# Scan-Speak Illuminator 18W's are here! :)



## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

Revelators on steroids

/review


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)




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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

In all seriousness the first thing I noticed is that the paper cone is much more rigid thanks to the biohazard design ridges on the front AND BACK of the cone. 

My god these things have some throw! They are also completley noiseless- I mean zero mechanical noise probably thanks to the 3 spoke frame and aerodynamic design beneath the spyder.

I haven't played with them much (it was Halloween ya know) but after building a quick test box and having a listen all I can say is wow! The scanspeak sound we all love but with more output capabilities and better impact (thanks to a more rigid cone and higher force factor + excursion?) I didn't push excursion limits even with no high pass and decent volume- not even close. I want to give them more break in time before I wang them, but the midbass output is >revelators by *a lot*. I am in love.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

Pichures to come 

Or is it pinchers

or pitchers

or pincers

or pinecones

or...


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

here are some pinecones:









































These babies are amazing.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Damn, nice! I'd definitely pop those in some Scotchgarded pantyhoses though.


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## Mooble (Oct 21, 2007)

Wow, sounds like they fixed the problems I had with the Revelators. I hope them come out with a high excursion 6" driver. Then I'll be all over it. Let us know what frequencies the 18W will play. It almost looks like it would work in a 2-way system except that it starts to break up a little soon if you are off axis.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

The 15w version may be for you Mooble. They are about 6" OD and almost as much excursion as the 18w- plus an inch shallower.

The speaker is incredible, your highpass is probably volume depent but it has the excursion to go much lower than the rev's. What really impressed me is A) the ability to articulate way high up and B) the fact that if you let them play a wicked broad bandwidth they don't sacrifice one end or the other. 60hz-4k no breakup. I tried them 3 way with my Dyn Md142's and there was really no improvement- In fact, I really liked the tonality of the scans playing higher vocals than the dyns- and I love the Dyns.

This was all on axis- in home listening and with no EQing since my Zapco DC is being fussy with the programing of the EQ. If you look at FR of the REV's they fall off around the same point (slightly smoother rolloff tho) if you are off axis and everyone knows those have amazing off-axis response so I think take the FR graphs with a grain of salt.

I did step off to the side to listen off axis and it sounded quite decent with some adjustments, but a car is so different. We will see shortly.


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## Mooble (Oct 21, 2007)

Sounds great. I didn't see the 15w on Madisound yet. I hope it comes out soon. I'll have a look at Solen and see if it's there yet.

Yep, it's on Solen, but the full specs aren't published yet. The frequency looks perfect for me. It will easily go down to 80hz and up to 2k without any problems. I think I'm in love. I've definitely found a new speaker to lust after.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

Wait till you get your hands on it!

Madisound didn't even list the 18w but I found out whe the shipment was arriving and got a set. I think Adam said they had some 15w's due in soon


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## Mooble (Oct 21, 2007)

Interestingly enough, the 15w Illuminator has 12.9g moving mass vs 13g for the Revelator. I wonder if the cone really is thicker or just stouter because of the new glue design. Power handling is improved dramatically on the Illuminator thanks to the huge excursion-9mm one way!!! O_O

I still love my Morel SW6's 8.2g moving mass though. I always had the impression that Morels had big heavy cones that had to be overcome by the massive hex wire 3" VCs, but nothing could be further from the truth. They have one of the lightest cones out there that are massively overdriven by beefy coils.


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## Inferno333 (Mar 29, 2006)

I'm not liking the screw holes. It seems like they would apply uneven pressure to the mounting flange.

Other than that. They look fantastic.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

The mounting flange is so thick it would strip out whatever you are screwing into before it deformed the flange. It is one of the most stout baskets I have seen. Its like the 4-hole Seas but with 2 side by side for more security.


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## Inferno333 (Mar 29, 2006)

I see... Then it makes it harder to line things up symmetrically...


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## Mooble (Oct 21, 2007)

So why does the gasket have 12 holes?


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

My guess is they use it on something else and since none of their other speakers have a 3x2 hole design thats what they came up with to work with all of their speakers. I don't mind it- it looks cool and hold tight.


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## fury (Dec 12, 2007)

You can OEM it with "normal" mounting holes.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

That mounting configuration is better because it is more important to clamp down more where there are points that have a strong force acting on them rather then spreading out the applied force to parts that don't have as much stress on them because of a solid base baffle. 

Even if the baffle is not strong it won't help to spread it out either because then you are saying that the speaker basket should be used as a structural brace for to help a weak baffle, which it can't do and should not do.


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## SSSnake (Mar 8, 2007)

They look great but how do you keep stuff out of the gap?


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## reindeers (Mar 7, 2008)

Talk about sexy drivers... Woohoo!!


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

I like T3's pantyhose idea, but the same could be said for most any speaker I guess.

I finally got my EQ to work correctly on my PC for my zapco so the real review with Eq'ed response will begin tonight


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## cvjoint (Mar 10, 2006)

Good review! I hope Scan has plans to expand the lineup so I can try out some8s and 10s!


