Different woofer configurations in 3-way floorstand speaker

alspe · 01:50 PM

Lets say that we have max 225 mm wide, 340 mm deep and 950mm high floor stand speaker. Inner volume is around 40 l.

We could go bass with 8", 2x6,5" or 2-4x 5,25" what comes to enclosure volume. What configurations you like most in 3-way speaker (XO-300-500 Hz)?

8" has lowest Fs and easy Z 8 ohms.
2x6,5" has more cone area but harder impedance load to amplifier when 8 ohm's connected parallel. Sensitivity rises 6 dB which might be too much, depending on midrange unit.
2x5,25" is too less for that kind of box. With smaller cones you lose Fs and so lowest might be weaker.
4x5,25" gives +6 dB compared to one (16 // 16), longer array of woofer. Might it be "too long" if xo is 500 Hz? Does sound "drop to floor"?
3x5,25" gives impedance 5,3 ohm and little power tapering when to woofers are in series and them paralleled with one. Sound is more like point source but one woofer works harder than other two so they are kind wasted little bit.
With many small woofers floor cancellations are vastly reduced which may compensate higher Fs and weaker bass compared to big one

fatmarley · 2nd October 2011, 04:46 PM

I'd say a single 8" but I can't give a technical reason why. Bigger drivers usually sound better than smaller ones to my ears.

alspe · 27th November 2011, 08:23 AM

I think it would nice to have more discussion about this!

Would you choose 2x6,5" (8 ohm drivers) parallelled to ~3 ohm or 2x6,5" (4 ohm drivers) in series to ~6-7 ohms?
Or would you always choose 1x8" 8ohm if cabinet baffle allows (WAF)?

With more than one woofer you gain boost from floor and there is less cancellation because of more directivity.

2nd October 2011, 01:47 PM	#1
alspe diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Finland/Tampere	Different woofer configurations in 3-way floorstand speaker Lets say that we have max 225 mm wide, 340 mm deep and 950mm high floor stand speaker. Inner volume is around 40 l. We could go bass with 8", 2x6,5" or 2-4x 5,25" what comes to enclosure volume. What configurations you like most in 3-way speaker (XO-300-500 Hz)? 8" has lowest Fs and easy Z 8 ohms. 2x6,5" has more cone area but harder impedance load to amplifier when 8 ohm's connected parallel. Sensitivity rises 6 dB which might be too much, depending on midrange unit. 2x5,25" is too less for that kind of box. With smaller cones you lose Fs and so lowest might be weaker. 4x5,25" gives +6 dB compared to one (16 // 16), longer array of woofer. Might it be "too long" if xo is 500 Hz? Does sound "drop to floor"? 3x5,25" gives impedance 5,3 ohm and little power tapering when to woofers are in series and them paralleled with one. Sound is more like point source but one woofer works harder than other two so they are kind wasted little bit. With many small woofers floor cancellations are vastly reduced which may compensate higher Fs and weaker bass compared to big one Last edited by alspe; 2nd October 2011 at 01:50 PM.

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2nd October 2011, 04:46 PM	#2
fatmarley diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Cheltenham	I'd say a single 8" but I can't give a technical reason why. Bigger drivers usually sound better than smaller ones to my ears.

27th November 2011, 08:23 AM	#3
alspe diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Finland/Tampere	I think it would nice to have more discussion about this! Would you choose 2x6,5" (8 ohm drivers) parallelled to ~3 ohm or 2x6,5" (4 ohm drivers) in series to ~6-7 ohms? Or would you always choose 1x8" 8ohm if cabinet baffle allows (WAF)? With more than one woofer you gain boost from floor and there is less cancellation because of more directivity.