Focal 11WX or 13WX in sealed box?

[Petter]

Hi,

I am considering building speakers using these woofers. I have been looking back and forth at various designs and done some modelling but have zero practical experience in the speaker section of DIY.

I will be using a digital crossover (Behringer) with home-made amps.

I am aiming for great performance in a small package and transient response, preferably with deep extension. I am willing to EQ the bottom to achieve that.

Here are the datasheets:

Focal 11WX http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/woofer/a_11wx.htm

Focal 13WX http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/woofer/a_13wx.htm

What worries me a bit for the smaller unit is the Xmax of only 3.5mm.

What worries me quite a bit for both units is that an expert I had a chat with suggested these drivers were highly optimized for vented designs. I don't know the reasoning behind that.

What also worries me is the very small enclosure sizes recommended. I see Focal is using similar 13" driver (possibly different) in the Nova Be http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/home/utopiabe/novabe.htm and the volume of the box is VERY LARGE at about 125 litres. I am gunning for something significantly smaller - probably 80 litres or less for the bass box.

Your comments would be greatly appreciated.

Petter

[navin]

usually focal woofers are built for bass reflex or TLs but i guess a program like bass box or box plot will help you detmine what teh woofer will do in a sealed box.

as far as transiest response goes extensive EQ will also affect transient response of the system.

Q: why are you considering only these 2 woofers?

[Petter]

Because I can get them at a discount, and because I was initially planning to replicate the commercial models offered by the same manufacturer. I have pretty much decided to use Focal tweeter and midrange because I like it's sweetness.

I must also confess that the speakers sure look sexy ...

(I also have a Scanspeak speaker under development, but that is a far less costly effort )

Petter

[navin]

love to know your SS plan too. do they include the XT tweeter, sliced cone mids and new 10" woofer?

[Petter]

ScanSpeak project:

My other project is basically a modification of attached image - concrete loudspeakers that used to be quarter wave resonators, now reflex.

I purchased the elements too early, so I did not get into the slitted bass elements. I worked quite a bit to get them to fit ... it is rather tight - had to use a milling machine on the tweeter "reflector" and cut away some of the 18cm bass elements edges .

The tweeter is a 2905/990000, the bass elements are from memory 18W8546 as they fitted the volume at hand better.

Petter

[sreten]

On cursory inspection the 13 is the better bass unit
and the recommended volume is 80L to 100L.

I'm sure the recommended volumes are near industry
standard - max this and that for volume - but of course
less volume efficient alignments are available to to the
amateur and exotic manafacturers.

/sreten.