Vifa and TangBand Tower

[lewisd]

I need some help,

I am currently building myself some floorstanding speakers, well i've already built them but im having some issues with the crossover between my tweeter, mid and woofer. The crossover between my tweeter and my midrange seems to be a somewhat harsh, im thinking that they're crossed over at the wrong frequencies, ie the tweeter seems to be crossed over too high.

The Drivers:
Tweeter = Vifa D26TF-06
Midrange = TangBand W4-1052SA
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1208_03/w4-1052sa.htm
Woofer = TangBand W6-1139SG
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1230_04/w6-1139sg.htm

My crossover parts are as follows:
Tweeter = Non-inductive resistor and a solen 6.8uf capacitor
Midrange = Non-inductive resistor - Hanlan 47uf capacitor, then 0.43mH coil, then before the driver a zobel (a capacitor and a resistor)
Woofer = 250Hz Coil

My next question is how can i make my woofer louder due to its rated 83dB sensitivity, to match the sensitivity of the other two drivers, is a plate amp the best solution or is there a cheaper solution?


Anyway if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
Thanks in advance.

[nunayafb]

My next question is how can i make my woofer louder due to its rated 83dB sensitivity, to match the sensitivity of the other two drivers, is a plate amp the best solution or is there a cheaper solution?

the woofer cant get louder w/o going active crossover and sub amp like you are thinking. The only other way is to pad down the mid and tweeter to level match, this is going to put a fair amount of power through the resistors though. This is one of those situations where multiple woofers would have been beneficial.
I noticed you have a 4dB mismatch between the mid and woofer, and if the D27 on parts express is any indication of the sensitivity of your D26 tweeter, then it is probably around 90-91dB. This is 7-8dB louder than the woofer and 3-4db louder than the mid, this might be causing your harshness.

[tinitus]

Your zobel on midrange might not work properly, try adjustments - and you can try to add another smaller zobel after the existing one

Also I find benefits from adding a small zobel on tweeter

And you might need zobel on woofer too - and you can try the same trick of adding another smaller zobel
Actually I shouldnt wonder if harshness is related to woofer

And you might need a small crosscoil/resistor in paralel with tweeter

And all this has to be adjusted and adjusted and adjusted.....

[angsuman]

Hmm, are you using any design software for the crossover or are you just using default values. The D26 seems like a pretty robust tweeter and should be able to handle the single capacitor for the crossover.
Learn to use Passive Crossover Designer, if you don't have any measurement tools I find you can still come very close for modeling and as a beginner you'll have more success.

Or if you want to tweak by ear, i'd suggest buying a bunch of cheap 1ohm or 0.5ohm resistors and then playing around with them and seeing what attenuates things the best.


http://www.pvconsultants.com/audio/frdgroup.htm

this page has many great programs to use, some may have a bit steep learning curve but it will greatly help you in designing.

On a side note because of the woofer you selected your speakers will have very low sensitive maybe 78db/W or so after you factor in all the attenuation, whether its an issue or not depends on you.

[edjosh23]

I have a pair of the W6s, very nice, but very inefficient. I would definately try not to pad down the midrange and tweeter. Another pair of W6s per tower would be good. Do you have any BSC? Perhaps a pair of amps from PE is the next best choice using the line level inputs. Here are PE plate amps

Good Luck,

Josh

[lewisd]

thanks for everybody's input

i hooked up a dayton 100 watt sub amp and it seems to make a difference in volume, but im a little stuck as to were to set the crossover at on the amp, it seems that the higher i go the more the sub seems to struggle, but i have to put it higher to compensate for it to match up to where the tangband hits in the lower end.

Does anybody have any suggestions as to where i should be setting my crossover between my mid and tweeter.
Specs for the tweeter:
http://max8888.orcon.net.nz/2wayspeakers.htm
or
http://max8888.orcon.net.nz/misc/D26TF-05-06.doc
midrange specs are up top.

And if you could list some parts that would be even better

Thanks

[Willitwork]

Originally posted by tinitus And you might need a small crosscoil/resistor in paralel with tweeter

I agree. One rarely achieves good results with first-order xovers on Vifa tweeters, and most other ones for that matter, without resorting to corrective circuits. This is already quite a challenge on two-way systems, I can't even imagine tackling the issue on a 3-way...