Eaw la 325 help needed.

Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Alan Sledzieski said:
Cast, rigid, something that doesn't flex, that's a lot more precision, then stamped, + or - .125. Complete bolted together assembly would be nice, along with a perfectly centered gasket.

I'm bringing them up to spec, x overs were reworked, next horns. 1 step at a time I guess.

I'm up to about $1600 total invested in them as of now so it doesn't hurt to bad. Still like to slap the people that had there hands in the earllier repairs.
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If that were cast it would have cracked and snapped off rather than bending. I think the point here is that speakers should not be dropped...
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Alan Sledzieski said:
I a/b'ed the boxs on the high end with pink noise. The 6'' are now equal volume after the repairs. The 1 horn is still 4 db down, I took it apart and it seems burned.

Will these work?

View attachment 3440
Diaphragm for B&C DE75-8, EAW LA325 - DM-5001 CD-5001 | eBay
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Would you be willing to invest in a new replacement diaphram? That will tell you. It sounds as if this is your only set of LA325s. The only remaining issues I see are that you don't have a "reference" speaker to compare to, nor a proper measurement system up and going and ready to use. I would venture to say though that the "louder" tweeter driver is probably working just fine.
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Silas Pradetto said:
If that were cast it would have cracked and snapped off rather than bending. I think the point here is that speakers should not be dropped...
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I doubt it, I never saw a cast basket break on a transducer, or they could support the magnet / casting like jbl does with wood bracing for there horn. I agree they should not be dropped, but accidents happen, in the case of these box's I believe it was just plain old stupid owners, along with a stamped bracket that is very flimsy.
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Chris Davis said:
Would you be willing to invest in a new replacement diaphram? That will tell you. It sounds as if this is your only set of LA325s. The only remaining issues I see are that you don't have a "reference" speaker to compare to, nor a proper measurement system up and going and ready to use. I would venture to say though that the "louder" tweeter driver is probably working just fine.
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Am I willing? Yes I am, and at the same time I have no choice. I'll be or the phone today to Eaw for some pricing on a replacement diaphram. Also will look into the ones on ebay.

My friend has 10 325's that I can use for comparison need be, I really don't need one yet to compare. I think running pink noise through the box's, along with a db meter has been good enough for finding my problems, 4 db is 4 db, if its measured on a radio shack db meter or a couple thousand dollars worth of equipment. Plus this is very audible you can hear the difference instantly.

The louder horned box sounds more balanced just by ear for sure, the box with the bad horn, well you can here the midrange is to loud, do to a lack of high end, very unbalanced sound.

I'll get them right eventually,,

Again thanks for all the help as usual to everyone here.
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Alan Sledzieski said:
Also will look into the ones on ebay.
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Mike Pyle had competitive EAW recone kit and driver prices last I checked. More generally, the experience you're having is good reason to avoid buying used speakers except from people you actually know aren't hacks. For that reason, I'll generally buy used stuff from other real sound co's or respected forum members, but avoid buying speakers on ebay.
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Marlow Wilson said:
Mike Pyle had competitive EAW recone kit and driver prices last I checked. More generally, the experience you're having is good reason to avoid buying used speakers except from people you actually know aren't hacks. For that reason, I'll generally buy used stuff from other real sound co's or respected forum members, but avoid buying speakers on ebay.
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Thanks for the info on the recone kits.

I got hold of eaw, they wanted $185 for a bc diaphragm, Us speakers wanted $125 for the same part so I got it through Al. Don't want to take a chance on the aftermarket part at $80

