Kit in Australia

[rabbitz]

Bummer Matt. Get yourself better.

It's surprising how quickly you adapt. I have a recent medical condition that robbed me of fine motor skills in the fingers but I found other ways to do things.

 

[mattcalf]

Thanks rabbitz,
I've somewhat embraced the challenge and I'm going to work my left hand as much as possible to work on things such as strength, dexterity and more gross co-ordination.

 

[Moondog55]

Howz it going Matt
Healed and back into it yet, or still in the plaster cast?

 

[mattcalf]

Still in plaster, comes off next Wednesday. Very keen to get these speakers done, I can't wait to hear them.

 

[rabbitz]

Just don't go doing some Evel Knievel things when the plaster comes off.

 

[sparehead1]

thought I'd chime in to say I'm one of the people who has found this thread very helpful. In fact there is a madisound RB2 kit sat in my room now thanks to this thread! That said I'm thinking about following this thread some more and grabbing those Audax drivers for some floor standers.

Sorry to hear about your wrist matt, by now you have your plaster off? Hope your feeling better and are going well with your new ambidextrous skills. I'll look forward to hearing how this project progress's and looking at the pictures

 

[Moondog55]

Well I'm gratified that the thread was followed and some other people found it worth while.

Do you intend making your speakers 2-way or are you going the whole hog and finding a suitable woofer or subwoofer to compliment the mids and gain that bottom octave or two??
Sealed or ported

Regards
Ted

 

[mattcalf]

Plaster is off and hopefully head down to bunnings this weekend as dad is unemployed and needs something to pass the time he now has on his hands.

The drivers have been staring at my in my room for what seems like forever, will update when I have one.

I got my xrays from the fracture clinic. Quite impressive if I do say so myself. Thanks Spare, the wrist is very stiff but it's awesome to have my plaster off!

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...12139955963_1000817634_30272781_2704440_n.jpg
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...12139915962_1000817634_30272780_2100315_n.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...12139875961_1000817634_30272779_1990360_n.jpg

First one is what it currently looks like.

 

[sparehead1]

Well I'm gratified that the thread was followed and some other people found it worth while.

Do you intend making your speakers 2-way or are you going the whole hog and finding a suitable woofer or subwoofer to compliment the mids and gain that bottom octave or two??
Sealed or ported

Regards
Ted

Well I was just thinking I'd follow the advice given in this thread since I dont know how to design my own speakers but go with a 25-35 litre as suggested by ralph waters to get more bass. A 3 way would be nice but again I currently know jack about speaker design and would be completly lost trying to design 3 way crossover. Sealed or ported I'm not fussed, what ever works best for the driver's. I should probably stop there as I dont know at what point this will go from being an extended discussion on matt's speakers to a thread hijack. I suppose if keep it to a 3 way floor stand version then it is a logical progression from the 2 way's matt is building?

 

[sparehead1]

sweet jebus matt those second 2 look painful!

sorry to hear about your dad, hope the two of you have some good farther son time with the speaker building.

 

[mattcalf]

hope the two of you have some good farther son time with the speaker building.

Haha yeah that's the idea

sweet jebus matt those second 2 look painful!

It wasn't too fun, good to look back on though.

 

[Moondog55]

Matt ! Hah! My wife looked at those X-rays and said ( OH ! CH***** ) her dad was a doctor and she can read X-ray plates.

I hope your dad gets work soon, I know just how it feels.

Sparehead, if there is a logical progression from Matts build it would probably be either a 2.5-way or a good powered subwoofer.

I'm not sure how much more bass you would get from the extra woofer rolled off early, and because I know nothing about building XOs I'd just jump in and built a 3-way and then spend 3 -> 6 months tweaking until it sounded right.


My initial thought on seeing those drivers was as a high power mid in a 3-way need a really good 15 or12inch or 2 good 10 inch woofers tho

 

[rabbitz]

Yuk! Bones are bleh.

There is a suggested floorstander using these drivers in this post.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1836975#post1836975

A 2.5 way using these drivers would be getting too large at 54 litres for minimal return of extension. 3-ways are a nightmare even for the experienced unless you use a proven design.

