Hi all,
I decided I want to try building my first set of speakers, and thought a small, cheaper set to use with my computer would be a good place to start. After much googling, I settled on the Overnight Sensations... only to discover the components are almost impossible to source here in Australia.
So I'm wondering, are there any similarly priced/performing designs that the parts for are available here? Or is the price going to end up more expensive here regardless of design? I was hoping to get the electronics for < $200, but maybe at this lower end I'd be better off just buying a set of decent speakers...
I decided I want to try building my first set of speakers, and thought a small, cheaper set to use with my computer would be a good place to start. After much googling, I settled on the Overnight Sensations... only to discover the components are almost impossible to source here in Australia.
So I'm wondering, are there any similarly priced/performing designs that the parts for are available here? Or is the price going to end up more expensive here regardless of design? I was hoping to get the electronics for < $200, but maybe at this lower end I'd be better off just buying a set of decent speakers...
When you say "components", I would think that you mean the woofer and tweeter, not the crossover parts. If you like the design of the Overnight Sensations, then you might try to arrive at an Australian clone of that design.
That is, you could look to see if you can find a woofer and a tweeter available in the land down under with specifications closely matching those of the Overnight Sensations.
Coming up with a clone is going to inevitably require some tweaking of the design to get something like the Overnight Sensations, but perhaps some of the members here would find that interesting to do.
I would say more, but I don't know if you would want to get involved in this sort of thing, so I won't waste my breath.
Regards,
Pete
Thanks for the suggestion, MCPete. I was hoping to make my first foray into the world of DIY with a proven design, but if it's possible to achieve something similar with different drivers then that might be worth exploring. I can see myself becoming interested in tweaking and designing my own eventually, but I don't want my first attempt to put me off the whole idea
Small and cheap?
Aura NS6-255 and Vifa BC25SC TM - Techtalk Speaker Building, Audio, Video, and Electronics Customer Discussion Forum From Parts-Express.com
I know I keep posting this link but it just goes to show that price has little to do with sound quality (Aurasound ns6)
Aura NS6-255 and Vifa BC25SC TM - Techtalk Speaker Building, Audio, Video, and Electronics Customer Discussion Forum From Parts-Express.com
I know I keep posting this link but it just goes to show that price has little to do with sound quality (Aurasound ns6)
Looks like an interesting option, but again finding the drivers in Aus becomes a problem, at least for the woofer. I'm beginning to think that diy down under is not such a good proposition value wise for the cheaper speakers, when postage will end up a significant proportion of the final price.
Hi,
Jaycar seem to do a decent cheap tweeter and 4" mid/bass :
25mm Shielded Dome Tweeter - Jaycar Electronics
4" Paper Cone Woofer/Midrange - Jaycar Electronics
but it seems you'd need someones help with measurements
and simulation to arrive at a decent box and x/o design.
The drivers seem decent enough value.
rgds, sreten.
Jaycar seem to do a decent cheap tweeter and 4" mid/bass :
25mm Shielded Dome Tweeter - Jaycar Electronics
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
4" Paper Cone Woofer/Midrange - Jaycar Electronics
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
but it seems you'd need someones help with measurements
and simulation to arrive at a decent box and x/o design.
The drivers seem decent enough value.
rgds, sreten.
Looks like an interesting option, but again finding the drivers in Aus becomes a problem, at least for the woofer. I'm beginning to think that diy down under is not such a good proposition value wise for the cheaper speakers, when postage will end up a significant proportion of the final price.
I had 4 Aura NS6s delivered to the UK for $63 and the drivers were $36, so around 100 USD in total.
It worked out at something like £15 for each driver. Not cheap compared to what you pay in America, but still not a bad price IMO.
It looks like I could get 2 sets of the drivers delivered for just over $100 USD all up. Does using different brands for crossover components make much difference as long as the ratings are the same? I'd prefer to find them locally if possible.
