I just picked up 4 Tang Band W4-1052SAs and 2 25-302S tweeters, I threw them in some rigged OBs made from cardboard boxes I had laying around just to break them in. Well, IMO they sound absolutely AMAZING!
I was originally planning on building a floorstanding .7cu ft BR box MTM for them, but I like the clarity and "openness" of them in the OB, I was wondering is anyone has any imput on throwing these in a 12"x44"H open baffle.
The "baffles" they're in right now are basically 12" wide with folded sides equealling ~32" and 18" high. The low end is reinforced by a CV Stroker18s in a 7cu ft box ported to 31Hz, though even with the sub turned off the bass is still impressive for a 4".
The one issue I'm worried about is the Xmax of the W4-1052SA, is there any formula I can use to figure the lowest safe frequency/power I can push through these before I get into the danger zone excursion wise?
I'm contemplating building a set of larger diameter H frame dipole woofers below the MTM (like the Linkwitz Orion) to reinforce the 90-300hz range.
I was originally planning on building a floorstanding .7cu ft BR box MTM for them, but I like the clarity and "openness" of them in the OB, I was wondering is anyone has any imput on throwing these in a 12"x44"H open baffle.
The "baffles" they're in right now are basically 12" wide with folded sides equealling ~32" and 18" high. The low end is reinforced by a CV Stroker18s in a 7cu ft box ported to 31Hz, though even with the sub turned off the bass is still impressive for a 4".
The one issue I'm worried about is the Xmax of the W4-1052SA, is there any formula I can use to figure the lowest safe frequency/power I can push through these before I get into the danger zone excursion wise?
I'm contemplating building a set of larger diameter H frame dipole woofers below the MTM (like the Linkwitz Orion) to reinforce the 90-300hz range.
Ill be honest i don't know much about open baffle designs. But i do have the w4's in an mtm design in a bass reflex box. The .7cuft box you are proposing is to large for the drivers and the xmax would passed quite quickly. However in a .4cuft box and a reasonable tuning say 2inch by 4 inch port will give you respectable bass extension to 50 HZ at 3 db down. Near a wall with a very rigid MDF box you'll probably hit high 40's. Not to mention a very respectable amount of power handling. In my experience the w4's are safe to be used up to 5mm of xmax not 3. If you would like more details just ask.
In my case with good damping i find them to be quite fast actually with good decay and control over the cone. The midrange to my ears is surprising for the pricepoint of the driver. It compares almost identically to a 4.5 inch peerless I've heard which are notably low in distortion. That being said while its not record setting clarity it could not be considered flawed or muddy in my opinion. I would recommend buying some decent damping material, it makes a difference from standard dacron or acoustastuff. Also experiment with cupping the drivers. .47 cuft seems more reasonable but still on the big side, you wont be able to crank them to far which i suppose is ok as long as your crossover on them doesn't kill their efficiency.
As far as damping materials goes, I've got a ton of 3/8-1/2" carpet padding (I'm a flooring installer) that I was going to use to line the walls of the cabinets. Would this be effective or should I invest in some 1"-2" light density foam along with low density fiberglass batting?
As far as the crossover goes I'm building an active LinRy 24db/oct crossover (ESP) and will be running multiple chip amps (I've got them collecting dust) with one channel per driver so that I can play around with different alignments. I'm aiming at crossing them over as close to the driver's HP limits as possible (5Khz-10Khz) to keep the slope as far away from the tweeter's Fs and out of the vocal range as possible.
This is actually my first DIY home speaker, I've got 10 years of experience in car audio. And I'm looking to replace my Polk SDA2Bs with something with a better WAF. My previous speakers were DCM Time Windows.
The difference in sound between my previous/current speakers and these Tang Bands is like night and day.
I mostly listen to Classic rock/Acoustic rock and some metal/dance, and these will be called in for HT duty in the evenings.
