'Tall' enclosure for near-field W3-871

[lost eden]

I have a pair of W3-871 arriving on Monday but I don't know what enclosure to make for them.

My usual listening position is sat at my computer desk, where my ears are approximately 1.2m from the ground. The desk is too small to put speakers on & I can't wall mount them because I rent the building, so they will have to be floor-standing. The picture should give you an idea of the situation - atm I have a pair of Mission standmount speakers that are fine when I'm lounging on the bed, but impossible to position for when I'm at the desk (which is where I spend most of my time).

What are peoples' thoughts? Would I be better taking one of the tall-&-thin designs like the TABAQ/Needles/etc. & extending them (maybe by bolting them on top of my current speakers stands), or would I be better making a smaller/squatter enclosure & making some sort of really tall stand for them?

[zman01]

Lost eden,

No possibility of moving the white box (amp?) off the table?

I'm no expert, but most likely a smaller cabinet will work better in near-field situation... having said that I am using a pair of frugal horns with each cab positioned a meter from my position at my desk... very nice results.

[lost eden]

Originally Posted by zman01

Lost eden,
No possibility of moving the white box (amp?) off the table?

That's actually an old photo, there's now another (small) monitor where the amp is. There's also no space on the other side of the desk without moving the monitors which would then leave them off to the side of the keyboard tray which would give me a permanent crick in my neck!

Guess I should also consider the possibility of a larger desk... I may be living here for another 3 years so it might be worth the investment.

[zman01]

I would suggest you put together a pair of small cabinets and try the speakers out first. Once you are satisfied with them you can invest in the desk.

[lost eden]

I suppose I could build a small pair of boxes & put them on top of my current speakers, something like Zaph's design? Though I presume in a small sealed box I would probably find the bass lacking compared to a larger transmission line enclosure, but a separate sub might be more convenient than larger fullranges...

Tang Band W3-1364 MICRO
Design of Zaph's W3-871S Fullrange Monitors

[GM]

I started to post a ~35 Hz BLH in ~33 L net I ‘ran the numbers’ on, but you or someone else would have to work out the folding to suit your desired driver height and of course tinker with damping and possibly the filter chamber’s net Vb to get the smoothest response.

The measured specs I have in a small sealed cab would require an XO up around 250 Hz min., pretty high for a sub unless there’s one in each speaker stand, though a large, high Q, DVC ‘sub’ woofer centered on a baffle spanning the backside of the desk might work OK.

GM

[zman01]

GM,

~35 Hz BLH in 33 L (?) - sounds interesting - can you please share the link to the post?

-Zia

[lost eden]

I just got the tape measure out & noticed that if I built a pair of TABAQ & bolted them on top of my current speaker stands, the drivers would be pretty much perfectly at ear level (the stands are just over 50cm tall). How would they sound in a near-field situation though, as the ports would be quite low (around knee level)?

[lost eden]

Drivers just arrived & I'm rather disappointed that they're not the ones I thought I would be getting. I ordered them from Europe Audio & they clearly pictured & described the W3-871 with their nice aluminium phase plugs (they even explicitly mentioned the phase plugs in the description). However what they've sent me are W3-871C which have simple sliver-painted paper dust caps instead of phase plugs.

I'm not going to bother sending them back for a refund though, as I've received such bad service so far from Europe Audio that I doubt I would ever get a refund even if I did send them back. It took nearly a month for the drivers to arrive, during which time I emailed them numerous times on all of their email addresses asking for updates & never got any responses. After about 3 weeks I told them that I would retrieve my money through PayPal if they didn't contact me immediately & suspiciously they shipped the following day.

I don't usually badmouth companies on forums, but Europe Audio have given me such a bad service that I feel it is my duty to warn the nice people on diyAUdio to stay away from them.

[GM]

Looks really bad in HR, but OK in MJK's software even without any damping.......

GM