In my estimation, part of the friction in this thread is arising simply because there are two vastly different perspectives at work here and both have some good points.
There are some guys, I’ll call them the “old guard” for lack of a better term, who knew Zilch for many years. Zilch only joined AVS relatively recently, so most of those interactions were on boards such as lansingheritage, audiokarma, and others, and many folks around here did not know him.
Zilch was an experimentalist and JBL fan who designed a large number speakers, helped others with their designs, and provided countless measurements and insights. He was part of a group of folks who believed that high-sensitivity speakers, done correctly, don’t have to sound like the crappy p.a. stuff that many folks shun.
Some members of the old guard, such as Wayne Parham and Dr. Geddes in the DIY community and several JBL/Harman researchers in the commercial world, had designs that demonstrated that high sensitivity, controlled-directivity speakers had something going for them that other speakers just didn’t have. The only downside was that they were still relatively expensive even as kits.
In his inexhaustible experimentation and measurement mode, Zilch discovered that a little piece of plastic produced as a replacement item for some JBL speakers could help produce some nice sounds. Some would call it a waveguide. Other would call it a horn. Some would say it is compromised. Zilch said it performed wonderfully and cost $9 (yes, nine bucks) from JBL pro parts. But what to do with it?
After much searching around, it was discovered that a low-cost compression driver from Selenium mated to the waveguide performed well for a high-sensitivity, controlled-directivity, top-end and the Econowave Project saga began.
Since a low cost “top end” was now available, the challenge was to find a low cost, but similarly well performing, woofer and enclosure to match. Because of the relatively high cost of good high sensitivity woofers (the JBL 2226H was $333 at the time), Zilch suggested just recycling whatever woofer and enclosure one could find second hand and fixing the Econowave to it via a flexible crossover that could match the sensitivity of the top end to the low end.
The concept was a huge hit. For the first time, folks with limited financial resources were able to cobble together systems that would otherwise cost several thousand dollars. One needs only look to the 15,000+ posts in the Econowave thread at audiokarma or any of the various related threads on all the other audio boards in order to see what Z helped to unleash with the project that he would be too humble to say he was leading.
One evolution of Econowave included the use of a low-cost horn from QSC pro parts. That horn was low cost, provided good performance, and was a reasonable alternative to the JBL. And given that parts always seemed to be being “discontinued”, it is nice to have backup plans. Well, the QSC horn was “discontinued” at least for DIY purposes and that is where this thread began.
The original idea for this thread was simply to “rally” folks to keep the QSC horn available, but somehow through the contributions of many folks and the obvious demand as evidenced by the Econowave Project, a new waveguide was developed—the SEOS. This is where the “new guard” comes into the picture.
Most of the new guard know that Erich has done most of the coordinating and all of the financing of the development of the SEOS waveguide. He has made it available at a very competitive price. More than this, he has helped to coordinate and finance the development of many flat pack kits. He has worked with various designers, suppliers, machine shops, shipping companies, etc. in order to bring to market a family of high-sensitivity, controlled-directivity, speakers. Most would admit that he is doing a great job.
The new guard sees this as a universally positive development that has benefited and will continue to benefit DIY folks. The new guard sees designs and kits that were not available before and at prices that are hard to fathom. To the new guard, Erich is a hero...no, Erich is a super-hero. Yet there is another perspective.
This perspective asks where did all the interest in high-sensitivity, controlled-directivity speakers come from? Is there any technical aspect of the SEOS design that is attributable to Erich? Why does it seem like Erich is getting all the credit for bringing something to market that is built on the research and contributions of countless other folks over many years on other audio boards? To some of the old guard, the answers to these questions stand in stark contrast to the popularity of Erich on AVS. And, even though DIYSoundGroup is not a business at this point, all the traffic, talk, and goodwill that comes from the SEOS project does have real potential business value.
So in the latest tension between these two perspectives, Erich on one hand wishing to help attribute some of the origin of the SEOS project to Zilch named a model in his honor and offered to make a donation in the direction that he believes Z would have wished. On the other hand, based on the tone of the email snippet that was put up, the old guard took this as just another co-opt of Z and all the Econowave devotees to try to benefit from our late friend’s name.
So, while there isn’t a clear way to resolve all of this and bring everybody together, my hope is that a little more appreciation for each group of the other’s perspective might help make things go a little more smoothly as we all continue onward.
I could measure it with an Audyssey mic or my Radioshack meter but those are not very accurate.
