ScanSpeak Projects

ScanSpeak Illuminator kit series

ScanSpeak Revelator kit series

ScanSpeak Discovery kit series

ScanSpeak Ellipticor kit series

The very first speaker I made from the then new Ellipticor drivers was the Ellipticor-1 with the D3404 tweeter and it was on display at the Munich High-End Show in 2017 (.....has it really been that long?).
Since then we have sold quite a few kits being an introduction to the Ellipticor range of drivers - or for good for those who prefer/have to live with a smaller standmount.
Later the Ellipticor 18WE/8542T00 (8 Ohm version) and not least, the tweeter D2404/552000 was introduced and I have used the smaller tweeter in my Ellipticor-A50 speakers and my Ellipticor-2F8 construction. I liked the latter so much I soon wanted to implement the basics in an Ellipticor-1-mkII construction.
The new speaker will be Ellipticor-1824, and it will be presented with both 4 Ohm and 8 Ohm 18WE driver, should you have either at hand. They sound the same, but obviously the 4 Ohm version will play louder for the same volume setting of your amplifier. Efficiency is the same, but sensitivity is not the same. Lower impedance may let you think a speaker is more efficient, in fact it just draws more current from your amplifier. Your amplifier may have a specified max watt @ 8 Ohm, but this does in no way make it unsuitable for a 4 Ohm speaker. I have these questions...
Next objective was to make a much easier cabinet as the faceting of the original might have put a few potential customers off, hence a simple sloped baffle like the Ellipticor-2F8.

ScanSpeak Ekta-TL

Every time I set up a transmission line I hear something I don't hear from conventional ported boxes, a quality of bass reproduction that is unique in its lightness and ease of reproduction of bass notes. By lightness I don't mean low or vague, but as the bass driver has been relieved of some acoustic resistance. I haven't made a lot of TLs, because it takes space and for a 3-way it's not always that easy to incorporate the midrange driver in the physical design. However, making the TL here is no more complicated than making a conventional vented box with braces.

Basically a TL is a quarter wave tube with the bass driver placed around 1/3 down the tube and the initial square area around 1.5 x the membrane area and ending around 0.5 x the membrane area. It's not that critical as can been seen from examples on the web. Learn more about transmission line speakers on Wikipedia. Technically a TL's roll-off is the same as a vented box, 4th order.

I wanted to try out the concept once more with basically the ScanSpeak Ekta-mkII setup to further improve bass response. In addition to this I wanted to use the new and magnificent 3/4" dome D3004/712000 tweeter. This tweeter has been on my shelf too long.

ScanSpeak Ellipticor-84

It had to be done. Mating a large bass driver with a large midrange dome. Nothing new under the sun, but very little used. I guess Acoustic Research was the first to do it with their legendary AR3a speaker featuring a 12" bass driver handing over to a 1½" mid-dome from around 575 Hz according to specs. I never heard the AR3a, but a friend of mine still have his AR11s with pretty much the same drivers - and it does well - after I re-foamed his bass drivers.
Best known today for this layout of drivers is ATC with their well regarded range of studio/home speakers featuring the magnificent 3" double spider mid-dome. British VOLT produce a couple of (single spider) mid-domes, one 2" and one 3". Most recent addition to the limited range of mid-domes is the SBAcoustics MD60N-6, which I tested in my SBA-7MD construction - and I very much liked what I heard. I just learned Yamaha launched a new speaker with a 3-1/4" mid-dome, so maybe we'll see more mid-domes in the future - and I certainly wouldn't mind.
Last year ScanSpeak released their D8404/552000 mid-driver, a one-of-a-kind mid-dome with elliptical voice coil of 84/68 mm - and double spider. Never seen before and partly due to corona I spent almost two years with the prototypes before final release at the Munich HighEnd show. And suffice to say, I had some good times with the "D84", which resulted in the Ellipticor-A50-mkII.
Now, in mating a bass driver to the D84, we should most likely not look for some heavy subwoofer type, rather a driver with a more light-weight cone with the ability of playing some midrange, possibly all of the midrange, although we're not going to take advantage of this.

ScanSpeak Revelator-3WC

I have made a lot of these 3-way classics - and for good reason. Easy cabinet construction is an important issue as a lot of people do not have sophisticated workshops, rather hand tools and basic workshop facilities. Does this mean we can only build lesser quality speakers? Not at all! A classic 3-way may prove just as good as any fancy looking speaker with high-gloss lacquer, etc.

With the Revelator drivers used here we're into high-end and with high-quality baked coils, Superior-Z and Alumen-Z capacitors we're into super-high-end. A speaker is never going to sound better than what crossover components allow to pass to the drivers and especially capacitors are a key ingredient in high-quality sound reproduction.

Click heading or image to go to website.

