[Hajime]

Check out Omega Loudspeakers. They have some very nice looking speakers which are said to be a great value. If you are interested in them feel free to PM me as I know a very nice dealer who will probably be willing to work with you on the price.

 

[Ctn]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hajime Check out Omega Loudspeakers. They have some very nice looking speakers which are said to be a great value. If you are interested in them feel free to PM me as I know a very nice dealer who will probably be willing to work with you on the price.

They seem overpriced to me.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Those are full rangers, probably fostex woofers. Those drivers are reasonably pricey. Add in a about $200 for any given cabinet, and the prices aren't too bad if you think about the labor involved.

(I just checked, they are fostex drivers and they use black hole 5 for dampening, which is pretty pricey stuff too. 10 yr warranty is something you don't get by building it yourself. Wow, that's not too bad. The Fostex 8" drivers on their high end model cost between $150 each to $400 each depending on which one they use. I doubt it's the $400 one, but still a pretty good chunk of what you pay goes towards the driver, which is not the case in tons of speakers I've seen. On the other hand, there's no crossover cost. Wonder why they don't add a supertweeter.)

 

[Ctn]

$200 for a set of drivers isnt that expensive.

I havent heard them before but for their price, they better sound damn good.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Typical vifa/scan speak/peerless/audax/etc driver costs about $20-50 a pop. Some of the exotics may get up to $100 a pop, morel may have some more expensive exotic tweeters. Those drivers you see in those expensive speakers are usually about $30-50 a pop. Case in point, the Mackie HR824 (sells for about $1300 street) uses a $30 woofer. The Meadowlark Kestral 2 speakers all use peerless HDS woofers that run $50 a pop and the vifa ring radiator at another $50 a pop. These speakers go for $2k. The Fostex drivers are pretty up there, at roughly $150 each driver, depending on the model.

The part that saddens me the most is that the prices I'm quoting are all RETAIL prices of these woofers...who knows what the manufacturers are getting them for. Probably peanuts.

Edit: the $200 I estimated is the cabinet price, which is pretty cheap, considering the finish. Any old cabinet costs $100-150 a pop for vinyl laminate finish. Dang, I'm talking myself in to trying one of these speakers down the road! Gotta resist...I think I'm just going to build one of these full range designs one day.

 

[Ctn]

The speakers I have arent exactely top of the line although I consider them excellent value for money.

It uses the top of the line Audax 170mm woofers x4 and good Morel tweeters x2.

Price of my speaker is about the same price as the Omega TS1R.
Drivers alone cost more let alone the crossover and cabinet.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Sounds like your speakers are pretty good too! What are they? Based on your speakers, 99.9% of other speakers should sound overpriced to you.

 

[Ctn]

Legend Acoustics Kama 2

They do the job well for the money.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Ah, I bet it's hard to get these speakers overseas :\
Current price of kama 3 is about $1700 usd + freight if you're not in Australia...Sounds like a good speaker though if they got the crossover right.

 

[lonestar]

Based on a budget of $300 (we're assuming, aren't we?), I'd suggest looking at offerings at Audiogon. Based on my own limited experience, the Paradigm Studio 20 would be a great dorm speaker, and used, would be in your price range.

 

[Ctn]

Quote:

Originally posted by ooheadsoo Ah, I bet it's hard to get these speakers overseas :\ Current price of kama 3 is about $1700 usd + freight if you're not in Australia...Sounds like a good speaker though if they got the crossover right.

The guy who makes the speakers was the head designer for Linn. He says he released the kama 3 (uses a Peerless tweeter and is sealed+ported) because of pressure from consumers. They wanted more treble extension and more bass extension. He says the kama 2 (Morel tweeter rolls off after about 18kz and sealed+sealed enclosure) is much better. It sounds awesome driven by top notch ME (Modular Electronics) amplification.

The price is only RRP. You can haggle with the dealers.

Put on a "ungplugged" cd. Close your eyes and you feel like you can walk up to the people on stage and say hi

then you smack into the wall. I tried it when I first got my hifi to see how good the soundstage and imaging was and how believable it was. Amazing life like sound. I havent found a speaker than can equal it's sound within a few k of it's price.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Must be nice to live in Australia. Roll off at 18khz is actually pretty darn common. I don't think it's particularly detrimental. It's at the threshold of hearing and little to nothing goes that high.