Be careful, Murphy's design is intended to sit in a corner... and he fails to discuss the effect of his baffle shape upon the response. I can't believe he gets the response shown with the baffle set up as shown in the 2nd section, unless he is using the baffle step to EQ the speakers, or using the EQ to undo the baffle step effect... also that design will be prone to a lot of diffraction at higher freqs... and I see no mention of the room lift due to the corner placement - at least it isn't clear to me from a fast read of the section cited and the first two sections...
brsanko, there are plusses and minuses to rear loaded horns...
hifilessnomad - you have two pretty ok widish range midrange drivers. They need to be placed in a properly sized cabinet - probably a sealed box. A good guesstimate would be 1/9th or 1/10th the volume of a Bose 901 box! I'd try to make them have a wide baffle, as wide as possible within reason, so that the response you get will be smooth and go as low as possible.
Then you need a tweeter and a good woofer... that makes a decent 3-way speaker.
freddi - try the same driver measured in the middle of a full or 1/2 sheet of plywood or similar... that might get you some usable results...
_-_-bear
brsanko, there are plusses and minuses to rear loaded horns...
hifilessnomad - you have two pretty ok widish range midrange drivers. They need to be placed in a properly sized cabinet - probably a sealed box. A good guesstimate would be 1/9th or 1/10th the volume of a Bose 901 box! I'd try to make them have a wide baffle, as wide as possible within reason, so that the response you get will be smooth and go as low as possible.
Then you need a tweeter and a good woofer... that makes a decent 3-way speaker.
freddi - try the same driver measured in the middle of a full or 1/2 sheet of plywood or similar... that might get you some usable results...
_-_-bear
looks like this speaker is going to be a 3 way. I am still wondering what is the deal with these woofers at 5 ohms? if i can get them to work with out a plate amp. thanks alot for the help so far. attached is the pictures of the woofers. this was a DCM center channel speaker with 1 tweeter. let me know your thoughts and once again thank you for the feedback.
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BOSE MODEL 901 ACTIVE EQUALIZER ORIGINAL SERIES I WOOD | eBay
Could this be the eq I need to make my drivers full range?
Could this be the eq I need to make my drivers full range?
Hmmm... that 5 ohm woofer is odd. I bet it was an OEM unit designed to work with a particular system in mind. No big deal really as you would just adjust the crossover component values accordingly. Using the plate amp will give you a couple of advantages however.
1. It is really easy to adjust crossover frequency and output levels to balance the system just the way you want it.
2. Components for a passive crossover start getting really big when you start getting below 500Hz crossover.
1. It is really easy to adjust crossover frequency and output levels to balance the system just the way you want it.
2. Components for a passive crossover start getting really big when you start getting below 500Hz crossover.
ummm... in practical terms, no the Bose equalizer will not work for you.
Yes, it will make the speaker "full range" but you will have no headroom using only one driver per channel. That means not enough SPL available.
Regardless of what drivers you may already have in hand, and depending on your budget there are likely ways to go that will give you more certain results. I think you may be looking for more certainty?
Otoh, if you want to experiment, there is no harm in going forward - BUT for the cost of the Bose EQ you can likely buy enough of those Aura drivers from Parts Express to make a speaker that does not need that sort of EQ (very little, if any is what I mean).
Or you can buy a kit from Parts Express, or other sources, or just the drivers and make ur own cabinets to save a few $$...
That's how it looks from here...
_-_-bear
Yes, it will make the speaker "full range" but you will have no headroom using only one driver per channel. That means not enough SPL available.
Regardless of what drivers you may already have in hand, and depending on your budget there are likely ways to go that will give you more certain results. I think you may be looking for more certainty?
Otoh, if you want to experiment, there is no harm in going forward - BUT for the cost of the Bose EQ you can likely buy enough of those Aura drivers from Parts Express to make a speaker that does not need that sort of EQ (very little, if any is what I mean).
Or you can buy a kit from Parts Express, or other sources, or just the drivers and make ur own cabinets to save a few $$...
That's how it looks from here...
_-_-bear
Reminds me of the Bose 101
Seems he was to build a speaker that sounds good and actually has a Bose midrange? A simple cap and low Fs tweeter with a variable padding resistor would be much easier, more effective and one less thing to break outside. Add a woofer to it for "bose with a kick" since a single 4.5 inch Bose won't give decent bass output by itself.
Good luck!
Seems he was to build a speaker that sounds good and actually has a Bose midrange? A simple cap and low Fs tweeter with a variable padding resistor would be much easier, more effective and one less thing to break outside. Add a woofer to it for "bose with a kick" since a single 4.5 inch Bose won't give decent bass output by itself.
Good luck!
bear can you please post the link to the drivers that you are talking about?