I know you take a chance on buying used equipment, but the individual was decent about it. I paid $1800 for the pair, then he gave me $350 back, I have $125 in the x overs, another $135 for the diaphragm, so I'm doing all right. $10 in rustoleum satin black for a paint job. I have had many bad items through ebay, but the ebay protection really works, I have never lost out yet, just some headaches. Biggest one was a crest 9200 I bought, it came in a garbage bage half sticking out a cardboard box, with one channel out put of 475w and the other 1380w. I won the case, I shipped it back, he refused to take it back, the amp came back to me and I was refunded the full price from Ebay, and they said keep the amp.
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Got the new diaphragm, I bought the original bc one. After comparing the known bc to the existing diaphragms, it turns out there are aftermarket ones in the box's. The aftermarket are real hot after 10k, so iI will get one more bc. The volume did come up with the new diaphragm.
The 325's sound great, I can't believe how crappy the high end is on a Jbl. Junk But Loud is a true statement.
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Alan Sledzieski said:
Got the new diaphragm, I bought the original bc one. After comparing the known bc to the existing diaphragms, it turns out there are aftermarket ones in the box's. The aftermarket are real hot after 10k, so iI will get one more bc. The volume did come up with the new diaphragm.
The 325's sound great, I can't believe how crappy the high end is on a Jbl. Junk But Loud is a true statement.
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Which JBL driver, and on what horn? The same HF driver is used in the original EON as the VerTec 4887 and 4888, and the VerTec HF sounds VERY different from the EON.

Also, if your standard of comparison is the JRX line, you need to keep in the same price range to make comparisons. The LA series is in a far different category.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I wasn't and am not still a JBL "fanboy." Before our purchase of VerTec 4889 (right when V4 processing was released) I was terribly disappointed in most of the VerTec rigs I'd mixed on or heard from other providers, and one of my first system tech "triumphs" was taming the HF and MF of the HLA system. Couldn't do anything about the LF because of the way JBL handled the fiberglass... But what I learned was that most JBL users AT THAT TIME either blindly accepted the processing that wasn't particularly well thought (and to be fair, was before we got more than 2 EQ filters per pass band output), or they wildly rolled their own settings that were worse (particularly off-axis) than JBLs. I also learned that the raw transducer can't know or compensate for the manner in which it is implemented by the end user. And the VerTec? The Version 4 processing changed my mind about that rig... it's very good, and the components didn't change.

An EAW KF850e story: We purchased 4 of them a few months back, and my boss was in a hurry to verify that all the drivers worked and that the condition was "as described" by the seller. He made a couple of intelligent guesses as to crossover frequencies and hooked up an analog crossover to drive with. They sounded terrible without the time alignment and multiple EQs per pass band the 850s required. He was very disappointed in the acoustic performance and called me to the shop to figure out why. I used a modern processor and started with EAWs specified EQ and delays and things cleaned up significantly. A one-hour session with Smaart and some tweakestry improved the sonic performance even more. My boss was ready to blame EAW, the components, and the phase of the moon on the witch's sabbath... but the issues were with the user's implementation, not the hardware.

And that brings me back to your original problems with the LA325s you bought. You were ready to pillory EAW, castigate them publically and declare everything they do as rubbish... when the issues were squarely and solely rooted in changes, modifications, and non-factory parts use done by the previous owner. Caveat lector.
 
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Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Tim,

I have 4 jbl sr 4733a's that I have been using, so they are comparable as far as price range.

The 325's sound great, running them bi amped right now.

I am still somewhat concerned on some of the eaw quality of the components in the box. The spade connectors are still poor, the stamped steel bracket from china is poor, I'm just not a eminence fan either, and there are quite a few different 6'' mids for this box, along with revisions to the 15's. So consistency, or consistent sound may be hard to achieve between different years of these boxs?? One thing with Jbl making there own parts is, it was consistent, didn't sound great but,,,,

In the long run they sound great so that's all that counts I guess. I'm floored how the high end sounds, so smooth, no harshness. The 325's don't make you feel like your in a tunnel like the jbl's
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Alan Sledzieski said:
What are the issues with arraying these 325's anyways. I have heard some people say they don't work well arrayed?
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The LA325 has no pattern control to speak of, and what beam pattern it does have is wide enough that 2 boxes side by side is far wider coverage than is required or desired in almost all applications.

