Cheap 6.5" drivers

PeteMcK · 2007-08-16 2:25 am

I came across these cheap 165mm drivers:
Sens: 87dB 1watt/ 1metre
Re: 6.9ohms
fs: 39Hz
Qms: 6.027
Qes: 0.466
Qts: 0.433
Vas: 20.9Lt
Sd 0.0133 Msq

Two in a ~60L box tuned to 33Hz seem to model pretty well in Unibox, giving an F3 of ~30Hz. Seems almost too good to be true, am I missing something?
(I doubt whether the specs are that accurate, but at $AU36, worth a go? I'm not expecting huge dBs)
cheers,
Pete McK

vinylkid58 · 2007-08-16 3:33 am

Hi Pete,

I get similar results in WinISD, two drivers in a 60L vented box tuned to 35Hz gives F3 ~32Hz. Nice and flat down to about 40Hz.

Jeff

PeteMcK · 2007-08-16 5:09 am

thanks Jeff,

I went & bought them anyway

For Aussies, these are Jaycar CW2135.
They've got the gross 'Response' logo on the dust cap, a bit of work with a black marker pen should fix that.

Now I'm off to Bunnings for some MDF...
the plan is to make something along the lines of the 'Poor Man's Strad' that's wide & thin, perhaps using ply so I can hang them on the wall???

I must check Andy Graddon's site to see if he's used these before.
Cheers,
Pete McK

Andy G · 2007-08-16 5:19 am

The Jaycar CW2135 is the 6.5" version of the 8" CW-2136 that I used in "The Juke"

They are a good bass driver with plenty of grunt.
I do find the mids to be a bit fuzzy, sort of lacking in detail compared to Vifa, Seas, etc

I am actually considering buying a few myself, if a guy I know wants a mid price HT set-up

As for the logo, covers easily with black spray, marker is a tad untidy !!!

phreeky82 · 2007-08-16 5:34 am

I thought they'd be that driver as soon as I saw your first post and you were in sydney

I've used the 5" shielded 4ohm drivers (no longer available) and 8" 'high power woofer' too, both with results I'm very happy with. The 4" drivers also seem to play unbelievably low, I'd be curious to hear of anyones experience with those - one in a small bookshelf, ported, i can forsee giving excellent results. I'm looking at these for surround and centre channels.

As you say, the biggest drawback appears to be the response logo. I never got rid of it - I might try attacking with a black marker also however, as it's quite ugly.

Andy G · 2007-08-16 5:40 am

The old 8", 10" and 12" carbon fibre were reallynice

never did like that 5" woofer, and stay well clear of the 5" closed back thing, its a POS !!!

ps: the Response logo looks cool with the blue cabinets in "The Juke"

phreeky82 · 2007-08-16 6:14 am

Hmm ok I like the 5"s (not the sealed-back midranges), gives a very similar sound to the others in the response range that I've heard and so matches up really well.

p.s. just did a search for "the juke"..........oh my

And i thought my creations (ignore the ghetto sub in the pic) were distracting to the eye: http://www.clubpoint.net/bluebird/stereo/Img_4110cr.jpg

PeteMcK · 2007-08-16 7:28 am

Andy,
I'll be crossing over at ~ 150Hz, so mids shouldn't be a prob.

Phreeky,
Altronics has a 5" that models pretty well too, C3084.
(Altronics web page specs are usually different from their downloadable spec sheet though...)
I went for the 6.5" to get max bass.

Total spent so far ~ $210 (first time I've actually bought new MDF for a speaker project!!!) Should come in at <$250 total I hope.

Thanks for the responses guys.
Cheers,
Pete McK

PeteMcK · 2007-08-16 7:30 am

nice paint job phreeky

Andy G · 2007-08-16 8:25 am

PeteMcK said:
nice paint job phreeky

I'll double on that ! cool look!!!