I am thinking about just calling it a loss with all the speakers i have. You are right, i want certainty! by time i buy a speaker tester for the t/s parameters ($99), plate amp ($34 & up), crossovers more woofers and the tweeters. I might as well get a fairly priced full rage with possibly a woofer for my lows and call it a day. budget...I would really hate the have more than $100 in drivers stolen from me, so i think $100 should be my budget on drivers.
-Gus
I am thinking about just calling it a loss with all the speakers i have. You are right, i want certainty! by time i buy a speaker tester for the t/s parameters ($99), plate amp ($34 & up), crossovers more woofers and the tweeters. I might as well get a fairly priced full rage with possibly a woofer for my lows and call it a day. budget...I would really hate the have more than $100 in drivers stolen from me, so i think $100 should be my budget on drivers.
-Gus
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Ok, I just looked at the PE site - looks like the closeouts on those Aura drivers are sold out, as they are not listed currently. 
But you might look at their kits - the Dayton brand is theirs, and offers good quality in general. As I said before if you are not terribly concerned with beauty in cabinetry, you can just buy the drivers to a kit and make ur own cabinet... save a few $$ that way.
Of course you can also find playable and decent 3-way speakers on craigslist locally, quite often...
Sorry to find the Aura drivers are sold out.
But PE quite often has nice closeouts, but you have to pull the trigger when you see it, or they are gone...
_-_-bear
But you might look at their kits - the Dayton brand is theirs, and offers good quality in general. As I said before if you are not terribly concerned with beauty in cabinetry, you can just buy the drivers to a kit and make ur own cabinet... save a few $$ that way.
Of course you can also find playable and decent 3-way speakers on craigslist locally, quite often...
Sorry to find the Aura drivers are sold out.
But PE quite often has nice closeouts, but you have to pull the trigger when you see it, or they are gone...
_-_-bear
The last pic he showed was of the 6.5" woofers from a center channel he wants to use for bass. Let's hope he has the 18 Bose drivers so the answer to his question about the EQ is yes.
Madisound has them
6" woofers in either 8 or 4 ohms for $11.50 each or $9 for four or more. The 4 ohm versions look really good on the charts, throw a 1" dome tweeter on it with a simple cap crossed at 7 KHz and done. The Vifa dome with a small wave guide should mate up well with them.
Aurasound NS6-255-8A Paper Cone Woofer - 8 ohm: Madisound Speaker Store
Vifa BC25SC06-04 1" Textile Dome Tweeter: Madisound Speaker Store
The price has jumped--such is the fun with neodymium tweeters. Two woofers, a cap, resistor and a pair of tweeters with shipping should be around $80. If you use the 8 ohm versions, a simple coil for a 0.5 BSC woofer is a nice option. $36 for four woofers is a good deal.
6" woofers in either 8 or 4 ohms for $11.50 each or $9 for four or more. The 4 ohm versions look really good on the charts, throw a 1" dome tweeter on it with a simple cap crossed at 7 KHz and done. The Vifa dome with a small wave guide should mate up well with them.
Aurasound NS6-255-8A Paper Cone Woofer - 8 ohm: Madisound Speaker Store
Vifa BC25SC06-04 1" Textile Dome Tweeter: Madisound Speaker Store
The price has jumped--such is the fun with neodymium tweeters. Two woofers, a cap, resistor and a pair of tweeters with shipping should be around $80. If you use the 8 ohm versions, a simple coil for a 0.5 BSC woofer is a nice option. $36 for four woofers is a good deal.
Yeah but PE had the 5.25" for about $3.00 each... that is a fairly good difference.
At $3.00 each (or less) I would suggest buying 24 drivers, and making a line array.
Cal he only has TWO (2) of the Bose drivers, afaik, so that is why I said the Blose EQ will not be a practical solution!
So again, to be clear, if you want to use small drivers (6" or less) you want a LOT of them, and they need to be cheap if ur on a tight budget.
If you want to use few(er) drivers then you want larger drivers. The first and foremost design issue for any speaker system (although for those DIYers who are experienced, it is not often mentioned as it is assumed) is going to be SPL (output).
You want output, you want surface area, so you want a big driver or many small ones.
Outside space "eats" sound, so you want something that will give you the desired effect. I suggest looking at PE closeout section for a good 15" or 12" woofer with highish 1w/1m SPL specs... the lowest Fs you can find (less than 35Hz to start), and a Qt of ~.35 - .45 (magic alignment values), then slam that in a box with a volume equal to between 1/2 VAS and VAS - ported or not as you wish. Then add a mid or just a good tweeter and you have sound. Alternately you can look for 2 x 12" or 2 x 10" per channel, but those drivers tend to have higher Fs (resonant frequency) than do the larger drivers.
Alternately, look at the kits they are already selling, as I said, and see if you can afford the drivers and build some boxes urself...
This is a way to get a working basic speaker going... flatness of response and the details are frankly beyond your skill level at present, but this recipe will get you a speaker that works pretty well, and gets you started on speaker building.
