Well from the recent posts It appears I have rather underestimated the quality/expense of drivers needed to travel down this yellow brick road.
I wanted a 3-way design to get the most from each driver. Due to my noobishness I hadn't really caught on to the fact that serious bass drivers were going to be so expensive. I failed to understand that to achieve the accurate and powerful sound I described would mean the £800/$1300 budget meant I might have to pick suboptimal parts.
Would my money be better spent on a 2-way? bass that reaches 500-1000hz and a 2" CD w/horn?
Last edited:
spend the money on the needed electronics, and it might still be possible with the cheaper drivers like Fane's Sovereign
even if you can get a very nice tweeter like the FaitalPro HF100 very cheap, the needed waveguide could still be expencive enough to push the budget
so just finding a cheap but good waveguide could help a lot
or start the project with constructing you own waveguide
but forget all about 2" drivers
even if you can get a very nice tweeter like the FaitalPro HF100 very cheap, the needed waveguide could still be expencive enough to push the budget
so just finding a cheap but good waveguide could help a lot
or start the project with constructing you own waveguide
but forget all about 2" drivers
As always in audio - "It depends". You just have to budget for it. I don't think you'll get a top notch 3-way horn system for you budget, but you might come close.
The other way is 15/8/tweeter. Say a PD or Faital woofer, the Emmy Beta 8 and a Hi-Vi planar tweeter. I suggest the Beta + Hivi combo because I know it works so well. I've heard it in Gary Pimm's system. IIRC, it was just an small inductor on the 8" and a cap on the planar. They mate seamlessly at about 5 KHz.
I've heard a number of systems like this over the years - and with the right drivers and crossover they are very good indeed. Everything from Focal/Lowther/Fostex to Eminence 18/Eminence 12/ dome tweeter. Done right, it's great and tracks well from low levels to high.
The flip side to that is 15" woofer and a big horn. There you have to decide between 1" or 1.4" drivers. The 1.4" drivers will play clean down to about 700Hz, but not all will play clean up to 15-16 KHz. That's driver and horn dependent. With a good 1" driver you could cross circa 1200 hz. It's been done successfully many times. As Tinitus says , forget the 2" drivers.
If you want to go the horn route, you could build your own - cheap but very time consuming - or buy them. There are some really nice horns being built in Poland right now, they might not be too expensive to get to the UK. You could always drive down to pick them up.
Seems to me that if you stick with the Faital Pro line you could do a 2-way horn system in budget, or go with a cone midrange and good tweeter and stay well within. It's up to you and your desires.
The other way is 15/8/tweeter. Say a PD or Faital woofer, the Emmy Beta 8 and a Hi-Vi planar tweeter. I suggest the Beta + Hivi combo because I know it works so well. I've heard it in Gary Pimm's system. IIRC, it was just an small inductor on the 8" and a cap on the planar. They mate seamlessly at about 5 KHz.
I've heard a number of systems like this over the years - and with the right drivers and crossover they are very good indeed. Everything from Focal/Lowther/Fostex to Eminence 18/Eminence 12/ dome tweeter. Done right, it's great and tracks well from low levels to high.
The flip side to that is 15" woofer and a big horn. There you have to decide between 1" or 1.4" drivers. The 1.4" drivers will play clean down to about 700Hz, but not all will play clean up to 15-16 KHz. That's driver and horn dependent. With a good 1" driver you could cross circa 1200 hz. It's been done successfully many times. As Tinitus says , forget the 2" drivers.
If you want to go the horn route, you could build your own - cheap but very time consuming - or buy them. There are some really nice horns being built in Poland right now, they might not be too expensive to get to the UK. You could always drive down to pick them up.
Seems to me that if you stick with the Faital Pro line you could do a 2-way horn system in budget, or go with a cone midrange and good tweeter and stay well within. It's up to you and your desires.
I have every confidence in your advice Pano. I'm losing confidence in in the lower spec drivers. I guess, as tinitus says the electronics can pull it together, but it seems a shadow of the system I had in mind
The flip side to that is 15" woofer and a big horn. There you have to decide between 1" or 1.4" drivers. The 1.4" drivers will play clean down to about 700Hz, but not all will play clean up to 15-16 KHz. That's driver and horn dependent. With a good 1" driver you could cross circa 1200 hz. It's been done successfully many times. As Tinitus says , forget the 2" drivers.
If you want to go the horn route, you could build your own - cheap but very time consuming - or buy them. There are some really nice horns being built in Poland right now, they might not be too expensive to get to the UK. You could always drive down to pick them up.
Seems to me that if you stick with the Faital Pro line you could do a 2-way horn system in budget, or go with a cone midrange and good tweeter and stay well within. It's up to you and your desires.
I'm conflicted
I've been reading http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/139921-hi-end-hi-efficency-loudspeakers-horn-onken-4.html - it seems the Onken can be done with other drivers using the calcs that are available.
Sorry to be a let down guys. It just seems I'll have to make too many compromises (unseen and unknown to me due to my ignorance) on the original idea
Maybe some further reading is in order.
I enjoyed it too
FaitalPro HF100 is a very nice CD
smooth, sweet, and cheap
tho my experience is with the old one, new model looks it could be crossed quite low for its size
bought it from Lean
btw, I have revised my own similar project about a hundred times by now
but during this thread I have decided to start the project by building a big mono sub
and let the rest go on from there
that could be a different approach, spend all the money on a waveguide
mount it up with a cheap Faital CD, and a 12" Fane 12-300
and just fool around with that for a while
who knows, it might turn out so good that you will never be able to beat it, no matter what
I am repeating myself, but an extended Econowave type thing may do the trick. I.e. Build something just like the original Econowave project, plus a 18" (maybe even 15" can do) for sub 80 Hz duty. All in one big box (with internal dividers) so il will look, and perhaps perform like M1, a a fraction of the price...
look here for hint: Econowave Deluxe build
look here for hint: Econowave Deluxe build
The last two years i´ve not used any other compression drivers, almost always the HF104
which is to my ears the best there is.
The HF100 is a faboulus driver and at the price i cant imagine it could be bettered.
Their SHT tractrix horn i also find very good and really cheap.
All Faital drivers i´ve seen and used has the highest build quality i ever encountered.
You should allways dissassemble to see how its made when new toys arrive, very often one can get them back in working order again.
Kinoshita and Technics might also do the trick
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
This is what I've had on the drawing board for a while now. Hoping to get started on it early next year.
Four Omega 18 Pros in sealed enclosures, four Beta 10s, 10" DDS ENG-90 Pro waveguide and whatever compression driver I ultimately decide on.
Six foot tall silhouette for scale.
se
Four Omega 18 Pros in sealed enclosures, four Beta 10s, 10" DDS ENG-90 Pro waveguide and whatever compression driver I ultimately decide on.
Six foot tall silhouette for scale.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
se
Last edited:
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.