Erich, I read your post about having a hard time with parts. I am sorry you are having to deal with that. Just remember that all of us in the DIY community really appreciate everything you do. DIYsoundgroup is an amazing site. Hopefully things will smooth out for you soon.
Any updates on the Apollo 7 MTM's? These haven't been in stock since February. Just wondering if I need to move on to another design.
I saw the HT-12 kits are now available. The HTM-12 kits became available some time last week. . My browser with the Distill.io plugin is monitoring https://www.diysoundgroup.com/home-theater-speaker-kits/home-theater-series/home-theater.html a couple of times a day and alerts me when it changes. Hope this is useful.
1099 pre-orders finally came back! Picked up 3 for my LCR. Good timing because Im getting to the final stages of my HT build
Vortex-15 is available now without crossover parts. It says the crossover parts will be about $55 per speaker so it’s a great deal on these. I just ordered three!!
I ordered 2 Vortex-15 for full range music. I heard the Vortex-12 at a friends and they were very good! Can't wait to hear the 15!
Erich, you mentioned a Vortex-12 possibly in a kit version. Would that possibly happen this year. Also would the Vortex-12 outperform the HTM-12? I really would like to do LCR Titan 818LX and (8) surrounds Vortex-12. The other option is to do (11) HTM-12 or Vortex-12. I currently have all matching Elac Debut 2 DB62 for (7).
@Erich H, is there a mailing list/wait list i can join to get notified when there are Vortex-15 & Volt-8's in stock? i'm hoping to order 3 Vortex-15's & 4 Volt-8's when available
The Vortex-15's were clearanced out last year divided in 2 runs of orders. Those are pretty much gone for good. As for the other kits, inductors are what's causing them to be out of stock. I ordered some inductors way back in September and October of last year, got some, and the rest were back ordered. The delivery dates keep changing each month so there's no way to really know when they'll finally get here. Parts Express is out of their Dayton models and the ERSE models. I did get enough parts in to put some 1099's up on the site later this week.
@Erich H I am wondering if there will be a demand on doing another run of Vortex speakers now that you have plenty of them out there. I would personally buy the Vortex 15" x3 as full price.
I`m curious as well. Now that there are plenty in the wild for people to compare/review, I think they would sell. This time around maybe market them differently and actually do a flat pack. The finished crossovers for my six Vortex-12`s should be here this week. I just finished assembling the cabinets yesterday. Next weekend I`m hoping to sand the enclosures and spray duratex. In the case of the -12, it would be nice to have a high output/quality coax for surround and atmos duty. The -12 can work well in 1 cubic foot sealed enclosures. I ended up going with 1.5 cu ft boxes and tuned to 65 Hz.
The original vortex kits were not inexpensive and from what I understand the price of having those drivers made by eminence went up near if not more then 50% from when they where originally ordered, that's a massive chunk of change if a minimum of 250+ each need to be ordered, like 6 figure territory if both drivers were to get made. By my rough estimation if another run was done and the kits sold at normal price (not the crazy value blowout price) I think they would end up well over $500 each without a flatpack.
That is pretty pricey, ballpark Titan 818LX territory. Do you have any insight into what makes it so expensive? The Eminence 18" in the 818LX kit only sells for $200.75. The Eminence 12" woofer in the HTM-12 kit is $157.99. It`s just interesting when you start comparing, since they come from the same manufacturer.
Matt, Is the $500 with compression driver and crossover included? If so, I would pay for for a pair of Vortex 15s at 1k. To anyone who are curious about these and hesitated when they were on sale - I currently have the HTM12s in my dedicated area and have had B&W and Sierra 2 (RAAL) as previous LCRs. All great speakers but none can do double duty as the Vortex. HTM12s do sound a bit dry for music and the commercial speakers had to be adjusted to get a clear dialogue. To get the same output, you will have to spend 4x from a commercial speaker. For 1k, I would pick these over Kef LS50 coaxial. Don't get me wrong, these aren't for everyone. These are big speakers and will require you to build the boxes. After purchasing a few speaker kits and have compared them to store bought, I prefer to spend my hard earned cash on parts VS someone building, veneering, middle man, etc.
Yeah that would be with the compression driver and crossover, I might be off a little bit with the price as I don't have all the pricing info for the parts and don't know what the packaging and shipping cost. But figure you have a coaxial driver that costs nearly the same as this: https://www.parts-express.com/Eminence-KL3015CX-8-15-High-Power-Coaxial-Woofer-8-Ohm-290-5644 Add a compression driver that costs this much: https://www.parts-express.com/Celestion-CDX1-1730-1-75-Watt-Neo-Compression-Driver-8-Ohm-294-2140 Then add another ~$60+ for crossover parts + PCB (you're at $480 right there) and add all the other various extras and packaging and shipping.
Is there a way to get updated automatically when the 1099's come in stock? Usually check every week or so and seems I missed the latest drop
Matt, how much would a speaker available commercially cost that would be comparable to this? Always curious as to the cost benefit of DIY vs. commercial. I have a pair of these Vortex-15's to build, as well as two pairs of the Vortex-12's.
Any thoughts of general ideas of products like 1099 or Titan back in stock before summer? I am building out my theater and trying to plan for product. I have been checking the website 3 times a day for a few months. I was unavailable for a week or so and 1099 came and went. Now I am just trying to figure out if I am wasting time every day or not sure what to think. Any feedback or direction or if anyone thinks these will be available again or thoughts would help me a ton. Thanks.