I am in the early stages of putting together a new home theatre. My better half says the existing tower speakers are too big and ugly so aesthetics and a compact size are important for this build.
For surrounds I plan on using these bookshelf speakers I built last year using the 4” Dayton full range drivers and veneered them with Tasmanian oak.
This was a first attempt at diy and for their size, I have been quite happy with the performance. Crisp mids and highs without being overly bright and they go down to around 65-70Hz. I also built a little 20w kit amp to match for those of you who are interested.
My main question for you all is what should I do for the fronts and centre? I am wanting to use the same 4” drivers but they don’t quite cut it on their own to fill the living room. My thoughts are to use 2 drivers in each cab and perhaps run them as a 1.5way setup, rolling one driver off at around 500Hz to avoid any combing issues. I’m taking inspiration from this Omega setup https://omegaloudspeakers.com/collections/outlaw-speakers/products/outlaw-1-5-way?variant=32316205708 . Is 1.5 way necessary or should I just run 2 drivers full range provided I get the drivers placed as close to each other as possible? I would be crossing these over to a sub at around 80Hz.
Interested to hear some thoughts
For surrounds I plan on using these bookshelf speakers I built last year using the 4” Dayton full range drivers and veneered them with Tasmanian oak.
This was a first attempt at diy and for their size, I have been quite happy with the performance. Crisp mids and highs without being overly bright and they go down to around 65-70Hz. I also built a little 20w kit amp to match for those of you who are interested.
My main question for you all is what should I do for the fronts and centre? I am wanting to use the same 4” drivers but they don’t quite cut it on their own to fill the living room. My thoughts are to use 2 drivers in each cab and perhaps run them as a 1.5way setup, rolling one driver off at around 500Hz to avoid any combing issues. I’m taking inspiration from this Omega setup https://omegaloudspeakers.com/collections/outlaw-speakers/products/outlaw-1-5-way?variant=32316205708 . Is 1.5 way necessary or should I just run 2 drivers full range provided I get the drivers placed as close to each other as possible? I would be crossing these over to a sub at around 80Hz.
Interested to hear some thoughts
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If you are doing a 1.5 way the XO is usually set at 0.707-1 times the bafflestep frequency if you wire them in parallel and use a series coil on the 0.5 woofer. This gives you a near 6 dB increase in level when the 2nd driver comes in. If well out into th eroom the intention is to compensate for baffle step.
If you wire in series and use a cap shunting the 0.5 driver there is no gain down low, it doesn’t really matter where you do it, you do get 2x the driver area down low (¼ the excursion). If the speakers are placed near or on the wall this is the approprate way to go.
This assumes that your amp is capable of delivering twice the power into ½ the driver impedance. That means that if you are going to use the parallel scheme you want to be using the 9Z version of the RS100.
dave
If you wire in series and use a cap shunting the 0.5 driver there is no gain down low, it doesn’t really matter where you do it, you do get 2x the driver area down low (¼ the excursion). If the speakers are placed near or on the wall this is the approprate way to go.
This assumes that your amp is capable of delivering twice the power into ½ the driver impedance. That means that if you are going to use the parallel scheme you want to be using the 9Z version of the RS100.
dave
Planet10, you make a good point about the baffle step compensation. I didnt even consider this to start with but feel it should help with the bottom end. I will make sure I design XO freq accordingly.
I'm not too concerned about the 4ohm impedance with a parallel setup. My amp should be able to handle it and I can limit the output to make sure I dont push it too hard and still get more than enough level. Crossing over to a subwoofer will help the this situation also.
I'm not too concerned about the 4ohm impedance with a parallel setup. My amp should be able to handle it and I can limit the output to make sure I dont push it too hard and still get more than enough level. Crossing over to a subwoofer will help the this situation also.
With the parallel arrangment you end up with 4Ω if you use the 8Ω drivers, if you use the 4Ω drivers you end up with 2Ω, typically not good for your amp.
dave
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