Affordable drivers in Australia for first build?

[mnturner]

Hey guys,
I've recently become interested in the idea of building some multi-ways, but I'd like to start with something cheap and small just to get a feel for it and play around. Can anyone suggest any place in Australia to get some smallish, cheap drivers? I don't really mind how low the power handling is or how poor the sensitivity is, I just want something supplied with specifications so I can play around with box types/dimensions and crossovers. Or even without specs if anyone can point me to a reasonably inexpensive method for measuring driver specs.
Thanks!

[googlyone]

At risk of stating the obvious - Jaycar fits the bill here.

WES sell vifa etc, but for a first build I think your approach is sound.

I would be interested if other members have other good sources.

[mnturner]

Thanks for the reply,
Jaycar was my first thought, but they surprisingly don't have much of a range. Mostly they seem to have car audio and a bunch of coax speakers, which I don't really want to use.
Altronics seems to have a little better range, which is also better priced, but still nothing there is grabbing me.
I'd have thought there'd be some places specialising in that kind of stuff but a quick google didn't seem to turn anything up.

[Commited]

I recently went through the same process looking for driver suppliers and here's what I found:
Hifi, Car Audio, Pro Audio and DIY - Soundlabs Group Online
Speaker repairs, Speaker parts, Ortofon cartridges, Thoren turntables, DJ accessories - Speakerbits
Quality drivers and speaker componenents - SpeakerComponents.com.au

I had more but I deleted the notepad file. Overall, there isn't an amazing range here and prices are pretty high!

In the end I bought some CSS El70 full range units from Canada.

[lydan01]

Also have a look at Darcher in Tassie. http://www.darcheraudio.com.au/

[blakkshepeaudio]

Originally Posted by lydan01

Also have a look at Darcher in Tassie. Darcher Audio

+1 for Darcher. HiVi drivers are cheap good fun.
Also, some of the Visaton drivers from soundlabs look reasonable value also. Haven't tried them tho'.

[blakkshepeaudio]

Also look at Hasaudio Speaker Components - International Suppliers of Speaker Components and Speaker Kits .

[Commited]

I forgot about Darcher, sorry! For what it's worth, my EL70s from Canada (including shipping) worked out cheaper than the without shipping price from Darcher.

[mnturner]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, definitely some options to think about. The HiVi drivers do look like something I could use! I was even considering getting about four really cheap (~$8) jobs from Jaycar and trying to measure their parameters to do the math for enclosure size, might be interesting.

[blakkshepeaudio]

Originally Posted by Commited

I forgot about Darcher, sorry! For what it's worth, my EL70s from Canada (including shipping) worked out cheaper than the without shipping price from Darcher.

Yes, the rampant Aussie $ makes purchasing overseas look pretty darned good ATM.

There is always a line to walk between getting the best price and supporting the local guy. Dan probably bought his stock when the $AU was 88UScents or thereabouts, so it would be pretty hard for him to compete on price alone right now. Nevertheless, given the proportion of a total build cost represented by the drivers there is still a case to support ANY local enthusiast/businessman with the cojones to back himself in a fiercely competitive global market.

My 2c.

Regards,
blakkshepeaudio