I'm looking for a good 4'' midrange driver and a small format tweeter for my build. The budget is under $30 for each driver, but can be pushed to $50 if it is worth it. The goal is to design a speaker that has a lively and a crisp sound. The 4'' midrange should have excellent midrange clarity and (preferably) have some bass to about 70Hz. The small format tweeter should be a bit bright sounding, but not Klipsch horns bright, and must have good off axis performance (otherwise I would have just used a Vifa XT25).
Background of the build: this is my attempt at a high quality DIY sound dock build. The current design I have in mind is a horizontal speaker in a WTM configuration in a 4 liter box (0.15 cf). The woofer will be the Dayton ND105 with 2 Peerless 3.5'' PRs tuned to 50Hz.
A miniDSP will be used as an active 2.5 way crossover, as well as applying any EQ needed to flatten or shape the FR and apply bass boost and limiters (to prevent the driver from killing themselves), but I think I'll probably build a passive crossover for the midrange and tweeter so I can use just one amp instead of 2 (I wish there were 3 channel amps).
****Because of this, please ignore any enclosure volume restrictions when it comes to recommending a driver****** I will use the miniDSP to EQ away any frequency humps or anomalies from using a driver in an undersized enclosure.
Thanks everyone.
Background of the build: this is my attempt at a high quality DIY sound dock build. The current design I have in mind is a horizontal speaker in a WTM configuration in a 4 liter box (0.15 cf). The woofer will be the Dayton ND105 with 2 Peerless 3.5'' PRs tuned to 50Hz.
A miniDSP will be used as an active 2.5 way crossover, as well as applying any EQ needed to flatten or shape the FR and apply bass boost and limiters (to prevent the driver from killing themselves), but I think I'll probably build a passive crossover for the midrange and tweeter so I can use just one amp instead of 2 (I wish there were 3 channel amps).
****Because of this, please ignore any enclosure volume restrictions when it comes to recommending a driver****** I will use the miniDSP to EQ away any frequency humps or anomalies from using a driver in an undersized enclosure.
Thanks everyone.
Last edited:
SB19ST-C000-4 Tweeter from SB Acoustics in the $17-$20 range has excellent off-axis polar response. 88mm face plate The 88.5db @2.83V sensitivity is low'ish. Re=3.4ohms
use the $$ saved on the tweeter for the midrange.... really, really try to squeeze in a 5".
SB Acoustics.... low Le motors and Natural Papyrus Cone
5” SB15NRXC30-8-UC F3=87Hz in sealed 0.2cuft ||| F3=46Hz ported 0.33cuft UC is uncoated Natural Papyrus Cone.
5” SB15NRXC30-4 the 91db @2.83V provides some baffle step margin with the SB19ST
For $20-$25 midrange from good motor with plastic frame, look at the
5" SB Acoustics SB13PFC25-08 5" Paper Cone Fs=45 Qt=0.33 will almost reach sealed F3=70Hz.
You will need to MiniDSP bass boost most 4" to get close to your 70Hz goal. The SB12NRX25-4 has Xmax=10mm
4” SB12NRXF25-4
4” SB12MNRX25-4
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/sb-acoustics/
===
"The woofer will be the Dayton ND105 with 2 Peerless 3.5'' PRs tuned to 50Hz"
--->Give some consideration to using a second woofer instead of the two PRs, and let the MiniDSP boost and equalize the bass. Two motors.
use the $$ saved on the tweeter for the midrange.... really, really try to squeeze in a 5".
SB Acoustics.... low Le motors and Natural Papyrus Cone
5” SB15NRXC30-8-UC F3=87Hz in sealed 0.2cuft ||| F3=46Hz ported 0.33cuft UC is uncoated Natural Papyrus Cone.
5” SB15NRXC30-4 the 91db @2.83V provides some baffle step margin with the SB19ST
For $20-$25 midrange from good motor with plastic frame, look at the
5" SB Acoustics SB13PFC25-08 5" Paper Cone Fs=45 Qt=0.33 will almost reach sealed F3=70Hz.
You will need to MiniDSP bass boost most 4" to get close to your 70Hz goal. The SB12NRX25-4 has Xmax=10mm
4” SB12NRXF25-4
4” SB12MNRX25-4
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/sb-acoustics/
===
"The woofer will be the Dayton ND105 with 2 Peerless 3.5'' PRs tuned to 50Hz"
--->Give some consideration to using a second woofer instead of the two PRs, and let the MiniDSP boost and equalize the bass. Two motors.
Thanks for the 4'' woofer suggestions and the tweeter. I gotta find a way to buy the tweeter since it doesn't seem like madisound is carrying them. However, I can't use 5'' woofers because using them means the entire speaker would be quite a bit bigger, or I can only use one woofer instead of 2.
This is a statement project for me, as in I want to build something of roughly the same size as the current sound docks in the market, but completely blow them away in sound quality and especially bass. The current 4 liter box is already bigger than the most popular $300 range sound docks. Using dual 5'' woofers would make the speaker almost 10 liters, and that's way too big.
I originally planned to use dual ND105's. However, the enclosure is far too small for 2 ND105's. When I add the second ND105, I reduce the volume for each woofer by half, and subsequently reduce efficiency for bass frequencies by half as well, and my total gain is only 3dB over one woofer. However, 2 PRs is not enough for 2 woofers, so I'll lose a dB or two because of PR constraints. Now, if I used a dedicated midrange driver, while it may not be as potent as the ND105 for bass, should still be able to contribute a dB or two for bass. So in the end, the amount of bass from using one woofer + one midrange as to a second woofer is just about a 1-2dB loss of bass, but I gain 2-3dB in max overall SPL as well as well as better sounding midrange.
As for swapping the PRs for actual woofers, I think I would actually lose output. If I put 4 woofers instead of 2 woofers, I'd only gain 3dB instead of 6dB because of the 3dB loss of efficiency because of box size, and to gain this the whole box would have to be 2'' deeper and the amplifier power has to double. On the other hand, the PRs would provide around 6dB of output over half an octave above tuning and around 3dB for the other half octave.
Last edited:
For my curiosity.
Are Balanced Mode Radiators getting used in small volume sound docks? Tectonic Elements BMR have made their way into headphones.
If you purchase some SB drivers give some consideration to knocking together a pair of 5" SB15NRXC30-8-UC + SB19ST tweeter in a 0.3cuft ported box tuned to 45Hz f3 for 2-way comparison to your small volume sound dock 3-way. For TM time alignment, if you put a physical step in the baffle you can use a low component count LR2 Xover and get great nearfield coherence.
Are Balanced Mode Radiators getting used in small volume sound docks? Tectonic Elements BMR have made their way into headphones.
If you purchase some SB drivers give some consideration to knocking together a pair of 5" SB15NRXC30-8-UC + SB19ST tweeter in a 0.3cuft ported box tuned to 45Hz f3 for 2-way comparison to your small volume sound dock 3-way. For TM time alignment, if you put a physical step in the baffle you can use a low component count LR2 Xover and get great nearfield coherence.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.