2.5 v/s 3-way

[percy]

pros and cons ? including difficulty level of xover design.
adequate bass response is a goal.

[marchel]

There are too many variables to consider, No offense, I think you need to research some more and decide what you size you can tolerate in your setting.

But to simply answer you question, 3 way is the way to go , if bass is what you are after, cause you can use 18" woofer. whereas in 2.5 way , You are usually only limited to 2 7" midbass.

[percy]

I'd like to keep the size of the woofer to 8" -10" for a 3-way, and 5" -6" for a 2.5 way. Does that help give an idea of the size, setting and a rough idea about the amount of bass I am looking for and to answer my real question ?

[marchel]

Well, Assuming you will be using only 1 woofer per side on the 3 way, a single 10" is still bigger that 2 7".

My rough calculation is ,A 10" woofer have about 50sq inch cone area, And assuming the XMAX is 8mm, 50 times 8 equals 400.

Whereas in a 2 7" setup, there is only 40sq inch cone area and 6mm of xmax is about as good as it gets, without having the high mid to suffer in performance.So, 40 times 6, you only get 240.

10" wins.

[Cal Weldon]

While I agree with marchel's points, for ease of XO, the 2.5 way wins. It's little more than a 2 way with a heavy choke on the lower woofer.

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by percy

Does that help give an idea of the size, setting and a rough idea about the amount of bass I am looking for and to answer my real question ?

No, not really
And there is no simple answer
It depends on a lot of different choises

Your request for SPL and listening habbits, music, electronics etc could be a more important factor

But for a 1. time build you cant expect to design and build the ideal speaker, if there is such a thing at all

To build a good speaker, its most important to know the compromises, and to know how to deal with them
Its almost like doing math with many unknown factors
Give the same drivers to different people, and the speakers they build from them WILL sound different
We may have a rough idea about how a design works, and sounds
But in reality noone knows, until its finished
Its a gamble

[percy]

I am leaning a little towards a 2.5 way also but I guess what I am trying to find out is are there any inherent disadvantages/flaws of the 2.5 way concept ? Is there a catch that I may not be aware of ?
We can assume 'nothing extraordinary' about my spl or music needs. Just average spl and music ranges from classical to rock. I don't want floor thumping window shattering bass but I do like the low end to be filled in well and complete.
I just want to make sure I dont end up with a system that is light or lean in bass. and I do not want a subwoofer in my system. this is for a strictly 2.0 system.

[marchel]

It seems to me that you want a fullrange sound, And I think you'll gonna be disappointed with 2.5 way.

While a 7" 2.5 way could get very loud, It still lack the deep bass that makes a speaker classified as fullrange.

[pos]

The JBL 4435 is a 2.5 way design, and its bass is said to be the best of all the vintage JBL monitors, even better than the JBL 4345 and 4355.
By the way the Everest II is also a 2.5 way design.

And with such a design you can also put the woofers in push pull to lower harmonic distortion, especially with cheap woofers lacking shorting rings.

[sdclc126]

The simplest approach that will address all issues is a 2-way system with a subwoofer or subwoofers.