ScanSpeak Ellipticor-2F8

In hindsight, my ATELL-3 was a keeper, but I was desperate for space and had to let it go. Actually I may have to lend these to friends to have some space at home.... Anyway, since then I wanted to make a semi-active version together with a fully passive version, thus the 8 Ohms Ellipticor 18WE/8542T00 for mid-bass in order to keep final system impedance relatively high.
With the Viawave ribbon tweeter not being available I decided on the Ellipticor D2404/552000, being more expensive - but doing so well in my Ellipticor-A50 it had to be this tweeter.
With the Hypex module running the bass, the MT-section impedance stays above 7.1 Ohms - and you have almost infinite options for room-adaption, something very much in demand as room acoustics leaves a lot to be desired for most.
My 32 wpc EAR-861 runs the fully passive version from its 8 Ohm tabs without trouble.
I also wanted to use the magnificent Faital 10RS350 for bass as it does the same as the AudioTechnology 10C77 - and at around a third of the price. If you're a strong believer in high cost equals better performance, the AudioTechnology 10C77-25-10-KAP or the ScanSpeak 28W/4878T01 can be used, but only with the Hypex module as I don't have the drivers and can't ensure proper function from the passive Faital bass crossover.
The ATELL-3 has been removed from my website as the Ellipticor-2F8 leaves no rationale for ATELL-3. The Ellipticor-3 is to my mind slightly better and much easier - and cheaper - to build.

ScanSpeak Ellipticor-A50-mkII

Simply the best speaker I have ever made.
Click images to go to websites.

Ekta-7741

The sandwich cones and non-reflective magnet systems of the Illuminator range of drivers have something to offer in terms of dynamic headroom, uncoloured sound - and well, here it is, the GRANDE's update.
The 12MU for midrange hardly needs any introduction being used in some of the world's most expensive speakers. I know customers have asked ScanSpeak for customised versions - and yes, they could make such a driver - but only worse! You better take it as-is - or leave it. And so they did.
Saxophone from the 12MU is something and I've spoiled it with foil capacitors to get it all from my level 1 version, see below.
I've used the D3004/660000 so many times, and I love it. Here it really doesn't do much due to point of crossover, but what it does, it does so well. I have also made a crossover for the 6640 Be dome as some people have a preference for Be domes. To my ear a matter of taste and belief.

Revelator-51

Time for an update on my old Revelator-4R construction. New tweeter, new and simpler crossover, time-aligned drivers, etc. The Revelator-4R will be discontinued from Jantzen Audio, but should you still prefer the ring-radiator and 4th order crossover, you can buy the schematics directly from me.
The mid-bass stays the same being the foundation of the construction, and this magnificent drivers is the same as 10 years ago. If it works - don't change it!
To time-align drivers I chose a sloped front panel - easier than a stepped front panel, and I know kit customers appreciate simple.
For many constructions in the not-so-expensive range of speakers, I have used the venerable D2608/913000. Still the best affordable tweeter I know of.
Crossover is a simple LR2 filter crossed at ~2 kHz and by few means the drivers can manage a smooth roll-off on both flanks and due to the sloped front panel, good phase integration can be achieved.

ScanSpeak Discovery-18W-mkII

With high-quality crossover components and design, we can turn medium priced drivers into the high-end
category, thus this mkII version of the popular ScanSpeak Discovery-18W construction.

ScanSpeak Revelator-66

Click image to go to website.

It has been many years since I did a two-way from the 18W Revelator series. Since last, the 18W/4531G01 has come along. A variant of the 18W/4531G00, where some wood fibers have been added to the cone. Not sure what it is supposed to do, ScanSpeak doesn't tell, but probably adding further strength to the cone - or just another way of making a cone with the two opposite targets of cone rigidness and self-damping, the inevitable compromis. Whatever, the 18W/4531G01 does not appear to have lost resolution, while maintaining a frequency response that makes this 7" driver the easiest driver when it comes to crossover design that I know of. Well, except for the Ellipticor 18WE :-)

ScanSpeak Illuminator-CENTER

After making an illustrations of the various ScanSpeak family of speakers, I couldn't help seeing something missing in the Illuminator range of speakers. A center speaker based on Illuminator drivers. I wanted it to look like the drawing below.
Thus, here an Illuminator-CENTER construction to make the picture complete.
Center speakers for surround sound hasn't had high priority, as we just simply do not sell a lot of them. Very few in fact. On the other hand, making a single cabinet isn't that much work, so here it is.

ScanSpeak Revelator-851

Click image or heading to go to website.

