Building cheap surrounds, what wide-range driver?

St= Z · 11th February 2002, 06:52 PM

Hi all, DIY newbie here.

I'm building a Home Theater chair and I want to put the surrounds into the headrest. As you can imagine the drivers will be pretty close to the ears.

I want to keep the cost of the speakers very low, like $35 for the pair. So I was thinking of a 1 way design to keep everything simple and cheaper. But I'm at a loss for what would be an acceptable wide range, I cant seem to find one that gets near 20 khz (at any price), while I know I dont need bass, I certainly need top-end aswell as midrange. There are tons of HT systems with 1-ways and a sub, why cant I find a wide range with acceptable specs?

Can somebody recomend a cheap wide range for surrounds?

Also If I do use the 1 - way does it mean I do not need any type of crossover?

Thanks for any help

Super · 11th February 2002, 06:58 PM

If its a smaller driver, you may want to filter out low frequencies to prevent the driver from being damaged, and distortion would be high anyways due to cone breakup.

Nonlethal · 11th February 2002, 07:15 PM

I think Fostex has some relatively cheap/small fullrange drivers (Like the FE87) ... you could check them out, and maybe add a dome tweet with off axis with a inline cap for filtering or something if there isnt enough high highs.

St= Z · 11th February 2002, 07:19 PM

Super, I figured that in HT, the surrounds arent usualy fed low signals?

Nonlethal, thanks for the link, that fostex looks pretty good. I'm really new at this so if you can entertain a dumb question... the in line filtering, that means I let the Fostex run full range signal while a tweeter gets a simple low freq filter? Is this cheaper than a full x-over?

Nonlethal · 11th February 2002, 11:47 PM

Yes, St, It could be as simple as a single cap. However by doing this you could end up with the opposite problem (too much high) which is why i suggested putting the tweets off axis. You should probably just try the full ranges first. Btw, Parts Express has some alternatives to the Fostex i mentioned above. So are you going to be putting some sort of LF Transducer in the chair (like bass shakers or something?) or just using subs?

St= Z · 12th February 2002, 02:37 AM

Yeah there will be a bass shaker TT in the seat (any advice on this?)

I'm a little mystified by these wide-ranges, they dont seem to go up as high as they should, do they run out of spec when they are so close to the ear? I mean all those crappy all in one 5.1 dvd systems have wide ranges and their spec'd up to 20khz. The Fostex you pointed out seems to be the widest, dynamicly, I've seen.

I will probably throw a pot in between for easy adjustment as they will likely be too loud.

Nonlethal · 12th February 2002, 02:54 AM

Some of the commercial offerings simply lie... the others (ala Bose) simply use large cone tweeters that play down into the upper mid, and then run the rest of the midrange through the 'sub', which ends up being more of a mono woofer...

As for the Bass Shakers: just dont cross them over too high, you get a 'voice-in-your-butt' effect... and a lot of people don't like them for use with music, so if this is a dual purpose system, you might want a switch on the chair or something.

Good luck.

St= Z · 12th February 2002, 04:13 AM

Thanks for the advice, I will keep my eye out for good wide-ranges, it doesnt seem many people have much experience with them.

As for the TT, I'm going to use a small sub-amp to drive them I think it has a crossover built in so I can dial in the cutoff probably about 140-40, its really mostly for HT aps, I'm aware bass shakers aent really a great musical thing (neither are surrounds for that matter)

planet10 · 12th February 2002, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by St= Z

So I was thinking of a 1 way design to keep everything simple and cheaper.

