First timer in need of assistance/critique (plz help!)

[spliffed]

Hi. Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Chris and I live in OntarioCanada, I’ve never built a speaker, but the idea came to me after looking into "studio monitors". For a semi-decent pair of monitors I was looking at, at least $600, I thought I might be able to build a pair myself for less. I play guitar and sing, and have a small recording setup in my home. So my goal is to design a pair of near field monitors with a fairly flat overall response and decent bass extension. I may add a sub later, so bass is of less concern. I realize it would be much easier to purchase a kit to start off with, but I want to learn more than just construction of a speaker. I would like to design the entire system myself using software (spltrace, unibox, diffraction & boundary simulator, frequency response combiner beta and passive crossover designer). So let me describe what I’ve managed to accomplish.

I began by choosing the drivers I wanted to use. I started off with a peerless woofer and a seas tweeter (cant remember the model numbers),but then I opted for an all seas system, do to the fact that they provide more information about there measuring techniques which I thought in turn would provide me with a more accurate simulated response. I settled on the Seas CA18RNX and the Seas 27TBFCG.
Following the guide at http://www.rjbaudio.com/Audiofiles/FRDtools.html this has been my process so far.

I gathered the frequency response charts for the drivers I planned on using, cropped them to size and imported them into spltrace. Then I traced the frequency response and impendence data as accurately as possible and exported the files. I now had a .frd and .zma file for each driver. Now using unibox I punched in the woofers specifications and then simulated the box that the woofer had been measured in, which I understood was a 12.3L closed box, and exported the resulting .frd file.

I then simulated the box that I planned on using looking at other designs on the zaph audio website. I decided to use a 14L vented box tuned to Fb 44Hz, which resulted in a F3 of 46Hz using a 2” flared port 7” long. I then exported the resulting .frd File. There was no information on the box used to measure the tweeter, however there was baffle information, so I skipped this step for it.

The guide I was using recommended baffle response simulator to simulate the baffle the speaker was measured in, as well as the baffle I would be using. I was having a very hard time figuring out how to use the program, so I found other software that appeared to do the same thing, (diffraction & boundary simulator). I input the measurements I had for the baffle that the woofer was measured in which happened to be 8.38” by 12.59” with an offset of 2.36”. The software also asked for the speaker piston diameter which I calculated to be 6.5”. I didn’t have any information on the baffle radius so I left the edge “sharp”, then exported the resulting .frd file. I simulated the baffle that the tweeter had been measured in which happened to be 23.62” by 31.49 inches there was no information about the actual tweeter placement in that baffle or the edge radius so I put it in the center and exported the resulting .frd File. Using the measurements zaph had on his site for the baffle I would be copying and the woofer and tweeter placement on that baffle, I created frd. files for both the tweeter and Woofer.

So now after all that I had.. the original .frd and .zma files for both drivers (as measured by Seas), an .frd File for the box the woofer was originally measured in, as well as one for the box I planned on using. also frd. Files for the baffle the drivers were measured in as well as ones for the baffle that I would be mounting them in. Hopefully everyone is still following me lol.

On to Frequency response combiner. I imported the original seas woofer measurement .frd As well as the box .frd it was measured in , the .frd for the box I would be using , the .frd for the baffle it was measured in and the .frd for the baffle I would be using (As far as I understand this program subtracts the effects of the box and baffle the speaker was measured in from the frequency response data and adds mine in) then I exported the resulting combined frd. File. I was also told to load the .zma file I created into this program so it could add phase data to the file, so I did that and saved it. As for the tweeter I didn’t have any information on the box that it was measured in so I assumed it was an open baffle and I wasn’t sure if this would have any effect on the frequency response as it seemed the size of box had the most effect on lower frequencies I did however have the baffle information for the tweeter so I loaded the .frd of the original tweeter response along with the baffle .frd it was measured in and the .frd for the baffle that I would be mounting it in , combined those and exported the resulting frd file. As well as the zma with phase data.

So now as far as I understand I have and .frd file for the woofer that also has the effects of the baffle and box I plan on using a .zma file that also has phase data As well as an .frd file for the tweeter that has the effects of the baffle I will be using and .zma file with phase data for it aswell. Looking back and reading all this its sort of hard for me to understand lol and im the one that did it all ..so im hoping you guys will be able to follow me here…

[spliffed]

first image is the origonal traced response of the woofer second image is the combined response of the woofer.. next is the origonal tweeter response then the combined response

Does everything look ok so far ..is my process correct?..