First time speaker build, just a few questions

[Fin9ers]

Hey guys,

Ive been interested in building my own speakers for a long time. just never had the time nor money to do so.

Ive come by some very nice hardwoord, and decided 'this is what i'll make my speaker out of'

Im stuck at the moment though,

I plan on making a set of 2-way speakers around 30watts as extension speakers for my amplifier (a vintage Sony TA-70) so I can listen to music in my kitchen without having to move the whole Hi-Fi.

I partly understand how speakers work (crossover to Bass/mid Driver and Tweeter) but im having some problems grasping the concept of putting it all together.
I will be buying everything i need online. And i wont be soldering up any chipboards or such, just basic 'this wire goes to this contact' kinda stuff.

These speakers will be passive as I've heard active ones will be harder to make.

Onto my questions

1. Can i just buy any crossover to fit any driver/tweeter?
2. If i want 30watt RMS, do i need the tweeter to be 30watts, driver 30watts and crossover 30watts?
3. The cabinet will be small in size, width and depth cant exceed 97mm but height can go up to 2 foot. Is this too small?
4. I'm having some trouble finding drivers/tweeters that will fit in these measurements. Can you guys recommend any websites that sell ones that will? Has to be a site that can deliver to the UK.
Money isn't a major issue here, but I'm not prepared to spend hundreds

Thanks guys,

Fin9ers

[planet10]

Originally Posted by Fin9ers

1. Can i just buy any crossover to fit any driver/tweeter?

No. The XO is very specific to the drivers & the box they are in.

2. If i want 30watt RMS, do i need the tweeter to be 30watts, driver 30watts and crossover 30watts?

Pretty much meaningless when it comes to typicalhome hifi.

3. The cabinet will be small in size, width and depth cant exceed 97mm but height can go up to 2 foot. Is this too small?

depends on the driver. With a cabinet of those dimensions, you should be looking at a 3" full-range driver (or multiplies) and even then it will be tight (eliminates the need to worry about XOs)

4. I'm having some trouble finding drivers/tweeters that will fit in these measurements.

Fostex FF85wk, Fountek FR88ex, Aura NS3 -- all available at madisound who will ship to the UK.

dave

[Lynn Olson]

Even though I usually favor multiway speakers, for background listening, full-range (no crossover) speakers are the way to go. Why?

One of the most troublesome aspects of a 2 or 3-way speaker is dynamic consistency - speakers are typically "balanced" at fairly high levels (foreground listening, as the primary activity of the listener), but then fall apart at quieter levels. More annoyingly, the tweeter can dominate the woofer when you turn it down, making the speaker sound sizzly and irritating. The cheaper the tweeter (Chinese metal domes, I'm looking at you), the worse it is, resulting in a speaker that looks superficially impressive but is completely unsuited for background music.

And also unnecessary. The primary advantage of a multiway speaker - and we are in the "multiway" forum here - is greater dynamic range, and secondarily, more extended frequency range. That's it. If you're doing background listening - and by "background", I mean listening when you're doing other things - going to 20 Hz and 20 kHz isn't important, because you're not going to hear it amongst all the other sounds in the kitchen, and dynamic range hardly matters at all, except in the downward sense.

The speaker should sound pleasant in the intended application - playing at moderate levels. This is where a full-range driver between 3 and 5 inches is just right for the job.

Yes, it is possible to design a "simple" 2-way system that sounds musical at moderate levels. But is actually pretty difficult, and cheap tweeters are out of the question. As I see it, you can make your task simple, and select a full-range driver that sounds good to you - and Planet10 is the expert on combining the right enclosure for the right fullranger. Or, if you like a challenge and don't mind spending money on test equipment, learning about crossover theory, and going through many possible combinations of midbass drivers and tweeters, you can do your own 2-way system. Your choice.

[badman]

You're getting good advice here. Small fullrangers are where it's at for you.

Best,
J

[bmwman91]

The Aurasound NS3 gets my vote. Am using their NS4's + NT1 tweeters and they sound really good. The price is more or less unbeatable too. The NS3's go high enough in response for background listening purposes. You won't need a crossover with them, either.

[Fin9ers]

Some great advice here, thanks guys.

Only reason I wanted 2-way is to get the range. Im a huge bass fiend, and love speakers that shake the hell out of its surroundings

I can see why they wont work in this application though so i will stick with full range drivers.

Another quick questions...

So if i get these full range speakers... i can just wire them direct to the sound source??? and if i get, say, 2 drivers per speaker, i can wire them both from source... nothing extra needed, just source to each driver???

Thanks again guys

[wwwn]

Originally Posted by Fin9ers

3. The cabinet will be small in size, width and depth cant exceed 97mm but height can go up to 2 foot. Is this too small?
Fin9ers

The space is so small that it is best to find speakers for a car that can be placed in that space. Some very small with a rubber membrane and the tweeter...You might consider buying 2.1 speakers for computer, with place somewhere for woofer...

[Keriwena]

Originally Posted by Fin9ers

So if i get these full range speakers... i can just wire them direct to the sound source??? and if i get, say, 2 drivers per speaker, i can wire them both from source... nothing extra needed, just source to each driver?

Yep, it's that simple, though you should consider parallel/series wiring and the impedance load on the amp. (That'll probably keep us going for another 5 pages, at least. )


But I totally agree with Lynn - a couple of FE103s stuffed in little pine boxes from the craft store (the kind you "decorate" by gluing stuff all over) served me well as extension speakers for many years.

[Fin9ers]

I think i might just keep it simple as ive been reading about series/parallel wiring and its confusing me a bit.

Impendance, ohms..... i havnt a clue :P

Gonna go for a a single Aurasound NS3-193-8A1 in each speaker:

Aurasound NS3-193-8A1 3" Black Cone wide range: Madisound Speaker Store

And make them reflex to get some extra bass

[bmwman91]

If they are anything like the NS4's I used, you can get a respectable bass extension from them (for their size). Now, you are going to be wishing for a lot more bass, but considering their size, they will probably do decently.

Download WinISD Pro (freeware) and start working things out.