Another dang Insignia review / volume comment ...

[palouse1]

I got swept up in all this Insignia talk and had my wife pick up a pair of them on her way back through Spokane for Father's day. My biggest attraction was the curved sided cabinet, as this is a shape I happen to like, but is time consuming to build. The sound was almost secondary as I figured I could pull the stock driver and crossover and use them for another project, or just let my son use the speakers in his room if they sucked.

I plugged them in last night and figured a fair comparison might be against my 20-year old Polk Monitor 5Jr+. (I haven't heard any newer Polk's) They aren't bad really. The Polks sound better to me, but the Insignia's had a wider soundstage when you get in the right spot. I mean ...$45! The Polk's were $300 20-years ago.

I was actually quite happy with the appearance of the cabinet. The baffle has a nice glossy finish and the vinyl veneer is tight and put together well at the corners. I am a bit annoyed that they put white circles on the bottom to mark the spots for (included but optional) stick on rubber feet. It would not be easy to build a cabinet this nice looking for $45, expecially when you factor in your time. But, as has been stated, the box sounds pretty hollow when you knock on the sides, so work is needed.

I haven't pulled them apart yet, but I measured the cabinet and, given others measurement of the MDF thickness, quicky drew them into ACAD for a volume measurement. There were some varying reports of volume amounts, but mine concur very closely with Neil Davis's measurements below. About .32-.33 cu.ft before you account for the driver and port. So I think Neil has it spot on. Which is unfortunate, because that small volume isn't going to allow many 6.5" or 7" driver substitutions. I notice John K's Usher 2-way works in a sealed volume of about that size ... but at the expense of those drivers you are starting to wonder about putting them in a cheap box. How much sealed volume does the Dayton DA-175 require? A sealed version of Shawn's Silver AI might be more in line, but you probably still need to eek a few more liters out of that cabinet. I mean, if we people are already selling $100 (approx.) crossover and damping upgrades to the existing driver, Shawn's setup costs about that much. (Maybe a bit more.) I was wondering about building a stand with a 3" ABS pipe opened up through the bottom ... this would give you another .1 cu.ft. in a sealed setup.

Dunno if it's worth all the trouble. You think you are saving time by not building a cabinet ... then you have to upgrade the cabinet, etc ... at what point should you just be buying nice cabinets from PE if you are heading down that route? Just rambling here.

[aarond]

"...I notice John K's Usher 2-way works in a sealed volume of about that size ...

Do you have any more info on this project? I'm assuming you are talking about John K of zaphaudio.com, correct?

Also an RS180 in a sealed arrangement will fir nicely ina box this size.

Thanks,
Aaron

[palouse1]

Provided Link: Usher 2-way


One of the other John K's that people always get mixed up. Here is a link.

[paul_n_oneal]