Is it not possible to source the HiVi drivers in Oz? I would have thought Chinese drivers were easier to get in Australia. There is a HiVi T20 tweeter version.
There are some HiVi drivers available here, but I've been unable to find anywhere with the B4N. Although it's possible I just don't know where to look.
Is the T20 tweeter version a drop-in replacement, or would the crossover need tweaking?
During diyFEST last year a pai rof mMar-Kel70 (with EL70eN) followed a set of Overnight Sensation. All of a sudden everyone was paying attention and Bob had a run on the EL70 he brought along to sell. Darcher in Tas has them (stick EL70).
CSS EL70 Full Range - PAIR
dave
CSS EL70 Full Range - PAIR
dave
Hmmm ok. A single driver design I can get locally is certainly tempting. Do full range drivers run straight from the amp, or is there still some form of circuitry required in between?
Quiz for the cognoscente
The Jaycar 4" woofer-midrange (# CW2190) suggested by Sreten has nearly identical sensitivity, Fs, and Qes as the HiVi B4N. So is it safe to assume that Vas of the Jaycar is also nearly equal to that of the B4N?
Vas of the CW2190 isn't listed in the Jaycar Specs.
As the compactness of the Overnight Sensations is an important part of their appeal, I would think, Vas not much greater than that of the B4N is an important consideration.
Regards,
Pete
The Jaycar 4" woofer-midrange (# CW2190) suggested by Sreten has nearly identical sensitivity, Fs, and Qes as the HiVi B4N. So is it safe to assume that Vas of the Jaycar is also nearly equal to that of the B4N?
Vas of the CW2190 isn't listed in the Jaycar Specs.
As the compactness of the Overnight Sensations is an important part of their appeal, I would think, Vas not much greater than that of the B4N is an important consideration.
Regards,
Pete
With inductors, you want to make sure the DCR is the same or pretty close and obviously the inductance wants to be the correct value. The brand is not important though. I'd go for some cheap, iron-core inductors to start with - if you feel like experimenting in the future, you could always try some air-cores (they are big and expensive though).
For capacitors any polypropylene cap will do. I'd just go for the cheapest to start with - you can always try more expensive caps in the future (sometimes the cheaper ones sound just as good as more expensive ones IMO YMMV etc) I use Ansar polypropylene caps and can't notice any difference between them and the much more expensive Jantzen Z-Superior.
I haven't noticed any improvement with resistors in crossovers. I used to use Mills but they are expensive and don't sound any better than the wirewound ceramic type IMO. So again, brand isn't important.
Have fun!
Hi,
Well FR fans are going to prefer a single driver over a two way unless
the single driver is really bad. Simple fact is a 2 way has better bass
and treble whilst a FR has more midrange "magic", usually because
it lacks bass and treble, short term impressions are not long term.
I'm ambivalent, a good FR is better than a poorly designed 2-way.
A good FR is better for nearfield listening, but not so much farfield.
But then again the Jaycar drivers both seem good for their cost,
very high value tweeter, (it really is dirt cheap, at around £5 a
pop I'd order several for spares / repairs), though I'd tend to
go with a slightly bigger speaker with the published specs of
the 5" bass/mid version.
rgds, sreten.
Well FR fans are going to prefer a single driver over a two way unless
the single driver is really bad. Simple fact is a 2 way has better bass
and treble whilst a FR has more midrange "magic", usually because
it lacks bass and treble, short term impressions are not long term.
I'm ambivalent, a good FR is better than a poorly designed 2-way.
A good FR is better for nearfield listening, but not so much farfield.
But then again the Jaycar drivers both seem good for their cost,
very high value tweeter, (it really is dirt cheap, at around £5 a
pop I'd order several for spares / repairs), though I'd tend to
go with a slightly bigger speaker with the published specs of
the 5" bass/mid version.
rgds, sreten.
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The T20 needs slight tweaking. The manual from Meniscus Audio has details.
Overnight Sensation Kit /Pr
Overnight Sensation Kit /Pr
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