They're fun
Although, I myself have been turning more toward three-ways. But, what my time with the single driver concept has shown me is that point source coherence is where I want to be, because I'm a fan of detail and FR driver concepts are better at conveying detail than traditional two or three-ways. I love listening to a familiar piece of music and picking up on nuances I haven't heard or noticed before. My future designs will employ wideband mids, that is, fullrange drivers that are capped around 300-400hz, and use super tweeters, and larger woofers for bass. I like using two 8 ohm woofers rolled off around 300-400hz because you can parallel them for a 4ohm load and increase efficiency in the region where most people boost anyway. I've built a small set using the wideband concept, but now I want to go bigger.
I like fullrange, single driver setup for casual listening, jazz, some classical, pop, and some rock, but for serious listening levels, I find that you have to tweak the daylights out of some FR to get them to behave. Everyone speaks of distortion or muddy bass or no bass or mid-range shout when it comes to FRs, regardless of price range. I like inexpensive drivers for single driver projects. I bought a bunch of old Radio Shack 5.25" drivers on clearence sales way back when and you can do some tweaks to these things that make them sound ten times better than what they sound like out of the box, except that they'll still have a few of the problems associated with FR drivers, most notably, cone break-up and distortion at high volume.
I am by no means suggesting that FR single driver concepts cannot sound good or even great at moderate listening levels, just don't expect miracles. The best designed speaker diaphrams for bass will not do highs or even mid-range very well, and the best designed diaphram for mids and highs will not do bass very well. You have to settle for somewhere in between. And that's not entirely a bad thing, cuz somewhere in between is where a lot of great music lives.
Although, I myself have been turning more toward three-ways. But, what my time with the single driver concept has shown me is that point source coherence is where I want to be, because I'm a fan of detail and FR driver concepts are better at conveying detail than traditional two or three-ways. I love listening to a familiar piece of music and picking up on nuances I haven't heard or noticed before. My future designs will employ wideband mids, that is, fullrange drivers that are capped around 300-400hz, and use super tweeters, and larger woofers for bass. I like using two 8 ohm woofers rolled off around 300-400hz because you can parallel them for a 4ohm load and increase efficiency in the region where most people boost anyway. I've built a small set using the wideband concept, but now I want to go bigger.
I like fullrange, single driver setup for casual listening, jazz, some classical, pop, and some rock, but for serious listening levels, I find that you have to tweak the daylights out of some FR to get them to behave. Everyone speaks of distortion or muddy bass or no bass or mid-range shout when it comes to FRs, regardless of price range. I like inexpensive drivers for single driver projects. I bought a bunch of old Radio Shack 5.25" drivers on clearence sales way back when and you can do some tweaks to these things that make them sound ten times better than what they sound like out of the box, except that they'll still have a few of the problems associated with FR drivers, most notably, cone break-up and distortion at high volume.
I am by no means suggesting that FR single driver concepts cannot sound good or even great at moderate listening levels, just don't expect miracles. The best designed speaker diaphrams for bass will not do highs or even mid-range very well, and the best designed diaphram for mids and highs will not do bass very well. You have to settle for somewhere in between. And that's not entirely a bad thing, cuz somewhere in between is where a lot of great music lives.
Gonna be getting my basement finished in the next few months (due to a pending very small, but paradoxically time and space consuming addition to the family), at which point, my "office" space will be part of the open main space down there (still not all that much space, and a low ceiling). At that point, I'm going to start building large-ish enclosures trying to shoehorn designs into stock pieces of lumber, maybe just chopping to length and making driver cuttouts at the very most.
I'm not just cheap, but often am quite lazy (except for my brain which finds the puzzling out of how to make certain enclosures from precut lumber quite fun). Still like my music, though, and there's a nearly endless stream of ideas I want to try out.
Kensai
I'm not just cheap, but often am quite lazy (except for my brain which finds the puzzling out of how to make certain enclosures from precut lumber quite fun). Still like my music, though, and there's a nearly endless stream of ideas I want to try out.
Kensai
Best Sounding
I've created 5 pairs of full range speakers from 3" to 6" drivers including Terry Cains BIB with a 4.5" driver and the rear loaded design with a 3" Fostex driver has won me over! These little speakers have the best clarity, deep bass and full range of any speaker I've heard to date. Very simple design yet has out performed my Linn's and Mirage's speakers. I'm looking forward to making the same design with an 8" Fostex full range speaker!
I've created 5 pairs of full range speakers from 3" to 6" drivers including Terry Cains BIB with a 4.5" driver and the rear loaded design with a 3" Fostex driver has won me over! These little speakers have the best clarity, deep bass and full range of any speaker I've heard to date. Very simple design yet has out performed my Linn's and Mirage's speakers. I'm looking forward to making the same design with an 8" Fostex full range speaker!
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