ER18 build (for real this time!)

[mattsk8]

It's like you don't know us at all.

Pic's are always welcome. I like contrast for some reason so to me the backs of those catch my attention.

I think you'd be a great candidate to get a center channel hammered out for some DM crossover love.

I got the 'hammering out a center channel', but not following on the 'DM crossover'?? Right now I'm trying to figure out how to convince wife that we need a HK3490, so I won't be using a center w/ these (strictly music).

I am still looking for a system for my HT in my acousically terrible living room though. So far, I'm kind of stuck on these Stance (Pair). I heard them at that DIY demo and they sounded AMAZING! Was thinking of just building 5 for mains, center and rears.

 

[GranteedEV]

I got the 'hammering out a center channel', but not following on the 'DM crossover'?? Right now I'm trying to figure out how to convince wife that we need a HK3490, so I won't be using a center w/ these (strictly music).

I am still looking for a system for my HT in my acousically terrible living room though. So far, I'm kind of stuck on these Stance (Pair). I heard them at that DIY demo and they sounded AMAZING! Was thinking of just building 5 for mains, center and rears.

I have no doubt those stance are amazing. But he's slowly been working on a different project...

New project layout: Sibling of 'Attitudes'; "Demeanor"...

 

[Alex2507]

I meant having Dennis Murphy design a crossover for that center.

 

[Swerd]

I meant having Dennis Murphy design a crossover for that center.

Matt

A number of other people are wishing there was a center speaker to go with the ER18 MTMs. ER18 or ER15 woofers can be used along with the same tweet.

If someone builds a suitable cabinet (unfinished MDF is fine for this) and ships it and drivers to Dennis Murphy, he will design a crossover for it and send it all back. The cabinet & port dimensions and driver layout need to be determined first, but that shouldn't be too hard.

So far, no one has stepped up for this. Alex (who envies your shop) was nominating you .

No pressure .

 

[mattsk8]

As far as my ER18s go, they'll be strictly music. Hopefully today I'm going to pull the trigger on either an HK3490, or a Yamaha R-s700 (leaning toward the HK). So, no center required. That said...

If I had plans for a center cabinet or a desired goal, and someone needed one and was willing to pay for drivers, I'd build it. I for sure don't mind doing that. Would be nice to be able to give back here for all the help you guys have given me over the years. Maybe design a center and a pair of MTs or even MTMs for rears that have a front or rear port option for different mounting options, then someone could build a whole ER18 HT system. Unfortunately, my living room is crap for this because it won't allow for tower speakers; has to be bookshelf something or others.

As far as my ER18s go, I have them in their intended area finally ! I was right about the bass improving!! I had some older JVC monkey coffins w/ 15" woofers down there before, and these hit harder if you can believe that . I still have some cleaning to do for them to ultimately land where they truly belong; there's a bunch of remodel stuff all over in that area right now. That's this weekend's project.

 

[mattsk8]

I have no doubt those stance are amazing. But he's slowly been working on a different project...

New project layout: Sibling of 'Attitudes'; "Demeanor"...

No doubt those will sound amazing, I've heard his Attitudes (holy smokes!!). The problem is, I'm guessing these will be up around $800 to build; that's based on them being similar to the Attitudes which were about $1200 to build, and Ben did say these would be a bit cheaper. But still no way I can afford to go that route for HT, I'd need 5. Also, he has a newborn so I see progress on those coming to an indefinite standstill; not sure I want to wait for it.

To bad you're so far away, wish you could have made it to Meniscus to hear both the Attitudes and the Stance. I couldn't believe how good the Stance sounded for the money, they were amazing. Not a lot of bass (but given their size there was still an impressive amount), but w/ a sub who cares. The mids are borderline perrrrfect, and that's what's lacking in my current JBL HT speakers. I dream about this system at night . Funny thing is, this is the last system in my house I'll be doing, but probably the one I'll listen to the most! And being small speakers, I don't see it taking a whole lot of time.

