the same 10inch sub driver and then 2x 205W for mid and tweeter. So does King Ro4y have enough power based on that comparation? And also about the cabinet. Amphion also sealed have 2 chambers inside. I also thought about that for King Ro4y does one chamber maybe negativly impact sound cause usually speaker manufacturers make some kind of labyrinth inside:)?
The subwoofer has an RMS rating of 250W so the Hypex 253 amp provides the recommended RMS power. But these subs are like tanks so I'm sure it can take the 700W from ICEPower without blinking. I don't think 250 is underpowered, they sound great with their rated power.
Nice work! You’re not going to want to eq frequencies above 100Hz to compensate for in room response. Only correct for direct sound that also is cincistent on and slightly off exis.
Nice build, long video, but nice build.
Yes, thanks. Long indeed. I just wanted to try to cover all the things you might run into or need to do during a build but I agree it's long, longer than most movies 🤪 As long as you got something out of it!
MDF or wood for the Speaker boxes?
The plans from SEAS suggest 3/4" or 18mm MDF or Baltic Birch (depending how you want to finish the speaker.
MDF is pretty much sonically dead. But really isn't that strong plus absorbs moisture and very easily strips out screws and such. The better choice would be something like Baltic birch. Birch will also give you a better finish
Does DAC on these boards supports DSD playback?
Not to my knowledge. I believe it's only PCM but it is 32 bit up to 192khz. From what I understand the DAC chip is a AK4454 which supports DSD but the digital inputs use a SRC4382 which doesn't support DSD. So I don't think there's any way to get the digital DSD signal to the actual converter on these plate amps. I hope that helps!
9:35 finally gets to talking about whats in the kit
Awesome
Thank you!
I may have missed you pointing it out and you obviously included it in the design but, you could spell out that the Hypex plate amps (and other brands too) are not sealed with regard to air leakage; especially the FA503! Even with a vented enclosure, and certainly a sealed one, you have to fabricate some kind of enclosure or partition for the plate amp to maintain the air seal of the woofer enclosure. It’d be nice if the plate amp was sealed but, you have to accommodate that omission.
Yeah I tried to cover it somewhere in that 2.5 hours of content but you're right. The 503 has a fan so obviously that's not air tight and the 253 uses slits in the plate to accommodate convection cooling. I used the silicone to make sure the amp barrier partition was sealed off and the woofers had their necessary sealed chambers. Thanks for watching and the thoughtful comment!
Can these be built without the amp? I already have an audio/video receiver I want to keep. If so, what crossover freq would I use?
Yes you can! Do a Google search for the MKII version of the speaker. In there there's a passive crossover for the coaxial. And an active crossover for the sub at 210Hz. Hope that helps
what is your recommendation for build an amp for a passive hi fi speaker? ICEpower AS1200 or Hpex ncx500?
Personally, I'd go with the ncore amps. I've found them to sound nicer than the ICE Power modules, but they're both great quality. Also 1200 W is going to be overkill for most speakers
@@SocialClubSound 🙏👍
nice!
Thank you! Cheers!
Dont kill me for aaking but how are these for audiophile 2.1 setup for music listening and not for mastering?
I wouldn't kill you for asking a question! That's what I'm here for, to answer questions. These were originally designed at SEAS to be a full range hifi setup and boy do they succeed. They're good enough to be studio monitors but are absolutely at home in a hifi setup as well. Hope that helps! Thanks for your comment.
Hello, kann man das Gehäuse schlanker bauen wenn der Subwoofer in die Seite geht?
You need the internal volume to be the same. The box is square around so if you want to make it more narrow you'll need to conpensate by making it deeper. If you keep the internal volume the same you'll be ok
Hi I have 2 of the FA 503, ive had it for some time but only recently unboxed them. so all the latest softwire is downloaded but NO pre set filters ? Hypex just keep sending links back to there website which is a complete waste of time. Programing custom filters is extremely long winded , so my questing is , the pre sets you have can you edit ? also where are they and how many is there? all the very best from Japan ..
I'm not really sure how to answer you. I had an easy time setting up the filters beacause SEAS provided the guide and filters to do so, not Hypex. Seems like if you want to use the DSP you have to have measurements from the individual drivers. Not 100% sure that's accurate but that seems to be my interpretation.
Nice build would probably have used spray adhesive instead of messing around with staples for the reason that staples are puncturing your sound deadening and providing a path for vibration just following principles of sound isolation
With both speakers in the same cabinet you will get a lot of distortion. Best would be to separate the mid&high from the bass driver with a separator. By doing this when the bass driver goes low it doesn't affect the mid driver's movement.
They are separated. Check when I roll the cabinet together, I insert the horizontal brace that separates the coaxial cabinet space from the subwoofer cabinet space
only 2min in and im giving you a like!
Appreciate that! 🙏🏼
great video, but but but why dsp? yes, ok, you can tune them for ruler flat response, but the sound/input you feed them with can still be bad/incorect. what am i missing?
