Got (32) of the Infinity speakers which are actually 6.5" drivers. I figured they were, as I've never really seen a 7" driver used by Infinity.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=299-493
I also got 64 of the Onkyo tweeters:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=269-702
And I picked up 64 of the 69 cent wonders:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=269-568
For a quick and pathetic test of driver/tweeter ratio I got a cardboard box, roughly 1.25 cubic feet and mounted (2) of the Infinity drivers in it, along with (1) 3/4" Onkyo tweeter externally. I used a leftover Infinity Kappa car crossover to cross the speakers over. MY GOD. They sound UNBELIEVABLE! I A/B them to a Polk LSi7 ($400 each bookshelf) and I enjoy the mids/highs better with the cardboard box speaker! The bass isn't quite there, due to air leaks and using a cardboard box, but the vocals and mids are just...unreal...for $17! I even called my brother over and my fiancee, and both were floored with how good the cardboard box speaker sounds!
With this, I see that a 1:2 tweeter:woofer ratio sounds pretty damn good. Only problem is I'll be using (8) of the Infinity speakers in my line array, so if I went with (4) 3/4" tweeters the whole point behind having a line array will be shot. SO, should I do 4, 8, 16, 32 tweeters? In order for them to span the height of the Infinities and be mounted closely I pretty much have to go the 32 tweeter route. Then I could just build the x-over to not give much power to the tweeters, right? Guys, I'm a COMPLETE newbie to this kind of stuff so bear with me
The bass really isn't that bad, and I remember reading in another post about the Infinities that they would need roughly 3.5 ft3 of airspace per pair to get good low bass response. Is this the case? I still don't know how to read the numbers very well
Thanks a million guys, and any input is EXTREMELY appreciated! Any thoughts on how to build these speakers will help me sleep better at night. Looking at the speakers in my basement is making me pretty overwhelmed. What the hell did I get myself into?!?!
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=299-493
I also got 64 of the Onkyo tweeters:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=269-702
And I picked up 64 of the 69 cent wonders:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=269-568
For a quick and pathetic test of driver/tweeter ratio I got a cardboard box, roughly 1.25 cubic feet and mounted (2) of the Infinity drivers in it, along with (1) 3/4" Onkyo tweeter externally. I used a leftover Infinity Kappa car crossover to cross the speakers over. MY GOD. They sound UNBELIEVABLE! I A/B them to a Polk LSi7 ($400 each bookshelf) and I enjoy the mids/highs better with the cardboard box speaker! The bass isn't quite there, due to air leaks and using a cardboard box, but the vocals and mids are just...unreal...for $17! I even called my brother over and my fiancee, and both were floored with how good the cardboard box speaker sounds!
With this, I see that a 1:2 tweeter:woofer ratio sounds pretty damn good. Only problem is I'll be using (8) of the Infinity speakers in my line array, so if I went with (4) 3/4" tweeters the whole point behind having a line array will be shot. SO, should I do 4, 8, 16, 32 tweeters? In order for them to span the height of the Infinities and be mounted closely I pretty much have to go the 32 tweeter route. Then I could just build the x-over to not give much power to the tweeters, right? Guys, I'm a COMPLETE newbie to this kind of stuff so bear with me
The bass really isn't that bad, and I remember reading in another post about the Infinities that they would need roughly 3.5 ft3 of airspace per pair to get good low bass response. Is this the case? I still don't know how to read the numbers very well
Thanks a million guys, and any input is EXTREMELY appreciated! Any thoughts on how to build these speakers will help me sleep better at night. Looking at the speakers in my basement is making me pretty overwhelmed. What the hell did I get myself into?!?!
The radiation characteristics of both the woofer and tweeter lines are dependant on their hieght, and you don't want them to be different around the crossover point, so keep both the woofer and tweeter lines as close as possible to the same hieght, with the drivers spaced as close to each other and the two lines as close to each other as you can.
1 tweeter to 2 woofers in an MTM alignment is best for a variety of reasons, but not in arrays.
Those tweeters match up almost perfectly with a single one of those 4" drivers (I have a whole pile of designs using the 4"ers, including some delightful open baffles with a buyout Audax tweet very similar to those Onkyos). As such, one tweeter per mid. For voicing reasons, I would go that way anyhow. Dipole may be worth considering also...
They like to cross just shy of 4000hz in my experience. I have a passive topology somewhere for that pairing of drivers as well if you're interested.
Have fun and let us know how it goes!
C
They like to cross just shy of 4000hz in my experience. I have a passive topology somewhere for that pairing of drivers as well if you're interested.
Have fun and let us know how it goes!
C
Thanks for all the replies!
cjd, any information you can provide me is going to help me out, so please feed me the info
I think what I'm going to do first is build a set of line arrays using the 4" and 3/4" tweeters, and wait until my speaker building skills enhance before using the $8/each Infinities. With 64 of the woofers both of my brothers want me to build them a set of speakers, but they don't want them gigantic (like mine hehe) because of their spouses. Mine is a little more forgiving, and having a dedicated theatre room helps as well.
With that in mind, I think I'm going to use 8-12 of the 4" drivers. Optimally, how far off the ground should I start the drivers? I have seen some people starting them immediately and others higher up. Using less drivers, I think maybe starting them 6-12" off the ground would help. 8 drivers would be 32" high, 12 would be 48" high. Then add on another say 12" off the ground so the speakers would be 44-60" high, good in their wives books.