Moondog55 · 2007-08-28 11:00 am

Hi phreeky!,
I used the jaycar 4inch sheilded woofer in three way for my son, using standard nominal values I crossed at aprox 235 Hz, second order L/R using the 5.6mH laminate inductor, I used a stuffed, sealed box to give a nominal Q of .7, fair bit of cone movement when driven hard( and he was 18 ) but they are still going.
If I was to do the same again I would eithe ruse 3rd order or cross about a half octave higher at 375/400.
I think they are smooth enough and reasonable value both price and sound wise.
BTW tne 16R woofers came from Tandy on clearance $20 each and the tweeters from DickSmith 25 a pair, and I still have a couple of those, nice for the money
Ted

Inductor · 2007-08-28 1:36 pm

Andy G · 2007-08-28 2:33 pm

Yep, I'm aware of the Soundlab drivers.

Visaton: the expensive ones are apparently very good eg Ti100 4" has a received glowing reviews, B200 is praised as a great 8" OB driver. BUT... no-one seems to know anything about the cheaper drivers.

Wavecor: made in China, apparently designed by a Danish company.. Although they look quite interesting, they are of unknown quality. Can anyone comment about them ??

While I would like to have the funds to investigate some of these drivers, I can't really take the plunge at the moment.

WES: I have bought MANY drivers from them !! They sell DST and Fountek, and I can buy at "trade" price

)

phreeky82 · 2007-08-29 5:11 am

Moondog55 said:
Hi phreeky!,
I used the jaycar 4inch sheilded woofer in three way for my son, using standard nominal values I crossed at aprox 235 Hz, second order L/R using the 5.6mH laminate inductor, I used a stuffed, sealed box to give a nominal Q of .7, fair bit of cone movement when driven hard( and he was 18 ) but they are still going.
If I was to do the same again I would eithe ruse 3rd order or cross about a half octave higher at 375/400.
I think they are smooth enough and reasonable value both price and sound wise.

So I take it they can't take much power at all < 200Hz or so?

Moondog55 · 2007-08-29 10:07 am

I think the published rating is a little optimistic, but I think also the bandpass boost may have loaded them a little, I have no test gear and built these by ear.
The amp my son was using has a usable 120 watts and he plays loud, as a guess they handle 15 /20 watts average but a continous 20WRMS sine wave at resonance?? probably not, I am no expert, so this is only an opinion.
I do like the sound tho and there are kit suppliers here who use it in a $99- kit and I have heard good reports as a computer speaker.
bottom line;-[0 they worked for me in that system
ted

phreeky82 · 2007-08-29 10:41 am

Thanks

Yeah I'm a little undecided, very low sensitivity! They'd need 6db of boost just to match my mains, not sure I want to have to do that.

Might look into 5"s, some Vifa drivers perhaps. I'd really prefer to not have low sensitivity, and don't want the footprint of an MTM/MMT config.

Moondog55 · 2007-08-29 1:09 pm

I have a quad of the discontinued unsheilded jaycar 5inch(CW 2101 ) here if you were interested, Andy thinks the top is a little muddy but I think they are OK! Nominal impedance 8R DC 6R, Fs 58; 87dB; Vas 6.85l; nominal 40 watts.
make me an offer if you are interested.
Listed at $40-, bought them on clearance for $32-.
Ted

rabbitz · 2007-08-29 1:13 pm

For a good cheap driver, the PAE from WES are quite good and are basically a rebadged Vifa BC series. Not high on power handling but good honest sound and value. These are used in some of the Loudspeaker Kit speakers.

http://www.wagner.net.au/speakers/56-PAE.pdf

phreeky82 · 2007-08-29 2:16 pm

Thanks for the thoughts, I'm thinking of going with http://www.speakerbits.com/net/catalogs/showpic1.aspx?ID=VF110B (TC11WG-49-08 - i dunno how those model numbers work other than the "11" part, is the an explaination on the net somewhere????).

It models alright, not sure how it'd stack up in real life but I'm only looking at surround channel use, and TBH I'm not a huge HT type and if all else fails they'll find a use in another project down the line no doubt

Wanted as small a baffle as possible, so the smaller cone size the better - I'm thinking 4-6L volume or so, not sure on x-over but 80Hz would be nice 100Hz livable perhaps, that driver will hopefully be alright (ported). Can't find much info on it on here in searches.

Moondog55 · 2007-08-30 11:49 am

I looked at those my self, settled on the P11 in the end, probably should have gone for the P13, did you ever listen to the Whatmough system using the 5inch version with the Neo tweeter/ that is a nice combination.

Cheap 6.5" drivers

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