If you want lows you have to have surface area, and a low resonant frequency matched to the volume of the box (or it will have a higher IN BOX resonance), or else a sealed box with drivers that are EQ's flat AND have sufficient power handling and Xmax to produce low bass (not all do) - this EQ's method is BOSE's method.
Ok?
Otherwise look for some decent 3way speakers on craigslist maybe with blown tweeters, buy them cheap (you get boxes) and replace the blown tweeters/drivers... or maybe even look for PA stuff cheap or with blown drivers (especially big boxes, maybe even horns...)
Ur not going to get a "big sound" or bass from two or four 6" drivers in most cases...
_-_-bear
At $3.00 each (or less) I would suggest buying 24 drivers, and making a line array.
Cal he only has TWO (2) of the Bose drivers, afaik, so that is why I said the Blose EQ will not be a practical solution!
So again, to be clear, if you want to use small drivers (6" or less) you want a LOT of them, and they need to be cheap if ur on a tight budget.
If you want to use few(er) drivers then you want larger drivers. The first and foremost design issue for any speaker system (although for those DIYers who are experienced, it is not often mentioned as it is assumed) is going to be SPL (output).
You want output, you want surface area, so you want a big driver or many small ones.
Outside space "eats" sound, so you want something that will give you the desired effect. I suggest looking at PE closeout section for a good 15" or 12" woofer with highish 1w/1m SPL specs... the lowest Fs you can find (less than 35Hz to start), and a Qt of ~.35 - .45 (magic alignment values), then slam that in a box with a volume equal to between 1/2 VAS and VAS - ported or not as you wish. Then add a mid or just a good tweeter and you have sound. Alternately you can look for 2 x 12" or 2 x 10" per channel, but those drivers tend to have higher Fs (resonant frequency) than do the larger drivers.
Alternately, look at the kits they are already selling, as I said, and see if you can afford the drivers and build some boxes urself...
This is a way to get a working basic speaker going... flatness of response and the details are frankly beyond your skill level at present, but this recipe will get you a speaker that works pretty well, and gets you started on speaker building.
If you want lows you have to have surface area, and a low resonant frequency matched to the volume of the box (or it will have a higher IN BOX resonance), or else a sealed box with drivers that are EQ's flat AND have sufficient power handling and Xmax to produce low bass (not all do) - this EQ's method is BOSE's method.
Ok?
Otherwise look for some decent 3way speakers on craigslist maybe with blown tweeters, buy them cheap (you get boxes) and replace the blown tweeters/drivers... or maybe even look for PA stuff cheap or with blown drivers (especially big boxes, maybe even horns...)
Ur not going to get a "big sound" or bass from two or four 6" drivers in most cases...
_-_-bear
Or you could buy a hundred of these:
JAMO HP2422 2" x 3-1/2" Shielded Mini Speaker 12 Ohm
make a tall line array (keep some aside for repairs)
They are 2" high each, so you'd need 24 to go 48" high, but you want to go higher than 4 ft high, more like 6-7ft... so that's more like 36 per side... since they are 12 ohms they will work nicely in an array as you can parallel a large number before running back in series to get the impedance back up... yes they will need some EQ on the bottom, and they may need some EQ on the top... and you will need an amp of some power to do this, if you want to play loud, but you will need that no matter what the speaker you build, short of a full horn system...
_-_-
JAMO HP2422 2" x 3-1/2" Shielded Mini Speaker 12 Ohm
make a tall line array (keep some aside for repairs)
They are 2" high each, so you'd need 24 to go 48" high, but you want to go higher than 4 ft high, more like 6-7ft... so that's more like 36 per side... since they are 12 ohms they will work nicely in an array as you can parallel a large number before running back in series to get the impedance back up... yes they will need some EQ on the bottom, and they may need some EQ on the top... and you will need an amp of some power to do this, if you want to play loud, but you will need that no matter what the speaker you build, short of a full horn system...
_-_-
I think that I will start by building a pair of these and see what what happens.
Speaker Projects Gallery,Speaker Design Goals, Project Materials, Enclosure Assembly, Speaker Project Photos and More, Submitted By Parts Express Customers.
I can get all the parts/ directions and learn as i go. I never realized how important crossovers & eqs contribute to speaker building. I think this will help me out with that.
The craigslist thing is a really good idea and I found something, but it was huge, lol. I started thinking about buying them and building a different enclosure with the woofer mounted on the side, but it would go back to the TS parameters. Then i am back to square one.
Speaker Projects Gallery,Speaker Design Goals, Project Materials, Enclosure Assembly, Speaker Project Photos and More, Submitted By Parts Express Customers.
I can get all the parts/ directions and learn as i go. I never realized how important crossovers & eqs contribute to speaker building. I think this will help me out with that.
The craigslist thing is a really good idea and I found something, but it was huge, lol. I started thinking about buying them and building a different enclosure with the woofer mounted on the side, but it would go back to the TS parameters. Then i am back to square one.
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