Seas A26 - Anyone heard them?


Has anyone built or heard this Seas kit design? If you built it, did you follow the Seas cabinet plans exactly or buy the Madisound cabinets? I'm on a search for "old school" big baffle speakers and this design has intrigued me for years
greg7
I have a pair of A26s with the Madisound-supplied cabinets (actually they’re built by Source Technologies out of CT) I deviated from the original design some by lining the insides with No-Rez material from GR Research, and used brass machine screws and inserts instead of the supplied wood screws for the driver mounting. I chose the mid-level Mundorf caps per the advice of Madisound and find the 15ohm resistors sound the most balanced to my ears.

For the price they are excellent speakers. The tweeters are some of the best available at any price and that’s backed up by measurements:
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/large_domes.htm

Where they’re most lacking is bass depth. Definitely need a sub with them but otherwise they’re a killer value. With No-Rez and an additional inch of foam between the woofer and rear cabinet wall, the midrange near rivals that of Spendor and Harbeth. But also keep in mind I didn’t mount the woofers with wood screws, and IME, driver mounting method plays a significant role in a speaker’s overall sound quality.

I have the Seas A26 and had the Harbeth shl5plus side by side.
The Harbeth mids are quite a bit better resolution wise, but the shl5plus treble grated on me, while the A26 is smooth in the treble. the SHL5plus also have more punchy bass and goes lower, but while the A26 bass is not as punchy, I felt the shl5plus bass seem to impart its own character to everything, while the A26 seem a bit more neutral, yet less punchy and goes definitely less low (no sub FREQ)

The A26 are fun, not clinical at all and musical, but it lacks the ultimate resolution both in terms of midrange details and imaging capabilities. The A26 can also go pretty loud without sounding compressed

Id say they are a good bargain but the relative lack of midrange detail vs Harbeth mids make the Seas A26 the ultimate secondary speaker. I'll move on to ATC active or back to Harbeth next, or something else i prefer for my main system.