Newbie needs help choosing Driver & Enclosure

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Hi
For the last few months I have been surfing the net, reading trying to sort real facts from false claims and I have finally resorted to ask for help.
Facts:
  1. I really want to try the single driver Full range aproach
  2. I have a budget of ±$400.00 for the drivers
  3. Since I have no experience I would like to build something that is kind of middle of the road (A good compromise) Typical Full Range
I have looked at the following: Audio Nirvana Super Neodymium 8'' or 10'' in a 2.8 Mark II or Series ! enclosure. I also find the Metronomes apealing but I do not have a clue which driver would suit my needs better.

If anybody has ideas, comments, suggestions I am all ears...
 
Yves,

We can better help you if we have some additional information.

Amplifier the speakers will be used with.

How loudly you typically play music. Not just loud or medium loud, but spl in db if possible. If not, then is the music louder than normal conversation, must you raise your voice to be heard or can you carry on quiet conversation during music playback?

Size of the listening room.

Type(s) of music you listen to.

Room for speakers. Are you limited to small footprint types (towers) or can you live with wide speakers (OB)?

You mention the Metronomes so we assume some wood working capability.

We trust that you have been reading posts on this forum and are aware of the pros and cons of full range drivers. If not, please do so and feel free to ask questions.

With a budget of $400 for a pair of drivers you are off to a good start.

Regards,

Bob
 
good points raised by Bob. I have the 2.8 Amb with 2 8inch super 8's in each. Front to back. Love it. Used 7 watt zen, 25 watt triod, class A...and they all sound good. My room is open to the rest of the house...hence not may bass node issues. The bass is tight and low. Music type varies the lower end. I still feel very contempt with these speakers and cab.

Spiro
 
Hi,
My approach to FR is bigger is better. I like to listen in hi SPL so my personal list is short:

#1 Nirvana Super15CF(just $398/pair) for a small tube amp in a big 13.6 +-400Litres BR box.
#2 Nirvana Super15Alnico for a 50W tube amp, or 100w SolidState.
#3 Visaton B200 + Alpha15A in a OB panel, unfortunately is need a inductor, but the OB 3D soundstage is great.

Good to have a new FR fan in the FR religion (religare to the music).:note:
 
Parameters!

Hi Guys thanks for the replies

My room is 14 feet wide by 30 feet long, speaker will be facing the room lenghtwise, 2 feet from both back and side walls.

Very large enclosures do not meet the WAF, Floorstanders are OK but of resonable size, The Metronomes good with WAF but anythig bigger would be a NoNo!

My Amp is a Rega Brio 3 (For those who are not familiar with it, it is on the warmer side and quite detailed). Source is Rega Apolo CD player. The music we mostly listen to is Orchestral and Chamber music, Jazz, Acoustic + Electric blues, Female singers like Sarah Brightman, Barbara Streisand, Dido, Ella Fitzgerald, Katy Melua, Sade, Enya, Billie Haliday, Bonnie Raitt, Ima etc...

Most of the time music is played at a volume where we can still hold a conversation without talking loud, some times a louder (When I am alone and I play some old 60's & 70's stuff).

Hope this clarifies things a little bit...

Thanks

Yves
 
Oh, definitely sounds like you'd want to put Alpairs on your short list - as much as larry likes the 10.2, ( I assume he was jesting at "ultimate" - there is none) and Fullrangeman has his own favorites, the A7 is not without its charms.

Unfortunately, the flip side to the volume and speed of "information" shared thanks to the inter-webs is that it's far easier for us to make fervent recommendations than it is for you to hear many of the systems we describe. Thanks to the dramatic decline in bricks and mortar audio retailers carrying product of any worth (in other words, not the big box brigade - Best Buy,. Future Shop, BuyMore, etc) the opportunities to hear real systems are further apart than when many of us first started in this hobby in the late 60s.
 
The 'other problem' here is that we each hear things differently. I am fond of the sound of Fostex drivers. Other people can't stand them and say that 'the Fostex shout' makes them unlistenable. I also have enjoyed some Lowther Alnico drivers and wish I could afford them; other folks hate them. I have heard only one pair of Mark Audio drivers--A10 first gen IIRC--and found them unlistenable, although I still wonder if they were fully broken in, or if perhaps they were damaged.

And even if you get your ears on some of these drivers, you don't know how they will sound in your room with your electronics in your enclosures with your tweeks.

I guess I got lucky with my first build, as I liked the result. It could easily have gone the other way. As always, for good or ill, we are victims of our own experience. Give it a shot, but know that there are no guarantees.

