Fullrange Desktop Speaker Recommendations?

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'llo all,

I'm thinking about building a pair of fullrange speakers to sit on either side of the LCD on my desk. I don't mind if they take up a decent amount of desk space, but obviously there is some limit to the maximum useable size. If possible I would like them to be useable for music without a subwoofer. (Though I will have the one from my old Klipsch system available if it seems nescessary... basically I'd just like the option of not having it in the system) Also, it would be great if the total price was >$150/pair.

They will driven by a class-D amp.... probably either a SI or a 41 Hz Amp 6 so efficiency is a definite plus. The speakers will primarily be used for music (mostly classical and electronica/downtempo). Very rarely (and obviously with the subwoofer) they will be used as a 2-channel hometheater rig.

Thus far I've found three designs that seem like they would fit my needs:

1) GM's FE127 Vented Transmission Line (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64369&perpage=10&pagenumber=1)
2) Tony Gee's Solo 103 (http://home.hetnet.nl/~geenius/Solo103.html)
3) The Full Range Reference Project Monopole V.1 (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=526880&stamp=1102221644)
4) The Zaph|Audio Hi-Vi B3S (http://www.zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker18.html)

Any other designs I should consider? Which of the designs I'm looking at would you recommend?

Thanks.
 
nerd of nerds said:
i built the zaph 3 inch little speakers and love em....

Are you using them with a subwoofer? If so, at what point did you have to cross them over for good bass response?

Thanks for the responses guys... As for BSC components, it will really depend on how much space I have left in my budget after I build the actual speakers.... That's one of the reasons I was hoping to run one of the FE172 designs because I've heard that a lot of people are happy directly connecting them to the amp.
 
frugal-phile™
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edjosh23 said:
prefer the fe127s.... but I bet the reference monopoles are quite nice. Dave and GM are both amazing designers,

Thanx. The reference monopoles do sound good. I'd just like to point out the FE127s designs in the reference thread are mostly Tim Forman's with my drawings & embellishments,

What about the Aura NS3?

My favorite (obtainable) 3" so far.

dave
 
Thanks for the replies!

edjosh23 said:
blip1882,

How about bipoles?

I had thought about doing bipoles but was worried about the extra complexity/expense... The FE127 bipoles cost a bit more than I had wanted to spend... though if anyone is willing to make a strong case for them as being significantly superior to the others I've listed, I'd definitely consider it.

What about the new TB W4 bamboos?

You mean the W4-1320SB? Good idea! I'm keeping a close eye on that thread for real world results.... They certainly look possible on paper.

What about the design you made, the Minuet clone?

The Minuet clone is appealing... Honestly I'm a bit suspect of my own capacity as a first time designer :) . Besides that, from the charts I've seen on those drivers, I'm a bit worried about their trebel response.... That said, you're right I should look into these a bit more... If they're good enough for Omega, they're probably good enough for a desktop system!

While I'm asking anyone know how to model multiple drivers in Martin J. King's worksheets?

or the bipole w3 871s mention in that thread?
Again, I was a bit turned off by the complexity of building a bipole... my router skills aren't really that great! That said, they would be relatively inexpensive to build and are very tempting.... hmmm.

planet10 said:


Thanx. The reference monopoles do sound good. I

dave

That's good to hear, right now I'm leaning towards them... But Josh gave me quite a few new options to consider so who knows?

Thanks again.
 
blip1882,

Although I am far from an experienced designer I would not consider bipoles too difficult. Do you have a jasper jig or any other jig to make flush mount and cut out holes? To me that is all you really need. If you remember the issue with the minuet was that the there was bad off axis responce, when you are near field I doubt you will have to deal with too much off axis responce and if you make them bipole and add the tweeter on top like suggested I'm guessing off axis responce would be even better.

I don't know much about the 41hz amp, but what impedeance is too low? I'm guessing it is dependent on your power supply, have you built the amp? Will it even be 4 ohm stable? If using the SI you are probably going to want 4 ohms.

Dave has expressed to me his affinity for bipoles before and can give you much better comparisons than I can.

I have been wanting to make a bipole speaker for a long time now and as soon as my birthday come around I'm going to build some like expressed in my thread. The active BSC is just one pro that turns me on to such designs.

Josh
 
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