 

[Alex2507]

If I had plans for a center cabinet or a desired goal, and someone needed one and was willing to pay for drivers, I'd build it.

This is an offer my nephew should be aware of. To me it would be completely irresistible had I the ER18s but I'm on a higher plane of DIY where having somebody else build me stuff is sooooooooo much better than me doing it.

Funny thing about DIY'ers is that they like stereo ... a lot !!!

We don't need no stinkin' centers.
We don't need no stinkin' subs.

Now I gotta get back to my own DIY house wiring thing but I completely agree with myself that this too would be much more fun if somebody else was doing my DIY for me. I should be nicer to electricians.

 

[Swerd]

… but I'm on a higher plane of DIY where having somebody else build me stuff is sooooooooo much better than me doing it.

What?? And give up the satisfaction of knowing that your speakers contain your own blood, sweat, & tears in them?

It is a well-kept DIY secret that small amounts of these body fluids added to the interior of a speaker improves sound quality by 300% compared to all other known tweaks. That includes bi-wire terminals, silver wires with teflon insulation, capacitors made with oxygen-free unobtainium, and lining the cabinet with yak wool.

Those of you with active imaginations and perverse knowledge of other body fluids may be tempted to suggest their use as an alternative to blood, sweat & tears. I remind them that this is a DIY forum. Stop suggesting what others should do, and get busy!

 

[louis2001]

Matt

If someone builds a suitable cabinet (unfinished MDF is fine for this) and ships it and drivers to Dennis Murphy, he will design a crossover for it and send it all back. The cabinet & port dimensions and driver layout need to be determined first, but that shouldn't be too hard.

ok...so how does one go about figuring out the cabinet & port dimensions and driver layout for a center channel? I would love to build the cabinet and send it to Dennis Murphy.

 

[Swerd]

ok...so how does one go about figuring out the cabinet & port dimensions and driver layout for a center channel? I would love to build the cabinet and send it to Dennis Murphy.

Do you want to use two ER18 drivers and one tweeter (which tweeter?) in a sideways ported MTM cabinet? You might consider the smaller ER15 drivers instead of the ER18s.

You should contact Dennis Murphy (an email link is available at the bottom of this web page MurphyBlaster Productions. Tell him you want to build a center speaker cabinet to go with the ER18 MTMs. He may already have a good idea of what will work.

 

[wrxified]

Sorry to bump an old thread.

First time post here on Audioholics. Just wanted to chime in on these speakers. Known Matt for many, many, many years. Both of us have gone through countless installs on home theater setups and car installs that nearly made our ears bleed. I honestly didn't quite buy into what Matt was doing when he started diving into building these speakers. I mean I thought it was cool and all but was I pretty skeptical of the end product he was going to end up with. I'll be honest. The speaker industry lured me in hook, line, and sinker. I couldn't possibly believe that someone could create a quality product by piecing together a bunch of $90 mids and $90 tweeters. I'd truly believed up until now that the speaker companies building boxes for the local audio shops had to have figured it out to point that it would be hard, if not impossible, to reproduce in your own garage. Dead wrong.

So a few months ago I took the time to sit down in Matt's basement as he started rifling through SACD's. He put in some Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac and my knees nearly gave out as I listened to the sounds that these ER18's were capable of. Imaging and accuracy that I'd never heard before in my life. Matt was kind enough to bring the ER18's over to my house this weekend. That and a bookshelf MT system he's been working on with Meniscus that includes the HiVi L6-4R. I wanted to hear how well they would perform on my the new Sherbourn SR-120. I'm hooked. I've been captivated by the performance of these speakers. He was actually crazy enough to leave the ER18's for me to play with.

My only issue on the ER18's is the size. That's where this HiVi MT speaker came in. He set one rough as heck looking speaker on top of the ER18's. We started going through some favorites. I nearly wet my pants. This new setup is going to be amazing. I'm ordering all of the gear this week to start putting it together. Meniscus is going to assist us with the xover engineering. Going to put the Paradigm home theater system up for sale because after hearing what I've heard so far, nothing is going to make me happy unless it's a custom setup like this.