You state you are running the boxes biamped. What processing are you using?
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Alan Sledzieski said:
Right now I'm using a drive rack pa. Along with subs. I have a crest 9200 on the 15's, and a 8200 on the high end.
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Are you using some variant on EAW's recommended processing (http://www.eaw.com/info/EAW/Processor_Settings/Current_Products/LA_PROCS_rev2.pdf)? Or did you roll your own?
(EAW provides settings for the Driverack 480, and their own processor. The Driverack PA is not the same. See http://www.campuspa.com/downloads/TwoProcessors.pdf)
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Rob Timmerman said:
Are you using some variant on EAW's recommended processing (http://www.eaw.com/info/EAW/Processor_Settings/Current_Products/LA_PROCS_rev2.pdf)? Or did you roll your own?
(EAW provides settings for the Driverack 480, and their own processor. The Driverack PA is not the same. See http://www.campuspa.com/downloads/TwoProcessors.pdf)
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Glad you asked that, Yes I, rolled my own. I'm going up to 90 hz on the subs, then 90 to 1.25kh on the mids, then 1.25kh up on the high end. I know the driverack pa is probably considered pretty much junk but its working for me for now.

Still trying to figure out eaw's overlap and reasoning for crossing the 6'' so low.

I would actually like to go 3 way with the 325 and not use the internal x over, maybe someday.
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Alan Sledzieski said:
Glad you asked that, Yes I, rolled my own. I'm going up to 90 hz on the subs, then 90 to 1.25kh on the mids, then 1.25kh up on the high end. I know the driverack pa is probably considered pretty much junk but its working for me for now.

Still trying to figure out eaw's overlap and reasoning for crossing the 6'' so low.

I would actually like to go 3 way with the 325 and not use the internal x over, maybe someday.
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Alan,
If you read my earlier post regarding the overlapping crossover, that should help explain it a little bit for you...
Another aid for explanation can be found in one of our earlier documents here: http://www.eaw.com/Info/EAW/Technical_Papers/DSP_setting_fundamentals.pdf
If you are running the Low's up to 1.25 kHz, you are making the dual 15" LF drivers work harder than they should at frequencies that they shouldn't, and by starting the MF/HF section at 1.25 kHz, you are completely missing the MF drivers and only allowing signal to the HF driver. To which i am surprised that they even sound usable?
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Alan Sledzieski said:
I know the driverack pa is probably considered pretty much junk but its working for me for now.
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Alan, I would say the DriveRack PA is "limited". However, if you're just using it as a crossover you're using about 1/4 of its abilities. Rolling your own crossover is like piloting an aircraft in the dark. Given proper instruments, training, and understanding of technical flight it is done all the time. I fear, however, that you're going to end up in the ocean. At the very least you're wasting a lot of potential output and probably getting a funny polar pattern with your current settings.

You have a good box there, if you don't want to use EAW's settings I suggest you at least hire someone to build good ones for you. If you want to take a weekend drive out here I'm sure someone would be willing to spend a little time showing you the right way to do this.
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Bennett Prescott said:
Alan, I would say the DriveRack PA is "limited". However, if you're just using it as a crossover you're using about 1/4 of its abilities. Rolling your own crossover is like piloting an aircraft in the dark. Given proper instruments, training, and understanding of technical flight it is done all the time. I fear, however, that you're going to end up in the ocean. At the very least you're wasting a lot of potential output and probably getting a funny polar pattern with your current settings.

You have a good box there, if you don't want to use EAW's settings I suggest you at least hire someone to build good ones for you. If you want to take a weekend drive out here I'm sure someone would be willing to spend a little time showing you the right way to do this.
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He doesn't even need to travel that far ;)
 
Re: Eaw la 325 help needed.

Bennett Prescott said:
Alan, I would say the DriveRack PA is "limited". However, if you're just using it as a crossover you're using about 1/4 of its abilities. Rolling your own crossover is like piloting an aircraft in the dark. Given proper instruments, training, and understanding of technical flight it is done all the time. I fear, however, that you're going to end up in the ocean. At the very least you're wasting a lot of potential output and probably getting a funny polar pattern with your current settings.

You have a good box there, if you don't want to use EAW's settings I suggest you at least hire someone to build good ones for you. If you want to take a weekend drive out here I'm sure someone would be willing to spend a little time showing you the right way to do this.
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Alan, just to echo Bennetts comments, when I bought my Kf730's - I thought I had made a huge mistake ( I was processing it with a DR480 with the EAW settings)... until I heard the same rig with a set MX8750, and then again on the UX, it was a WHOLE different story. Get an EAW processor, and input the correct settings in, and hold on to your britches.
 
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