Dayton+Hi Vi B3S+27TDFC 3-way concept review

[alexcd]

So, I had an idea for building a 3-way speaker the other day. I like the work Zaph has done on his website and it inspired me to try something with the HiVi B3S. I also have heard the Dayton 10" Hifi subs and love them. A friend is loaning me Seas 27TDFC tweeters to complete the setup. Does anyone see anything inherently wrong with this setup.

Here's the approx setup.

Drivers: 1 x Dayton 10", 4 x HiVi B3S, 1 x Seas 27TDFC

Room: 11' x 19'
Speaker Location: Near corners, maybe a little in
Potential crossover points: 200-400Hz?, 1.8kHz
Baffle width: 12-14"?

[sreten]

Hi,

the B3S is a great full range driver by all accounts, but it is
not a great driver if you remove the full range requirements.

IMO using 4 of them as a midrange driver is not a good idea.

IMO one bigger and more expensive driver would be better.

/sreten.

[alexcd]

Ok, I see that someone else is thinking about doing 16 of these plus a tweeter line array style.

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/dis...gi?read=371200

I may just follow along with what he's doing and add a powered sub later.

[dwk123]

Well, I'm not sure I'd advocate following that project - the B3S line array + single tweeter is actually a pretty bad idea for several reasons.
First, point source bass + line array mid + point source tweeter is a recipe for disaster. Your on-axis spectral balance will only be right at one point, and your power response will be messed up. Plus, the c-t-c spacing requires rolling the B3S off early, once again not really taking advantage of it's full-range strength.

I like the B3 drivers (I have the N which looks nicer), but a line of 4 is problematic - it's not really a line array, but not really a point source either. This isn't to say it won't work, but IMHO spending another $10 per side and using a WR125s as a mid instead of the 4 HiVi's would be a much easier path to success.

If you *really* want to use 4 HiVi's, another idea would be a bizarre MTM setup with two HiVi's side-by-side making the mid. ie

MM
T
MM

I think this would have somewhat smoother power response overall than the line-of-4, and you wouldn't have any horizontal lobing problems between the M and the T.

[owdi]

While the B3S is a nice speaker, it's just not in the same class as the Seas tweeter or Dayton woofer. For $40 you could pick up a pair of Dayton RS125s and go with a MTMW or TMMW design.

Dan

[alexcd]

On a totally seperate note, I like the idea of 2.5 way setups. I dont want to try MTM for my first speaker and 2-way is just too BORING for me. I know there are lots of designs available for this. Since I already have the 27TDFC I'll need to look for a driver to mate up with it but with solid low end so i can use it as a bass driver as well. I want a low distortion setup but not willing to pay $$$ for Seas Excel or SS mids.

Suggestions??

[sqlkev]

go with the rs125,
I think roman over on pe board has a 3 way setup with the rs 10" + rs125 + rs28
the tdfc isn't that far off from the rs28

[alexcd]

Got any links to the thread?

[sqlkev]

woops, I found the link to his page http://www.rjbaudio.com/Daedalus/daedalus.html
the 3 way is actually consist of the 8"+4+1, not 10", my mistake.
You might want to email him if any changes can be made.

[alexcd]

Those seem fine actually. I meant to say that I didn't have a lot of power to dish out. I would have certainly needed plate amps for the subs anyways. Maybe I'll try these.