Plans for a medium sized tower speaker - $ 500-700 budget - huge room

[steve71]

I want to build a pair of tower speakers for my great room. They need to look *really* good, so I'm thinking just a straight up rectangular box, that I can do a wrap around wood veneer on.

The space is large enough to house a brontosaurus (who knew they were fictional!) but these need to look good more than anything else. It's just for background music, but I do turn it up a bit on occasions. No movies etc.

I'd love to find a design with a high efficiency ribbon tweeter paired to a 8" mid and maybe a side firing 10 or 12" pro driver, but I don't want to design this myself. I have a cone & dome 89 db/w/m speaker I'm using right now that does OK, so I can live with that type of speaker if I can't find a slim profile hi-eff design.

Extension down to 40hz is OK. These will be placed right up against the rear wall. The room is a very irregular shape, so room modes shouldn't be much of an issue.

So... I know Zaph has some well regarded designs, but there must be a lot more out there...

Budget of $500-700 for drivers and crossover (I can solder). Wood veneer and MDF is not included in this price.

 

[dumptruck]

Why is efficiency important for mostly background music? Are we talking super tiny amps? Speedster TMM seems to fit the bill better than what you are describing, otherwise: way more slim, still with lots of bass and a ribbon, and the low end of the budget. Wouldn't go super loud, but will go louder than you'd want to talk over.

 

[steve71]

I want to use a 40-50 w/ch tube amp (purely for looks).

Efficiency would be good for the times I want to turn it up a bit.

The loft/dinning/living room are all open to one another and the distances can be pretty large. When I'm in the kitchen, the speakers are ~40 feet away.

The current speakers are TMM with 6" drivers. They are not that great when turned up. I know I can't expect anything too amazing with the size constraints, but an extra 6db would be nice.

I will check out your suggestions, thanks!

 

[dumptruck]

Oh, that IS pretty big and maybe I'll back off that suggestion a little. At 40' and 40W, I'd expect to get roughly the sensitivity rating of the speakers as your peak output. I was thinking more like 25' at most.

 

[steve71]

Actually, I just broke out the tape measure and it's 50ft from the kitchen sink to the speakers. Ceilings are 24ft tall .

Of course the lounge room is a lot closer to the speakers, depending on where you're sitting. Dinning room table is still about 30-40ft away depending on where you're sitting at the table.

Those speedy TMM's look great, but I think I need bigger "M"'s

 

[Inductor]

You have the 3-WAY - Eton 11-581/50 HEX + Eton 7-360 + Eon ER4, Air Motion Transformer, not for your budget but with nice drivers.
Strassacker: Speaker Building, Components

 

[steve71]

Thanks inductor, those look nice. They remind me of my old B&W 801's sII.

But 86db/w/m is a little on the power hungry side.

 

[steve71]

I also should mention, that I live in the USA and would prefer to source stuff here if possible.

I fly the Aussie flag, because... well I'm an Aussie...

 

[dumptruck]

Oh, I believed the Aussie flag . ~90dB is the best you'll do in a modest enclosure size with bass, but your current speakers may well be crapping out before your amp. since you're in the U.S, how about the SEOS stuff? The semi-constant directivity wouldn't hurt in a big room. You could pick a smaller kit off diysoundgroup.com and build active subs into the base, or you could go a bit wider and lower efficiency and do: https://www.circuitlab.com/circuit/bwq7a8/seos12-designer12-v2/
(loads of bass there, and not expensive at all)

 

[steve71]

I love horns! But it took me two years to talk the wife into letting me put antlers over the fireplace.

I have a double garage stacked full of altec gear, but that is for another project...

Back to the little box speakers . Horns are too wide and old school looking for the decor. I need something that looks more like the speedsters.

I guess I could do 10" wide, 16" deep and 36" high at most.

My wife has suffered my ugly, giant, unfinished speaker projects for way too long!

I guess if I can't have hi-eff I can have me some bass? Something with a 10-12" side firing woofer, with a 5-6" mid driver?

 

[dumptruck]

Like I said, put an active sub in the base (typical of commercial speakers in the format you asking for anyway): Fusion-8 Alchemy - Waveguide Speaker Kits DIY Sound Group

Wait... 36"H? C'mon...

 

[steve71]

Hmmm....

Those are some ugly drivers... grills would have to stay on, but that's OK.

It's only 10" wide so that would be OK. Like you said, I could do an active subs on the bottom.

Ya got me thinkn'

 

[Moondog55]

Hi Steve
Considering the size of the warehouse you are trying to fill with sound the size you give is a very small speaker.

Personally I like 8inch mids ( I have a thing about old Japanese stuff) but if I was using a 200mm mid I would want a pair of 300mm bass drivers Which could be side firing

 

[PeteMcK]

The Elsinore is one way to get reasonable efficiency:
Elsinore Speakers DIY
(but for that space I'd go for something bigger...)

 

[steve71]

The Elsinore looks great, but it's a little too big and more than I want to spend at $2200 for the kit.

Here's a pic of the space from the kitchen. You can see my current speakers over in the far corner. I don't want anything much bigger than that.

But I was thinking I could buy a cabinet and hide a sub in it and put those seos speakers on top.

 

[budwiser]

Jenzen SEAS ER and I happen to have a kit available.

 

[oglethorpescolony]

I like the Jenzen answer. Especialy with a solid state amp for the bass cabs.
Im breaking in a pair of 3 way classics right now and cant imagine how good the
Jenzens sound.

 

[murphythecat8]

A 2 way wont be satisfying enough for this big room, imo.
you need at least a 3-way. either a two way with a active sub at 60 to 100hz, or a 300/3000 xo with a big woofer on the bottom.
Do you need kits? theres not a lot of kits available that offer 3-ways in your price range.

 

[mondogenerator]

I agree.

Even a Small 3way, 8" bass driver? Id prefer a 10" minimum in that space.

And its a lovely space too!

 

[murphythecat8]

I agree.

Even a Small 3way, 8" bass driver? Id prefer a 10" minimum in that space.

And its a lovely space too!

I have never heard a 8 inch 3 way, but a 8 inch is a 8 inch, its limited in the air it moves.
for a space like that, and damn its a beautiful space, the optimal situation is 15 inch for sure. 12 inch the minimum...