Hiya Blamus,
I think now you need to ask an array question on the loudspeaker forum here.
especially mentioning interest in the art array.................
Don't forget to include your budget.
Don't be embarassed if you only want to spend $300-400 on it.
I'm impressed by making a silk purse from a sow's ear.
yea, $200 drivers sound good, they better, but hardly any bang for the buck (giant killers).
My opinion is that a better woofer is a better woofer, but the more of a woofer you have, the less it moves, the better they sound. Does 9 of $7 6.5" woofers sound better than a slick $70 6.5" with shorting ring ? Assuming I'm doing an array, I'll take the $7 ones. My gut says a bunch of cheapies move more air (sd times xmax or voice coil length) and should sound better than a $100 8" with shorting rings. Moving air is moving air. My 4 eminence 15" slammed, they only cost $50 each and I had $100 18" eminence subs also. Kicked complete tail compared to what you pay for retail (as diy should). And yes, ribbon tweeters get pricy, but you get loads of detail from them.
If you are doing an array of full rangers, then you often get what you pay for till diminishing returns, you pay for clean detailed sound above 1khz.....................
More costly drivers (wwofers) usually go higher and sound better in their high region that is usually more important when crossing at 2khz to a dome tweeter.
Crossovers are tricky, each design is its own thing. A simple 12db usually doesn't take into account a changing impedence. Since you don't have much experience, others can help you.
So far as a bunch of woofs and a tweet in the middle, you will need a rugged tweeter to keep up.
The only issue with those is you dial in the tweeter lvl versus the woofer level at 1 set distance. Much closer or further then the tweeter level will be off.
Crossover types ?
It depends.
I'm a time alignment guy, so I like 6db or 24db, but I prefer no crossover.
Remember you have to take into account the acoustic rolloff also.
That's why I recommend playing around with an electronic crossover.
The cheap ones sound bad, but you can learn a lot and listen to drivers and tweeters, adjust the levels on the fly and even slide the crossover point around.
I found I like full rangers (a pair of 4" or a single 6.5") to cross at 24db at 200hz.
To me it keeps all of the voice out of the woofers (when woof and full ranger going).
150 works even better, but now the driver is getting stressed.
I use the active crossover when I want to blast it.
But then I miss my detail and transparancy of no crossover, then I disconnect it.
The marchand crossovers are nice, but $400-$800 depending on stereo 2 or 3 way, too rich for my blood.
Otherwise I run my dual 4" in a qtc .45 sealed box wide open with loudness button on to help make up for the baffle step. And I run woofers also (fmod 80hz). Gives me a nice hump for low bass.
here is a link on some thoughts on the art array vs. other stuff
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-99836.html
here is a link to audioroundtable, crossover post today
http://audioroundtable.com/forum/index.php?t=thread&frm_id=31
hmm.............. not much activity there............
"Yesterday I had a listening session with two audiophile friends and one of them suggested we cover the 2 or 3 lower ribbons of my RS8 array with thick material just for testing ! At our surprise the sound got better in all the spectrum and we could better define the different instruments and soundstage , and this was so clear with complex orchestral music ! is this the time domain ? could you have an explanation ."
Or you can look under arrays over at the audiocircle.com
Just be sure to understand you are not doing a full range driver array.
Norman
I think now you need to ask an array question on the loudspeaker forum here.
especially mentioning interest in the art array.................
Don't forget to include your budget.
Don't be embarassed if you only want to spend $300-400 on it.
I'm impressed by making a silk purse from a sow's ear.
yea, $200 drivers sound good, they better, but hardly any bang for the buck (giant killers).
My opinion is that a better woofer is a better woofer, but the more of a woofer you have, the less it moves, the better they sound. Does 9 of $7 6.5" woofers sound better than a slick $70 6.5" with shorting ring ? Assuming I'm doing an array, I'll take the $7 ones. My gut says a bunch of cheapies move more air (sd times xmax or voice coil length) and should sound better than a $100 8" with shorting rings. Moving air is moving air. My 4 eminence 15" slammed, they only cost $50 each and I had $100 18" eminence subs also. Kicked complete tail compared to what you pay for retail (as diy should). And yes, ribbon tweeters get pricy, but you get loads of detail from them.
If you are doing an array of full rangers, then you often get what you pay for till diminishing returns, you pay for clean detailed sound above 1khz.....................
More costly drivers (wwofers) usually go higher and sound better in their high region that is usually more important when crossing at 2khz to a dome tweeter.
Crossovers are tricky, each design is its own thing. A simple 12db usually doesn't take into account a changing impedence. Since you don't have much experience, others can help you.
So far as a bunch of woofs and a tweet in the middle, you will need a rugged tweeter to keep up.
The only issue with those is you dial in the tweeter lvl versus the woofer level at 1 set distance. Much closer or further then the tweeter level will be off.
Crossover types ?
It depends.
I'm a time alignment guy, so I like 6db or 24db, but I prefer no crossover.
Remember you have to take into account the acoustic rolloff also.
That's why I recommend playing around with an electronic crossover.
The cheap ones sound bad, but you can learn a lot and listen to drivers and tweeters, adjust the levels on the fly and even slide the crossover point around.
I found I like full rangers (a pair of 4" or a single 6.5") to cross at 24db at 200hz.
To me it keeps all of the voice out of the woofers (when woof and full ranger going).
150 works even better, but now the driver is getting stressed.
I use the active crossover when I want to blast it.
But then I miss my detail and transparancy of no crossover, then I disconnect it.
The marchand crossovers are nice, but $400-$800 depending on stereo 2 or 3 way, too rich for my blood.
Otherwise I run my dual 4" in a qtc .45 sealed box wide open with loudness button on to help make up for the baffle step. And I run woofers also (fmod 80hz). Gives me a nice hump for low bass.
here is a link on some thoughts on the art array vs. other stuff
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread/t-99836.html
here is a link to audioroundtable, crossover post today
http://audioroundtable.com/forum/index.php?t=thread&frm_id=31
hmm.............. not much activity there............
"Yesterday I had a listening session with two audiophile friends and one of them suggested we cover the 2 or 3 lower ribbons of my RS8 array with thick material just for testing ! At our surprise the sound got better in all the spectrum and we could better define the different instruments and soundstage , and this was so clear with complex orchestral music ! is this the time domain ? could you have an explanation ."
Or you can look under arrays over at the audiocircle.com
Just be sure to understand you are not doing a full range driver array.
Norman
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