B3N or M3N in open baffle?

Muffin Man · 31st December 2008, 08:50 AM

Hi all, it’s my first post here and I’m a noob when it comes to the technical side of audio, but that’s why I joined these forums. I am looking to build a small open baffle guitar amp, and need some good 3” drivers that would be suited to this application. After doing a fair bit of research I’ve pretty much settled on going with the HiVi B3N or M3N. The Tang Bands look nice too, but the HiVi’s seem to give much better low end (which is important, since a guitar’s frequency range is about 75-5000 Hz).

Getting to the point, which do you recommend given my application? Looking at the specs, it would seem the B3N would do the best job in an open baffle, with its low resonant frequency of 77 Hz, and high Qts of 0.86. However, many people say the M3N is capable of going much lower than the B3N, which struggles at frequencies below 100 Hz. Opinions anyone?

planet10 · 31st December 2008, 03:00 PM

Small OB, small driver, you will likely be limited at the bottom to a couple hundred hz.. in a hifi situation you'd be XOing them at 300-500 Hz to keep them from overloading.

dave

holdent · 31st December 2008, 03:34 PM

Muffin Man:

Zaph tested the the square frame version of the B3N (the B3S) and said this about them: "Below 130hz, bass turns to thick mud. *Do Not* run this speaker without some sort of subwoofer crossover, preferably active at 150hz LR4" (http://zaphaudio.com/smalltest/). However he liked the driver enough to design a fullrange speaker around them (see http://zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker18.html). I own 5 of the B3N drivers and love them but use a small sub.

Note that a guitar amp has an open back but technically is a "u-frame" baffle not an "open baffle" or OB. To get deeper bass in a small package you'll need to consider a sealed or vented enclosure and a small midwoofer (rather than a fullrange driver). Maybe consider the Tangband W5-704D (also tested by Zaph at http://zaphaudio.com/5.5test/).

chris661 · 31st December 2008, 04:14 PM

Hi

Just a quick not to say that using the drivers out of a small 2-way box would probably do the trick (3-4", long throw) as they are designed to cope better than a full range speaker, but the high end won't be an issue as even 12" drivers can reach 5k Hz

Hope this helps

31st December 2008, 08:50 AM	#1
Muffin Man diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2008	B3N or M3N in open baffle? Hi all, it’s my first post here and I’m a noob when it comes to the technical side of audio, but that’s why I joined these forums. I am looking to build a small open baffle guitar amp, and need some good 3” drivers that would be suited to this application. After doing a fair bit of research I’ve pretty much settled on going with the HiVi B3N or M3N. The Tang Bands look nice too, but the HiVi’s seem to give much better low end (which is important, since a guitar’s frequency range is about 75-5000 Hz). Getting to the point, which do you recommend given my application? Looking at the specs, it would seem the B3N would do the best job in an open baffle, with its low resonant frequency of 77 Hz, and high Qts of 0.86. However, many people say the M3N is capable of going much lower than the B3N, which struggles at frequencies below 100 Hz. Opinions anyone?

31st December 2008, 03:00 PM	#2
planet10 frugal-phile(tm) diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Victoria, BC, NA, Sol III Blog Entries: 4	Small OB, small driver, you will likely be limited at the bottom to a couple hundred hz.. in a hifi situation you'd be XOing them at 300-500 Hz to keep them from overloading. dave __________________ community sites t-linespeakers.org, frugal-horn.com ........ commercial site planet10-HiFi p10-hifi forum here at diyA

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31st December 2008, 03:34 PM	#3
holdent diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Ontario	Muffin Man: Zaph tested the the square frame version of the B3N (the B3S) and said this about them: "Below 130hz, bass turns to thick mud. Do Not run this speaker without some sort of subwoofer crossover, preferably active at 150hz LR4" (http://zaphaudio.com/smalltest/). However he liked the driver enough to design a fullrange speaker around them (see http://zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker18.html). I own 5 of the B3N drivers and love them but use a small sub. Note that a guitar amp has an open back but technically is a "u-frame" baffle not an "open baffle" or OB. To get deeper bass in a small package you'll need to consider a sealed or vented enclosure and a small midwoofer (rather than a fullrange driver). Maybe consider the Tangband W5-704D (also tested by Zaph at http://zaphaudio.com/5.5test/).

31st December 2008, 04:14 PM	#4
chris661 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire Blog Entries: 7	Hi Just a quick not to say that using the drivers out of a small 2-way box would probably do the trick (3-4", long throw) as they are designed to cope better than a full range speaker, but the high end won't be an issue as even 12" drivers can reach 5k Hz Hope this helps

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