What’s a good choice of speaker

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I was wanting to make a set of monitors for my studio, which speakers where the better ones peerless or vifa? Is that a good choice or are there better ones around for that price. I’ll need help with this one because I only fitted car audio for a living I have no experience with smaller sound quality speakers.
I’m going with peerless and vifa because their the easiest to get form my supplier.
Thanks
 
The best drivers from both companies are the XT line from vifa and the HDS range from peerless. If you are after sub bass then the XLS from peerless is very good too.

THe best tweeter from the two companies (I would say) is the XT25.

Everyone who has listened to the HDS and the XT woofers likes them both lots.
 
I was after pure sound quality not too much bass (I have 2 12” subs for that) peerless or vifa? And hoping to get 2.5mm dome tweeter, 5“ mid, 8” woofer and make a box for them; is that good?
I don’t know much I’m still learning.
So in peerless and vifa which models are the best; medium and worst?
Is it a good idea to mix brands?
What sizes should you step up in to cover the frequencies?
What does all the tech data mean I only know the basic stuff like wattage, impedance, freq response, excursion etc .etc
Thanks all for you help
 
I was after pure sound quality not too much bass (I have 2 12” subs for that) peerless or vifa? And hoping to get 2.5mm dome tweeter, 5“ mid, 8” woofer and make a box for them; is that good?

The 5" mid is too big IMO to use with an 8" woofer. Don't forget the baffle step losses and bandpass gain. You will need to pad it down significantly. I think a dome mid or 3-4" midrange makes more sense if you want a 3 way based on an 8" woofer, and you'll probably get better detail.

Actually, since you have a sub, maybe a 2 way with a 6 or 7" midbass would be easier.

The crossover will be the most challenging thing. Unless you really want to learn speaker design, you may want to use a proven design, or have someone else design the crossover.

GB
 
The loudspeaker design cookbook 6 edition by vance dickason
High power loudspeaker design and construction

Are they good books? I can get others only from dicksmiths and jaycar or altronics. Their my only suppliers
I don't really want to get them of the internet but I can if I have to.

**don’t forget I live in Australia**
 
Vance's Cookbook is a very good book but it's not ordinarily the kind of book I would recommend for someone starting out. To learn the basics I like David Weems' "Great Sound Stereo Speaker Manual". Although some sections are a bit outdated the majority of the information is very good and easy to understand. The reason I suggested the Cookbook first is for the high quality studio monitor design plus there's good reference material in it. I've not heard of the "High Power" book you mention although I have heard of the "High Power Audio Amplifier Contruction Manual".
 
Vance's Cookbook is a very good book but it's not ordinarily the kind of book I would recommend for someone starting out. To learn the basics I like David Weems' "Great Sound Stereo Speaker Manual".

Yeah, absolutely. That's still the best book on basics IMO. Why people always recommend LDC to first timers is beyond me. It assumes you have some basic knowledge. Great second book though.

GB
 
If it's in your price range I can recommend the Peerless HDS and Vifa XT25 (or XT300 which is the same) The shielded version works best. The faceplate of the XT is not solid and a little flimsy. There is also a version with a solid alu faceplate at twice the price.

For the money they are a steal and I regard them very high (speaker in my avatar)
 
Hayden said:
The loudspeaker design cookbook 6 edition by vance dickason
High power loudspeaker design and construction

Are they good books? I can get others only from dicksmiths and jaycar or altronics. Their my only suppliers
I don't really want to get them of the internet but I can if I have to.

**don’t forget I live in Australia**



You can get the book from your local Jaycar :) Here
 
Thanks I’ll get a cookbook to make sure I learn and do things properly the first time.
Does The loudspeaker design cookbook 6 edition by vance dickason cover Peerless and Vifa speakers?
I’m partly through studying electronic engineering so I know a bit and willing to learn.
Thanks all for your help and I’ll let you know how it turns out.

replys still welcome
 
Hopefully you haven't bought that book, because it doesn't look suitable for your needs, serving more as a reference textbook. Second, it's rather expensive here in Australia.

From your initial post it looks as if you're ready to a build but don't know what to choose- Peerless or Vifa? You'd like to learn more, but this book won't answer your question. (Vifa or Peerless)

Don't get me wrong, the LDC 6 is an informative book, as it's a good primer on most topics eg. explaining difference between vented and sealed subwoofer etc etc. But don't buy it hoping to build a design from scratch. (I think tutorials for SoundEasy or lspCAD are better in this regard.) Furthermore, many of the designs uses drivers not readily available in Australia.

