Frankenspeakers- distorted bass

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I'm building some Frankenspeakers with some Celestion 3 x-overs, Peerless woofers and Audax tweeters and I hooked everything up and temporarily placed the drivers in my cabinets (without the insulation stuffing and they sound very good except the bass is very boomy- lots of movement on the woofer surround and cone and distortion at flat levels. I turned the bass way down on the receiver to compensate.

I did not do the math for the cabinet volume or match the x-over with the driver specs, I just had this stuff leftover and hoped to get lucky. These are for a garage system.

Is this a sign that the crossovers are designed for a less sensitive or efficient woofer or the box dimensions are off? Would a port help? They are currently a sealed design. How about insulation?

Any suggestions to tame the bass down?

celestioncrossover.jpg
 
Oh jeez...you're Frankening it for sure.

Stick the insulation in and try it out would be my first guess. Dont port anything. Most likely the crossover is a pot-shot for controlling the woofer. ALso, you could damage the highs if the x-over is not withing the specs of the speakers.

Try to find out what speaker specs were originally to get an idea what that x-over is trying to do. Your cab could very well be the wrong size for the woofer.

Man...this is a cluster.:D
 
OK, thanks for the replies thus far. I know that this is "winging it."

Here's more details:

My enclosure is .75 cu ft

The Celestion 3 x-over is a simple 4 element, 5 kHz

The Peerless woofer specs are:

Specifications: *Power handling: 40 watts RMS/80 watts max *VCdia: 1" *Le: 0.83 mH *Impedance: 8 ohms *Re: 6.7 ohms *Frequency response: 50-5,500 Hz *Fs: 47 Hz *SPL: 85 dB 1W/1m *Vas: 0.89 cu. ft. *Qms: 3.19 *Qes: 1.61 *Qts: 1.07 *Xmax: 3.5 mm *Dimensions: A: 6-1/2", B: 5-3/4", C: 3-3/8".

The Audax tweeter specs are:

8 ohms, 90.dB, 5 ohms resistance, Xmax .25 mm, resonance 3000 Hz
 
Hi,

Your going to get a boom box bass alignment with that driver in that box.
Stuffing the boxes well will help, search on optimum stuffing density.
Even so depending on placement you will need some amplifier bass cut.

rgds, sreten.

Try bypassing the bass inductor, they might simply work better. If they
do, then try progressively unwinding the inductor to see if you can find
something inbetween that is better. Play with the R to set tweeter level.
 
Ok, luck is with me. I lined and stuffed the cabinets, sealed the drivers with mortite, screwed everything down and they sound pretty damn good. Bass distortion is gone and woofers are not moving excessively as before.

These components match pretty well. I'm especially impressed with the Audax titanium tweeters.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.
 
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