what makes drivers fit each other?

[skogs]

Hi,
i'm really looking forward as a long career as speaker-builder on hobby-basis. so far i've built two 2-way speakers and two subs. and soon another sub (all the plans are ready, just need time).
But after that i want to build a pair of floorstanding 3-way speakers. And i want to build one that no ones build before, and decide myself which drivers to use and such.

So, done with my life story:P, no i'll get to the point:
how can i see whether a driver match another or not? just the frequency range? can i use any bass/mid/tweeter with one another as long as the frequency response fit? or is there something else to it that one can find out by looking at the specs?


and then another little thing: it's known that most fullrange drivers cant play at high spl-levels at all, what what if it's frequencu response is limited to for example 300-2500hz?

Øyvind.

[v-bro]

Hi Skogs,

The frequency response is most important, but matching impedance can be handy, and phase response (especially at the crossover freqs.).
Most conventional dynamic speakers can be combined fairly easy taken sensitivity well in mind. With bi-amping though the sensitivity doesn't even matter much....

A fullrange speaker can certainly handle more power when filtered, the efficiency won't go up, but SPL can be cranked up a bit.

My

[454Casull]

Frequency response, impedance (sometimes), distortion, sensitivity, diameter of radiating surface (polar response), max output given the selected power and crossover frequency/type.

[pinkmouse]

As above, and it's also nice if they look good together.

[454Casull]

Originally posted by pinkmouse
As above, and it's also nice if they look good together.

Perhaps the most important factor for commercial designs.

[skogs]

Originally posted by 454Casull
Frequency response, impedance (sometimes), distortion, sensitivity, diameter of radiating surface (polar response), max output given the selected power and crossover frequency/type.

could you explain the diameter of radiating surface a little closer?
and the distortion, isn't that connected with the frequensy response, and has to be taken into consideration when choosing the XO-pont?

thanks for the help people
i'm considering using Hivi K1 tweeter, Tangband W4-657SC and silverflute W17RC38-S.
http://www.swanspeaker.com/product/htm/view.asp?id=30
http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1208_03/w4-657sc.htm
http://www.madisound.com/silverflute.html

[tinitus]

This Tangband mid looks very similar to a AltecLancing, but very different specs

http://www.tb-speaker.com/detail/1230_04/w4-1129c.htm


Silver Flute W20RC-38-04 looks to be the one


To answer your question about how to choose the right drivers


Next it will be the crossover to do the rest


BTW.. if you should order this TB mid, I am in for a pair

[skogs]

the reason why i want to use to drivers listed above, is that they all have very good reputation, and is supposed to be very good compared to hte price. especially the K1. and besides i already have a pair of the tangbands.

http://creativehifi.com delivers tangband speakers, you could ask them if they could ship you a pair
(they don't normally sell those mids you want yet, but you can ask them to get them for you, it will take a bit time. I know someone who ordered them a while ago)

[tinitus]

OK, thanks for link to Creative HiFi, seems they have another TB driver I was looking fore

[454Casull]

Originally posted by skogs
could you explain the diameter of radiating surface a little closer?

Certainly. When you select two drivers that will be reproducing adjacent passbands (e.g. a midrange and a tweeter), it is not just the on-axis frequency response that you need to blend, but also the off-axis response. Let's say you need to cover 500Hz-20 000Hz. A 4" cone mid could play from 500Hz-2000Hz with minimal beaming (beaming is when off-axis response is lower than the on-axis response), while the 1" tweeter will radiate hemispherically (half-space) at 2kHz. Thus, the off-axis response will be mostly flat from 500Hz to beyond 2000Hz.

However, the on-axis response of many pro woofers (just as an example) is flat to 2000Hz, but the off-axis response of 12" drivers starts dropping around 800-900Hz. Lower than that for larger drives. So, if you pick a big woofer instead of a smaller mid to play up to 2000Hz, the off-axis response will start dropping at 600-900Hz until the tweeter kicks in @ 2000Hz with its perfect off-axis response.

and the distortion, isn't that connected with the frequensy response, and has to be taken into consideration when choosing the XO-pont?

Well, distortion tends to increase as frequency drops, but it doesn't really have anything to do with the frequency response. What I meant was that there is no point in picking one driver that sounds very clean and other that distorts like crazy.