Cheers, Jim
 

ra7

Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
From your choice of music and the room and SPL levels, the ANs are the perfect choice. They are of the high sensitivity types compared to Alpairs, which are a fair few db lower in sensitivity. The ANs will play really nicely at low levels as well. They will also go plenty loud if needed to. They have a huge dynamic range and that makes the music sound natural and real.
 
From your choice of music and the room and SPL levels, the ANs are the perfect choice. They are of the high sensitivity types compared to Alpairs, which are a fair few db lower in sensitivity. The ANs will play really nicely at low levels as well. They will also go plenty loud if needed to. They have a huge dynamic range and that makes the music sound natural and real.


Not to nit pik, (OK - it is) but having only briefly listened to a set of ANs several years ago, I can't fairly comment on their sound, and most of us have limited resources of time & money to explore every option - but I do have an issue with the parsing of your first sentence - change "the perfect" to " a great" and we could be on the same page.

As Jim noted above, we hear (and adjust) to things differently ( i.e. our ear/brain systems actually work differently), but all sophistry aside, there are no universal explanations for why some folks for example are "fond of the sound of Fostex drivers" (myself included), and others not. For example, over the years I've been very underwhelmed by a variety of "benchmark / classic/ revolutionary" designs of both amps and speakers ( Quad ESL57, Klipch Heresy, EV Sovereign, JBL Ranger Paragon, almost any Audio Research Corp or Bob Carver designed amp I've heard, etc. ) . Thank goodness there's no need to justify one's preferences before enjoying your own system.

rant off>


ra7 do you have a particular favorite AN driver / enclosure?
 

ra7

Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
hahaha... thanks Chris... I don't like words such as "perfect" either. There is no perfect speaker, and certainly not one for everybody.

So, I stand corrected. The AN would be a great choice.

I had the ANs in a voigt pipe enclosure. Sounded pretty good. Since then, I've tried to fit a variety of full range drivers in the same cabinet :) I really like the sound of the voigt pipe. I've heard the ANs in a transmission line and while they sounded good, I would take the VPs over them.

My current setup is AN over OB, supported by a woofer. Crossed around 150 Hz.
 
hahaha... thanks Chris... I don't like words such as "perfect" either. There is no perfect speaker, and certainly not one for everybody.

So, I stand corrected. The AN would be a great choice.

I had the ANs in a voigt pipe enclosure. Sounded pretty good. Since then, I've tried to fit a variety of full range drivers in the same cabinet :) I really like the sound of the voigt pipe. I've heard the ANs in a transmission line and while they sounded good, I would take the VPs over them.

My current setup is AN over OB, supported by a woofer. Crossed around 150 Hz.


which particular ANs and woofers?
 
Yves,

As you can see there are many potential candidate drivers, each with people who think they are the greatest, while others can't stand them. :) :-(

If you can't get to RMAF or a similar event to hear them, I suggest that you make a short list of drivers and search this forum for threads on their use. Decide which driver(s) will most likely please you and any other listeners (wife or significant other).

You need to choose a driver with the sound quality you prefer, then build a box for bass reproduction.

For starters, your list should include drivers from Fostex (166En and 206En), Mark Audio (Alpair 10.2 and 12), Audio Nirvana (8 , 12 , and 15 cast frame among others), Tang Band (1772 and 1808), Eminence (LT-12A), Planet 10 (modified drivers), Seas (FA22RCZ), Wild Burro Acoustics (Betsy and BetsyK) and Jordan (XJ92).

Once you narrow the choices down, try 'fishing' with focussed questions about them here. Keep in mind that what you are really trying to do is to discover the pros and cons that are the most important to you (your preferences), thereby allowing you to pick a driver that most closely meets them; not a driver that has the widest bandwidth, most extended treble, least peaky treble, is most resolving, has the best imaging, etc.

Good luck,

Bob
 
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Hello all, I'm a frequent lurker; infrequent poster. Just finished a pair of Alpair 12 in a studio monitor cabinet; 3rd diy full range speaker and it's being driven by a Tubelab Simple SE (7 to 10 WPC in triode mode). These speakers are truly amazing. Take a look at the Markaudio forum and see the effort that goes into each of these drivers.
 
Hello all, I'm a frequent lurker; infrequent poster. Just finished a pair of Alpair 12 in a studio monitor cabinet; 3rd diy full range speaker and it's being driven by a Tubelab Simple SE (7 to 10 WPC in triode mode). These speakers are truly amazing. Take a look at the Markaudio forum and see the effort that goes into each of these drivers.

Pictures please, what's the volume of this monitor cab?
 
The box is called "Alpair 12 Studio Monitor Double Bass Reflex", It can be found on diyAudio. I think the dimensions are 20 1/4 Tall, 14 Deep, 11 Wide. The boxes still need more finishing work but here's a "nude" picture.

Alpair 12.jpeg
 
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