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

Got them in the car today and WOW! First set of speakers to have me smiling and giggling like a schoolgirl in a LONG TIME.

They very much like my enclosure in the kicks with a little over half cube airspace sealed.

Frequency range is phenominal, much like in home but EVEN BETTER low end (cabin gain and better enclosure). I like 60hz 24db and 3000 12db instead of pushing it higher with a steeper slope, but you can easily get 5k out of it with minimal eq. Even xo'd at 60 it could handle any volume I wanted so long as it wasn't extremely bass heavy hip-hop (even then it was impressive with subs off). 

Its such a quick speaker, very articulate with difficult bass segments. Really comes to life with volume to. It can send a strong slap through the car on kick bass if you crank it and I still have not pushed its excursion limits. I only have one in the driver side kick and output was phenominal. I am really in shock. Can't wait to get the other one in 

Ask questions if got 'em.


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

amapro704 said:


> Ask questions if got 'em.


Ok, where are the pitchers?

And are you in Lakeville, MN?


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

OK I'll take some tomorrow 

Yeah lakeville, mn


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

Well, cripes gimme a lil sample u Scan whore!


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

Hey! I am not a whore. Well, ok yes...

You want to swing by and check out my lair?


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

amapro704 said:


> Hey! I am not a whore. Well, ok yes...
> 
> You want to swing by and check out my lair?


Ooooh, is it an underground lair? Do you have a hairless cat named Mr Bigglesworth? I'm in for that.


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## Ge0 (Jul 23, 2007)

FoxPro5 said:


> Ooooh, is it an underground lair? Do you have a hairless cat named Mr Bigglesworth? I'm in for that.


You sick fugger. Quit talking about shaved pussies (cats of course) and let this guy get on with his review. My attention has been captured.

Ge0


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

No its not underground, but it does have wersbo radiant heated flooring (people from the south please disregard) so I'm pretty sure a furless cat could survive out there... I better go to the humane society today and pick out a bigglesworth.


Foxpro, you can't get PM's silly. I will be around, but I don't know if it would be worth it for you to have a listen yet. I ripped everything out and all I have is the driver side kick built and the tweeter temp. mounted up in the A pillar to get the aiming right. I even took out my subs and amps and just have them sitting off of a power supply for testing for now.

I just got so damn impatient, I couldn't wait to hear the Illuminator in the car 

I at least need to get my passenger kick made before it would be worth listening to, but progress is slow since I have a new addition to the houshold (2 month old daughter).

I would really like to hear your car tho! It sounds like you have been thru a bunch of high end drivers so I know you must be picky- kinda like me. I'll see what I can get done this weekend....

Joey


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

PS you sell the hybrids yet? How much shipped to 55044?


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

amapro704 said:


> I just got so damn impatient, I couldn't wait to hear the Illuminator in the car
> 
> I would really like to hear your car tho! It sounds like you have been thru a bunch of high end drivers so I know you must be picky- kinda like me. I'll see what I can get done this weekend....


Sure, no problem. I'd like to compare the midrange of the Illums in your car against the midrange of the Revs in mine. Do a little same song switch a roo type thing. Should be cool. 

Just put the Legatia's up on whor-ebay. $520 with cashback delivered to your door for a cool kid like you.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

That would be a good a/b. I'm sure alot of folks around here are curious for more opinions on that. I did the same in my car and the rev has a little smoother natural rolloff but if you have access to linkwitz and butterworth 12, 18, and 24 db filters you can get the illuminator to be just as smooth but to my ears the Illum. has a little better midrange clarity but keeps the same scanpaper warm sound  It is really just a phenominal driver. To me the biggest thing that makes it the end all midbass is that it can do both MB and midrange. The revelators were amazing but it seems like you had to cut them right about where kickbass was really felt (or risk pushing them too hard if you like voluuuume) vs. the illuminators have the excursion to be played a little lower even at high volumes so you get amazing impact. Basically you aren't cutting it in the middle of an instruments (kick drum) range if that makes sense. This of course depends on the type of music but with rock you really already know what range the instruments play in. 

I was at a non-point and 12 stones concert at a real small venue a couple days before I put them in and all I can say is that it sounds as good in my car as it did live. Listening to the beginning drum sequence of Nicklebacks follow you home is just insane.

Foxpro, Make me a retarded deal on the Hybrids and I will just let you take the other illuminator I have in my house for a week or to and eliminate the install variable  The question is, do you have the depth?  lol


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## FoxPro5 (Feb 14, 2006)

amapro704 said:


> Foxpro, Make me a retarded deal on the Hybrids and I will just let you take the other illuminator I have in my house for a week or to and eliminate the install variable  The question is, do you have the depth?  lol


I know what you're saying on the Scan's in the MB dept. I LOVED the low end out the 7" in my doors, but had to run it off the deep end sharply at 50 dB to get what I desired out of it. I think Ge0 started his on fire trying to do the same thing, lol.  But he's kind of a pud, so I guess we can ignore that. 

