What the heck is up with this??

[martyh]

I know they've only been around for a few months and PE may have picked up a heck of a deal on their first buy, but to see the jump from about $54 to $91 in one price change......wow.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?PartNumber=264-908

Good thing I snagged a pair when I did.

[arlis_1957@yahoo.com]

out of stock for a while too. whacha gonna do withum?

[Steve Henry]

The increase is consistent with all of the other drivers that use neodymium. Thank the metals market for that.

[martyh]

The increase is consistent with all of the other drivers that use neodymium. Thank the metals market for that.

Most of the significant neodymium price increases came last year, so seeing an 75% increase can only mean that PE got a heck of a deal to stock this item.


And Arliss, an MTM with a pair of Usher 8955A's. Paul K and I (mostly Paul!) finalized the enclosure this week, now it's just a matter of building, modeling, and making it look pretty by mid-October.

[donradick]

The increase is consistent with all of the other drivers that use neodymium. Thank the metals market for that.

Not quite the "magic of the free market".
More like China waking up and realizing that it controlled 95% of the market, and could raise prices 10X with impunity.

[Wolf]

Most of the significant neodymium price increases came last year, so seeing an 75% increase can only mean that PE got a heck of a deal to stock this item.


And Arliss, an MTM with a pair of Usher 8955A's. Paul K and I (mostly Paul!) finalized the enclosure this week, now it's just a matter of building, modeling, and making it look pretty by mid-October.

What happened to your Enormities? Is the S1 no more for them?
Is the box drastically different?

Curious...
Wolf

[martyh]

Hey Junior,

The S1 is a dog. Not matter what I tried to do with it the mids were weak and thin, with little life. I probably went through 9-10 different topologies, with nothing saving them. Tweak a cap here, shift a crossover point there, reconfigure and start from scratch - nothing worked. They could have done me a big favor by discontinuing them a year earlier!

The new enclosure is quite similar to the never-to-be-referred-to-again Enormities, but Paul made a few dimensional tweaks. He had no prior knowledge of the old box specs, but only recently I came to realize just how close they were. We're looking at a big box again - over 3.5 cubic feet. Paul modeled the enclosures for a single driver and an MTM. The single came in at a more elegant 2.2 cft, and actually a lower f3, but I prefer the efficiency of the MTM combo, eliminating all but the most minimal padding on the Tang Band. There's also the psychological aspect - an MTM just looks so much more impressive! ;)

Looking forward to starting the build today!

[carlspeak]

Not quite the "magic of the free market".
More like China waking up and realizing that it controlled 95% of the market, and could raise prices 10X with impunity.

Or, PE realizing they had originally underpriced a nice tweeter!

A couple of caveats though:
1) Write up claims wide dispersion and yet the spec sheet shows no off axis measurements. What's up with dat? Anybody done any 2 pi measurements?

2) Spec sheet says freq range 500 to 40K along with a 500 hz Fs. Who, in their right mind, builds a speaker with the tweeter running full range? I suppose most driver mfgrs make similar claims.

[martyh]

Or, PE realizing they had originally underpriced a nice tweeter!

A couple of caveats though:
1) Write up claims wide dispersion and yet the spec sheet shows no off axis measurements. What's up with dat? Anybody done any 2 pi measurements?

2) Spec sheet says freq range 500 to 40K along with a 500 hz Fs. Who, in their right mind, builds a speaker with the tweeter running full range? I suppose most driver mfgrs make similar claims.

The Fs of this tweeter is 500 Hz. My very general rule of thumb is that a tweeter can be crossed at 2.5 to three times the Fs rating, in this case 1250-1500 Hz. Like I said, it's just my own personal rule. In the case of my application crossover point is targeted at 1450 Hz. Of course this entire theory is predicated on the reliability of the published specs - a dicey proposition at best.

[mzisserson]

Or, PE realizing they had originally underpriced a nice tweeter!

A couple of caveats though:
1) Write up claims wide dispersion and yet the spec sheet shows no off axis measurements. What's up with dat? Anybody done any 2 pi measurements?

2) Spec sheet says freq range 500 to 40K along with a 500 hz Fs. Who, in their right mind, builds a speaker with the tweeter running full range? I suppose most driver mfgrs make similar claims.

TB is notorious for it. I will say the 25-1744s I used in the beasties was very close in frequency response an t/s to the speck sheet. At least the limited info they give is fairly ok.

[Face]

The Fs of this tweeter is 500 Hz. My very general rule of thumb is that a tweeter can be crossed at 2.5 to three times the Fs rating, in this case 1250-1500 Hz. Like I said, it's just my own personal rule. In the case of my application crossover point is targeted at 1450 Hz. Of course this entire theory is predicated on the reliability of the published specs - a dicey proposition at best.
1450 will be fine: http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?t=226578&highlight=1983&page=2

[carlspeak]

1450 will be fine: http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?t=226578&highlight=1983&page=2


Thanks for the link Face. Evidently, measurements were done about 4 yrs ago. VG distortion and not bad dispersion. Roll off just below 2k belies the Fs somewhat and looks quite different than TB's curve in that area of the response curve.

One can only wonder if the 2012 prod. measures similarly or, hopefully, better???

[Face]

Carl, those are from last year.

[carlspeak]

Carl, those are from last year.

:o Duh, I suppose I shouldn't be looking at a poster's join date as the post date. :rolleyes:

[Wolf]

Hey Junior,

The S1 is a dog. Not matter what I tried to do with it the mids were weak and thin, with little life. I probably went through 9-10 different topologies, with nothing saving them. Tweak a cap here, shift a crossover point there, reconfigure and start from scratch - nothing worked. They could have done me a big favor by discontinuing them a year earlier! !

Would you mind if I played with them? I'm just really curious....
Wolf

PS- ENORMITIES!!! Had to mention them again....;)

[martyh]

Would you mind if I played with them? I'm just really curious....
Wolf

PS- ENORMITIES!!! Had to mention them again....;)

Be my guest! PM me with an address and I'll ship 'em out this upcoming week.


Hey! This is my 1,000 post!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!