This project was started because circumstances forced my hand.

When I started the Asawari Mk 2 project, I had thought I would build two pairs of these speakers. My Mk 1 project had given me confidence, and a couple of friends had expressed interest that they would pick up the finished speakers if I made them. I was happy.

So I thought -- why design and build one pair at a time? The measurements, designing, optimising, and hand-tuning are the steps which take the most time and energy. The actual physical building is easier. My carpenter and I went ahead and he built four enclosures -- two pairs. I had some left-over pine veneer for one pair, and bought more veneer, American cherry this time, for the second pair. The enclosures turned out looking very good. (You can see photos of the American cherry Asawari Mk 2 here if you scroll down.) I have all the North Creek D25 tweeters I want, and had three pairs of Peerless India 6.5" Kevlar midbass. I needed just one more pair of the midbass units, and I'd be all stocked up for the two pairs of Mk 2.

Then came the bummer. Peerless India 6.5" Kevlar drivers went out of stock. These drivers, as I've described elsewhere, are released into the Indian market when the Bombay based manufacturer gets rid of surplus. When stocks run out, they may run out forever. (Many of the other Peerless India drivers have been available for a very long time, but the Kevlars were a one-off batch, I guess. Too good to be true anyway...) I'm two midbass drivers short.

So now I'm stuck with enough drivers to build one and a half pairs of Mk 2 Asawaris. The other two enclosures, and the D25 tweeters are waiting for the missing pair of Kevlar drivers. When I make speakers, the enclosures are the single costliest parts of the full project. For the Mark 1, the enclosures (labour, parts, and polishing) cost me about 65% of the total project cost. For the Mk 2, I think the percentage will be higher because of better finishing.

I have decided to take a deep breath and make a pair of Asawari Mk 3. These will be exactly identical in all respects to the Mk 2, but will have imported 6.5" midbass drivers which have sort of similar T/S parameters, specially Vas. This is why I said that this version is a reluctant project, forced on me by circumstances. I'm damned if I'm going to let those beautifully finished enclosures go to waste.

The drivers I have ordered are the Vifa PL18, which were available at a deeply discounted price from Madisound (US$60 each, from an initial price of about US$90). Now they're out of stock too. I've ordered just four drivers. If one of them turns out faulty or gets damaged while work is in progress, I'll have to keep aside the other three and order four more of another model. As I was telling someone yesterday, I'm skating too close to the edge, and I'm a fool for doing so. I'm doing it to save money -- I didn't want to put down money for two additional PL18s as "spares" without having the plans for them.

So, for the Mk 3 project, I will not publish any diagrams for enclosure plans -- they will be identical to the Asawari Mk 2, which you can see here. I will only publish details of the Vifa PL18 driver, the crossover design, and the port tuning which I will do for this driver. If I had designed the Mk 3 as a separate design from scratch with the PL18s, then I would have made the enclosures smaller -- their Vas is about two-third of the Peerless India Kevlar drivers.

For all I know, the Mk 3 will sound better than the Mk 2, because of the change of midbass drivers. I'll report what differences I hear.