Exploring new drivers can be revelatory and having spent some 50-200 hours on your newest creation you go through your record collection and discover new things you hadn't heard before. The tonal palette of instruments may get a new colour, maybe more true to what you think it should be, maybe lower distortion means higher resolution and better holographic soundstage. In the pursuit of resolution and low distortion we have seen fancy motor (magnets) systems and we have today an abundance of cone materials - I don't think we ever had so many. From paper to diamonds - and everything in between. Paper pulp never seems to go out of fashion as it can be made in all kind of ways with additives, coatings, etc. Very rigid cones have the downside of ringing, break-up modes, etc. They may have superior resolution but often require steeper crossovers to eliminate the ringing. All compromises.
The bass driver here features a hard-pressed paper cone, SD magnet system and high Qm, ensuring articulate and dynamic bass. The midrange with the sliced paper cone does some of the best midrange I know of - and the tweeter has stood the test of time and has become a role model for other manufacturers.

I have picked three drivers I really like to make a fairly small and powerful 3-way floor-stander. It may not be revelatory - to me - but I know all these drivers from previous constructions and client work, and they're all just so damned good that I wanted to put them together in a classic 3-way, thus Revelator-851. Actually the tweeter is an Illuminator, but Revelator has the upper hand here, so Revelator-851 it is.

ScanSpeak Illuminator-71

I wasn't quite prepared for getting the finished speakers into our living room in front of my bridged EAR-861 amps - and the Anna-D cartridge. Tin Pan Alley came through with a deep powerful bass - as should. Vocals, cello and Vestbo Trio - all came trough with a credible power and soundstage thanks to the 7" Illuminator bass driver. My always-first-to-hear friend just couldn't believe the scale and power of Tin Pan Alley when he sat down on the couch to have his first listen.
What these sandwich cones also deliver is clean and transparent midrange and I recall a situation at ScanSpeak factory some years ago and engineer Birger Jorgensen asked me what I thought of the Illuminator drivers. I scratched my head and said that my general impression was that I could driver the Illuminator drivers harder than the Revelator drivers before hearing any distortion. That the Illuminators had significantly increased power handling. He smiled and looked happy. Mission accomplished. Well, these paper sandwich cones and their ingenious non-reflective magnet system and underhung voice coils do their thing. As can be seen from the crossover and measurements, easy on crossovers.
The D3004/660000 tweeter? It had been some time since I last heard the 6600 tweeter - and.... like meeting a good old friend! No wonder this tweeter is found in numerous constructions, often with a different faceplate and sometimes with weird looking back chambers. It is hard to find a tweeter with a ruler flat frequency response from ~600 Hz to well above 20000 Hz, very low distortion down to below 700 Hz, a clean waterfall profile, etc. What's not to like? This tweeter does it and can be handled with shallow sloped crossovers.

Discovery-81

Simplicity has always been a driver in the speaker DIY community. How little can we get away with and how do we keep cost at a minimum too. Not always easy because there are compromises in any design.
Back in the Eighties the "8+1" 2-way from Vifa drivers had huge popularity. I'm thinking of Snell and others. These were indeed very low-cost designs with el-cheapo tweeters and well, the Vifa C20xx paper cone drivers were actually really good. Light-weight coated paper cones, 32 mm voice coils, foam surround, decent magnets and we had quite high sensitivity - at the cost of deep bass, but this was not of paramount importance to target customers. Also power handling was compromised due to the small voice coil, but with a 20 watt NAD 3020 everything fell into place.
Try an up-dated version of this classic concept and you may be surprised.

ScanSpeak Illuminator-7751
2021

This is the logical successor of the Ekta Grande, which has been around for more than ten year - and built by many.
I wish I'd taken up the 15WU driver much earlier. Here it covers three octaves and it will pretty much tell you what you feed it - and this without being clinical or particularly demanding on source material. Tap the sandwich cone with a finger nail and you'll hear a well-damped cone, which at the same time is very rigid. A great driver.
The 45 rpm Tin Pan Alley track made clear these two 7" midbass drivers certainly goes deep and the 9130 tweeter having a fairly high high-pass filter does what I've experienced so many times before. Honestly, would beryllium do better? I don't think so. Maybe different, but not necessarily better. It blends seamless with the midrange - this is what matters the most. The crossover topology, crossover components' quality can mean a lot more than the price of the drivers. Expensive doesn't always mean better sound.