The featured ScanSpeak studio monitors designed by Vance is very expensive and probably not a great first project. Even with trade prices from WES, these monitors are looking at least $1000 a pair.
Furthermore, on closer analysis of the crossover it seems that Vance doesn't feel the need supress the bumps and peaks of the 8545K driver. The FR graph looks like a bumpy road! At this price I would build Dan Wesnor's Ella
(same 7" ScanSpeak 8545K + but Seas Excel T25CF001 tweeter) Tweeter difference aside, the important thing is that the crossover, is better optimised for a flatter frequency response and thus neutral tonal balance.

Finally, at under $500 you can have both Peerless and Vifa, in project called the HDS/DX (850488 + DX25/XT25) by Troels Gravesen. This has great midrange and treble, and even some bass for a 5.5" driver. But that shouldn't be a concern- you've already got all the bass you need. :)

Just my 2c.
 
There are different ways of describing frequency response and I think the +/- X dB spec doesn't always tell the whole story. For argument's sake, take a speaker that has a perfectly smooth (staight line) frequency response but tilted downwards (not horizontal) towards 20Khz. The tilt is 4dB- 20Hz is 2dB louder than 1Khz point, and 20Khz is 2dB softer than 1Khz point. (smooth but not flat)
Now take another speaker: 20Hz and 20Khz is the same SPL as 1Khz, but in between there are sharp 2dB dips and bumps all over the place. Flat (horizontal line) but not smooth.
And a third speaker that has a U shaped frequency response curve. +2dB up at 20Hz and 20KHz. -2 dB at 2Khz.

3dB is twice the acoustic power, so a difference in 4dB will be audibly significant. So even though the 3 speakers above can all have the same on-paper +/- 2dB spec, their tonal balance is likely to sound different.

Harman's white paper makes an interesting read.

Back to the monitor design in LDC 6. It's +/- 3dB, 82dB/W Unfortunately I don't have a scanner, but this is what the FR graph looks like:

On axis, from 90Hz to about 500Hz things are both smooth and flat, laying within an excellent 1 dB window. The -3dB point is 60Hz, (which is very good for a compact 2 way), with 2nd order rolloff typical of sealed box bass. Where things start to get bumpy is in the upper mids. Relative to the broad 90Hz to 500Hz band, there's a 2dB peak, dip and peak at ~800Hz, ~1.3Khz, and ~2Khz respectively. This U shape is clearly visible, and is represents 4-5dB deviation with a narrow 1 1/2 octaves. In fact 2.5Khz is about 5dB louder than 1.2Khz.

The upper treble 3-5Khz is thankfully the same SPL as the broad
90Hz to 500Hz band, so the tweeter should not sound hot. Upper treble is only slightly raised, but subjectively should not sound offensive. There's another peak at 15Khz, 2dB higher than the 2Khz peak, which may be of some concern, especially to people who find the 9900 Revelator tweeter fatigueing.

Horizontal off axis measurements follow the on-axis measurements, even up to 60 degress and I'd expect the speaker to have superb imaging.

Crossover is 2nd order electrical to the woofer, and 3rd order to the tweeter to target LR4, but where Vance does not go the extra step (and should have, IMHO) is to filter and suppress the 800 and 2Khz peak of the 8545K-00 midwoofer, clearly seen in his own in-box measurements. Response contouring of the tweeter would also of benefit, IMHO.

Now let's take have a look at Dan Wesnor's Ella design. Same compact sealed box, same excellent 60Hz F3. The most important advantage to me is smoother FR. His FR scale is 2dB per gradation, and the speaker is +/-1 dB through the entire passband, with no narrow peaks or dips. That's because his crossover is more advanced. :smash:

I've heard the Ella constructed by a fellow DIYer here in my home town. Other than a slightly hot tweeter (likely to be due to use of a cheap off-spec woofer inductor with high series DCR making the woofer quieter than the tweeter) I could not fault it.
 
edit: some typos-

This U shape is clearly visible, and is represents 4-5dB deviation within a narrow 1 1/2 octaves. In fact 2.5Khz is about 5dB louder than 1.2Khz.

The mid treble treble 3-5Khz is thankfully the same SPL as the broad 90Hz to 500Hz band...

Crossover is 2nd order electrical to the woofer, and 3rd order to the tweeter to target LR4acoustic response, but where Vance does not go the extra step (and should have, IMHO) is to filter and suppress the 800 and 2Khz peaks of the 8545K-00 midwoofer, clearly seen in his own in-box measurements. Response contouring of the upper treble and perhaps top octave of benefit, IMHO.
 
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