Oh, I got the depth. No problem. But I need those gone as set, unless you DO want the whole deal?? The starting price is my bottom line. Anything less and they go back in my car.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

GeO is kind of a pud. I googled it to make sure...

I was mostly joking about the HATs. But that is a smoking price! I am tempted but just don't have a use for them now that I am in love with my 'nators

I could let you borrow one MB, maybe in exchange for some sound deadening help eh?


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## Ge0 (Jul 23, 2007)

FoxPro5 said:


> I think Ge0 started his on fire trying to do the same thing, lol.  But he's kind of a pud, so I guess we can ignore that.


Go piss up a rope sizzle chest. 

Actually, I personally did not fry it. It roasted during max system wide SPL testing at a competition this past summer. One leg of the competition used RTA measurements and feedback to derive scores. During max system SPL the measurement machine looks at input signal vs. output and keeps cranking the volume (under computer control) until a 6% distortion limit is hit. The problem, the 18W's would not distort. They sat at 114dB+ output with less than 3% distrotion for about 90 seconds using a high power density warble tone. Just enough time to heat one 18W up enough to where the glue bonding the VC wires to the former started to let loose.

Pisser...

I did win the competition though if that is worth anything .

Ge0


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## Ge0 (Jul 23, 2007)

amapro704 said:


> GeO is kind of a pud. I googled it to make sure...


That goes for you too swizzle dick.

Ahhh, J.K. Foxbitchpro knows my sense of humor. You may not. It's all fun and games.

Ge0


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

Ge0 said:


> Go piss up a rope sizzle chest.
> 
> 
> Pisser...
> ...


Um yeah I hope it was worth >$238 in prize monies


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

OK fellers little update, just got done *properly* installing the Illumes late last night. I fully sealed the enclosure, deadened it as well as the car and reduced its volume a bit. (was around .7ft^3 with venting up the A pillar in the kick cavity- now about .55ft^3 completely sealed)

Looky here for details: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-build-logs/51434-amapro704-illuminating-e36-m3.html

I knew the deadening would help significantly, but I also think changing the volume and sealing it made just as big of a difference.

Also with more time on the driver I felt more comfortable really letting it wang 

Bottom end on this is just insane- much better than before. A lot better impact and more output. Same review above still applies, but even better on EVERYTHING thrown at the bottom end. I've never heard subtle midbass details come through so clear. Still extremely clean midrange and vocals even when pushing it hard in the MB department. I couldn't imagine much of an improvement using this in a 3-way unless you don't have room to have them more on axis (hence would have beeming issues) which I don't find to be much of an issue in my install.

I have yet to find a fault with them, incredible drivers.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

Now that you have had the illuminators installed for a while. Any more comments. I am designing a car install right now and up front with a Tweet, 6 1/2 and a 10 sub...

do you have the new Illuminator Tweet (R3004/662001) as well to listen to, if so how do they sound together.

Any information would be great...
Thanks


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

Now that you have had the illuminators installed for a while. Any more comments. I am designing a car install right now and up front with a Tweet, 6 1/2 and a 10 sub...

do you have the new Illuminator Tweet (R3004/662001) as well to listen to, if so how do they sound together.

Any information would be great...
Thanks


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

They get more impressive as they go. I don't know what to say other than that I probably will never run anything else 

I have progressively pushed them harder and harder to see their limits when it comes to MB and I have not been able to get them to call uncle.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

What about the tweeter, do you have the new Illuminator Tweet (R3004/662001) as well?


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

No I don't have the tweeter but I hear it is equally as impressive. If you are on a budget get the woofers and LPG silks tweeters and enjoy.


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## Bottle (Jan 25, 2009)

What car do you have that allows this monstrous depth?


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

a yugo.

Jk an E36 M3. They are in the kicks.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

a yugo.

Jk an E36 M3. They are in the kicks.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

Great thanks....
I am going to shop around for them now, I am really considering getting the mid and tweet. Right now I would be curious to see where I can get a good xover, from what I know Linkwitz-Riley makes some nice custom xovers. Where did you order your from?
On your install is there anything you would do fidderent with your install. Any information would be great. Thanks.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

Great thanks....
I am going to shop around for them now, I am really considering getting the mid and tweet. Right now I would be curious to see where I can get a good xover, from what I know Linkwitz-Riley makes some nice custom xovers. Where did you order your from?
On your install is there anything you would do fidderent with your install. Any information would be great. Thanks.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

No I really wouldn't do anything different, otherwise I would have done it 

The woofers are worth twice their price because they can really do something that other woofers cant- have superior midbass performance and midrange clarity.

The tweeters are your call. You can spend a ton on the scans or you can buy a set of LPG's like I mentioned or evens Seas or Vifa's and probably be just as happy. There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to cost. I sprung for the woofers and spent more than I ever anticipated I would because they are so well designed.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

great, thanks for your input, I just looked up the LPG's and they are CHEAP, are they that good at that price...WOW.


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## amapro704 (Mar 23, 2008)

They are very good, same with the seas. There is a ton of info on this forum about both.


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