Would you sugguest I build the box on the smaller side of .4cu ft (not taking into account driver, port, and bracing displacement) and overstuff the cabinet (acoustastuff in adition to padding the walls)?
Thanks for the advice Rounder
As far as the crossover goes I'm building an active LinRy 24db/oct crossover (ESP) and will be running multiple chip amps (I've got them collecting dust) with one channel per driver so that I can play around with different alignments. I'm aiming at crossing them over as close to the driver's HP limits as possible (5Khz-10Khz) to keep the slope as far away from the tweeter's Fs and out of the vocal range as possible.
This is actually my first DIY home speaker, I've got 10 years of experience in car audio. And I'm looking to replace my Polk SDA2Bs with something with a better WAF. My previous speakers were DCM Time Windows.
The difference in sound between my previous/current speakers and these Tang Bands is like night and day.
I mostly listen to Classic rock/Acoustic rock and some metal/dance, and these will be called in for HT duty in the evenings.
Would you sugguest I build the box on the smaller side of .4cu ft (not taking into account driver, port, and bracing displacement) and overstuff the cabinet (acoustastuff in adition to padding the walls)?
Thanks for the advice Rounder
Actually i imagine that 3/8 carpet padding would be pretty good to line the walls. You might consider cupping the back of the drivers loosely in a single piece say 4 inches wide and 7 or 8 inches long... I did it and it tends to be the most effective at actually absorbing the back wave of the cone... while padding the walls is still effective it primarily functions as a damping walls and reducing reflections. Cupping the driver helps lower group delay as well.
The tang bands are great for all the music you listed except if you crank your dance music to well over 100 db's.. But even still they hold up well in the bass department.
I would build the box to be .4cuft internally exactly. That way the damping material will effectively cancel out the loss due to ports and bracing and drivers. As for the acoustastuff, its good to have some to play around with in addition to the padded walls to find ur preference. You might consider filling the area farthest from the tang bands with it. But thats a matter of sound preference. Just make sure to leave the port area clear to breathe a bit.
The good thing about active crossovers in no loss in efficiency.. I wish i knew how to make them. Out of curiousity what tweeter are you using. That crossover seems rather high. While the tangband can play smoothely up that high, the high frequencies will begin to beam and you will have to point the speakers directly at you and not move.
Anyway hope the advice is helping you, and keep me updated.
The tang bands are great for all the music you listed except if you crank your dance music to well over 100 db's.. But even still they hold up well in the bass department.
I would build the box to be .4cuft internally exactly. That way the damping material will effectively cancel out the loss due to ports and bracing and drivers. As for the acoustastuff, its good to have some to play around with in addition to the padded walls to find ur preference. You might consider filling the area farthest from the tang bands with it. But thats a matter of sound preference. Just make sure to leave the port area clear to breathe a bit.
The good thing about active crossovers in no loss in efficiency.. I wish i knew how to make them. Out of curiousity what tweeter are you using. That crossover seems rather high. While the tangband can play smoothely up that high, the high frequencies will begin to beam and you will have to point the speakers directly at you and not move.
Anyway hope the advice is helping you, and keep me updated.
WOW!
I'm using the Tang Band 25-302SH
They sound AMAZING for a couple of 4" drivers! Pretty respectable SPL even in a 25' x 17' livingroom.
The clarity is still there, though it lost some of the transparency but gained lower midrange.
I haven't even veneered the cabinets yet and my father wants me to build a 5.1 system for him.
I've put my SDA2s up for sale to finance my own 5.1 build.
Thanks for the help.
I'm using the Tang Band 25-302SH
They sound AMAZING for a couple of 4" drivers! Pretty respectable SPL even in a 25' x 17' livingroom.
The clarity is still there, though it lost some of the transparency but gained lower midrange.
I haven't even veneered the cabinets yet and my father wants me to build a 5.1 system for him.
I've put my SDA2s up for sale to finance my own 5.1 build.
Thanks for the help.
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