ScanSpeak Discovery MTM

MTMs were introduced back in the 60'ies and became popular after the concept was further developed by Joseph d'Appolito in the 80'ies (?) and have been used by many commercial manufacturers, e.g. Dali and Living Voice. Various crossovers have been used with MTMs, all with the aim of reducing crossover lobing.
Adding a second driver obviously doubles the radiating area, in this case to 274 cm^2, close to the size of a 10" bass driver, thus capable of quite some sound level. Another benefit of having two drivers in parallel is reduction in crossover complexity compared to e.g. 3-ways or 2½-ways, although the latter not so much if drivers are well behaved like seen in the Discovery 861.
MTMs can have a strong presence character. Having 274 cm^2 membrane area up to point of crossover, rather than a small 4" midrange driver with some 50-60 cm^2 area, has an impact on sound and the crossover must be fine-tuned accordingly. In this case the size of L2. In the final voicing of the speaker L2 coils with increments of 0.1 mH were tried until a proper upper-mid balance was found.
What this huge midrange driver area does is most noticeable on e.g. piano and vocals delivering effortless sound pressure for the size of the speaker. I also found it very good in terms of actual hearing the lyrics of a song. Listening mostly to English/American music (even Danish singers mostly sing in English in case somebody outside our borders should listen) I'm happy for singers being articulate in order to catch the lyrics. Not always that easy when English is not your mother tongue.
In our living room I have the speakers pretty much free of most room gain, yet found the bass powerful for the size. The 18W drivers are not subwoofers, so it you want the bottom octave (20-40 Hz), add a subwoofer.

ScanSpeak Discovery-861

The benefit of running an 8" and 6" in a 2½-way fashion is the increase in membrane area to around 370 cm^2, more than most 10" bass drivers and while the 8" bass driver from its vented cabinet delivers the low-end, the 6" in its closed cabinet delivers the punch in upper bass as needed.
What I had not foreseen was the exceptional smooth response of the 18W/8434G00 on this particular baffle. From a designers perspective a dream scenario. Smooth all the way to 7 kHz. See measurements below. Equally well behaved are the 8" bass driver and tweeter. Having almost ideal frequency response profiles also provides an endless options for crossover design. Troublesome drivers usually leaves you with fewer possibilities because there are corrections and equalisation that just must be done. Here, it can go forever with fine-tuning, raising or lowering the midrange half a decibel or so - and how does it sound with solid state, tube amps, in different rooms, etc. It can go on forever.
The most popular ScanSpeak kit I have ever made.

Discovery 3WC mkII

The thing I can say is that had I built this speaker 15 years ago when I started my website, there wouldn't have been as many speakers as there is today.
Some 3-way classics wouldn't have been made and some floor-standers too. Actually I wouldn't have been able to build it 15 years ago. The Discovery drivers were not there, the Silver-Z and Alumen-Z were not there - and I would have been short of 15 years of speaker building. The choice of the 15W for midrange proved to be right. The fullness of Ingram Washington's voice combined with the crisp presence is there - and a seamless transition to treble range. No upper mid harshness from any rubber resonances, etc. I guess the unusual crossover topology is part of it, but can't claim for sure.

ScanSpeak Discovery CENTER

A ScanSpeak center speaker has been on the to-do list for a long time, so here it is. Initially I was thinking of Illuminator drivers, but my recent experience the Discovery-861, convinced me of using the Discovery drivers as they offer exceptional performance. I wouldn't hesitate to use this center speaker with the Ekta-mkII, The Ekta Grande, Ekta-25 or any middle sized floor-stander or the 3-way classics, being ScanSpeak or other brands.
Some may think my use of crossover components' quality is extravagant, but these drivers deliver when fed an undistorted signal. Worth every cent. Eventually there will be a low-cost version with STANDARD-Z caps for the midrange and Superior-Z for tweeter.

Ekta 25

My STUDIO-101 mkII is a keeper! If it must be small and not cost a fortune, this speaker does it. With the updated 18W/8542-00 driver, now 18W/8542-10, we have the tools together with the 9130 tweeter to make extraordinary quality for a modest investment.
Finishing the Studio 101 mkII, a 2½-way was an obvious thing to do to get more of the same goodies. More bass, more power handling, more of everything.
Setting up the Ekta-25 I experienced a vivid and dynamic presentation, yet delicate and smooth in upper-mid and treble. The two 18W drivers can throw quite some bass having a combined area similar to a ~9" driver. Giving the ~91 dB sensitivity also an easy load for my 32 watt tube amp. I'm more than pleased!

STUDIO-101-mkII

Making an mkII version of the popular Studio 101 has been on my to-do list for a long time. The Studio 101 has sold steadily over the years and here's an updated version with an updated 18W woofer, better tweeter and optimised crossover.
There are classic drivers that don't change much over the years. The 18W/8542-00 is such a driver featuring a cone similar in composition to my 8008-HMQ driver. The 18W/8542-00 has gotten a brush up since last time, new alu chassis, a more thorough coating of the surround and damping of the center pole piece producing an overall flatter response and smoother roll-off. Overall the edge coating suggests some experience from the 18WE driver is carried over to this driver. All very welcome. Now 18W/8542-10.
I've praised the D2608/913000 tweeter before, and this tweeter in terms of quality belongs in one of the higher categories among ScanSpeak tweeters. Here's a test of the D2608/913000 tweeter and compared to D3004/660000 tweeter. Link here.

