Sierra-2 Development Thread

[Roen]

There is really no point as the dedicated mid in the tower is a better overall midrange driver and the bass woofers in the tower extend quite a bit deeper. The Sierra-2 woofer is about as good as it gets for a driver that needs to reproduce both mids and lows.

That said, I have been working with SEAS on a dedicated 6" Curv midrange, but, so far, the performance is only marginally better than the current midrange driver we use in the tower. The cost, however, is over 4x higher, which would force us to raise the price of the towers by quite a bit and the price increase isn't justified IMO.

Would this option be available for one-off orders?

[davef]

Fascinating. Can you use the stock Sierra-2 crossover for this, or does this arrangement require a new one, something in between the S1 NrT and the S2?

Proper loudspeaker design always requires a new or heavily modified crossover when using different transducers from what was designed for the original crossover.

[SunByrne]

Proper loudspeaker design always requires a new or heavily modified crossover when using different transducers from what was designed for the original crossover.

That's what I thought. When I upgraded from S1 to S1NrT I noticed the crossovers were quite different. (The NrT crossover uses much larger transformers and caps.) Haven't seen an S2 crossover yet.

[davef]

Would this option be available for one-off orders?

Not at this time, perhaps sometime in the future. As mentioned, we are not at the point where I feel the performance of this woofer justifies the price point. SEAS custom builds everything for us, and in order to do so - we must typically order 500 or more units at a time. I don't feel it would be a wise financial move to spend a huge sum of $$ on a component for a few custom builds

We are constantly in a process of evaluating ways to improve product performance, in many cases - since all of our speakers are heavily engineered to begin with, it is far more complex than one might imagine and replacing a component means a complete redesign of the crossover as well.

[dtsequoia]

Dave, I know you're insanely busy with the website update...

But, have you thought about providing this option for those who may want to upgrade the midrange on the towers? Similar to what you did with the Sierra 1.

Just curious!

[mikesiskav]

There is really no point as the dedicated mid in the tower is a better overall midrange driver and the bass woofers in the tower extend quite a bit deeper. The Sierra-2 woofer is about as good as it gets for a driver that needs to reproduce both mids and lows.

That said, I have been working with SEAS on a dedicated 6" Curv midrange, but, so far, the performance is only marginally better than the current midrange driver we use in the tower. The cost, however, is over 4x higher, which would force us to raise the price of the towers by quite a bit and the price increase isn't justified IMO.

Ah, that makes sense. I totally agree on the Curv woofer on the Sierra-2. People always talk about how great the Raal tweeter is, but the curv woofer is just as amazing IMO.

[cgramer]

Hi, I'm new here and joined to ask this question about the Sierra-2, which looks amazing and currently tops my list of potential new bookshelf speakers for the two-channel (plus subs) system I'm planning. I have one feature request for the next run, if there is one, and it's just an aesthetic one: Any chance you could switch to magnetic grilles? I love listening without grilles on, and not having the four holes on the baffle would look so much better, especially on the finish I'm looking at, the satin dark cherry.

Thanks for considering it!

—Chris

[jimb]

Maybe you could get custom cabinets without grills (and their mount holes)?

[cgramer]

Maybe you could get custom cabinets without grills (and their mount holes)?

Seems like an extreme solution, but sure. Or I could just get other speakers that already have magnetic grilles. But it's not that important to me. It's all about the sound.

—Chris

[jimb]

Magnetic attachment has been raised in the past, and yet is not here, so it seems like it is not happening, generally. But you can ask Dave about the cost or delivery difference for a set that skip that drilling. It might be worth it to you.