Which budget 6-8" drivers for on-wall cabs?

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Hi all!

Please help me with driver recommendations for my very first DIY loudspeakers.

More or less decided:
- On-wall closed cabinets
- Approx 18 to 22 litres/cabinet
- One driver/cabinet
- Approx max 100 EUR / 140 USD for a pair of drivers
- Crossed over to a subwoofer at around 75-100 Hz

I'd like a sweet field rather than being limited to a narrow sweet spot. I imagine that could mean quite a bit of toe in, maybe even crossing a bit in front of the center listening position. In that case I will make angled baffles.

My ideal music reproduction is transparent and natural, with lots of room information and instrument "textures" conveyed. Even though I mostly listen to acoustic and simple music at moderate levels, I'd like the ability to crank it up sometimes with complex music with good reproduction maintained.

Any advice on driver choice would be much appreciated!

Best regards,
Johan
 
Founder of XSA-Labs
Joined 2012
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If you want wide sweet spot the 6 to 8 in format can be subject to more "beaming" compared to a 3 or 4 inch driver. To get to 75 Hz and get wide sweet spot, I would go with smaller driver and a non sealed cabinet to get 75 Hz. Probably your best sound in 3 in would be a Fostex FF85wk, make it a flat 3 in or so deep box and port it as a bass reflex. The wall mount will enhance the bass port and the flat wall mount will negate baffle step losses. If you wanted to get a bit more performance, make a flat MLTL. The 3 in driver will not get as loud as a 6 or 8 in driver in ultimate SPL. The 6 or 8 in driver will also have a deeper cabinet that is not as thin or conducive to wall mounting.
 
Thanks xrk971!

My room is about 3,7x8 meters, 2,4 m to ceiling, with big openings to another room and a hallway. I'm afraid that drivers smaller than approx 6" will have a hard time, but maybe I shouldn't be? My idea was that 6-8" would maybe be a good compromise between fairly good dispersion and reasonably low distorsion (cone excursion).

To help even out dispersion, could I maybe use some kind of foam donut in front of each driver? I have read about Jay Mitchells foam donuts for guitar amps and such. Maybe that principle could be customized for hifi? I realize that would probably require some eq-lifting of the treble - but I could easily live with that since I use computer as a source, and that means easy and free eq/peq.

Anyone know of budget 6-8" full range drivers that don't suffer big time when compared with multi ways regarding dispersion?

Anyone know about, or even tried, some dispersion enhancement that is fairly easy for a DIY-beginner? Foam donuts?
 
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Joined 2012
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It won't be a wall mount but I can say with confidence that the designs using a Karlson aperture (like a Karlsonator for a 6 or 8 in driver) will produce excellent uniform dispersion. I have measured it and the simulations predict the wide angle uniformity too.

I think the Karlsonator in 8 in should fill your large room with sound too. My latest project is a 90 deg Synergy horn which also has excellent wide dispersion that is very uniform ( according to simulations ).

My suggestion for a great 8 in driver that is budget priced and should work well in a Karlsonator is the Betsy K. $105 a pair and have 95 dB sensitivity.

Hope this helps.
 
Karlsonator looks exotic for shure :) I've read about it but I didn't find any comparative dispersion measurements. Also I found few listener impressions. I will look further, but I'd appreciate any helpful hints.

Maybe it is possible to make a on-wall Karlsonator by making it wider and more flat? And maybe it can be done with a closed cabinet, thus making it more flat? Is the angle between the driver and the slot needed or can they be parallel? Can a Karlson tube be used for full range (down to 75-100 Hz) and how large would it need to be?

No thoughts/experiences with Jay Mitchell foam donuts for hifi? If I were to experiment with that myself, I imagine drivers with slightly increasing response towards higher frequencies would be suitable - am I right? And the donut center hole diameter would maybe correspond to the wave length at the HF-top (typically 8-12 kHz it seems) of the driver on-axis response, to even that out by dispersion, or the frequency of the knee of the HF-top falloff?

I still can't let go of my initial thoughts, so I ask: Any more recommendations for 6-8" budget drivers? (Fairly smooth response and dispersion among the competition.)
 
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