Matching effeciency between tweeters and woofers?

[RyanP3H]

I am looking for info on the "rules" so to say, about the effeciency of a midbass/woofer and a tweeter.

When selecting drivers for you speakers, do you need to keep the effeciency as close together as possible? Or is it all a matter of personal taste in sound.

Any help is appreciated. If there are other thread please direct me there although searches on the subject have come up empty.

[Cal Weldon]

Hi Ryan,

Methinks the rules of what you speak are really up to you.

If you get a tweeter with a higher efficiency and you like the sound, leave it. If you feel it's a bit bright, you have the option of adding resistors to attenuate it. These resistors can be static or you can use a variable resistors such as L-Pad's.

If you have a woofer that is too strong you will likely have to use your treble control or equalizer to attenuate as adding resistance loads to a woofer "kind of " defeats the amplifier power. Most of the power in audio is used up in the bass.

Do you know what your tastes are as far as the brightness is concerned?

I thought I liked it bright until I got a 108dB @ 1W compression driver behind a horn. I had to add an 8 ohm resistor in series and then a 5 ohm in parrallel just to bring it down to a decent level even though the woofer is high also at 97 dB @ 1W

I think you are best to get a tweeter that is equal to or somewhat above the woofer so that attenuation, if required, can occur within the high frequencies.

Hope this helps

Cal

[leadbelly]

In addition to what Cal says, one of the most important issues in a better design is how baffle step compensation will be accomplished. If you are cutting down the upper range of a midwoofer for BSC, then you can effectively use a tweeter with a lower efficiency. If you are using multiple midwoofers, you must ensure your tweeter will match their effective (including crossover)sensitivity.