Is the Dayton RS125 an almost drop in replacement for the expensive ScanSpeak 13M Kevlar? Yes in this case! Read on:
Having burned one of my midtone drivers, a renowned ScanSpeak 13M 8636, which has served me well for many years.
As I have been thinking about making some all brand new speakers full range ribbons) I was not really willing to pay the 200 Euro a new SS unit costs.
Actually I find it a rather steep price no matter what, but it is actually quite good.
But instead I looked at alternatives, well knowing that just changing a driver for something else is not that easy without also changing the filter.
After reading some (I already knew a lot of drivers 😉 ) I chose to try out the Dayton RS125. It has a alu cone and is quite we’ll build, and has gotten some good words on the way from many sides (like ZaphAudio).
Physical size, and at least the sensitivity matches that of the ScanSpeak unit.
I of course changed both left and right side drivers 🙂
The new Dayton driver looks like a million, and seems to be extremely well built. The price is less than 30 Euro, which is almost too good to be true …..
So you would of course expect the new drivers to perform mediocre, compared to the ScanSpeak units.
Well, firstly it is a bit difficult to compare two speakers with days between, relaying on your memory. On the other hand I have had the speakers for some many years that I know their sound, so I think a comparison is on order.
I just changed the units, knowing well that I would have to make measurements, and probably make modifications to the filter.
But putting on some very well known music, I was quite stunned. The sound was less edgy, had a much better defined room, deep and wide, and a lot of clarity and stability in the instruments. The sound did not have the very forward sound of the ScanSpeaks (which has also been a little to much in your face).
The Tweeter is the Dynaudio Esotec D260 
This is the top part of my main speakers. Bass i handled by 2 x 8 inch Peerless woofers with an Xmax of 8 mm!
Damn, this was really good. But I was also somewhat puzzled, how would the measurements look!!
I used HolmImpulse measurements program ( super cool and free measurement application), and was again surprised.
I have always had a 2 db raise in the upper mid with the ScanSpeaks, but now the response was almost flat ….. can you be more lucky? 🙂
The response is in room, so don’t look too much at the bass, but look at the response from 500 and up …. not bad at all 🙂 🙂 🙂
So should you try this if you have a burend 13M Kevlar …. for sure.