 

[Alex2507]

Sorry to bump an old thread.

This is a really good 'old thread' and that was a really good first post. It's always fun reading about experienced listeners being surprised by good sound from speakers that don't cost as much as a new car.

 

[Swerd]

Sorry to bump an old thread.

No apologies needed, bump this old thread all you want . And welcome to Audioholics!

Known Matt for many, many, many years. Both of us have gone through countless installs on home theater setups and car installs that nearly made our ears bleed. I honestly didn't quite buy into what Matt was doing when he started diving into building these speakers. I mean I thought it was cool and all but was I pretty skeptical of the end product he was going to end up with. I'll be honest. The speaker industry lured me in hook, line, and sinker. I couldn't possibly believe that someone could create a quality product by piecing together a bunch of $90 mids and $90 tweeters. I'd truly believed up until now that the speaker companies building boxes for the local audio shops had to have figured it out to point that it would be hard, if not impossible, to reproduce in your own garage. Dead wrong.

So a few months ago I took the time to sit down in Matt's basement as he started rifling through SACD's. He put in some Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac and my knees nearly gave out as I listened to the sounds that these ER18's were capable of. Imaging and accuracy that I'd never heard before in my life.

It's always fun to hear from people who have this kind of experience.

Matt was kind enough to bring the ER18's over to my house this weekend.

He was actually crazy enough to leave the ER18's for me to play with.

Considering how much work Matt put into these, and how heavy they are, he must be a real good friend!

Enjoy those new speakers you build, and please keep us posted, with photos.

 

[wrxified]

No apologies needed, bump this old thread all you want . And welcome to Audioholics!

It's always fun to hear from people who have this kind of experience.

Considering how much work Matt put into these, and how heavy they are, he must be a real good friend!

Enjoy those new speakers you build, and please keep us posted, with photos.

Haha. Yah well he's actually my cousin. I just don't like to admit publicly that I'm related to him.

 

[mattsk8]

Haha. Yah well he's actually my cousin. I just don't like to admit publicly that I'm related to him.

Yup. Years and years of stereos (not to mention all the trouble we've managed to somehow get out of over the years ).

I can't wait to watch this new build come around. We're using the HiVi L6-4A drivers. The only downer is that I think we'll have his all done before mine .

I'll definitely start a thread once these are done. This is, after all, where I originally got the DIY speaker bug from .

Edit: For anyone that's interested (and if you have a lot of spare time), this is where this DIY speaker journey started for me, and oooohh what a ride its been!! Where to begin??

 

[milesguy]

Anyone using a cheaper alternative to the Seas ER18rnx? Wonder if such an option is realistic; and what it would require in the crossover - Newbie - Mike Miles

 

[Swerd]

Anyone using a cheaper alternative to the Seas ER18rnx? Wonder if such an option is realistic; and what it would require in the crossover - Newbie - Mike Miles

The cabinet was designed specifically for two ER18RNX drivers. Those two crossovers were designed for the ER18s paired with either the dome or the ribbon tweeter.

It would require two great strokes of luck to pick a woofer for which both the cabinet tuning and the crossover worked.

 

[jinjuku]

Anyone using a cheaper alternative to the Seas ER18rnx? Wonder if such an option is realistic; and what it would require in the crossover - Newbie - Mike Miles

Just look at a different design then....

 

[crossedover]

Anyone using a cheaper alternative to the Seas ER18rnx? Wonder if such an option is realistic; and what it would require in the crossover - Newbie - Mike Miles

Meniscus audio has the Speedster kit TMM (Paul Carmody designed)with a Paul Kittinger designed TL cabinet for $448 that seems to be well regarded and an F3 in the upper 30hz range.

 

[Swerd]

Meniscus audio has the Speedster kit TMM (Paul Carmody designed)with a Paul Kittinger designed TL cabinet for $448 that seems to be well regarded and an F3 in the upper 30hz range.

That might be a very good and less expensive substitution .