Choosing Compatible Drivers????

Gavinator68 · 19th March 2004, 08:58 AM

New to the speaker building thing and trying to learn. I have heard people talk about having picked compatible drivers at the start of a project. In regards to tweeters and mid/woof's, how is it or what is it , that makes drivers a good match by looking at the mfg's specs.

Sherman · 19th March 2004, 01:09 PM

I'm new at this myself, having built only two sets of speakers and I'd be interested in opinions also. However I'll take a first newbie crack at it.

First, I think you need to match frequency responses so that the crossover point isn't too near the fs your tweeter. ie- if your midrange goes to 5K Hz and your tweeter has an fs of 5K Hz then these aren't a good match. Best to have an octave or more of overlap.

Second, if you can, match SPL. Tweeters are usually more efficient than mids and can cause humps in your FR. It is common to have to attenuate tweeters (my own recent experience bears this out!).

You may also want to match impedances in each driver type. There are ways around this but it is often easier to end up with the nominal impedance you want if you pay attention to individual driver impedance up front.

So, those are all "technical" things to match. Not musical things. I'm sure that is a whole 'nother can of worms but I don't know how to judge musicality (is that a word?) from manufacturers' specs.

Sherman

Bose(o) · 19th March 2004, 01:23 PM

I've been doing this for a while and am not exactly sure what someone would mean if they had "matched" speakers by looking at specs. When I choose drivers I look at Vas, Fs, Xmax, Qts, Sd, Sensitivity and price. Not to mention the driver's materials and such. OH! and last but not least I look at the Frequency response. The latter is the only way I can see someone "matching" speaker drivers. One can see the natural-roll off of the speakers and also the off-axis response of the drivers as well.

Generally, to stay consistent with a voice, one would usually choose drivers from the same brand and series that the brand sells. Hope that helps somewhat.

Sherman · 19th March 2004, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bose(o)
...snip...When I choose drivers I look at Vas, Fs, Xmax, Qts, Sd, Sensitivity and price. ...snip...

Oh yeah, price. That might be an important one!

19th March 2004, 08:58 AM	#1
Gavinator68 diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Cleveland, OH	Choosing Compatible Drivers???? New to the speaker building thing and trying to learn. I have heard people talk about having picked compatible drivers at the start of a project. In regards to tweeters and mid/woof's, how is it or what is it , that makes drivers a good match by looking at the mfg's specs.

19th March 2004, 01:23 PM	#3
Bose(o) diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	I've been doing this for a while and am not exactly sure what someone would mean if they had "matched" speakers by looking at specs. When I choose drivers I look at Vas, Fs, Xmax, Qts, Sd, Sensitivity and price. Not to mention the driver's materials and such. OH! and last but not least I look at the Frequency response. The latter is the only way I can see someone "matching" speaker drivers. One can see the natural-roll off of the speakers and also the off-axis response of the drivers as well. Generally, to stay consistent with a voice, one would usually choose drivers from the same brand and series that the brand sells. Hope that helps somewhat. __________________ ERTW 4 life! "the day has 24hours. If that is not enough take the night."-Roemhild

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19th March 2004, 01:09 PM	#2
Sherman diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Chicago area	I'm new at this myself, having built only two sets of speakers and I'd be interested in opinions also. However I'll take a first newbie crack at it. First, I think you need to match frequency responses so that the crossover point isn't too near the fs your tweeter. ie- if your midrange goes to 5K Hz and your tweeter has an fs of 5K Hz then these aren't a good match. Best to have an octave or more of overlap. Second, if you can, match SPL. Tweeters are usually more efficient than mids and can cause humps in your FR. It is common to have to attenuate tweeters (my own recent experience bears this out!). You may also want to match impedances in each driver type. There are ways around this but it is often easier to end up with the nominal impedance you want if you pay attention to individual driver impedance up front. So, those are all "technical" things to match. Not musical things. I'm sure that is a whole 'nother can of worms but I don't know how to judge musicality (is that a word?) from manufacturers' specs. Sherman

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