I believe the speaker Erich is speaking of is the newly revamped 88-special and these two designs are very different animals. The new 88-Special is nearly 10dB more sensitive then the Nexus Center and also has greater power handling so it is a far more dynamic speaker and can play at output levels well in excess of what the Nexus center is capable of. It does have a more narrow dispersion and while this can improve intelligibility the sound-stage will tend to be more focused and less spacious then the wider dispersion dome tweeter on the Nexus. The weaknesses of the new 88-special will be much more limited bass extension and a slightly more uneven frequency response. Overall it's far more suited to home theater use when you need to fill a large room without strain even on normal AVR power. I should note that the 88-special is a much taller speaker if that is an issue (this is the original version but the cabinet is the same):
Hi Matt, Is there a thread that I could learn more about the 88-special? I've mined around on here for about a month and have found references to it but nothing in the way of dimensions et al. Is there enough to embark on this as a pure DIY, did you create a unique crossover board for this? Thank you, Mark
I think I have settled on a short throw projector for my application and am trying to get a grip on the real estate involved and can I make this work with the projector.
Hi Matt, I originally built these towers, center, and atmos about 3-4 years ago and you helped me immensely. I am looking to rebuild everything to make it a bit more pleasing to the eye. I originally built it all as typical black boxes, I've enjoyed them the entire time. I have since upgraded everything around them and still think they sound great. Actually as the electronics around them improve so does their sound. I am planning to build the towers as boat hulls, for lack of a better description, I am going to change a few things I wanted to run by you to get your thoughts. 2.163 seems the optimal space for the dual woofers, 12 for the port, except I want to make it downfiring. I'm also going to do a wmtmw configuration to get the tweeter at the height I watch movies at. I just wanted any thoughts you might have. Thanks again for 4 years of great sound.
Is 12" the correct length for the port if using 4" pvc instead of the precision port? Will that leave the port too close to the back wall?
Sorry I should have mentioned I am going to flare the wood on the outside port end using a 1.5" roundover but that shouldn't matter much right?
Also, I just finished assembling the crossovers using your pcb's. Those things are awesome, make the crossover SO much simpler for a dummy like me. Worth every penny! And big thank you for the designs. Bummer I have to wait till March till parts express can ship some back ordered parts.
In that case either way should be close enough being a couple Hz difference between the two, which is probably unnoticeable in room.