Better off doing something like this if considering these drivers as easier and better result (without the DEQX EQ system).
http://www.legendspeakers.com.au/products/BigReds.html

It works similar to a 2.5 way with the little SEAS/Audax using the passive crossover on top and a woofer section on the bottom run via a plate amp. The SB Acoustics 10" SB29NRX75-6 would be ideal for this purpose.

 

[sparehead1]

Yuk! Bones are bleh.

There is a suggested floorstander using these drivers in this post.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1836975#post1836975

A 2.5 way using these drivers would be getting too large at 54 litres for minimal return of extension. 3-ways are a nightmare even for the experienced unless you use a proven design.

Better off doing something like this if considering these drivers as easier and better result (without the DEQX EQ system).
http://www.legendspeakers.com.au/products/BigReds.html

It works similar to a 2.5 way with the little SEAS/Audax using the passive crossover on top and a woofer section on the bottom run via a plate amp. The SB Acoustics 10" SB29NRX75-6 would be ideal for this purpose.

I take it the Bigred route would be to make 2 way's as per this thread then just add woofer sections later? Whats involved with making a plate amp? Would gainclones suit? 1 for the SEAS/Audax and 1 for the woofer? That sounds like a good way to make these 2 ways very future proof!

 

[Moondog55]

Can't answer on Gainclones, but for plate amps there are a few choices, the OAudio seem to have good specs on paper and the American maker has a sale on atm

http://oaudio.com/500W_SUBAMP.html

Rod Elliots ESP
http://sound.westhost.com/pcb/pp68.htm

Rod also has gainclone kits


I'd be using a plate amp ( I'm lazy and aware of my limitations)

 

[sparehead1]

thanks moondog and rabbitz. An interesting upgrade for sure, 4x 10" woofers and 2x plate amps to go with you'd not see much change from $1000

Are those Audax driver's that much of a bargain for us aussies that they would warrent such grunty companions?

 

[Moondog55]

I confess to liking big deep bass, so what I would do is probably way overkill.

I haven't heard the combination we are helping Matt with, but going on Ralphs description and the driver specs I would say "yes"

"IF" I was buying the OAudio plate amps I would start with 2 cheaper car subs.

I would be using 2 woofers/subs Front and back or firing to both sides

 

[rabbitz]

I take it the Bigred route would be to make 2 way's as per this thread then just add woofer sections later? Whats involved with making a plate amp? Would gainclones suit? 1 for the SEAS/Audax and 1 for the woofer? That sounds like a good way to make these 2 ways very future proof!

You run the top section via a ChipAmp or whatever choice suits and the woofers are run via plate amps such as in this link.
http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AA0507&keywords=subwoofer&form=KEYWORD

The advantage of using these amps or similar is you have the ability to alter the crossover point and gain level to suit the top section. One 10" woofer pre side would be ample unless you are a real basshead. Choice of woofers is very important especially if used mainly for music. I find there is a large difference between a car woofer, sub woofer and woofer (designed for a 3-way stereo music). I only use a 8" Vifa M22WR per side which is more than enough for me but I'm not a basshead even though I was a bass player.

Building a sub amp with the gain, crossover, power amp etc is a real pain as I have done it in the past and works out more expensive than a couple of plate amps. I'd never do it again.

The 2-way floorstanders without the 10" woofers would be a very satisfying speaker but depends on the level of bass and extension that you like. If you like to thump and shake the house, then it wouldn't do but to carry the rhythm and soul of music, they would work fine. You really have to look at the intended application, the room, the music and tastes to make a good choice. Too much bass in the wrong application works against you but in the right application can add a lot.

 

[Moondog55]

Rabbitz I like that Vifa, the M22 is a great woofer, I have a pair here, but they seem to lack the low frequency authority of a good 15inch driver.

I am now however starting to have WAF issues in the new house and may have to settle for much less than what I consider perfection
The main thing wrong with the Jaycar plate amp is the lack of line level outputs for those who have either separate pre//power amps or an integrated with pre-out power-in

 

[sparehead1]

I think the ported floorstanders that rabbitz suggested sound like a goer.

Woo! my rudd monies and gainclone kit have turned up! Think I'll grab those Audax/SEAS driver's now