Woofer recomendations for Vifa tweeter

[THUMP LUMP]

First, I would like to thank everyone for their responses. On to the heart of the matter. I have an old pair of HK Forty speakers in which the foam surrounds are toast on the woofers. I am going to save the cabinets for a later project but for now, I have pulled the tweets out and looking to do a simple 2 way system. The tweeters that HK put in these cabinets are Vifa D25TG-55. From what I have researched, these are very similar to the Vifa D26TG-05. (Here is the spec sheet for these http://www.madisound.com/pdf/vifa/d26tg-05-06e.pdf). Budget is more of a concern now for myself as I'm sure it is for many of you. I would like to not put more than about $25.00/ea. into the woofers. I know, not much to work with. But then, the tweets are not much either. Here is a list of the woofers I have been looking at in no particular order:




Silver Flute W17RC38-S4, 6.5" 4 ohm Shielded Magnet Wool Cone http://www.madisound.com/catalog/pro...oducts_id=1354

Goldwood GW-6PC-4 6-1/2" Heavy Duty Woofer 4 Ohm http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=290-307

Dayton DC160-8 6-1/2" Classic Woofer http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=295-305

Vifa TP16WJ-06-08 6-1/2" Woofer 8 Ohm http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=299-277


Doing the crossover isn't an issue. I will probably go BI-amped as I already have everything I need to do so. Passive may be an option as I have a fair assortment of caps and coils.

I guess my biggest issue is not being able to hear what any of these woofers sound like. Or, how they will match up with the Vifa tweeter. I have been able to in the past match drivers together fairly well but I was always able to hear them first. This isn't the case here. So, with the deepest respect of the people who do this more than I here, I an asking for their advice on what to get. If there should be (I'm sure there is) other choices out there that will fit into the budget and match well with the Vifa tweet, by all means, pass it along, I am not at all locked into the ones I have mentioned.

Thanks once more for any and all answers in helping me make a choice here.

Ken

[sreten]

Hi,

First off the crossover is always an issue or its oversimplified and
wrong. The Vifa looks very good value but no measurements.

If you cannot take measurements using unmeasured drivers is
a lottery and you will not get it right unless you are very lucky.

Despite what the suck it and listen brigade say .....

If you go that route the Vifa looks by far your best bet.
(Though with all those holes it ain't going to look too pretty)
The Goldwood / Dayton midrange quality is not up to much IMO
and some SF drivers have large (crossover controllable) peaks
before their treble roll-off.

The alternative is not to base the design around an old tweeter,
(refoaming the bass drivers of the originals seems your best bet).

Then you can use published designs but none will approach your current budget.

I would search around all the forums for someone who has
(or is planning) buying the vifa drivers and intends to take
some frequency response plots.

Or try this :

http://www.acoustic-reality.com/ar-sxo2.htm

/sreten.


http://www.rjbaudio.com/Audiofiles/FRDtools.html
http://www.geocities.com/woove99/Spk...esigningXO.htm

http://www.zaphaudio.com/
http://www.rjbaudio.com/projects.html
http://www.geocities.com/woove99/Spkrbldg/
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Diy_Lou...r_Projects.htm
http://htguide.com/forum/forumdisplay.php4?f=39
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/

[MisterTwister]

I'd definitely choose vifa woofer.
and don't forget a waveguide for tweeter

[THUMP LUMP]

I planned on using the HPF part of the original HK crossover. HK says this is a 2.2khz Asymmetrical 4th order Butterworth. I would guess that I would need a woofer that stays together till about 2khz. The BI-Amp thing was kinda a last minute thought.

I went to Zaph Audio's web site and found the 6.5"-7" comparison chart here after posting the OP. It would appear that the Dayton DA175-8 7"

Zaph's chart



or the (budget permitting) Dayton RS180S-8 7"

Zaph's chart



Would be better routes to go. If for no other reason than, like sreten said, there are graphs for each and you can see what they will do. I still want to run both of the Dayton woofers names above through the WinISD program and see what kind,size enclosure will work. 1+ cu. ft. will be getting larger than I have space for.

[THUMP LUMP]

I used WinISD on these 4 woofers. The Vifa, Dayton DA175, and Dayton RS180 both 4 and 8 ohm. Here's what I came up with




All are in a 1cu. ft. box. As you would expect, all would like a larger enclosure and would improve in varying degrees. I adjusted the tuning freq. on each to get the best curve from each.

I wish I could find a response chart on the Vifa. That would really help alot. I also considered replacing the surround on the original woofers but the cost would be similar to replacement.

[dave_gerecke]

Here's what they had at the mfg website. Both discontinued, but datasheets available.

http://www.tymphany.com/files/produc...17WJ-00-08.pdf

http://www.tymphany.com/p17sj-00-08

Peace,

Dave

[THUMP LUMP]

Thanks for the links. I had been searching for more Vifa info. I saved the home page and will search for anything else they may have that will work for me.

[dave_gerecke]

You're quite welcome. Glad to help. Another thing to note, in regards to replacing the foam surrounds on your current woofers. If the cones, spiders and voicecoils are ok, you can find replacement foam surround kits in ebay pretty reasonably. I bought some a couple years ago from seller GeoAliWil for less than $20 for a pair. The kit included instructions, surrounds, glue, shims, etc. The only things you need to provide yourself are a knife, table and workbench, and good lighting.

Peace,

Dave

[THUMP LUMP]

Thanks again. The only place that I knew about was SpeakerRepair.com and they are wanting about $38.00 shipped for a pair. I figured I could get new woofers for just a bit more. I'm juts not sure of my ability to get the surrounds on correctly so that the voice coils don't rub. The other thing is that I know one of the 4 original woofers is blown. 2 of the originals are beyond repair (spiders are fubar) so that leaves 2. One of which may very well be the one that's blown. With the surrounds gone, it's impossible to move the cone straight up and down to hear if the coil is rubbing or not. It would be a crap shoot and not worth taking the chance on. BUT......for less that $20.00/pr. it may be worth trying.

[dave_gerecke]

Hello again, There are even cheaper sources for speaker surrounds, and possibly other parts, but as you said, you're not sure if you are up to it. I liked the kit I got from the ebay sellers I mentioned because it came with just about everything you need for a pair of drivers, and the instructions are very clear, with good pictures. They even offer discounts if you by larger quantities of surrounds.
If the woofers are as far gone as you say, it may just be cheaper to source new ones. The problem you run into is compatibility with the enclosure you have and the high frequency drivers, as was mentioned by others earlier.

Peace,

Dave