It was three or four years before the introduction of the M2 that I saw a pair of 2450SL drivers on 2332 horns in an eBay listing and thought, "That could be the start of a DMS-1 build." Now, years later, the project is finally completed, except for some final tweaks such as new internal wiring and SpeakONs to replace the old binding posts.
No surprise that completing the project was only possible with information found on Lansing Heritage and from assistance in various forms provided by such Lansing Heritage stalwarts as Dave M, Guido, Greg Timbers, subwoof (aka overtweet), speakerdave, and sebackman. (Apologies to those whom I may have omitted to mention!)
In brief. . .
— The cabinets are original, early DMS-1 cabs (serial #003), recently acquired from subwoof.
— The woofers are not 1401ND, but 1400Pro cores reconed as 1400ND with aftermarket cone kits acquired by The Speaker Exchange. Are they identical to the original JBL kits? I've never had the opportunity to compare the two, but I can't complain about their performance.
— As mentioned above, the horns are the 2332 used in the DMS-1. The compression drivers are not the 2450SL-A, but the much more common 2450SL, the only difference being, if I understand correctly, that the SL-A diaphragms have both acquaplas treatment and the "diamond" stiffening ribs, while the SL diaphragms lack the latter.
— For speaker controllers, no final conclusions as yet. I also acquired from subwoof one of his SMC24 analogue units, which is presently with a local tech for testing and refurbishing. I started out using the "DMS-1A" preset on an NOS JBL DSC260A, which had sat sealed in its shipping box since it was manufactured in 2002. Lots of drive and energy with this speaker controller, but rather crude sounding. Next I programmed the JBL-published settings for the DSC280 into a dbx DriveRack 4820 that I have used in other speaker projects. The improvement was striking—and not just to my years—and that's what I'm using now. Will see how that compares to the speakers' performance with the refurbished SMC24 analogue controller once I get it back from service.
— Will eventually embark on formal measurements using the REW microphone and software, which may lead to some additional tweaking for my particular room,and will probably replace the internal hook-up wire and binding posts (prefer SpeakONs). There's also the question of stands, as they need to be higher than I've presently got them. So far I like them better than my D2430K/M2 waveguide/2216Nd-1 "hybrids," but on those I still have a ways to go on optimizing the EQ settings, so no final opinions at this point.
Thanks again to all of you who made this project possible! Rgds, Joel.
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