Ellipticor-3

The special thing about this Ellipticor-3 is that we do not have a high-pass section for the two midrange drivers as is standard for larger speaker systems and the two drivers are working in a 2½-way fashion, where the 21WE adds to the low-end weight of the 18WE. And due to inherent smooth response, we only have a single coil to each of these two drivers, creating target roll-off. I've never before had drivers that could do this. We are dealing with 1st order filters.
The Ellipticor-3 has been a playground for numerous crossovers and initially I meant to publish two, but one of them continuously proved the other one inferior, so only one will be presented - and it's a rather unusual one. I had a good friend doing a blind test, where I played two pieces of classical music on two different crossovers creating the same frequency response within ½ dB. He didn't know what he was listening to and he immediately picked the simplest crossover, which was my own favourite too - which he obviously didn't know in advance. "This just sounds more natural!".

Ellipticor-4

Ear-friendly is a dubious term. It may be taken for being forgiving on troublesome recordings. The Ell-4 is anything but forgiving, but I can't help thinking ear-friendly. The mid-tweeter integration works particularly well here, and not just because we have a perfect LR2 profile far beyond point of crossover, but - I think - these two drivers just make a remarkable couple. We can have "the best" of midranges and tweeters in the world, but to make a coherent sound, each supplementing the other in the best possible way, is up to trial'n error. Sometimes we can have excellent sound from low-cost drivers due to good compatibility and good crossover design. We can't tell from specs - and we can't even tell from experience. Each combination must be tried and evaluated from various baffle and crossover designs.
Should you think Be domes is the final answer to good treble, try D3404. The D3404 delivers the resolution of good compression drivers when it comes to e.g. cymbals and the ability to reproduce the sound of applause from a live audience, the latter often heard as smeared noise. I've never heard better treble from any dome, regardless of diaphragm material. And I'm aware this is also a result of the integration of mid-tweeter as the 18WE handles the lower part of the treble range.

Ellipticor-1

The construction here displays new drivers never seen before and to be honest, it's a daunting task being the first to put these drivers together and see what has become of a serious investment in time and money. Both mid-woofer and tweeter feature elliptical voice coils, something - to my knowledge - never tried before.
We have seen oval* speaker cones, even square cones, but all with a round voice coils. I can only imagine the trouble ahead of these units in terms of manufacturing oval voice coils, oval magnet parts, machines that can add glue in ovals and many other issues in manufacturing. Round is so easy. And no, they are not going to be cheap!

This ellipse project was started at ScanSpeak a few years ago by Birger Jørgensen, who sadly passed away last year. The project was brought to maturity by Dennis Hansen and Simon Møller Nielsen, and I was handed the drivers to make a 2-way stand-mount for the Munich High End Exhibition 2017. Quite a challenge as it often takes considerable time to get to really know a driver, know its strengths and weaknesses, because all drivers have compromises, and we have to learn how to handle a driver with regard to cabinets and crossovers. What goes and what doesn't? Initial crossovers tend to be complicated as we want to make the drivers work nothing less than perfect.

Ekta mkII

The first Ekta construction dates back to 2005 and it was time for an update. The Ekta mkII features Illuminator drivers like the world's best 4" midrange, increased sensitivity, simpler crossover and lower price. Too good to be true? Follow link above. Except for wood materials, the kit includes all from bitumen pads to driver screws.
What you get here is something rarely seen in commercial speakers, a 7+4+1. The vital 4" midrange driver bridging the gap between bass and tweeter. That's not to say the 6+1 or 7+1 cannot be made very well, it surely can, but it doesn't compare to the real thing of paying attention to the troublesome upper-mid/lower-treble.

Illuminator-4

I dare say you can put the very best amps money can buy in front of these speakers. From the level 1 kit you'll get quality you rarely find in any commercial design.
I had this speaker running for 3 months before the idea of an Illuminator-5 appeared, and I really wasn't thinking of the Illuminator-4 until a year later and setting it up again I found it to be too good to let go and here it is. Less elaborate than the Illuminator-5 and by having the 7100 tweeter with its good low-end response, it's no problem taking the point of crossover between mid and tweeter down to around 1.7 kHz, delivering a presence close to the Ill-5.
The "thing" about these now five constructions is the use of an 8" driver in a closed box delivering the slam we wouldn't have from a single 10" driver in a vented enclosure. It works! We have the low bottom end from the 10" driver in a traditional vented box and the transient attack of the closed box.

Illuminator-5

This will be my attempt to make the very best we can get from ScanSpeak drivers*. Who knows what the future will bring, but until then, these Revelator and Illuminator drivers can make recorded music alive in our living rooms.
Why 5-way? The thing is that a 18WU driver has a cone area of 154 cm^2 and a dome like the D3004/602010 some 7 cm^2. Any driver will start beaming at a frequency having a wavelength equal to the diameter of the cone, thus for the 18WU it will start beaming around 34.400/14 = 2.457 Hz. On paper this all goes well as long as we stick to a point of crossover somewhere around that frequency. And this has indeed been the prescription to countless speakers over the years, the classic "6+1" set-up. It's a compromise as any speaker is and it's OK! They're doing well, but they also have a sound that is characterised by this sudden change in dispersion pattern going from 150 to 7 square centimetres. The Ekta and SP44 and Classic 3-ways sound very differently because they all have this small 2-4" middriver with a much different dispersion in upper mid/lower treble, creating a presence the standard 6+1 doesn't. This "presence" reveals detail and to some it may be too much detail because source material may not be too good - or the overall front-end, amps, CD-player, etc., is not up to the task. In this construction we're talking as few compromises as possible.

DISCOVERY-4

What's seen above is meant to be a seriously large speaker from modest investment. All drivers alone are 790 EUR. What I've tried is to spend the money where it counts: The midrange driver and the crossover components' quality. I haven't experienced any driver that didn't benefit from good quality crossover components. The cabinet is designed to be as easy as possible and something for any diy enthusiast with a little experience in wood working.

Ellam 9800 mkII

This speaker has been on my to-do list for along time. The first Ellam 98 dates back to 2005 (can't believe it) and was designed around the common 2nd/3rd order filter as needed when drivers are placed on a flat baffle and the need to compensate for the lack of time-alignment. Placing the 15W driver some 20 mm in front of the 9800 tweeter allows a time- and phase-coherent system based on an LR2 filter improving mid-tweeter integration and overall sense of transparency.
The 9800 dome is not particularly cheap, but to my ears it's the best alu dome ever made and seriously rival the much more expensive beryllium domes.

Jenzen Illuminator
3-way TL design from ScanSpeak W26/8861T00, 18WU/8741-T00 and D3004/660000

Several months of work went into this design and it's so far the biggest ScanSpeak construction I've ever made. The Jenzen Illuminator features a stepped front panel to smooth midrange frequency response and to provide acoustical alignment of drivers for implementation of true LR2 crossovers. A simplified crossover can be realised with enhanced transparency and timbre quality.

Jensen 1071
ScanSpeak 26W/8861T00 + 18W/8531G00 + D2905/9900

This project started with Steen writing he'd acquired 2 x 26W/8861T00 bass drivers and after the usual some 20+ mails, the top part of this big 3-way became the 18W/8531G00 for mid and D2905/9900 for treble due to another diy'er giving up his project. Not a bad choice! The 18W/8531G00 can go low in a suitable top cabinet and possibly a simple crossover could be implemented to mate bass and mid.
I never had the opportunity to do a crossover for the 9900, and having read on the web that this tweeter was a tough one, I never applied for those second hand samples available from time to time. The 9900 measures excellent and modelling the crossover was even easier. So far, this tweeter looks easy. Click heading or image to read more.

Ekta Grande
2 x Scan-Speak 18W/8531-G00 + 12M/4631-G00 + D2904/7000
Project 2007-14

This speaker is heavy and I do not have a large photo studio, hence some white sheets and two lamps in my workshop. I hope it provides an impression of the sculptural beauty of Jesper's latest creation, the Ekta Grande.
This construction will be rather quick and dirty. Most of what can be said about the SS drivers can be found in the Ekta and SP38 files. The basic cabinet coordinates can be found below and to make the crossover work properly, the front panel dimensions and driver placement must be kept fairly accurate. What's behind the drivers is up to you.
The bass cabinet is 65 litres and this speaker goes low, really low.

ScanSpeak Revelator 4R
Discontinued, crossover schematics can be bought from me: troels.gravesen@hotmail.com

15W/4531G00 is the more lively sibling in the Revelator 15W family of drivers. "30" means coated, "31" is un-coated. "45" means 4 Ohms version, hence the increased sensitivity compared to the "8530" driver used in Ellam FLEX and Ellam 98 mkII. Un-coated means its cone has a different sonic impact on the overall presentation. A little more lively, more lush, if you will. To balance this I picked the classic ring-radiator, providing a balanced and very neutral sounding treble.
The "4531" may sound more dynamic compared to the "8530" due to its low-resistance voice coil, drawing more current from your amplifier and just simply plays louder for the same volume setting. At the end of the day a matter of taste.

Discovery W18
Discontinued, crossover schematics can be bought from me: troels.gravesen@hotmail.com

V3 crossover: Making the stepped baffle and implementing a true LR2 filter made a world of a difference. Suddenly music started flowing and sense of depth and perspective improved vastly. I never heard the difference between a flat baffle/2nd-3rd order crossover and a stepped baffle/true LR2 filter so clearly. It's night and day. It also made me think I have to do the Ellam XT once more with an easy stepped baffle because people continue building the Ellam XT speaker rather than the much better Ellam FLEX with its more complex front panel layout. There are more to be gained from these Ellam XT. And I would love to do the 9800 tweeter again in such set-up... well, well, back to the Discovery here. Check it out by clicking link above.

