Hi,
I am new to this forum and speaker building and I am currently doing a lot of reading and getting any good information I can before I decide to go ahead. I would like honest opinions on the best box and crossover design software that is out there. I currently have bassbox pro and Xover pro, but I am hearing differing opinions that this software is not that great and or is good. Would appreciate any info. on any and all software out there. I know about LEAP but it is expensive and I am sure it is for more advanced builders. thanks.
I am new to this forum and speaker building and I am currently doing a lot of reading and getting any good information I can before I decide to go ahead. I would like honest opinions on the best box and crossover design software that is out there. I currently have bassbox pro and Xover pro, but I am hearing differing opinions that this software is not that great and or is good. Would appreciate any info. on any and all software out there. I know about LEAP but it is expensive and I am sure it is for more advanced builders. thanks.
I am using SoundEasy, and with user support, I think most of the difficulties are taken care of.
SoundEasy features:
1. Driver measurement, and parameter extraction.
2. Enclosure design and box parameter optimization.
3. XO design and optimization integrating driver performance data.
4. Active XO using computer to listen to XO before building it.
5. Room analysis and in-room performance analysis.
Manuals are on line for free which you can read before you buy.
SoundEasy features:
1. Driver measurement, and parameter extraction.
2. Enclosure design and box parameter optimization.
3. XO design and optimization integrating driver performance data.
4. Active XO using computer to listen to XO before building it.
5. Room analysis and in-room performance analysis.
Manuals are on line for free which you can read before you buy.
Like most things in life, it's not about "having the best stuff out there," but using what works for you. Or, as my old drum teacher would say, "Don't let the equipment play you."NTSBuilding said:
That being said, what works for me is:
Unibox (box modeling)
Passive Crossover Designer (XO design)
JustMLS, Praxis demo (measurement)
Your mileage may vary. It seems as though the software of choice of XO designers whose work I admire most is usually LSPCad 5.0.
a.wayne said:
We have been using LEAP for design and simulation work for our clients (DIYers and "non-DIYers" alike) for a couple of years now.
1. LEAP does have its quirks and bugs. After all, it's software, and further it's essentially one-man software. For example, as we discovered after much hair pulling a year ago, if you specify port dimensions with the "External" checkbox unchecked, then LEAP should treat the dimensions as internal and ADD the wall thickness to draw the port. However, the dimensions you provide even if the checkbox is unchecked are taken as EXTERNAL dimensions. This is a bug as I confirmed with Chris Strahm, and cannot be easily corrected because *he* has to find time to go into the code
.2. Fairly easy to learn and use, and although I have not compared it with others I believe it should not be more difficult than others.
3. Specific capabilities are a bit weaker than other specialized packages. TLs are good per se but relative to more specialized TL modeling packages such as Augsperger's, probably weaker.
4. More generally (not specifically with LEAP), it is easy to get into the trap of beleiving that software is doing more for you than is already embodied into existing (and possibly "old") published mathematical formulations. Simple example: if you want a nice continuum of values/a graph to show you how a sealed alignment behaves with varying Q-values (Vb + box damping), something that our customers love, LEAP does not do that but you can easily go back to published formulas and build that capability into a spreadsheet.
-Ram
Ram,
thanks for the response. My leap/LMS package is now outdated and i have not used it in years ( 10 ) as I'm no longer involved in the audio field as before . Recently I have decided to design a set of speakers for myself and in my attempt to dust off both my brain and the software their old Key system has failed , hence i need to have an update.
In your opinion does it make sense to have the update or should i move on to one of the other software's mentioned in this Thread .
A. Wayne
thanks for the response. My leap/LMS package is now outdated and i have not used it in years ( 10 ) as I'm no longer involved in the audio field as before . Recently I have decided to design a set of speakers for myself and in my attempt to dust off both my brain and the software their old Key system has failed , hence i need to have an update.
In your opinion does it make sense to have the update or should i move on to one of the other software's mentioned in this Thread .
A. Wayne
A.Wayne,
More as info for the original poster than you, Leap still stands as probably the best and most expensive loudspeaker design suite.
However, IMO, at $1595 for the full version, for the DIYer, tools such as SoundEasy or LspCad Std have much greater bang for the buck at 1/7th the price.
