Re: Best speakers I can afford
There are no 3" drivers that will handle much more than 20 watts.
To address your list of questions with my opinionated answers:
1) See this:
Comparison of 10 wide range minispeakers - Extensive tests of drivers 3" or smaller
2) MDF
3) Plastic or particle board
4) Yes, if you know what you're doing. If you are a newbie, follow a pre-designed kit exactly and use it as a learning experience. Jumping in without a predesigned kit will result in failure and/or disappointment. It takes many years to get good enough at this to be able to create a great sounding speaker design from scratch.
5) DIY speakers, when properly designed, will surpass the quality of store bought by a factor of 5:1.
6) Yes, see # 4 and 5
And as a final comment, let me just say that if you clone a crappy design (anything with small cube speakers) you end up with a crappy design or worse. Most 3" drivers require a 2.5 liter enclosure as a minimum. Seriously, if you want speakers the size of a fist, just go buy them because it would be a waste of time doing it yourself. To use a phrase that I learned from my grandpa when I was 16 and I wanted to fix up my rusty beater car, "You can't polish a turd".
jered22 said:
There are no 3" drivers that will handle much more than 20 watts.
To address your list of questions with my opinionated answers:
1) See this:
Comparison of 10 wide range minispeakers - Extensive tests of drivers 3" or smaller
2) MDF
3) Plastic or particle board
4) Yes, if you know what you're doing. If you are a newbie, follow a pre-designed kit exactly and use it as a learning experience. Jumping in without a predesigned kit will result in failure and/or disappointment. It takes many years to get good enough at this to be able to create a great sounding speaker design from scratch.
5) DIY speakers, when properly designed, will surpass the quality of store bought by a factor of 5:1.
6) Yes, see # 4 and 5
And as a final comment, let me just say that if you clone a crappy design (anything with small cube speakers) you end up with a crappy design or worse. Most 3" drivers require a 2.5 liter enclosure as a minimum. Seriously, if you want speakers the size of a fist, just go buy them because it would be a waste of time doing it yourself. To use a phrase that I learned from my grandpa when I was 16 and I wanted to fix up my rusty beater car, "You can't polish a turd".
Hey, that's a cool 'mini driver' review page. Thanks for posting it.
I've thought about making a mini sub sat system a bit. I'd probably use the aura 3" drivers, if only because they'd be able to handle a lower crossover to a 'sub' and should work fine in a tiny sealed box.
So, if I were doing this: Aurasound NS3 drivers in little sealed boxes crossed to a 10" sub that's known to sound decent if crossed up a bit. I'd look at the MCM 55-2190 maybe. Cross 4th order at 150 or so. It's not ideal, but better than what bo$e and others do. The sub should be centered if possible.
For more dynamics, running two 3" per box in a bipole (magnet to magnet) would solve the bafflestep and improve efficiency. I'd use a piece of foam over the rear driver to attenuate the HF a bit myself. The boxes could still be just about as small as you could make them.
I made some small TL's once using a pair of 3" audax FR'ers per side, and they turned out nicely. They weren't 'micro' however. Run with a 12" sub crossed at 125, they were impressive for the cost.
GB
I've thought about making a mini sub sat system a bit. I'd probably use the aura 3" drivers, if only because they'd be able to handle a lower crossover to a 'sub' and should work fine in a tiny sealed box.
So, if I were doing this: Aurasound NS3 drivers in little sealed boxes crossed to a 10" sub that's known to sound decent if crossed up a bit. I'd look at the MCM 55-2190 maybe. Cross 4th order at 150 or so. It's not ideal, but better than what bo$e and others do. The sub should be centered if possible.
For more dynamics, running two 3" per box in a bipole (magnet to magnet) would solve the bafflestep and improve efficiency. I'd use a piece of foam over the rear driver to attenuate the HF a bit myself. The boxes could still be just about as small as you could make them.
I made some small TL's once using a pair of 3" audax FR'ers per side, and they turned out nicely. They weren't 'micro' however. Run with a 12" sub crossed at 125, they were impressive for the cost.
GB
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.