Aussie student horn-tweeter cabinet recommendation and brand-new driver recommend.?

[Layberinthius]

I have a bit of a predicament.

As some of you already know I'm constructing and collecting components for a KT88 Plitron vdv amp at close-to 50watts with KT90 EH instead of KT88.

I need a set of drivers, living with these Chinese $2000 rip-offs I got for $130 a pair off eBay is thankfully slowly getting on my nerves as I pick up vintage speakers and listen to them as they sound much better, even without a cabinet . Infact I'm just about to wire-up an un-damaged Plessey whizzer midrange.

Only problem is I haven't got enough vintage drivers to make a 3-way nor could get a tweeter or 12" bass as even these
drivers are one in a million around here.

What I'm needing is ither a recommendation of Vintage bass-mid-tweeter drivers and see if I can scrounge for them on eBay at rediculous prices or a recommendation for brand-new drivers.

As my amplifier would be placing 50 watts into a 3-way I also would like to have a 3-way splitter inside the cabinets, and if I was to buy brand-new drivers, for them to handle this power without going overboard then ending up them not being well driven enough!

I have a budget of $700 AUD about $520 USD.

As I do not have even a cabinet I would like to know what different kinds of woods sound as I'm intending on making my own cabinet, also is there a cheap and good sounding design which would approve towards 3-ways? with a horn-tweeter?

I also need a recommendation for brand-new horn-tweeters.

Is it possible?, Cheers.

[BAM]

Sounds like you've been burned by the White Van Man. This is a common scam. Chinese companies produce speakers with brand names that are spoofs of other brand names: Acoustic Research -> Theater Research, Induction Dynamics -> Pro Dynamics, and even some strange names like "Dogg Digital Audio" (That's right...'Dogg' as in "Me and my 'Doggs' are gonna go smoke some 'Homies'..."! Their flagship product line is probably the 'Down wit Dat' line...)

Anyway, the speakers are crap and sold at nearly 1000% markup.

As material for the cabinet, check out Medium Density Fiberboard. It provides an optimum balance of acoustically-deadness because it is just fibers bonded with glue. Go to Parts Express and get new speaker drivers there. You don't have to settle for those old vintage things when loudspeaker technology has come so far.

[Layberinthius]

I didn't actually get bitten by the Asian $2000 doggy.

I only paid $120 for a pair :P

Anyway I think you already knew that, thanks.

As material for the cabinet, check out Medium Density Fiberboard. It provides an optimum balance of acoustically-deadness because it is just fibers bonded with glue. Go to Parts Express and get new speaker drivers there. You don't have to settle for those old vintage things when loudspeaker technology has come so far.

Thanks for the long-version of MDF, I was considering making my own cabinets, but I might place a driver in one of these cabinets of the Asian ones and see how it goes, the 5 1/2 Inch mid-range most probably.

The big problem however is that I only have 50 watts to mess around with, not right now though, I have a 520 watt Yamaha amp I am listening to right now, but when I finish my valve amplifier I am hoping to go to 50 watts/channel full-time.

Problem is I've looked at Vifa and Scan-Speak and all the rest, all of them have ratings of nominal +100watts!

I may have to go with Scan-Speak speakers as they are lower-max power and essentially better at being driven with only 50 watts (valve power). (Assuming)

However I need a recommendation of what drivers to use! there's so many! what sounds best in a 3-way? is there a specific cabinet design which can work properly with x drivers!?

Also my listening habits are mostly Opera, Jazz and rock so I'm looking more for clarity rather than "Boom Boom shakka Lakka Boom BOOM" I however don't mind at all having the desk shake from someone's Instrument :P

[mikee12345]

dont be worrying about rms ratings themselves unless your amp is going to exceed them,as 3db increase in electrical input(double) isnt going to sound amazingly louder..

10db is an acoustical double to our ears....

if your wanting HF horns,id think about Paudio and there comp drivers for approx 150$ ea + , probably not worth going for cheaper ones,perhaps get a non horn loaded tweeter.

the midrange is where you should get some quality first id guess.

For bass,the paudio 12"s will give some value for money