Ive been wanting to build a pair of big 3 ways for a while now, and have searched information and drivers so much that nothing seems to be sinking in anymore. Thinking that getting hands on and having something to listen to and tweak may be the next logical step.
Been searching and am thinking of using 1xHiVi F8 (or M8a), along with 4xfactory buyout 2ohm 5" drivers from Parts Express wired in series (5" Concave Paper Cone Woofer Speaker 2 Ohm 299-289) , and 1xHiVi Q1R Tweeter. I'm looking for a system with a reasonably good sound, don't want anything to stand out too far, and I guess my biggest concern is the 4x mid's. They seem to be getting good reviews on the website (would they publish the bad ones?), but am I asking for trouble having so many wired in series? Anything else that stands out as being a problem?
Been searching and am thinking of using 1xHiVi F8 (or M8a), along with 4xfactory buyout 2ohm 5" drivers from Parts Express wired in series (5" Concave Paper Cone Woofer Speaker 2 Ohm 299-289) , and 1xHiVi Q1R Tweeter. I'm looking for a system with a reasonably good sound, don't want anything to stand out too far, and I guess my biggest concern is the 4x mid's. They seem to be getting good reviews on the website (would they publish the bad ones?), but am I asking for trouble having so many wired in series? Anything else that stands out as being a problem?
Using 4 mid range drivers is a step in the wrong direction from using 1 good mid-range driver. More is not always better. Mixing semi-line and point source for different frequency ranges will create more problems than it will solve IMO.
Unless you can find it somewhere else, I see no response or impedance data published for those cheap concave drivers. This is necessary data to design a reasonable crossover. The most important thing I have learned since joining Diyaudio is that crossovers are not something you can buy or just build on a whim from a crossover component calculator and expect really good results. Though sometimes you might get lucky, or your ears simply might not know the difference so it doesn't matter, but if you're going through the trouble, learning more about crossover design and simulation would be very beneficial.
Product reviews on partsexpress are mostly useless because most of the people posting them have about the same amount of experience in this as you do. (no offense intended, just trying to be honest). There are a lot of haphazard mash-up designs made by PE customers that sound "good" to their owners for reasons not related to reproductive accuracy. I personally don't have ears for differentiating between pretty good and really good speakers, but some people do. I can tell when things are "pretty bad" usually. If you're used to listening to sandwich systems with flashy lights and gaudy looking speaker boxes with drivers all over the place, then you probably will have a hard time making something that sounds any worse than that. If you own or have heard a respectable set of speakers, you may be disappointed by your first DIY attempt and should be ready to embrace that possibility. As long as you are going to go to all the effort, might as well take the opportunity to learn what you can do to improve your odds of having a respectable outcome.
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Now... Lets complicate things and muddy things up as much as we can eh?...
What will the speakers be used for? (mostly music? mostly movies? a mix?) what size room? What average listening distance and height? How loud do you like to listen? What genre? Will you be implementing a subwoofer? How much clean amplification do you have? What is the square root of 37? What box size/shape/type do you want aesthetically? (or what will fit?)
Unless you can find it somewhere else, I see no response or impedance data published for those cheap concave drivers. This is necessary data to design a reasonable crossover. The most important thing I have learned since joining Diyaudio is that crossovers are not something you can buy or just build on a whim from a crossover component calculator and expect really good results. Though sometimes you might get lucky, or your ears simply might not know the difference so it doesn't matter, but if you're going through the trouble, learning more about crossover design and simulation would be very beneficial.
Product reviews on partsexpress are mostly useless because most of the people posting them have about the same amount of experience in this as you do. (no offense intended, just trying to be honest). There are a lot of haphazard mash-up designs made by PE customers that sound "good" to their owners for reasons not related to reproductive accuracy. I personally don't have ears for differentiating between pretty good and really good speakers, but some people do. I can tell when things are "pretty bad" usually. If you're used to listening to sandwich systems with flashy lights and gaudy looking speaker boxes with drivers all over the place, then you probably will have a hard time making something that sounds any worse than that. If you own or have heard a respectable set of speakers, you may be disappointed by your first DIY attempt and should be ready to embrace that possibility. As long as you are going to go to all the effort, might as well take the opportunity to learn what you can do to improve your odds of having a respectable outcome.
--------
Now... Lets complicate things and muddy things up as much as we can eh?...
What will the speakers be used for? (mostly music? mostly movies? a mix?) what size room? What average listening distance and height? How loud do you like to listen? What genre? Will you be implementing a subwoofer? How much clean amplification do you have? What is the square root of 37? What box size/shape/type do you want aesthetically? (or what will fit?)
Thanks for the replies. There is a lot of good advice in here. Thinking now that I will go for a proven design for the 1st build. Like the look of the HiVi 1.618 (DIY 3-Way Hi-Vi Tower Loudspeaker Project - 1.618). Is there much to be gained from having the 2xmids in there, or can it work with one? (with crossover adjustments). Any other suggestions? System will mostly be for music, with some movies added in. The room is quite big, around 5-6m by 12m with 2m ceiling. I like it loud, wife not so loud. Genre is a bit hard to nail down, anywhere from real hard metal with loads of double kicks through to UK bass heavy trip hop and nearly everything in between. I'll tackle a sub once I have the 2 main speakers sorted, decent amount of amp but cant tell exactly how much as I'm 10 hrs away from home at the moment for work and will be for a while yet. This is a project to keep me amused as well as being a replacement for the crap speakers I already have. I want a decent sized box, but 1300 high, 600 deep & 400 wide would be as big as I would like to go. 6.08276 is the square root of 37!
Might also build a bit of an experimental box, something that can be chopped and changed a bit, just to help with the learning process.
Might also build a bit of an experimental box, something that can be chopped and changed a bit, just to help with the learning process.
Hi,
Take a look at this : https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/tarkus
They won't need a sub for music, for most people.
not serious enough ? consider : http://www.zaphaudio.com/SB12.3/
rgds, sreten.
Take a look at this : https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/tarkus
They won't need a sub for music, for most people.
not serious enough ? consider : http://www.zaphaudio.com/SB12.3/
rgds, sreten.
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