Fun project: 2-inch fullranger - what cabinet?

[hebrer]

Hi, I could not find much in this forum on building mini-cabinets for portable minispeakers. I have a pair of 2-inch "fullrange" drivers (eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace) that I want to use as portable speakers for my desktop/notebook. Anybody would venture to advice a specific design for these?

Some people have tried mini BLH:
http://www.b-natural.co.jp/blog/arch...H%20naibu1.JPG
or little Fonken:
http://homepage.mac.com/planet10/forum/fonkenTriple.jpg
or spiral horns:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/crenaud003/...ral/Spiral.jpg

but would any of this work for a two-inch driver with neodymium magnet?

Peter

[sharpi31]

You need to know the Thiele Small parameters for a driver before you can select the best cabinet type and optimise the design. You're flying blind otherwise. I would ask Arjen for the parameters (they're not on his listing). Then you'll get lots of recommendations and the usual scuffle (healthy debate).

[sreten]

Hi,

What do you know ? 145Hz Fs and 5W power handling, but
note power handling will be much less than 5W in the bass.

For any decent sized cabinet you'd be far better off adding
a helper woofer of any sort than fighting the driver specs.

Portable ? The designs you mention don't look very portable ....
Portable For a notebook ? Two choices - USB powered
for fully portable or just smallish and mains powered.

Trouble is without measurements you be just guessing.

The drivers are cheap enough, but a lot of work to use well.
See madisound for some better option for not much more,
(and in some cases quite a bit less), a 2" really should
not be used FR, 3"ers are generally a lot better.

Hard to say what you want but a class T amp with a
laptop style power supply and something like this :
Zaph|Audio - 4" Bargain Mini (reduced BSC option)
would likely be far more rewarding for the effort expended.

rgds, sreten.

[hebrer]

Hi sreten,
Actually, I am hoping to have something small to carry and listen to when reading outside in the garden. Most likely, the speakers will be powered by a tripath amp. In this price range, it is not really so much a question of money (I am willing to consider and buy new 3" drivers - or even two pairs of them - rather than using these 2" that I already have) but - as you wrote - if I spend time cutting wood and putting together cabinets, I would like the result to be rewarding.
As a happy owner of 4.5" Fostex fullrangers in my main system, I was also curious how much can be achieved with 2" drivers in a proper box. Do you know any particular 3" driver that might get me good results without adding a tweeter or crossover? I am willing to take a look at drivers who need some help by EnABLing them as I tried EnABL with other drivers with good results.
Peter

[hebrer]

After some more search in the 3"-3.5" category, it seems uFonken103 with FF85K might fit the bill and people were quite happy with it:
http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeaker...en-0v9-map.pdf
Still, it would not hurt to know if someone was happy with their 2" speakers...
Peter

[sreten]

Hi,

See the info here : Zaph|Audio
http://www.zaphaudio.com/smalltest/

There is no doubt at all Fostex fans ignore the pathetic excursions limits.
That Fonken vented at 100Hz will massively overload below 100Hz.
Small boxes with small drivers should be sealed, full stop.

rgds, sreten.

Best 3" for FR (i.e. no sub) is the Aura NS3 :
http://zaphaudio.com/archives.html see the link.
NS3's currently on sale at Madisound.

[hebrer]

Hi sreten,
these are both interesting links with a lot of work done in comparing small drivers. Thank you for those.
Peter

[picowallspeaker]

Why Why Why I've written my longest post and I didn't save it before forwarding it !!!
What did I say so much important that has to be re-written ???
Nothing at all !! just my 2c
For me it's important to have almost a flat line in frequency , and of course most of the bass can't be reproduced by a 2" ,nor a 3" ,it may start with a 6" ...well ,talking about cheap or average drivers ...those that guarantee high excursion are to be paid a little more.
But from my little experience ,a little fullrange can be paired with a woofer giving great (sonic) rewards . Something like Sequerra Met 7.7 Mk. IV
I've also tried succesfully a little 3/4" , the ones (boxed) that are inside multimedia monitors , with a waveguide , paired with a 7" woofer . Making of the crossover network
is very easy ,and also forgiving for the not-so-experienced DIYer .
That's all !!

[mondogenerator]

+1 re sreten and pico.
I am playing with tangband w2_800sl, they are neo magnet and fs around 160hz. I have 1 driver loaded in a popular potato snack tube
imperfect solution but good enough to know that bass is out of the question, a sense of lower mid 'warmth' is the best youll get. Even with 3inch drivers the bass is neither deep or vaguely loud. 3inch drivers fullrange as a pc speaker used at 1metre is about the best i believe possible. The 2inch tbs are great, but as a mid tweeter, pc speakers or an array.
Extended range would be a better term imho.

[planet10]

Originally Posted by sreten

Best 3" for FR (i.e. no sub) is the Aura NS3

Don't forget Mark Audio Alpair 6.2 or Audience A3 which are both WAY more refined than the (very good) Aura (at a price of course)

And Sreten, i think you would be quite surprised with what an FF85k can do in a uFonken. Scott has some if you want to swing past for an audition.

dave