Component Suggestion: 2-way active now, 3-way active later

[CanadianDream]

Hey guys, I know there are a thousand threads on speaker suggestions. Have read through a lot of them, and feel overwhelmed with choice.

What I am wanting to do is to buy a good 2-way active setup for now, so I can learn how to tune it, etc. Then when I feel more comfortable tuning, and learn more upgrade to a 3-way active setup. What I am hoping to do is not have to replace all the speakers when I make the switch.

So are there any good 7" or 6.5" mid-bass and tweeters that would make good 2-way speakers for now, and lend themselves to adding a midrange later??

Ideas I was thinking of are the Peerless Exclusive 7", AA 6.5" Poly Mid, the CA , Dayton 7" (RS-180), CA18RNX. As for tweeters, maybe the Seas Neo tweeter, LPG26na.

Budget is 200-400 for the 2 way setup for now. Have 75w RMS x4 at 4 ohm's, crossover is taken care of.

As to sound, looking for more SQ then SPL. Listen to rock, r&b, blues, trance, ambient, some hip-hop, rap and techno.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[neuro_control]

Good idea.
I currently have 2 way active system with Visaton drivers. Next step is 3 way and further TL box.

2 way active usually beter than 3 way passive,etc...

 

[peter_m]

For the tweeter, why not consider the 27TDFC or the 27TBFCG? Both have had great reviews from Zaph.

http://zaphaudio.com/tweetermishmash/

And for the mid-woofer, have you looked at the Peerless 830873? A 5 inch will be more sensitive then a larger speaker...

Cheers,

 

[gtforme00]

If you want a solid lower two octaves of music, I would recommend using a 5.5" as a mid/woofer now and then adding a larger woofer later, making the 5.5" driver the midrange. This will probably be a much more satisfying upgrade then adding a midrange to a system with a 6-7" driver.

As far as which driver to chose, if you already have the active crossover setup, you might not have the option of notch filters and the like. If you go with one of the metal cones you mentioned, you might have to add passive components to filter the cone breakup resonance. If this isn't intimidating then by all means the Dayton is a good value.

For 5.5" drivers, I recommend the CA15RLY, ER15RLY, or 830873. You really can't go wrong choosing any of these.

If you want to go with the 7". I would recommend the ER18RNX. It has lower distortion than the CA18RNX, excellent excursion, and should be easy enough to incorporate with most tweeters.

The 830883 is also a great driver.

You are going to have a great speaker with any of these, so don't suffer from paralysis by analysis! Pick one and run with it, you'll get alot more enjoyment that way.

Good luck!
David

 

[peter_m]

If you want a solid lower two octaves of music, I would recommend using a 5.5" as a mid/woofer now and then adding a larger woofer later, making the 5.5" driver the midrange.

This thread has started an itch witch me. What would you suggest for the larger woofer to combine with a 5.5" mid-woofer?

 

[gtforme00]

What would you suggest for the larger woofer to combine with a 5.5" mid-woofer?

The answer to this would be highly application specific. But, for the sake of piquing your interest, here is a possible scenario.

You build the 5.5" / tweeter 2 way now in a smallish cabinet, maybe a pre-built 7l one like those at Parts Express. You could port it initially, giving you satisfactory but power limited extension down to 60Hz or so.

When you are ready to upgrade, you plug the port, stuff the cabinet fairly heavily, and put a 100 Hz high pass crossover on the amp for the woofer. You then add two "subwoofers" (to use the popular term) of about 14l in volume each. Perhaps choosing the 830668 available at your favorite vendor.

The savvy among you will start to find this recommendation familiar. Ah yes, this is the same midwoofer/woofer combination used in the Pluto!

This is no accident, given that the OP has stated an interest in active crossovers, and the fact that Siegfried Linkwitz has already developed active crossover schematics for the biquad transformation necessary to use a 10" woofer in a small sealed enclosure. This would be a proven step into the active crossover world, with guaranteed results.

To make the woofer crossover more simple, a larger enclosure could be used that did not require the transform circuit. This would also require less amplifier power, but you might find that most 10" or 12" drivers will require very large enclosures that will be hard to place unobtrusively.

An even more simple, but lower SQ route would be to use one or two plate-amp type subwoofers that routinely go on sale at Parts Express.

There are tons of options here, and it really depends on your aesthetic, budgetary, SPL, and personal preferences.

Specific examples aside, the current state of the woofer art is well-designed motors with shorting rings to reduce distortion. At a minimum, I would look for woofers that have this feature, so that the SQ of the system is maintained throughout.

I can recommend the Peerless SLS series, the Dayton RS, and Dayton RSS series from personal experience.

Regards,
David

 

[CanadianDream]

Thanks for the input. This set up is actually for a car, so somewhat restricted by placement and box design.

The other side of the mid-range being in a car, is it needs to have good off-axis response.

Any more ideas, or suggestions are welcome.