Scaena install

[thomask]

I had set up Scaena 3.2 about 6 months ago with help of one of WBFmember.

Now it is a hybrid driving Main tower from 290hz up and Altec A7 basshorn 290hz down.

Two Scaena 18 inch subwoofers are crossed from 56hz and down.

But it sounds marvelous with deep and wide soundstage with no hint of distortion and unlimited dynamics.

 

[caesar]

I had set up Scaena 3.2 about 6 months ago with help of one of WBFmember.

Now it is a hybrid driving Main tower from 290hz up and Altec A7 basshorn 290hz down.

Two Scaena 18 inch subwoofers are crossed from 56hz and down.

But it sounds marvelous with deep and wide soundstage with no hint of distortion and unlimited dynamics.

Brillian stuff, Thomas.

and what a shame that the taste of the audiophile herd has shifted toward hifi drek like Wilson. Too bad that Great brands , like Scaena, that were championed by Harry Pearson, are now doomed to obscurity. Thanks for bringing attention to this wonderful brand.

Enjoy in great health!

 

[thomask]

Brillian stuff, Thomas.

and what a shame that the taste of the audiophile herd has shifted toward hifi drek like Wilson. Too bad that Great brands , like Scaena, that were championed by Harry Pearson, are now doomed to obscurity. Thanks for bringing attention to this wonderful brand.

Enjoy in great health!

Thanks a lot for your kind word!

Scaena deserve more attention.

It is a really fantastic speaker.

I happened to get used one after watching Youtube video.

 

[Scaena1]

Thanks a lot for your kind word!

Scaena deserve more attention.

It is a really fantastic speaker.

I happened to get used one after watching Youtube video.

Thomas,

I hope it was THIS video that was the catalyst for your purchase.

Regards,

Alan

 

[thomask]

Thomas,

I hope it was THIS video that was the catalyst for your purchase.

Regards,

Alan

Yes you are right.

I corrected it.

I may live with your speaker for my life.

For reference I had lived with Lansche 4.1 from 2006 to 2021 since I had enjoyed pristine treble out of plasma tweeter.

But Scaena bumped it due to clear sound with no distortion, wide and deep soundstage.

Thomas

 

[marty]

Thomas, I'm confused. I lived with Nearfield Pipedream 18's for many years.That speaker, and as I understand it's successor, the Scaena, was capable of nearly full range sound with their integral subwoofers. I don't think I am familiar with anyone using another speaker such as an Altec horn to drive 56-290 Hz with the Scaena's. Is this your own creation or is it Scaena's current recommended set-up? Very interesting in any case!

Oh yeah Caesar - I sold my Pipedreams and moved to that hi-fi drek (as you called it) brand known as Wilson years ago, first with Alexandrias and more recently to the Alexx V, which is even superior drek than the Alexandrias! Somehow, they seem to work just fine!

 

[thomask]

Thomas, I'm confused. I lived with Nearfield Pipedream 18's for many years.That speaker, and as I understand it's successor, the Scaena, was capable of nearly full range sound with their integral subwoofers. I don't think I am familiar with anyone using another speaker such as an Altec horn to drive 56-290 Hz with the Scaena's. Is this your own creation or is it Scaena's current recommended set-up? Very interesting in any case!

Oh yeah Caesar - I sold my Pipedreams and moved to that hi-fi drek (as you called it) brand known as Wilson years ago, first with Alexandrias and more recently to the Alexx V, which is even superior drek than the Alexandrias! Somehow, they seem to work just fine!

Yes that is my creation.

The first nice thing is the my 48 Watt SET amplifier will have more headroom to drive main tower from 290hz up instead of 120 hz up as recommended by Scaena.

Another thing is that Altec basshorn give more powerful midbass than Scaena.

Thus it is working well in my room.

Mine is rare example of Modern and Vintage hybrid.

 

[marty]

Yes that is my creation.

The first nice thing is the my 48 Watt SET amplifier will have more headroom to drive main tower from 290hz up instead of 120 hz up as recommended by Scaena.

Another thing is that Altec basshorn give more powerful midbass than Scaena.

Thus it is working well in my room.

Mine is rare example of Modern and Vintage hybrid.

Very interesting. Would you care to share how you control the frequency distribution of the drivers? Put more simply, what crossover do you use for your unique array to integrate them seamlessly?

 

[thomask]

Very interesting. Would you care to share how you control the frequency distribution of the drivers? Put more simply, what crossover do you use for your unique array to integrate them seamlessly?

 

[thomask]

Very interesting. Would you care to share how you control the frequency distribution of the drivers? Put more simply, what crossover do you use for your unique array to integrate them seamlessly?

I use Pap 'C1 or Accuphase F25 crossovers.

Both works well. Pap C1 give more crisp sound while F25 give more balanced sound.

Atec basshorn with Alnico magnet sounds fast which mix well with Scaena main tower.

 

[rblnr]

Glad you landed on Scaenas and are happy. I find their presentation more realistic, immediate and engaging than any box speakers I've heard.

 

[thomask]

Glad you landed on Scaenas and are happy. I find their presentation more realistic, immediate and engaging than any box speakers I've heard.

I agree with your opinion that the presentation is realistic with little distortion using 12 midrange drivers enclosed in separate enclosures.

 

[Lappy27]

Hi all, I’m new to this great forum.

I recently bought a used pair of Scaena 3.2 with the 18 inches subwoofers. They are both driven by a Crown XLS 2502 with the crossover set at 75 Hz. The kit is amazing and family and friends were blown away by the demo I made on Christmas night. My only concern is the fact that the Crown is near clipping at really loud level with massive bass content.

I just bought a used Crown XTI 4002 to try with the subwoofers in stereo. So they will get 1200 watts instead of 775 with the 2502. But more interesting is the much more complete DSP in the 4002.

Did anyone know the specs of the subs regarding power input? I know that a good rule of thumb is to have twice the power on your amp than the specs of the speakers. I just want to give the subwoofers all the power they require without the risk of damaging them.

Also, what is the lower frequency range of the mains? With good processing, I could dial a good crossover point to blend the subwoofers perfectly with the mains.

Thank you.

 

[Scaena1]

Hi all, I’m new to this great forum.

I recently bought a used pair of Scaena 3.2 with the 18 inches subwoofers. They are both driven by a Crown XLS 2502 with the crossover set at 75 Hz. The kit is amazing and family and friends were blown away by the demo I made on Christmas night. My only concern is the fact that the Crown is near clipping at really loud level with massive bass content.

I just bought a used Crown XTI 4002 to try with the subwoofers in stereo. So they will get 1200 watts instead of 775 with the 2502. But more interesting is the much more complete DSP in the 4002.

Did anyone know the specs of the subs regarding power input? I know that a good rule of thumb is to have twice the power on your amp than the specs of the speakers. I just want to give the subwoofers all the power they require without the risk of damaging them.

Also, what is the lower frequency range of the mains? With good processing, I could dial a good crossover point to blend the subwoofers perfectly with the mains.

Thank you.

Before we discontinued the 18 inch woofers, we had used two drivers over the first ten years of production with handling capacities of at least 1000 wpc. We discontinued their use approximately 7 years ago after developing a custom 12 inch driver that blends far better with the towers and is faster and more accurate. The towers roll off at around 90Hz and the 18 inch woofers left a hole in certain installations where we wanted a more consistent and higher quality output capability from the woofers in the 80-120Hz range, particularly after we substituted the current production true ribbon tweeters for the old planar ribbons. We could occasionally run the 18’s up to 110Hz in some rooms. You may want to start there and back down until you reach an acceptable blend.

If you send me a pic of your room I may have some set up suggestions, although it sounds like you have already achieved excellent results.

You can reply here or email me at alan@scaena.com if I can be of some assistance.


Alan Eichenbaum
SCAENA LOUDSPEAKERS

 

[thomask]

Before we discontinued the 18 inch woofers, we had used two drivers over the first ten years of production with handling capacities of at least 1000 wpc. We discontinued their use approximately 7 years ago after developing a custom 12 inch driver that blends far better with the towers and is faster and more accurate. The towers roll off at around 90Hz and the 18 inch woofers left a hole in certain installations where we wanted a more consistent and higher quality output capability from the woofers in the 80-120Hz range, particularly after we substituted the current production true ribbon tweeters for the old planar ribbons. We could occasionally run the 18’s up to 110Hz in some rooms. You may want to start there and back down until you reach an acceptable blend.

If you send me a pic of your room I may have some set up suggestions, although it sounds like you have already achieved excellent results.

You can reply here or email me at alan@scaena.com if I can be of some assistance.


Alan Eichenbaum
SCAENA LOUDSPEAKERS

It may be wise to have Altec 15 inch woofers between main towers and 18 inch subwoofers.

I run 18 inch subwoofers from 56 hz and down.

 

[Lappy27]

Before we discontinued the 18 inch woofers, we had used two drivers over the first ten years of production with handling capacities of at least 1000 wpc. We discontinued their use approximately 7 years ago after developing a custom 12 inch driver that blends far better with the towers and is faster and more accurate. The towers roll off at around 90Hz and the 18 inch woofers left a hole in certain installations where we wanted a more consistent and higher quality output capability from the woofers in the 80-120Hz range, particularly after we substituted the current production true ribbon tweeters for the old planar ribbons. We could occasionally run the 18’s up to 110Hz in some rooms. You may want to start there and back down until you reach an acceptable blend.

If you send me a pic of your room I may have some set up suggestions, although it sounds like you have already achieved excellent results.

You can reply here or email me at alan@scaena.com if I can be of some assistance.


Alan Eichenbaum
SCAENA LOUDSPEAKERS

Thank you M. Eichenbaum,

I started with 112 Hz but it was way to high, I dialed it down step by step until it sounded satisfying and well balanced. 75 Hz seems the best. 80 Hz is a bit hard and make some low male voices sounded too thick.

With the Crown 4002, I should be able to use higher crossover point and lowered the output of the 75 Hz to 90 Hz range to make a smoother transition with the mains.

On most music material so far, the hole between 75 Hz and 90 Hz is not really noticeable but if I can fill it with good results it will be perfect. Your creation sounded absolutely incredible in my living room.

My listening position is an equilateral triangle of about 8.5 feet.

Attached are pictures of the room.

Thank you.

 

[Lappy27]

It may be wise to have Altec 15 inch woofers between main towers and 18 inch subwoofers.

I run 18 inch subwoofers from 56 hz and down.

It’s a possibility but will make the setup more complex.

Another option is to buy two smaller amplified subwoofers. 13-16 inches. I love SVS Ultra subwoofers for their endless tweaking with the app. I already have a SVS SB16 Ultra. I put it for sale lately but maybe I should wait in case I want to try it with the Scaena towers. If it’s much better than the original 18’s I could consider buying another SB16 Ultra or two SB4000 with 13.5 inches drivers. I had the 4000 before the 16 and it was faster and blended better with my now sold Focal Electra 1038. I switched for the 16 for HT duties.

My experiment with the upcoming Crown XTI 4002 and his superior DSP will dictate the path of my journey.

One thing for sure, these Scaena are keepers for sure. Perfect bass or not.

 

[Scaena1]

Thank you M. Eichenbaum,

I started with 112 Hz but it was way to high, I dialed it down step by step until it sounded satisfying and well balanced. 75 Hz seems the best. 80 Hz is a bit hard and make some low male voices sounded too thick.

With the Crown 4002, I should be able to use higher crossover point and lowered the output of the 75 Hz to 90 Hz range to make a smoother transition with the mains.

On most music material so far, the hole between 75 Hz and 90 Hz is not really noticeable but if I can fill it with good results it will be perfect. Your creation sounded absolutely incredible in my living room.

My listening position is an equilateral triangle of about 8.5 feet.

Attached are pictures of the room.

Thank you.

You have the one of a kind pair with the hand painted black and white midrange enclosures.

We used that exact pair at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in 2008 to great response -sonically and visually.

Preview: Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Part 4 - The Absolute Sound

Preview: Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Part 4 -

www.theabsolutesound.com

Your set up dimensions are almost exactly the same as mine in my room. I’m at 8 feet 6 inches equilateral but I prefer the woofers outside the towers, at least in my room and most of our set ups.It looks like you are space limited width wise.I hope you get many years of listening pleasure from them.

Regards,

Alan

 

[Lappy27]

You have the one of a kind pair with the hand painted black and white midrange enclosures.

We used that exact pair at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in 2008 to great response -sonically and visually.

Preview: Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Part 4 - The Absolute Sound

Preview: Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Part 4 -

www.theabsolutesound.com

Your set up dimensions are almost exactly the same as mine in my room. I’m at 8 feet 6 inches equilateral but I prefer the woofers outside the towers, at least in my room and most of our set ups.It looks like you are space limited width wise.I hope you get many years of listening pleasure from them.

Regards,

Alan

Really? So, you are saying that these are the only pair of Scaena hand painted black and white from Salvatore Principe? So, they would basically be a collector item? It’s kind of cool!

 

[Scaena1]

Correct!