# ZaPH zrt kit and Madisound cabinets



## fej (Feb 8, 2006)

Hey guys, couple questions. I am looking at building new home speakers around the Scan 7" revs that I have had sitting for too long now. Done a ton of research and with this new Zaph designed pretty much decided this is what I want to build for the new mains.

http://www.zaphaudio.com/ZRT.html

Has any one tackled this yet? I know it is certainly not a cheap build, but figured I would ask here first. 

Secondly, I really am not too interested in building the crossovers, and have a friend that would be willing to tackle the build for me. I managed to get pricing for just the crossovers from Madisound today after 3 tries at $221 a pair assembled, non-upgraded.

Lastly, anyone have any experience with their pre-made cabinets? I don't mind the woodwork and have a neighbor with about every wood tool known to man that would help with the assembly, it is just the finish work I am not too exited about, and the SO is not going to let me get away with unfinshed cabinets in the living room 

Thanks in advance


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Go with the premade cabinets that he recommends. Add a couple braces if you want. At least with those you'll know they have been tested to sound the way he intended the design to sound like.


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## Spasticteapot (Mar 5, 2007)

$221 a pair? That's quite a lot!

Building crossovers is pretty easy. Remove the resistors, and there are seven inductors and capacitors on each board. Even if you're using overpriced parts, you won't spend more than $150.

Also, are you entirely sure you want to build these? Unless you have a suitably high-quality amplifier, DAC, CD player, turntable, and phono preamp, you might be better off with the excellent SR71 - which costs only $351 including drivers, assembled crossovers, ports, and terminal plates. 

You also run into the issue of room acoustics. With speakers with such low energy storage and distortion as the Revelators, much of your undesirable noise will be produced by acoustic reflections of off your walls and floor. Unless your SO approves of wall tapestries and shagpile, you may hit a point of severely diminishing returns.

I have visited Madisound, and seen their cabinets. They're very good, but for $200 a pair plus shipping, they're quite expensive - and you can double that figure for the 2.5-way version. For that kind of money, you could have a skilled cabinetmaker build them for you (though you might need to settle for a painted finish instead of costly veneer.)


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## ATB (Aug 30, 2005)

Spasticteapot said:


> They're very good, but for $200 a pair plus shipping, they're quite expensive - and you can double that figure for the 2.5-way version. For that kind of money, you could have a skilled cabinetmaker build them for you (though you might need to settle for a painted finish instead of costly veneer.)


Maybe where you live, but around here I would expect to pay at least $500 for a pair of cabinets, and thats not with any fancy finishing. When I took my Dayton gloss black cabinets for Zaph L18s to a semi-local guy to get the holes routed, he said it would probably be more than double fPE's price or him to make a similar set.


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