Re-foaming speakers question...

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Reaves

Replacing 4 when only one is damaged would certainly cause me some pain.

It pains me more (trust me! ). These things are designed for the cabinets. They cross at 200 Hz, so finding a 12" driver with the appropriate specs could be very painful. If I were to replace them, I'd probably go with some good old British B & W's if I have to.

Those B & W 801's are somewhat attractive to me as an alternative. They have a 15" driver on the front, but I prefer drivers on the sides if at all possible, so I sort of fault this design. With a driver on the front, you create wavelengths in your room that hit in some places and miss others. This creates sweet spots since a low frequency wave is very long. If the driver fires from the side, and you have many drivers (4 in this case), then you create a much more even and smoothed out sound.

However, I cannot fault the B & W Nautilus design which is based on the inner ear cochlea. Last time I was in Definitive Audio, a guy pulled up in his Enzo Ferrari and bought 6 of them. Someday, maybe I'll break for simply two of them! They are as much an art object as a near perfect speaker in my opinion.

B & W Nautilus: