Seas Prestige FA22RCZ (H1597-08) 8" Fullrange

I put these babies in a 2.5 cuft box with 4 in ports, and they sound really good in my set up.

Installed these in 2.8 cu. ft. vented cabinets and using them with a 7 watt SET amp .
Initially I used the smaller filter circuit recommended by Seas and after a few months of listening lowered the resistor strength by almost half .
After a year of listening to them toed in they are now placed against the wall with no toe-in, and balance/bass is better with a pleasing image and sound stage.
Construction is very good and sound is balanced and really enjoyable to listen to over the last 2 years .
Lean, but accurate bass and zero fatigue . Midrange reproduction which is important to me is smooth. I listen to Jazz, Rock, Folk and Classic
Very different sound from the Klipsch MTM pair of speakers I have in the basement . Completely different animal.
As usual there was great service from Madisound

Recently I purchased a pair of these speakers and have to say I'm very impressed. I was looking for a 8" one-way fullrange speaker so that I could construct what might be considered a DIY oversized version of the famous Auratone studio monitors. Call it a set of Supertones if you will. My intention was to build a nearfield monitor that could be used for recording purposes as well as for general listening. Like the Auratones, I wanted to build this creation in a sealed box to maximize clarity and reduce the flubbiness and one note bass effect that I've experienced with some of even the best ported bass reflex speakers.

Of all the current fullrange offerings I've reviewed, this speaker was one of the few that was designed for use in a sealed box. Fantastic I thought. Finally there was a speaker designer somewhere in the world that thought like me -- for better or for worse. My gripe with fullrange speakers has always been that most require a ported box to trick the speaker into producing reasonable bass, albeit compromised in some manner. In other words, most require a substantial box significantly more complicated than the small drivers they are excited with. Folded horns, ad nauseum if you know what I'm getting at.

I also like the fact that the FA22RCZ is an 8" driver rather then being the more common 6.5" size. My experience is that larger drivers just sound bigger compared to smaller fullrangers. Also I wanted a driver that could be played flat without the usual treble rise associated with most other fullrangers. In this respect Seas provided info on constructing a simple low pass filter using a 1.5mH inductor paralleled with a 15 ohm resistor in series with the hot side of the speaker line to flatten the frequency response. For this, I used a Mills non-inductive resistor which worked well.

The sealed box I used was a no-brainer. I had an old vintage KLH model 23 2-way speaker that sounded lousy with the original drivers but had an excellent cabinet and was just what I needed for this project. Best of all they had the required 2 cubic feet of internal air space to let the Seas 8" do its thing. I simply sealed the tweeter hole with a wooden puck and installed the Seas Fullrange Driver in the woofer hole, with some minor modification. I also filled the box halfway with fiberglass batting to dampen the inside of the box.

The result is very very nice. First off, the low pass filter is almost mandatory, especially if you use these for recoding monitors like I do. These drivers by themselves are on the bright side. No, the treble won't peal the paint off your walls, but it may annoy you if played loud for extensive periods of time when they beam directly at you.

But this is NOT A PROBLEM. Simply install the filter described by Seas and these speakers will become noticeably flatter with their listening comfort greatly enhanced. Simply add a toggle switch to short out the filter to allow the Seas to play with or without filter and you get the best of both worlds. I generally use the filtered position 80% of the time, but it's nice to be able to kick up the treble when needed by hitting the switch.

The acid test for any set of speakers is to pose the question: How long can they be listened to without becoming annoying or fatiguing to your ears. These speakers pass this test superbly and can be listened to for hours at moderately high volumes, of course with the treble filter engaged. With the filter, the balance between mids, bass, and treble is extremely good. So is clarity. There is nothing wrong or annoying with this speaker that I can tell and I'm picky about my speakers. Even though it is in a sealed box, the bass plays with just the right amount of damping without a hint of flubbiness. There is absolutely no straining to hear low notes. And the lows that come through have some authority to them believe it or not, despite having no bass port in the enclosure.

Finally, forget the nonsense that some other reviewers on various internet sites have said that this speaker is best for Jazz. This speaker can ROCK. Of course, it rocks best with the filter engaged. And if you like Jazz and other acoustic music, switch the filter out. That way you can tailor your sound and listen the way you want to.

In sum, a very nice set of drivers.