Another worry is how wide to make the front baffle. The smaller the better, but I don't want to sacrifice sound quality by making a really small baffle. How narrow can I make it? Also, how well will using only 8 4" speakers fair?
Tons of questions. My apologies
cjd, any information you can provide me is going to help me out, so please feed me the info
I think what I'm going to do first is build a set of line arrays using the 4" and 3/4" tweeters, and wait until my speaker building skills enhance before using the $8/each Infinities. With 64 of the woofers both of my brothers want me to build them a set of speakers, but they don't want them gigantic (like mine hehe) because of their spouses. Mine is a little more forgiving, and having a dedicated theatre room helps as well.
With that in mind, I think I'm going to use 8-12 of the 4" drivers. Optimally, how far off the ground should I start the drivers? I have seen some people starting them immediately and others higher up. Using less drivers, I think maybe starting them 6-12" off the ground would help. 8 drivers would be 32" high, 12 would be 48" high. Then add on another say 12" off the ground so the speakers would be 44-60" high, good in their wives books.
Another worry is how wide to make the front baffle. The smaller the better, but I don't want to sacrifice sound quality by making a really small baffle. How narrow can I make it? Also, how well will using only 8 4" speakers fair?
Tons of questions. My apologies
I got mine in too the other day.
Heres a comparison of the the 4.5" and the 7"
The 4.5" has a bucking magnet for shielding, the 7" doesn't....the actual magnet looks very similar...although the voice coil looks bigger on the 7"...maybe 1" versus 3/4" on the 4.5"
Heres a comparison of the the 4.5" and the 7"
The 4.5" has a bucking magnet for shielding, the 7" doesn't....the actual magnet looks very similar...although the voice coil looks bigger on the 7"...maybe 1" versus 3/4" on the 4.5"
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I'm semi done with my 69c line array project...
I have mine started at 10" off the ground...
16drivers with 1/2" spacing = 72"
add another 10" on top = 92"
the baffle is 15.5" wide
4"ers playing fullrange...and 16 apex jr. tweet per side playing from 7,000hz and up..
the sound is quite satisfying..
very dynamic as expected..and not overbearing...
soundstage is incredible as well
I have mine started at 10" off the ground...
16drivers with 1/2" spacing = 72"
add another 10" on top = 92"
the baffle is 15.5" wide
4"ers playing fullrange...and 16 apex jr. tweet per side playing from 7,000hz and up..
the sound is quite satisfying..
very dynamic as expected..and not overbearing...
soundstage is incredible as well
mazeroth said:
Haha, maybe thats why their a buyout
As far as UK speaker companies, I don't know. Do you have a PartsExpress equivalent in England? Also try searching for surplus electronic websites in your area (country). Check places like seller/reseller rating websites to see if they have any comments on them.
onis_uk said:does anyone know of a cheep place to buy drivers from in th uk because i really want to have ago at a line array set up
A good source for cheap drivers is electronic supply houses which carry replacement speakers for TV's etc. They usually have a variety of very cheap drivers in a range of sizes. Plus you get the benefit of being able to listen to them before buying, so you can pick the ones that sound best.
well...
with the assistance of a little Wine, it appears Speaker Workshop likes Linux.
Assuming a 1:1 pairing of mids and tweeters for an end impedance of 8ohms on the mids and 4ohms on the tweeters, I get:
1.1mH inductor series with the mids (~.78ohm for that, so I think that's a 20ga air core), 10uF cap parallel with the mids.
~7uF capacitor series with the tweeter (6.8 looks good, 7.5 acceptable).
This matches up well with 16 drivers on each side.
If you go 32 drivers per side these values will change.
C
with the assistance of a little Wine, it appears Speaker Workshop likes Linux.
Assuming a 1:1 pairing of mids and tweeters for an end impedance of 8ohms on the mids and 4ohms on the tweeters, I get:
1.1mH inductor series with the mids (~.78ohm for that, so I think that's a 20ga air core), 10uF cap parallel with the mids.
~7uF capacitor series with the tweeter (6.8 looks good, 7.5 acceptable).
This matches up well with 16 drivers on each side.
If you go 32 drivers per side these values will change.
C
array with 4" cheap speakers
Thanks so much for that info cjd! It really helps us newbies to have specific suggestions as you have provided.
For the 16 speaker arrays, would you alternate between the mids and the tweeters? Or some other arrangement?
Would this be a ported box? Do you have a suggested port size/length? What is the box volume?
Any thoughts on what level of efficiency one would expect from the assembled arrays with the crossover you describe? (SPL in DBs? I have a low wattage SE tube amp).
Thanks in advance.
Gary
Thanks so much for that info cjd! It really helps us newbies to have specific suggestions as you have provided.
For the 16 speaker arrays, would you alternate between the mids and the tweeters? Or some other arrangement?
Would this be a ported box? Do you have a suggested port size/length? What is the box volume?
Any thoughts on what level of efficiency one would expect from the assembled arrays with the crossover you describe? (SPL in DBs? I have a low wattage SE tube amp).
Thanks in advance.
Gary
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.