Ascend Acoustics Woofers

[Squishman]

My replacement woofers arrived and I am impressed at how beefy they are. I wonder if Ascend makes their own drivers. I hadn't yet removed the damaged ones. I was still using the speakers with the Gorilla Tape on the cones. The tape was a good temporary fix. That is just a light glare on the lower woofer by the dust cap.

 

[Squishman]

Here's a shot of the xover. Couldn't get a better shot. Comments? I'm like Sgt. Schultz over here. Does it look like decent quality? Model is CMT-340.

 

[ryanosaur]

Dave does not build his own Drivers. He is fond of Seas, and those have the look of some of their gear... but I cannot say with any certainty. I can safely say that he does have some specialty gear made for him by Seas and is not just buying their stock drivers.

The measure of a XO is in how it performs. Just looking at it without knowing any of the components is not worthy of much comment beyond noting how compact he kept it. It does look like he used more electrolytic caps than I would expect a designer to employ, but doesn't imply anything negative, per se. (In general, we like to see Poly or film Caps as opposed to electrolytic.) The only other thing I see that is interesting to my eye is that the inductors are lined up, especially with the two on the top and bottom being oriented in the same direction. I'm not an expert but best practice usually would see one of those turned 90° to prevent magnetic fields being aligned, though maybe the one in the center disrupts and prevents that...
???
See... not much to say that is meaningful without seeing the trace/schematics and knowing more about the Drivers and seeing some measurements.

Dave is generally well respected as a skilled designer who isn't known for shilling cr@p.

 

[Squishman]

Dave does not build his own Drivers. He is fond of Seas, and those have the look of some of their gear... but I cannot say with any certainty. I can safely say that he does have some specialty gear made for him by Seas and is not just buying their stock drivers.

The measure of a XO is in how it performs. Just looking at it without knowing any of the components is not worthy of much comment beyond noting how compact he kept it. It does look like he used more electrolytic caps than I would expect a designer to employ, but doesn't imply anything negative, per se. (In general, we like to see Poly or film Caps as opposed to electrolytic.) The only other thing I see that is interesting to my eye is that the inductors are lined up, especially with the two on the top and bottom being oriented in the same direction. I'm not an expert but best practice usually would see one of those turned 90° to prevent magnetic fields being aligned, though maybe the one in the center disrupts and prevents that...
???
See... not much to say that is meaningful without seeing the trace/schematics and knowing more about the Drivers and seeing some measurements.

Dave is generally well respected as a skilled designer who isn't known for shilling cr@p.

Interesting you know the guy or at least know of him. Small world this audio world.

 

[shadyJ]

The crossover circuit looks pretty good for a two-way speaker. Looks like its using third-order slopes, that is pretty beefy for a speaker of its pricing.

 

[Squishman]

These speakers were given to me. Got some great stands too for almost free from a pair of ADS's I sold after owning for less than a week. I kept the stands and after the sale, I paid $5 for the stands. Unreal timing. Someone busted one woofer in each speaker when he moved. He didn't feel like fixing them so he gave them to me. The woofers cost $130 plus shipping. They sound very good with the two 10" subwoofers in the bedroom system. I sold the Heresy III's that were in there (not right for this room. What was I thinking!?) for $900.

 

[Eppie]

Give the 4 electrolytic caps a close visual inspection. Look for fluid leaks at the base and also for any bulging at the top (the tops should be flat). If no sign of leakage or bulging then they should be ok. Poly caps will not degrade over time like electrolytics, but they tend to be much larger physically for the same value cap, so upgrading to poly caps is not always trivial.

 

[TLS Guy]

Here's a shot of the xover. Couldn't get a better shot. Comments? I'm like Sgt. Schultz over here. Does it look like decent quality? Model is CMT-340.

I suppose OK for a commercial crossover and typical, but I use thicker gauge wire and never use non-polarizing electrolytic caps.

Seas make very good divers, among the best in the world. All the drivers in the three fronts in the AV room are sourced from SEAS.