Nice curves... - Scan-Speak 15M/4624G

[johnnyrichards]

Re: Nice curves... - Scan-Speak 15M/4624G

Just wanted to post that I have finished up the Driscoll overhaul using the 4434G00 and XT25. The Discovery driver is nice and all, but there are better options in the $65 price range.

[akarma]

What sound 15M/4624G00 puts out comparing to 15M revelator? Is it much worse?

[critofur]

Re: Nice curves... - Scan-Speak 15M/4624G

Just wanted to post that I have finished up the Driscoll overhaul using the 4434G00 and XT25. The Discovery driver is nice and all, but there are better options in the $65 price range.

The 4434 is not the same as the 4624! I don't agree that it's correct to say there are "better options" than the 4624 - some are different, and some cost more, but I doubt "better" unless you are saying that in the context of a specific application where another driver suits your particular need. In what way is another (any other) driver "better" than the 4624 ScanSpeak Discovery 15M? Certainly many drivers are "better" if your context is a 2-way speaker - the "M" is not a woofer, it's a Midrange.

(This driver

[johnnyrichards]

I say what I mean, and mean what I say. There are better options in the $65 range for the driver I mentioned. Hell, there are better options in the $30 range. I don't care about the 4624 insofar as I have not used it - which is why I did not express an opinion on it. If I use the 4624, I will express an opinion on it. Like many of my opinions, I am positive fanboys might be butthurt, but that is hardly my problem - like I said, I say what I mean and mean what I say.

[critofur]

Well OK then - I was responding as such because the thread is about the "M" model, not the Discovery range in general. I also prefer to "say what I mean and mean what I say", but it seemed like a good idea to clear up any confusion as to which drivers we're talking about. I also got one of the 15W/4434G00 woofers to test but found it didn't work well for my application. That said, I'm a little surprised to hear your evaluation of it considering how "good it looks on paper".

Sometimes it can be surprising how bad a driver can "sound" when it measures amazingly well with the measurement techniques we have available to us. Did you update your build thread after that project (renovating your speaker with the 15W woofer)?

[davidB]

So Chris,
What did you end up using your 15Ms for?

[critofur]

So Chris,
What did you end up using your 15Ms for?

I'm still working on a 3-way with 2 x Anarchy 6.5 on the bottom and the Wavecor TW030WA03 tweeter - a project I started around 2003 I've got a half dozen different prototypes of speakers in my room, but none were satisfying enough to take to completion thus far. This one however, is very promising.

[akarma]

Interesting to compare 15M with Seas H1262. Seas is very popular in DIY but this one is not definitely. It's suspicious

[scholl]

Hi guys, Just started a project with 4624s crossed to SB29RDNCs at about 3K. So far this is a slap dash project with a 2nd order crossover using parts that are close to what the computer outputted (parts on hand). The tweeter is padded about 1.5db. Super duper sound for little effort and no measurements.

I use a 24db active crossover to a AE TD15H at about 500hz and two Ashly FTX2001 amps. I call it "The not so rich mans Cerwin Vega". LOL

I have a history of having the simplest electronics stream so avoided active crossovers in the midbass area. That may have been a mistake. The TD15H is an awesome woofer taken a good step better with no crossover parts in it's coil circuit. This also avoids a complex, expensive and difficult crossover design at the cost of 200 bucks more worth of used gear.

I do notice that on a lot of music the midrange amp is running about 3db lower level than the bass amp. Eyeballing Xmax shows it never moves too far but there is concern for life expectancy of the 4624s small coil run by over 300watts of amp. It's hard to keep the volume down when the sound is soo good and clean and bass so tremendous.

It took me about 2 hours to cobble this system together with parts on hand adding only the 4624s.

[fdieck]

I think this driver is not used more because it just doesn’t sound that good. The 12W/8524G00 is a better sounding driver. I wonder if a dust cap and rubber surround help damp the woven fiber glass cone which is not that well damped on the 15M. I have used both these drivers. You can’t completely tell what a driver sounds like from the specs.

[fdieck]

Interesting to compare 15M with Seas H1262. Seas is very popular in DIY but this one is not definitely. It's suspicious

The SEAS is very nice sounding driver that I have played with. I think it does better above 700 Hz due to light cone and limited Xmas. It is very smooth and you can get away with 4 to 6kHz cross overs to 3/4 inch tweeters.

[scholl]

I think this driver is not used more because it just doesn’t sound that good. The 12W/8524G00 is a better sounding driver. I wonder if a dust cap and rubber surround help damp the woven fiber glass cone which is not that well damped on the 15M. I have used both these drivers. You can’t completely tell what a driver sounds like from the specs.

I don't know how you used them but in my application they sound great and are very easy to use. They compliment the woofers impact very well. They have nice detail and tone. Having a constantly variable crossover frequency is nice to dial in vocal ranges.

I do agree that a person can't tell what a driver sounds like from the specs and bought only a few devices that I couldn't like no matter how hard I worked on it.

[JasonP]

I think this driver is not used more because it just doesn’t sound that good. The 12W/8524G00 is a better sounding driver. I wonder if a dust cap and rubber surround help damp the woven fiber glass cone which is not that well damped on the 15M. I have used both these drivers. You can’t completely tell what a driver sounds like from the specs.

I've used this driver and it is quite nice. I do think it has a certain sound to it that I can't put my finger on exactly, but I don't think that is why it isn't used more. I think it is just over-priced and under-performs for the money. Unless you need its high sensitivity, there are better options for less money. If you wander over to the HifiCompass measurement pages you can see some analytical data to back this up. The SB15MFC 5" woofer is 20$ less and performs better in almost every way (except sensitivity). This is why the driver isn't seen more, IMO.

[johnnyrichards]

I think it is just over-priced and under-performs for the money.

Kind of sums up the state of European built drivers at this point. Not a popular opinion, though.

Even more unpopular opinion: as Asian sourced drivers continue to match or exceed European drivers for less money, you will see more claims of "it has qualities that cannot quantified".

That being said, I used the Discovery 4 ohm woofer and it was very nice. Then I built the Vermillions with a $50 SB 5" and there is no comparison.

[scholl]

Yes, the SB15MFC does have better specs and I do like to have 3rd order distortion lower than 2nd. But I was also targeting midrange only devices over 90db sens, to match the TD15Hs with a passive crossover. At 86.6 db I don't think the SB15MFC will match up.

The 4624 might not be a great value but it's doing very well with integrating into my system so far. My biggest debate is to tackle the passive crossover to the woofer or stay with active.