Looking for HiFi High SPL Project

[DrumDude]

I have looked at the tuba horn plans over at Bill Fitzmaurice's. Was leaning that way originally until I read you might need to couple 2 horns together to get extension to 20hz. Still not out of the question just seems like a lot of work for something I don't know what it will sound like.

I am looking for live music levels . I listen to and play funk, alt rock, world and percussion heavy stuff, (Kodo Drummers, Blue Man Group etc). so I need some authority in the lower registers but at the same time I live with neighbors close. I guess about 110db.

[joe carrow]

Blue man has some low stuff, as well as some of the big drums. 110 db at one meter at 20 hz is doable by four Dayton 15" IB subs in an infinite baffle arrangement:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=295-455

You should be able to reach this with 600 watts. The horns listed thus far really aren't any more efficient at 20 hz than a sealed box; you need a BIG horn to get a lot of efficiency that low.

You can avoid structural damage to your home by having opposing pairs of woofers firing towards each other, both pushing air into our out of a manifold firing into your room. You'd want to push the crossover point to the subs as low as is practical, say 60-80 hz, to prevent cavity resonance in the manifold.

The Eminence Beta 10 CX coaxial in a ported box should be able to do the rest:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshow...=290-502&DID=7

Plenty of radiating area to get your SPL down to 60 hz (ported), and a horn loaded tweeter. This configuration reminds me of some old Altec movie theater speakers my friend was lucky enough to salvage.

I know you say you want hifi, not a club speaker, so I should point out the kit with these at Adire Audio:

http://adireaudio.com/Home/KITHE10-1.htm

They use their own tweeter and crossover designed for hifi use. At 95 db efficiency it should easily do 110 db with a 150 watt amp. Adire claims 3% distortion from 35hz-18khz at 98 db. An active crossover to a subwoofer may help this thing play a bit louder cleanly. For reference, B&W quotes 1% distortion on their speakers, but at a drive level of only 90 db.

Maybe somebody else has experience with coaxial speakers that they'd like to chime in with. They're suppose to help a lot for time alignment, controlling directivity, and driver integration. In my opinion, these are all key things for good percussion.

[DrumDude]

I like Those IB 15's. Would they be able to be crossed at 300hz?

[joe carrow]

Eh... I considered trying the Dayton IBs up past 250 hz once for a budget project (dipole open baffle), but for a project of this caliber I wouldn't recommend it- especially not in an infinite baffle with the required manifold. You really need that manifold to cancel out the newtonian reaction force of the driver vibration. You'll shake the heck out of your walls if you just flush mount enough of these 15"s to get the SPL you require.

Does the Adire kit seem lacking?

[DrumDude]

Actually the Adire Kit looks interesting. I just did some reading on it. BTW I'm already a fan of Adire. I've got a sealed Shiva in my van. I've never heard a coax like this but I would imagine the imaging to be superb. any one here have any thoughts on this type of coax?

[ThorstenL]

Konnichiwa,

Originally posted by DrumDude
I have been looking at the Audax PR170ZO and Vifa H26TG-35-06, both fairly efficient. I am planning on going with active XOver. I will be hanging the mids and highs to conserve floor space. I have looked at some bass horn plans.

Well, the Audax takes you to a Midrange Efficiency in the 96db/W/m region.

Here is what I PERSONALLY would do.

Make the system 4-Way. This way you can us a pair of high efficiency (Pro-Audio) 10" Drivers sealed to get good SPL into the 60-80Hz down and up to around 350Hz or thereabouts.

Then fill in the really low end with a suitable subwoofer system, you have already looked at the IB option, I'd go with that.

If you are going to "fly" the Top's you can build a compact design with the two 10" drivers on the outsides and the Audax plus Tweeter (whatever you end up with - I'd recommend a Fountek or Aurum Cantus Ribbon) on the insides, whole size could be 20" X 15" and not all that deep.

In fact, even though you are looking for an active system, such a "top" would work fine using a passive crossover and would probably make a great HT/Multichannel front for larger rooms as well.

Sayonara

[el`Ol]

This one is very interesting for infinite baffle.Hawthorne Silver Iris - New OB driver

[ThorstenL]

Konnichiwa,

Originally posted by DrumDude
any one here have any thoughts on this type of coax?

Coaxials in general are very good. I used to use 15" tannoy Coaxials a while back and they come close to signle driver levels of coherence and soundscaping, but with the balls of a big multiway system.

The Adire Coax is based on modified Eminence stuff and probably a bit too limited, there are several nice 15" Coax Drivers out there. Lastly, why not build something like this:



using the Audax as semi-coax midrange?

If I remember the old Waveform Speakers, they had a traditional doem tweeter (low efficiency), an Audax Mid (high eff) and a pair of 12" Philips Woofers (medium eff). There was a Stereophile review, might be on line now....

So the use of a really small ND Magnet tweeter (I would go for the Focal Car one) might be just fine?

Sayonara

[DrumDude]

Kuei Yang Wang,

I like the idea of the DIY triaxial. would the mids be unaffected by lack of an enclosure? also would this design have good dispersion?
I have enclosed some pictures of what I am up to. Here's the floor plan.

[DrumDude]

A few weeks ago. I hope to slide an IB between the rafters