If you can find some the Radio Shack 40-1197 (aka FE103) is an astounding driver for the $5 clearance price. The Tag-Band 3" drivers are also getting very good reviews (available at MCM IIRC) and some select units at http://www.nuera-acoustic.ca/.

dave

SteveG · 12th February 2002, 01:57 PM

I would have to agree with planet10- tang band. They seem to have decent specs, and are like $4 US a piece at mcmelectronics.com (if you can find them on the site- it's really hard to navigate). Sounds like a cool project.
Steve

11th February 2002, 06:52 PM	#1
St= Z diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002	Building cheap surrounds, what wide-range driver? Hi all, DIY newbie here. I'm building a Home Theater chair and I want to put the surrounds into the headrest. As you can imagine the drivers will be pretty close to the ears. I want to keep the cost of the speakers very low, like $35 for the pair. So I was thinking of a 1 way design to keep everything simple and cheaper. But I'm at a loss for what would be an acceptable wide range, I cant seem to find one that gets near 20 khz (at any price), while I know I dont need bass, I certainly need top-end aswell as midrange. There are tons of HT systems with 1-ways and a sub, why cant I find a wide range with acceptable specs? Can somebody recomend a cheap wide range for surrounds? Also If I do use the 1 - way does it mean I do not need any type of crossover? Thanks for any help

11th February 2002, 06:58 PM	#2
Super diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2001 Location: Connecticut	If its a smaller driver, you may want to filter out low frequencies to prevent the driver from being damaged, and distortion would be high anyways due to cone breakup. __________________ Bryan

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11th February 2002, 07:15 PM	#3
Nonlethal diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Seattle, WA	I think Fostex has some relatively cheap/small fullrange drivers (Like the FE87) ... you could check them out, and maybe add a dome tweet with off axis with a inline cap for filtering or something if there isnt enough high highs.

11th February 2002, 07:19 PM	#4
St= Z diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002	Super, I figured that in HT, the surrounds arent usualy fed low signals? Nonlethal, thanks for the link, that fostex looks pretty good. I'm really new at this so if you can entertain a dumb question... the in line filtering, that means I let the Fostex run full range signal while a tweeter gets a simple low freq filter? Is this cheaper than a full x-over?

11th February 2002, 11:47 PM	#5
Nonlethal diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Seattle, WA	Yes, St, It could be as simple as a single cap. However by doing this you could end up with the opposite problem (too much high) which is why i suggested putting the tweets off axis. You should probably just try the full ranges first. Btw, Parts Express has some alternatives to the Fostex i mentioned above. So are you going to be putting some sort of LF Transducer in the chair (like bass shakers or something?) or just using subs?

12th February 2002, 02:37 AM	#6
St= Z diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002	Yeah there will be a bass shaker TT in the seat (any advice on this?) I'm a little mystified by these wide-ranges, they dont seem to go up as high as they should, do they run out of spec when they are so close to the ear? I mean all those crappy all in one 5.1 dvd systems have wide ranges and their spec'd up to 20khz. The Fostex you pointed out seems to be the widest, dynamicly, I've seen. I will probably throw a pot in between for easy adjustment as they will likely be too loud.

12th February 2002, 02:54 AM	#7
Nonlethal diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Seattle, WA	Some of the commercial offerings simply lie... the others (ala Bose) simply use large cone tweeters that play down into the upper mid, and then run the rest of the midrange through the 'sub', which ends up being more of a mono woofer... As for the Bass Shakers: just dont cross them over too high, you get a 'voice-in-your-butt' effect... and a lot of people don't like them for use with music, so if this is a dual purpose system, you might want a switch on the chair or something. Good luck.

12th February 2002, 04:13 AM	#8
St= Z diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2002	Thanks for the advice, I will keep my eye out for good wide-ranges, it doesnt seem many people have much experience with them. As for the TT, I'm going to use a small sub-amp to drive them I think it has a crossover built in so I can dial in the cutoff probably about 140-40, its really mostly for HT aps, I'm aware bass shakers aent really a great musical thing (neither are surrounds for that matter)

12th February 2002, 01:57 PM	#10
SteveG Account Disabled Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Newton Falls, Ohio	I would have to agree with planet10- tang band. They seem to have decent specs, and are like $4 US a piece at mcmelectronics.com (if you can find them on the site- it's really hard to navigate). Sounds like a cool project. Steve

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