Ellam FLEX 3W
Discontinued, buy components from a local dealer.

3-way from 22W/4851T00, 15W/8530K00, D3004/660000 and three other tweeters:
R3004/662000, D2604/833000 and R2604/833000

Extend your Ellam FLEX with a bass module and experience a full-blown 3-way having a significant soundstage from a modest footprint.

Ellam FLEX
Discontinued, buy components from a local dealer.

2-way mini from 15W/8530K00 and four tweeter options:
D3004/660000, R3004/662000, D2604/833000 and R2604/833000

Ellam Flex is just what the name suggests, flexible. The idea is to make a small two-way from the venerable 15W/8530K00 - still the best 5" I know of - as an upgrade/replacement to former Ellam 9800, Ellam XT and W1500/97 constructions. These constructions will disappear from my website as I think I can do better today with all experiences gained over the last eight years, not least the Jenzen speakers. This also means that there will be lesser-budget versions with the R2604/833000 and D2604/833000 tweeters.

MUN-17-3W

Discontinued, open kit now

I'm really sorry having to retire this speaker, but apparently a little to expensive and complex for any kit sales to continue.

Ekta 2D

Discontinued

Experience a fully digital 2-way speaker with the options of 1st, 2nd and 4th filters from three presets. An unique opportunity to compare crossover topology - and not as clear-cut as you may think!
The drivers used here are the same used in my STUDIO 101 mkII, but here with the Hypex DSP we can manage the time delays electronically, thus a flat front panel.
Feed it directly from your pre-amplifier or streamer/preamp. Kit only available as a whole kit with/without drivers. The Hypex program can be bought directly from me, 75 EUR.
Click image to go to Ekta 2D website.

ATELL-3

Discontinued

Careful selection of drivers allow simplest possible crossover.

As for the Ellipticor-3, not having a high-pass filter on the midrange pays off. The coherence in upper-bass/lower-middle is hard to ignore, although is does not have quite the same fullness and bottom weight of the Ell-3. It can't - and it shouldn't. We have a significant smaller cabinet and we have saved 2.5 k€ on drivers. Yet, the ATELL-3 has qualities that made me go through record after record to hear yet another way of telling me what I may have overlooked before. Any new speaker will do things differently and hopefully give you new insight into your record collection. The ATELL, like the Ell-3, has a naturalness to the overall presentation, a transparency only limited by the source material and for the size, surprisingly dynamic. On top of this, deep dynamic bass from the 10C77 sandwich cone driver. I don't know of any 10" bass driver that comes even close to the 10C77. Not cheap, but I can't find alternatives unless we go to 12" bass drivers, but then we need a bigger sized cabinet and here the objective was to make the best of a smaller cabinet with higher WAF. And BTW, my wife loves it!

Compact Studio Monitor speaker
Project 2008-14
Compact Studio Monitor
ScanSpeak 18W/8545-K00 + R2604/832000

Discontinued

Click heading or any image

Why build small speakers when we can have bigger sound for the same money from a bigger cabinet? Well, the answer is simple: Because sometimes they must to be small due to how they will fit in with a given idea about how our living rooms are going to look. WAF is high from small speakers. Even if a slim floorstander doesn't not take more floor space compared to a mini on a stand, the WAF is higher for the latter. Not much we can do about it.

"Sliced Paper" SP38/13
ScanSpeak 18W/8531G00 + ScanSpeak D3806/8200 + ScanSpeak D2010/8513
Construction made 2004-5

Discontinued

Why yet another 18W/8531G00 sliced paper construction? Didn't the SP95 and the SP98 do well? Why possibly a reduced cabinet volume? And why does USXX predict an optimum 22 litre cab for the 18W driver? Who is USXX and what has LspCAD to do with this? Well, first of all, this construction dates back to the SP95 where I tried the Scan-Speak D3806/8200 mid-dome from 1600 Hz and the HIQUPHON OWI on top from 13 kHz. Click heading to read more.