Not to mention that they include a measurement suite as well as the crossover emulator which allows you to listen to and voice your virtual XOs through a multi channel soundcard and amp. Features which are not part of LEAP.
Kind regards,
Dennis
More as info for the original poster than you, Leap still stands as probably the best and most expensive loudspeaker design suite.
However, IMO, at $1595 for the full version, for the DIYer, tools such as SoundEasy or LspCad Std have much greater bang for the buck at 1/7th the price.
Not to mention that they include a measurement suite as well as the crossover emulator which allows you to listen to and voice your virtual XOs through a multi channel soundcard and amp. Features which are not part of LEAP.
Kind regards,
Dennis
"their old Key system has failed , hence i need to have an update"
They don't support the older software?? You can't get a new key?
I use Clio for measurements LEAP Crossover Shop, and Bass Box Pro. It all works well. I think LEAP does a great job in simulating the crossover. The simulations against the actual measurements of the completed crossovers match up very well.
Rob
They don't support the older software?? You can't get a new key?
I use Clio for measurements LEAP Crossover Shop, and Bass Box Pro. It all works well. I think LEAP does a great job in simulating the crossover. The simulations against the actual measurements of the completed crossovers match up very well.
Rob
djarchow said:
I agree on the leap /LMS package as we used this for years in our anechoic chamber when i was involved in the business, The x-over designer kicked **** back then .
As a previous owner Chris will give me the update for 1100.00
i'm inclined to update , but since it has been the better part of 10 yrs
i wanted to see what other options are available ..
Robh3606 said:"their old Key system has failed , hence i need to have an update"
They don't support the older software?? You can't get a new key?
I use Clio for measurements LEAP Crossover Shop, and Bass Box Pro. It all works well. I think LEAP does a great job in simulating the crossover. The simulations against the actual measurements of the completed crossovers match up very well.
Rob
Yes i was made painfully aware of that , no new Keys and i need to update. agree with the x-over sim in leap , very , very helpful.
Calsod
I'm using Calsod 1.40. It's relatively cheap (100$).
It's not user friendly, relatively complex, but it is still better than using nothing. I doesn't do measurements. I use dayton WT3 for impedance measurements, and a spectrum analyzer for SPL measurements.
Even after saying that, I love to use it, in a masochist kind of way. I wouldn't recommend it though...
I'm using Calsod 1.40. It's relatively cheap (100$).
It's not user friendly, relatively complex, but it is still better than using nothing. I doesn't do measurements. I use dayton WT3 for impedance measurements, and a spectrum analyzer for SPL measurements.
Even after saying that, I love to use it, in a masochist kind of way. I wouldn't recommend it though...
If your need is for a one-off personal system (or a few) I think LEAP may be an overkill especially when there are folks who offer LEAP-based design services for a fee. As Dennis points out, there are other nice features such as crossover emulation that you can play with if you use the others.
The primary reason I chose LEAP for my business (of providing LEAP-based services to those who do not want to buy LEAP
) is two-fold:(i) I found it had a more established history of simulating speaker *boxes* whose final measurements came very close to the simulated results.
(ii) It seemed to be the most established way of getting from small-signal driver models (read T/S) to large-signal driver models (the latter due largely to Chris) that match very well with reality.
-Ram
Robh3606 said:"their old Key system has failed , hence i need to have an update"
They don't support the older software?? You can't get a new key?
I use Clio for measurements LEAP Crossover Shop, and Bass Box Pro. It all works well. I think LEAP does a great job in simulating the crossover. The simulations against the actual measurements of the completed crossovers match up very well.
Rob
I would be very surprised if any of the tools (SoundEasy, LspCad, SpeakerWorkshop, Leap, Calsod, PCD, etc) that allow the use of measured impedance, phase and spl didn't produce very accurate XO simulations. Assuming I have done my measurements correctly, the rest is fairly simple mathmatics.
Regards,
Dennis
Thank you Dennis. You can certainly get from the same point A to point B using any of those programs because the math is the same. The only differences are that some programs have features to try to get you to point B automatically, and some programs are just more intuitive to use.djarchow said:
-Paul
I was using SpeakerWorkshop before switching to SoundEasy. Three major things made me switch: 1. I could not get sensible phase data from the XO design. 2. CSD. 3. SW was not being updated any more. I needed something with the features and continued upgrades with new features.djarchow said:
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