I'm in way over my head.

[Richie V6]

After building my gainclone, I was just going to connect a midbass and woofer in parallel and put them in a case. Then I was told about crossovers and now I am really confused. After some reading I’ve determined that they are basically filter that only allow cretin frequencies to pass.

I was planning to use 3.5in woofer and a 4.5in midbass.
midbass:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=299-432
woofer:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...number=269-680

I guess my question is that will this setup sound good or is it nuts and do I need a tweeter. Also how do I determine the cross over frequency? I was planning one using these calculators to design the crossover. http://www.apicsllc.com/apics/Misc/filter2.html#first
Any help would be awesome.
-Rich

[SY]

You'll end up needing a three way (with a tweeter) or a four way (with a bigger woofer). Either way, there's no way you should tackle something like that for a first project. A two way is hard, a three way is four times harder, a fourway is eight times harder.

Stick to a simple, classic two way design, maybe a 5" woofer/mid crossed over to a 1" tweeter.

The "cretin frequencies" turn of phrase is brilliant.

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

Save yourself a lot of grief . . .

Put together a pre-designed 2 way with a 6 1/2" woofer/mid and a tweeter. Parts Express has a number of designs available without cabinets if you want to build your own. There are plenty of other designs on the web, too.

Later, add a sub.

[Richie V6]

Awwwwww I already have these speakers. Can I use the midbass I have and a tweeter? Are there any good online crossover resources. I am an EE student and I have studied filters before I just don’t know what frequencies each device is suppose to operate at. I never thought this audio stuff would be so addictive I just spent 65 bucks on transformers.

[Richie V6]

Is this a good 3 way crossover design? Doesnt look that hard to build. Thanks for the help guys.
http://www.kbapps.com/audio/speakerd...mages/3way.gif

[wintermute]

Hi Richie,

I didn't look at the three way crossover you posted, mainly because the crossover has to be built specifically for the drivers you have.

Read this article http://sound.westhost.com/lr-passive.htm and you might have a better idea of what is involved you may even decide to make another gainclone

edit: Oh and there is also the consideration of driver matching, if there isn't a considerable overlap between the drivers operating frequencies you are facing an uphill battle from the start! Once you understand a bit more about crossovers, it will help you to choose drivers too.

Tony.

[Richie V6]

Perhaps i'll wait till next semester, after we learn about crossovers. I'm out of time anyways school starts in 4 days. Is there any harm in just connecting the speakers in series and parrelel with a total of a 4 ohms load? One more nood question what is a "driver"? Thanks for the help guys. I've got to stop buying impuse buyout items at partsexpress.

[Cal Weldon]

Richie V6,

Here's my read on the situation. You are about to learn a lot more about you're doing by both school and play time.

I would use the Vifa, put the Bravox back in the box for now and buy a cheap dome tweeter like this:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=275-030

and a cheap premade crossover:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=260-174

and some 5W resitors like this:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....97316&desc=ASC

In 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 ohms.

Build yourself a couple of .2 cu ft boxes out of unfinished plywood, assemble and begin to tweak. The only real tweaking you can do is with the resistors but it might be a great way of getting your hands wet. You don't need any real expertize at this point but it might be nice to be doing something in your field that doesn't involve a lot of bookwork for now. You just have to be careful that with the resistors, you don't drop the impedance load to the amplifier too low. Basic stuff. After farting around for a bit, read up on crossovers (you will find this a daunting field, more complex than you can imagine) Then you can move on to venting the box and adding a duct and fooling around with that. There a re lots of ways to have fun and learn at the same time.

This initial project is a heck of a stepping stone to your first real speakers. That'll be right about the time you become Richie V8. Trust me, if you've joined a forum, you're already partway addicted and it only gets worse from here. Next thing you'll be out on the streets begging for tweeter money. Hey mister spare a few bucks for some new L-pads?

I know, I was there.

My name is Cal and I am a recovering Speakerholic.

Enjoy.

[wintermute]

Hi Richie,

don't be discouraged... by all means make the speakers as you see fit, and even with stock crossovers.... that's how I started out, and trust me it is a real eye opener and learning experience.... I've been doing this for over 20 years, and I'm now only starting to do it the right way

If you are lucky you can end up with something half decent sounding using stock crossovers and non optimally matched drivers (drivers are the actual individual speakers, woofer tweeter midbass etc). I've been listening to mine for years and they sound a lot better (to me) than a lot of comercial speakers. But equally you could end up with something that sounds woefull!!!! so be warned. My existing 3 ways have had probably 3 or 4 different midranges, and at least two different tweeters and two different stock crossovers (one cheap one expensive) over the years.... it is very interesting to say the least to compare the differences!!

Tony.

[Richie V6]

Thanks a bunch the advice, you guys are awesome. I think I'm going to start building some speakers this summer after learning about this stuff at school and saving up some money. There arent many tools available to me at school anyways. But for now im going to finish my gainclone. Thanks again.

-Richard Speakerholic in training