Ekta

Discontinued

Go to mkII version

Scan-Speak 18W/8531-G00 + 12M/4631-G00 + D2904/7000
Project 2005-14

The sliced paper driver 18W/8531-G00 is a driver you don't easily get over with. It's got the best bass from any 6-7" midbass I have ever experienced. It did great in the SP95 set-up. It did even better in the SP38 construction and here's the best I have ever heard from this driver and probably due to the cabinet made from curved and laminated side panels producing the most rigid enclosure I have tested. Thanks to Jesper who came along with this construction.
Un-coated paper cones will always leave a fingerprint on the reproduced sound and the sliced paper drivers are no exception from this rule. Having a 6-7" un-treated paper cone handling a very wide frequency range in a two-way construction is tough. It helped a lot taking the first point of crossover down to 1600 Hz by the D3806/8200 tweeter and here we have the option 2 again from my thoughts about various ways of designing 2- and 3-way speakers with regard to the chosen points of crossover: http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Design_criteria.htm
After doing the 3½-way Zahra: http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/8543.htm, I was happy repeating this approach and in particular with drivers I knew from other constructions. I've made a crossover for a construction including the coated version of the 12M middriver (not published - and shall not) and it did very well here despite having to mate two dedicated 8" bass drivers at around 450 Hz. Not my favourite set-up, but this was how the cards were played from the constructor.

STUDIO 101
ScanSpeak 18W/8542-00 + SEAS 27TFFC tweeter

Discontinued

What makes a "studio monitor" different to any other "hifi" loudspeaker? Well, a true studio monitor is supposed to have a reasonably flat on-axis response combined with an even power response, allowing studio engineers to make the best possible mix of the recording before the final master. But shouldn't all speakers be suitable for this? I guess the term "studio monitor" was derived from well engineered speakers in contrast to most home audio speakers a few decades ago, when domestic speakers certainly was a mixed blessing of drivers balanced by a few measurements and or by the ear alone.

I had great expectations from this monitor due to the long-fibre paper pulp cone and I wasn't disappointed. Click heading or image to read more.

SP44
ScanSpeak 18W/8531-G00 + Accuton C244-8 + HIQUPHON OWI

Discontinued, see Ekta mkII

I always liked the SP38/13 and seeing the large ScanSpeak D3806/8200 dome getting out of stock here and there, John/US came in handy with a pair of Accuton C244-8 inverted domes and a pair of HIQUPHON OWI tweeters as well, thus the SP44 project was on track. We could also call it Ekta-Accu, but SP44 it will be. Comparing SP44 to the Ekta is obvious and despite not having them side by side, I'm afraid the SP44 will beat the Ekta from a less coloured upper mid/lower treble. These ceramic domes are something.

Now, what can the C44 do the D3806 can't? Well, it goes deeper and it goes higher and it has a remarkable flat response all up to 20 kHz where a serious cone break-up occurs. 20 kHz is really high and nothing to worry about in a 3-way system. The C44 is not particularly sensitive, around 85-86 dB/2.8 volts - but all the same a good match to the 18W/8531 driver that usually can be tuned to a system sensitivity of 86 dB/2.8 volts. Looking at C44 horizontal dispersion, 6 kHz seems like a good starting point for crossing over to the tweeter, thus the C44 is really able to handle all of the important treble range, because we can go even lower compared to the D3806. From simulation 900 Hz looks ideal, but no guarantee this will also sonically make the best transition to the 18W midbass. Has to be tried.

ScanSpeak Micros: Discovery 12W

Discontinued

This speaker must be small to suit desk top application and small sound systems. Why not make your kids get used to good sound from an e.g. NAD 3020D amp, being fed from a laptop or other digital sources? The DISC-12W may be a way to better sound culture.
System sensitivity: 85 dB/2.8V, 1 meter. Impedance: 8 Ohms. Amplifier requirement: Minimum 5-10 watts.

Illumina-66
Discontinued, see Illuminator-71

2-way floorstander from ScanSpeak 18WU/4741T00 + D3004/660000 or R3004/662000

Simply the best "6+1" 2-way floorstander I've made yet.
These 18WU drivers deliver bass like an 8-inch without loosing grip of upper mid.

Illuminator Monitor
18WU/8741T00 + D2904/710003

Discontinued, see Illuminator-71

Explore the world of ScanSpeak Illuminator series and a fancy crossover design providing smooth mid/tweeter integration. Don't expect earthquake levels from a 20 liter monitor but be prepared to enjoyable hours with your favorite music played at sensible levels. The best small "6+1" I've made so far. Not cheap, but far less than a similar commercial design would cost.

Ellam Discovery 15

Discontinued

Great small speaker - but unfortunately no one builds it...

This small 5" doesn't go particularly low, but what it does, it does very well indeed. Very articulate (high Qm) and it doesn't die out at low levels as experienced many times before with overly damped drivers.
The midbass' coated glass fiber cone is fairly rigid and has en excellent midrange transparency and the minor equalisation around 5 kHz provides a perfect LR2 roll-off profile. The midbass will play well up into the treble area and it's better be good not to add any harshness to the treble range. And it doesn't.
As always, the ScanSpeak ring radiator delivers a smooth treble with lots of detail and low distortion. Connected to my main system, this small 2-way may seriously challenge much more expensive speakers.