Tang Band MTM ?

[wrenchone]

I have a pair of the Dayton 0.5 ft^2 cabinets, and I was thinking of building a pair of vented MTMs using the Vifa/JBL 4.5 inch drivers Parts Express had on clearance a while back, along with one of the SB Acoustics SB025F9 tweeters from Madisound. However, my eye was caught by some of the Tang Band extended range drivers at Parts Express. In particular, the W4-1052SD drivers aen't all that expensive (PE number 264-828), and they look like they'd take the same space as the Vifa/JBLs. Comments yea or nay?

[BHTX]

Are you really seeking a 4 ohm driver? As far as Tang Band goes, the W4-1337SA is currently one of the most popular and reputable of the TB 4" extended range drivers, and has been used in many recent projects of all types. John (Zaph) Krutke posted some info regarding this driver as well..

http://www.zaphaudio.com/smalltest/
http://www.zaphaudio.com/smalltest/compare.html (click the Tangband W4-1337SA)
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1230_04/w4-1337sa.htm
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=264-848

Some good searches around the web for this driver should turn up several projects.

Oh, and I almost forgot to ask.. what 'Vifa/JBL' are you talking about? Is it no longer available anywhere?
..I'd be interested in seeing it.

[wrenchone]

Since I'm building an MTM, there are two mid-woofs connected in series, so 4 ohms is right on....The titanium driver is twice the price of the PPs I was considering. If I wanted to spend that much money, I might try the bamboo cones.
The JBL drivers were available as clearance items a year or two back. They had treated paper cones, butyl surrounds, and plastic baskets. They also had a 3 mm Xmax, which was pretty good for a bitty speaker. They are also long gone from PE. I snarfed up quite a few of them to change out the drivers in my old speakers, then nabbed a few more with the MTMs in mind. Now that I have an SE tube amp, I'm getting more interested in higher sensitivity speakers, so the MTM project is getting moved further up the list.

[BHTX]

In regards to the W4-1052SD, I haven't been able to find much. So far..

Mini me clone.
http://www.lonesaguaro.com/speakers/...t/amethyst.htm
http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb2...75743401/31#31

..And then a nice pic (attached) from a guy on diymobileaudio that was selling a pair back in April of this year.

Has anyone else actually used these drivers that would care to comment? (doubtful )

Since you already have all those clearance Vifa/JBL 4.5's from PE, why not just go ahead and put something decent together with those? My guess is that any benefits you'd obtain from using just about any one of a large portion of the 4.5" TB drivers (with the exception of a couple) would be probably be pretty negligible, even in regards to sensitivity...versus just using what you already have...which, like you said, you 'nabbed' the extras with the intention of eventually doing this project. Add to that any hopes of obtaining the very most for your time and money with a good sounding low-cost speaker, and why not just use what you already have? Just my $0.02 of course.

Yeah, I know...just happened to come across those nice looking TB's, started having second thoughts, and wanted to evaluate your options, eh? Of course! Nothing wrong with that. After all, it's usually part of the whole process, isn't it?

[BHTX]

Also, I bought some W3-871S drivers a couple years or so back for a small project that never happened. I found the T/S parameters to be a bit off, especially Fs and Qts. Both were quite a bit higher than spec'd. Since then, I seem to recall coming across at least a couple of other people having very similar experiences with other Tang Band drivers. Taking that into consideration, I usually don't take those parameters all too seriously when looking into their drivers. With that said, I'd pretty much expect the same with these 4.5's. ..Just a thought.

[inrank]

something similar using the Tangband W4-655SA in an MTM....

http://www.lautsprechershop.de/hifi/...i/simon_en.htm

[ttan98]

Originally posted by BHTX
Also, I bought some W3-871S drivers a couple years or so back for a small project that never happened.

I just bought 4 *871S a week ago at trading post here at $15 a piece, I am building a pair open baffle speakers, 2 per side, plus ext sub woofer(or use existing one) to be added, it will be better than most commercial computer speakers in the market.

maybe you should try, open baffle is easy to build, min timber and min building time, max sound.

Just a thought.

[BHTX]

Originally posted by ttan98
maybe you should try, open baffle is easy to build, min timber and min building time, max sound.

I agree. However, I sold those 3" drivers as new several months ago.

On the other hand, I am currently planning for my next project, which will definitely be an OB. Starting with 2 high Qts 15's per side, eventually working my way up to 4 per side...crossed at 150-250 Hz to an 8"-12" coaxial with a compression driver. They'll probably stand 6 1/2 to 7 feet tall.

I'm trying my best to take my time this time around though, and absorbing all the info I can before diving into it. After trying a couple of other things at the same time and not being satisfied with them, I've been stuck on the basic design mentioned above for the last several months now, so I'll more than likely end up doing it before too long. It'll be my first OB (unless you count planars, which I don't ).

[wrenchone]

I managed to dig up the data on the PE/Vifa/JBL drivers:

35 W handling, 1" VC, 0.5 mH nductance, 4ohms Z/2.95 ohms R, 65-5000 Hz, Fs - 65 Hz, 88 dB SPL, 2.83V/1M, VAS 0.16 ft^3, QMS - 1.44, QES, - 0.34, QTS - 0.27, Xmax - 3.5 mm Special price was $6 each.

Tang Band W4-1052SD
20W RMS, 1"VC, 4 ohms Z/3.8 oms R, 60-15,000 Hz, Fs - 63 Hz, QMS - 4.21, Qes - 0.54, QTS - 0.48, Xmax 4 mm

Sensitivity and low end response are similar, high end range and parameters are not. The Tang Band has a thinner (?) cone with molding to break up resonances, as well as a phase plug. The JBL driver has a smooth cone - I might expect to do some empirial messing around to smooth its response out. The 5k limit on the JBL may be an indication of resonance problems higher up, or maybe the cone & associated bits are just heavier. I would expect better midrange articulation out of the Tang Band.

If I was just looking to get it done, I'd go ahead and slot in the JBL drivers. However, I want to use these speakers to evalate a series of SE tube amps, which is whay I was looking for something a little better without blowing up the budget too much.

[Iain McNeill]

Didn't see a Vas for the TB's but I'd suspect that you'd have to trade off Fs against Qts somewhat so for a given cabinet the TB's should give better low end extension.

I haven't tried either of these drivers so I don't really know what I'm talking about.

You know, you'll be able to evaluate the amps on either speaker really. I'd cut to the chase: test the amps with what you've got and then upgrade the drivers when you have you amp dialled in.