Not sure I fully understand your question. You're asking why use the DSP? Because it lets us see if the sound input we're feeding them is wrong. I'm using them as studio monitors so I need them to be analytical. Hope that helps clear it up!
many thanks for replying. let me phrase it differently. say you adjust the dsp so that the frequency is as flat as possible for your room. i get that. then you mix a track based on that dsp setting. it sounds great. but you adjusted your track to sound good for that dsp. if i listen to your track on my non-dsp speakers, and let's say they are ruler flat too, your track probably will not sound that good because i do not use your dsp setting. maybe i'm talking utter garbage here. i would like to build your speakers myself. am i right in saying that by having dsp speaker i basically adjust the digital signal for my environment thus altering the original digital signer, just like me altering a digital image to suit the color mode of my monitor, so in fact i never know what the original picture looks like.
another thing is the amplifier. it so tiny compared to stand alone amps with big transformers etc.@@SocialClubSound
OK, I think you're confusing the DSP correction with the source audio playback. Here's how the DSP in this speaker is working. The DSP is there to correct irregularities in the frequency response of the drivers and then I further modified it for my specific room. That DSP is only accurate for that specific speaker in that position, true. But... I'm listening and making my judgements on the flat response playback of the program audio, not on the DSP's correction curve. Think of this more like Sonarworks built into the monitors. The only thing the DSP is doing is correcting the speakers response for the room. It isn't affecting the program audio signal at all. All the corrections are handled BEFORE the program audio is played back. That allows the speaker's performance to be corrected first and playback flat. I'm only hearing the corrected response playing the source material. So I'm making my mixing and mastering judgements on the flat response the speaker has, not on the correction it is performing. I hope that helps clarify but if not, ask again and I'll try to attack it from a different angle. Thanks!
An easier way to braid the wires is to use the drill driver. Clamp one side of wires in the drill driver and the other side in your hand. Now gently let the drill driver turn til the wires are "rigid".
True!
The sound is decelerated when it meets another medium, and the role of the speaker case is to reduce the sound from the back of the double-sided vibration (front and back) of the woofer. Therefore, the reason for not attaching aluminum plates to all sides is to reduce the sound from other media when it is reflected. to be exposed to. It is exposed to an aluminum plate surface and a surface made of a material different from the aluminum plate.
anyone know of a place or forum i could possibly get help on building a crossover for to build a non powered pair of these!? i just bought a yamaha AS-2200 and looking for a pair of nice bookshelf speakers.
Check the plans for the MKII version of this speaker. The MKII had a passive crossover for the coax. You could at least copy that and then you just have to worry about the sub crossover. Hope that helps
Safety tip, no need to have that table saw blade as high as you had it when cutting the MDF. It only needs to be around 1/2" higher than your material.
Thank you! I appreciate the tip. It was my first time using a table saw and it showed 🫠
@@SocialClubSound I have a shop and a $150,000 investment now that I am getting close to launching. Everything is contained at my house. I am an Audiophile, and have been intrigued with certain types of speakers over the years. First, the Dunlavy SCV. I own a pair and they are tough to beat. I also took a big interest in the Nearfield Acoustics Pipedreams speakers which is now bankrupt. I very much believe in bi-amping. I have McIntosh 451 amps which is dual mono on single chassis which has 150w tube amp to do the mids and highs, and a 300w solid state to do the bass drivers. I believe real high end guys get switched on by methods like this. I have the production capability and skill. What I am missing is the crossover design etc. Any advice? I'm based in Hershey PA area.
I'm in Reading, PA. Maybe we can grab lunch one day and discuss crossovers. Have a good one!
@@SocialClubSound Cool. I'm in the Lebanon Valley so about 45 minutes west of you. I have a fair sized shop with CNC machine etc. I am considering building speakers for resale. I would probably lean towards using Scanspeak drivers. The area I am lacking is the crossover. Could be an interesting conversation. I'll check out if you have an email on the main page and I'll send a message.
Damn them floor standing tower build on these things will probably be like what 15-20k a pair? I guess thats amazing for probably the only speakers you will ever need for life no need too ever upgrade or replace these..
Vince and I are going to huddle up and see what the floor standing would run us from a production and cost standpoint. Thanks for watching the live premiere with me!
@SocialClubSound thanks for sharing you got a very special craft for building amazing speakers. im interested for sure in the near future on purchasing some builds off of you.
I had these headphones they sold at radioshack it was their own brand by radio shack they had volume knobs on each ear they were muff headphones as i called them and they were loud and they had bass supposedly they were 20hz-20k frequency response i never understood what that meant back them. But they were like 25-30$ and they were my favorite headphones.. again i dont remember if i could hear things i never heard before in songs but i know i enjoyed them and everyone of my friends all enjoyed them as well..
Oh man, I miss Radio Shack. They were usually over priced on small adapters and stuff but they had EVERYTHING. So many times in the late 90s I was running to radio shack for some weird connector I needed.
If you have any questions about any of the speakers I've built just ask! Thanks again for checking out the premiere
@SocialClubSound i dont even know everything you built or build currently but i respect the craft ill have tons of questions for sure so much information behind how speakers operate i had no idea it was so complex..
@@SocialClubSound yeah radio shack was different kinda store
Do u know frequency response please?
The frequency response of the speaker? I take a measurement in the video
I remember the first time I made an enclosure
Use epoxy, PU or normal wood glue on the seams not silicone. It's flexible which you don't want, and it also gives off fumes and vapours you don't want in with your other parts.
wood glue is strnger than the wood. Those joints will not fail. use plenty and clamp properly.