Budget studio monitors from spare speakers?

[santiu]

Hey all. I am in need of some half way decent near-field studio monitors, but I just spent a bunch of money on other recording gear and my wallet is running dry. I have some drivers sitting around the house, and I was wondering if anyone knew of a way I could use any of them in a new speaker to save money. Even if I only use one of the components and have to buy another that would help. Here's what I've got:

Dayton DC28F-8 1-1/8" Silk Dome Tweeter
Dayton DC130AS-8 5-1/4" Classic Shielded Woofer
Vifa P21WO-20-08 8" Woofer
Vifa D26TG-35-06 1" soft dome tweeter

the two vifa drivers were originally purchased to build a pair of Linkwitz PMT1 dipole speakers. I guess I could follow through on that, any thoughts on if the PMT1 would work well as a near field monitor?

thanks for any help!!

If I don't end up building anything, I'd probably end up purchasing a pair of these Yamaha HS50M, so that gives you an idea of how much my absolute limit on cost is.

[santiu]

Nevermind about the Yamaha HS50M's. I was hoping to get a good used price on them. I'd like to spend <$200 in parts. Ideally I could just use the drivers I have and spend say <$100 on crossover parts (or get a used pro-audio active crossover for that price, I have amps I can use).

I should note that I've never designed my own speakers, so i'm a bit weary on that. I do have an audio interface though, and some panasonic capsules I can make a measuring mic from. I just don't have any software to make a frequency response measurement.

[Godzilla]

>>> the two vifa drivers were originally purchased to build a pair of Linkwitz PMT1 dipole speakers. I guess I could follow through on that, any thoughts on if the PMT1 would work well as a near field monitor?

That looks like an interesting design. Thanks for posting. I would use the Vifa drivers to build a small monitor in a more typical bookshelf speaker but after seeing the PMT1 i would consider building those.

Godzilla

[Inductor]

Originally posted by santiu

Vifa P21WO-20-08 8" Woofer
Vifa D26TG-35-06 1" soft dome tweeter

the two vifa drivers were originally purchased to build a pair of Linkwitz PMT1 dipole speakers. I guess I could follow through on that, any thoughts on if the PMT1 would work well as a near field monitor?

Originally posted by santiu

Nevermind about the Yamaha HS50M's. I was hoping to get a good used price on them. I'd like to spend <$200 in parts. Ideally I could just use the drivers I have and spend say <$100 on crossover parts...

Originally posted by Godzilla

That looks like an interesting design. Thanks for posting. I would use the Vifa drivers to build a small monitor in a more typical bookshelf speaker...

You can build a 2-way monitor with the Vifa's with a 2.order xover and sensitivity of 90dB (1m/1w) +/-1dB to 22KHz. Note: you must invert polarity for the tweeter to match a good phase with the woofer. You can cross them at 2K6 where the Vifa woofer starts beaming. You have to buy good quality audio parts like n. inductive power resistors.

It should be Ok with the design of a BR box and better reinforcement (alignment) of the low frequencies under 100Hz. I am looking at a reference of a 35ltr. box from the specs that is low about -4dB@100Hz from a reference of 0dB@200Hz.

[santiu]

I emailed Linkwitz, and he doesn't think the PMT1 would serve well as a near field monitor as the speakers need some room for the front and rear waves to integrate. So, i guess I'll build a more standard bookshelf type speaker using the Vifa drivers.

Inductor, thanks for the design help. I'm new to crossover design, so let me see if I got this right. C2, L2, L1, and C3 make up the 2nd order crossover. R2 and R3 are a pad for the tweeter. And C1 and R1 serve as impedance correction. Is that right? How do I now go about calculating the values for all the components for the suggested 2kHz crossover.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions on the enclosure design? Should I use the 35l box used for the specs measurement? In which case what do I tune the box to? How about the baffle (does size matter? placement of the drivers? does it matter which way the port faces?)?

thanks for the input guys Sorry for all the basic questions.

[PeteMcK]

You’re correct about the functions of the components

For values, use a calculator: http://ccs.exl.info/calc_cr.html#second
(Be sure to use the ACTUAL impedance of the drivers at the xover freq)

For enclosure size, download WINISD Pro (free) : http://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=winisdpro

for baffle step, read Rod Elliots page: http://sound.westhost.com/bafflestep.htm

[peter_m]

This is inexpensive and has an option for a lower BSC version as well. Could be nice for near-field listening. Will also allow you to keep your existing parts to finish your dipole someday.

http://zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker19.html

Peter

[ocool_15]

You already have the drivers for The "Dayton Budget 2-Way"
If you go to his site he has an improved crossover. You may want to experiment with less baffle step for your purpose.

Dayton 2 way

[santiu]

Originally posted by ocool_15
You already have the drivers for The "Dayton Budget 2-Way"
If you go to his site he has an improved crossover. You may want to experiment with less baffle step for your purpose.

Actually, that's what I'd be pirating those speakers from. I built a pair a while back, and while they sound okay, I'm not a big fan of them. I don't think I'd want to use them for mixing duty.

[santiu]

Originally posted by peter_m
This is inexpensive and has an option for a lower BSC version as well. Could be nice for near-field listening. Will also allow you to keep your existing parts to finish your dipole someday.

http://zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker19.html

Peter

Ahh Zaph designs. That website is dangerous. I want to try out soo many of his designs. But every-time i start looking I end up wanting to build a pair of the Seas L15 design, or just go for broke withe ZD5. Maybe I should just suffer with headphone (at least I have a nice pair of HD580s) + crappy monitors right now while i save up for the parts to built one of those designs...