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<blockquote data-quote="Simon Coffin" data-source="post: 25473" data-attributes="member: 388">Probably time I contributedGents,Now that my name has been tossed around a few times due to the design I&nbsp; developed and posted on the old ProSoundWeb forum a few years ago, its&nbsp; probably time for me to add my thoughts to this design effort.What I learned from the experience of designing and building 4 wedges&nbsp; that I still think are very good performers and get stinking loud, is&nbsp; that I wouldn&#039;t do it again.&nbsp; Here is why.As a Weekend Warrior, or what is now known as a Junior Varsity player - a&nbsp; term I actually like much better, I need to be careful how I spend my&nbsp; limited budget.&nbsp; We all do.&nbsp; After much thinking and learning and more&nbsp; than a few expensive false starts, I&#039;ve adopted a philosophy of keeping&nbsp; inventory low and usage high.&nbsp; In accordance with that philosophy I&nbsp; bought multipurpose cabinets for the simple reason that I can use them&nbsp; on every show, small or large.&nbsp; I now own 8 EV Qrx112s and have used&nbsp; them as small tops, as wedges and as fills.&nbsp; Over a sub they make a very&nbsp; nice compact system.&nbsp; There are better speakers out there, but that is&nbsp; not the point.&nbsp; I invested about $8000 in the Qrxs and have used them&nbsp; hundreds of times and each time they earn me money.&nbsp; Keeping my&nbsp; inventory low and usage high, more than anything else I&#039;ve done, has&nbsp; made the difference in my company making a real, albeit modest, profit&nbsp; every year for the last 4 years or being an expensive hobby.So what happened to the wedges I made?&nbsp; In order to repay the initial&nbsp; investment which was also in the $8000 neighborhood I needed to charge&nbsp; more for them, but I can only use them as a wedge so their Utility for&nbsp; me is limited, and my customers are not willing to or cannot pay extra&nbsp; for better performance.&nbsp; In fairness, why should they when a cheaper&nbsp; speaker performs well enough for their needs?&nbsp; The end result is that&nbsp; the wedges get used two or three times a year and the ROI calculation&nbsp; stays firmly in the red.I describe this particular learning experience to outline how important&nbsp; it is, especially in the Junior Varsity arena, to ensure that Usability&nbsp; has been very carefully considered.&nbsp; While I understand the temptation&nbsp; to make a kickass wedge and see a performer&#039;s eyes light up when they&nbsp; realize they can hear themselves loud and clear, been there-done that,&nbsp; in the end its all about what earns me money.With all that said, if there are enough people here who can justify a&nbsp; dedicated wedge in their particular markets and with their particular&nbsp; customers, then certainly march on.&nbsp; But I suspect that the majority of&nbsp; us are better served by a multipurpose design that performs similarly to&nbsp; an EV Qrx or JBL Srx, that weighs a bit less, that is a tad smaller and&nbsp; that a reasonably capable DIY&#039;er can build in his garage.&nbsp; I personally&nbsp; like the shape of the Spectr Audio SCO122 but I&#039;d modify it to have two&nbsp; angles.&nbsp; Do some clever thinking about where to place the cable&nbsp; connectors and handles, choose a good sounding and light neo driver that&nbsp; can handle decent amounts of power, find a source for well made and&nbsp; robust grills, have a smart guy gen up the DSP settings and a passive&nbsp; crossover and you may have a real winner.&nbsp;&nbsp; CiaoSimon</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Simon Coffin, post: 25473, member: 388"] Probably time I contributed Gents, Now that my name has been tossed around a few times due to the design I developed and posted on the old ProSoundWeb forum a few years ago, its probably time for me to add my thoughts to this design effort. What I learned from the experience of designing and building 4 wedges that I still think are very good performers and get stinking loud, is that I wouldn't do it again. Here is why. As a Weekend Warrior, or what is now known as a Junior Varsity player - a term I actually like much better, I need to be careful how I spend my limited budget. We all do. After much thinking and learning and more than a few expensive false starts, I've adopted a philosophy of keeping inventory low and usage high. In accordance with that philosophy I bought multipurpose cabinets for the simple reason that I can use them on every show, small or large. I now own 8 EV Qrx112s and have used them as small tops, as wedges and as fills. Over a sub they make a very nice compact system. There are better speakers out there, but that is not the point. I invested about $8000 in the Qrxs and have used them hundreds of times and each time they earn me money. Keeping my inventory low and usage high, more than anything else I've done, has made the difference in my company making a real, albeit modest, profit every year for the last 4 years or being an expensive hobby. So what happened to the wedges I made? In order to repay the initial investment which was also in the $8000 neighborhood I needed to charge more for them, but I can only use them as a wedge so their Utility for me is limited, and my customers are not willing to or cannot pay extra for better performance. In fairness, why should they when a cheaper speaker performs well enough for their needs? The end result is that the wedges get used two or three times a year and the ROI calculation stays firmly in the red. I describe this particular learning experience to outline how important it is, especially in the Junior Varsity arena, to ensure that Usability has been very carefully considered. While I understand the temptation to make a kickass wedge and see a performer's eyes light up when they realize they can hear themselves loud and clear, been there-done that, in the end its all about what earns me money. With all that said, if there are enough people here who can justify a dedicated wedge in their particular markets and with their particular customers, then certainly march on. But I suspect that the majority of us are better served by a multipurpose design that performs similarly to an EV Qrx or JBL Srx, that weighs a bit less, that is a tad smaller and that a reasonably capable DIY'er can build in his garage. I personally like the shape of the Spectr Audio SCO122 but I'd modify it to have two angles. Do some clever thinking about where to place the cable connectors and handles, choose a good sounding and light neo driver that can handle decent amounts of power, find a source for well made and robust grills, have a smart guy gen up the DSP settings and a passive crossover and you may have a real winner. Ciao Simon [/QUOTE]

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