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The Travelers Loudspeaker Kit
$869.76
1 Pair Travelers
Product Description
The “Travelers” Loudspeaker Kit by Jim Holtz and Curt Campbell
The Travelers, DIY speaker kit was developed by Jim as a system the was small enough to be taken on the road when he and his wife head South for the Winter. They have the same footprint as the “Finalist” but with different midrange and tweeter. Since the midrange for the Finalist is no longer available, you could call this a “next-generation” Finalist.
The Drivers.
Based on the great sound Jim heard from the SB ceramic line, he chose the 5.25″ CAC unit as the midrange. He had heard Craig S’s Keramiskas a few times and joined the fan club of this new ceramic coated mid-woofer. The trusty RS225 handles the bass. Jim then looked for suggestions on the tweeter, and Dave Ellis recommended the Hiquphon OW2 to round out the system.
The Crossover
Curt did his usual magic and let the drivers choose the crossover point, and they went low, taking advantage of the SB15CAC and OW2 excellent capabilities in that area. This also led to a rather simple crossover topology for a three-way design.
How Do They Sound?
Curt says, “In summary: Voiced very similarly to the Finalists, they will make excellent surround speakers or mains for smaller venues. They play acceptably loud in normal to larger sized rooms. In fact, they were easy for me to forget that I was clinically listening to them, and instead got caught up listening to the music. IÂ suggest that’s what good speakers are supposed to do; get out of the way and let the music define the moment.”
Jim says, “ I am really impressed with this driver combo. The mids are just superb with exceptional detail and clarity while remaining very smooth and natural sounding. I’ve also found the OW-2 to be an excellent companion for the top end. I’ve been listening to the Travelers for the last month or two, switching back and forth with the Bordeaux. Each has its strengths but I think the Travelers might hold a slight edge in the mids. It takes critical listening in a home environment with good front-end equipment and stellar recordings to discern quality differences but they are there and the Travelers sound great. Curt really did a great job with the crossover.”
What do I Get?
Included in this kit are the full build plans. You can purchase is in two forms, depending on your resources:
The Bare Bones Version:
- 2 x Hiquphon, OW2 Tweeters
- 2 x SB Acoustics, SB15CAC30, mid-woofers – Option for “Black Aluminum” (non ceramic)
- Option to purchase the 6″ PVC mid-range tunnels
- 2 x Dayton, RS225 Woofers
- Crossover parts(pair), Cebo tweeter capacitors are standard at Audyn price. Audyn Q4 capacitors in Midrange and Woofer Section.
- Sand Cast tweeter resistors with upgrades available.
- Curt’s specified inductors, and 25-watt Zisters for the midrange circuit standard.
- Complete plans
The Full Kit Package adds:
- 2 x Choice of the Input Terminals (Big Posts are shown in photo)
- 2 x Flared Port Tubes
- All mounting hard hardware (screws)
- Internal damping material
- Color-coded hookup wire
- Optional push-on connectors
- Gasket sealing tape
- MDF boards for mounting the crossover parts.
Upgrade Your Series Capacitors?
There are a great number of brands to choose from. Don’t see your favorite, just ask.
Have trouble soldering or reading a crossover diagram? We can assemble them for you at a nominal charge.
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Screw Driver
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Mark Sayer –
Randy (ontariomaximus) says:
There is an extraordinary amount of detail, almost an electrostatic-like quality
These were a custom build for my friend Jason. Here are his comments:
I can’t compare The Travelers to any other speaker in its class as they are the only 3 way speakers that I have owned. I also would prefix this by saying that I feel the music and the way it has been recorded to have the biggest impact on the sound over everything else. That said, in really great recordings, I am getting unbelievably large sound stage with phenomenal imaging and deep accurate bass. I know this is a cliche but I am enjoying and almost rediscovering my entire record collection like it’s new because I’m hearing into recordings like never before. It has also changed the way I’m listening to music because I’m not skipping over as many tracks from a well-known album that I found to be “so-so”. After all, these new dimensions that my stereo is producing are making the recordings sound much more interesting – keeping me focused and interested.
I have PrimaLuna ProLogue three and sevens for my system – I can say that with these speakers connected to them, I am enjoying all types of recordings (from scratchy Charlie Parker recordings to top-notch audiophile recordings). With the last set of speakers, I was finding that it was almost dictating the music I was listening to based on what sounded good – this is no longer the case.
As I have stated before, I am not an expert in all audiophile equipment but I would think that you couldn’t buy production speakers with this sound and quality of components for under $10,000 Canadian. I spent an extra $1300 on high-quality veneer woods and French polish shellac to make the speakers hopefully look as good as they sound. Although you don’t need to spend as much money as I did, I feel that finishing off DIY speakers well is as important as the overall construction and sound. ”
When I had them I found the level of detail extraordinary, but not fatiguing in the slightest. In my setup, I could have used about 1db more bass, but that is a small niggle. I do think they are world-class though.
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