Hello and thanks for reading my post.
I am looking to build single driver full range speakers. These speakers will be used for listening to the appropriate genres of music in my small living room through a gainclone chip amp. Unfortunately I do not have the time or space for the cool horns that are often discussed and I am therefore looking for a driver that meet the following criteria.
-3" or 4"
-Works well in a bass reflex enclosure
-Cheap is good, but willing to pay for quality up to $50/driver
-Low frequency extension is a plus as my sub is not exactly musical
I have been looking at the Fostex FE83En. Seems to be popular for small bass reflex cabs, but I would like to know what other would suggest. Thanks, I really appreciate your input.
I am looking to build single driver full range speakers. These speakers will be used for listening to the appropriate genres of music in my small living room through a gainclone chip amp. Unfortunately I do not have the time or space for the cool horns that are often discussed and I am therefore looking for a driver that meet the following criteria.
-3" or 4"
-Works well in a bass reflex enclosure
-Cheap is good, but willing to pay for quality up to $50/driver
-Low frequency extension is a plus as my sub is not exactly musical
I have been looking at the Fostex FE83En. Seems to be popular for small bass reflex cabs, but I would like to know what other would suggest. Thanks, I really appreciate your input.
FF85WK - but if you can accommodate the required box size (due to the large flange) CSS EL70 has the best LF performance that I know of in a driver this size/price range
Some of the 3' Tang Band drivers in a TABAQ put out some great sound. It's an easy build too. I put two W3-879S's in a bipole arrangement and they are awesome. The 879 is no longer available, but the W3-881SI is supposed to be a good candidate for a TABAQ, and it's on clearance at Parts Express.
Tang Band W3-881SI 3" Speaker 299-113.
Mike
Tang Band W3-881SI 3" Speaker 299-113.
Mike
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I want to ask a question even if it may sound strange. I have a pair of Creative T12 speakers for my computer. It's rated at 45 to 17,000hz. Is there a way that the Fostex FE83en, FF85WK or Fountek FR88EX can reproduce bass going down to 45hz without having to use a back loaded horn or some kind of tower?
I guess with the Creative T12, they're kind of "cheating" by putting a sort of woofer on the back of the speakers. I have to say I find they sound nice, just that I don't have a sound card which I believe isn't showing their potential.
I guess with the Creative T12, they're kind of "cheating" by putting a sort of woofer on the back of the speakers. I have to say I find they sound nice, just that I don't have a sound card which I believe isn't showing their potential.
Pretty impressive, when you don't feel there's anything missing listening to Pink Floyd DSOTM.
jeff
I am in the process of using a FR88ex in a design by Dave/Chris/Others? Scott??? I'll let you know. I have high hopes, I had some extra bamboo but not enough, so going with solid soft maple, looks almost walnutish. It will be a week or so as my significant other just had rotator cuff surgery... I am it for the munchkins... sorry behind.. but the weather is so nice..... 45 and sunny.
Thanks for all of your input. I think I'll go with the CSS EL70 in the Mar-Kel70 cabinet.
Dave, I have plenty of 3/4" MDF and 1/2" Birch ply. After dimensions are adjusted to maintain the internal volume, are there any other adjustments for substituting either of these building materials?
Thanks again,
Joe
Dave, I have plenty of 3/4" MDF and 1/2" Birch ply. After dimensions are adjusted to maintain the internal volume, are there any other adjustments for substituting either of these building materials?
Thanks again,
Joe
If a driver's specs is 100 to 13,000hz, is it really possible to lower the bass to say 70hz or lower with a larger cabinet? Or, does a larger cabinet really produce only a larger "kick" giving you the impression of lower bass? In other words, when people say more bass with a larger cabinet, is it correct to assume that the driver cannot produce frequencies lower than 100hz and will only produce the impression of lower frequencies?
a few thoughts from a completely non scientific mind:
firstly, published "specs" for loudspeaker drivers are not subject to strictly monitored standards, and suffer from wide variations of accuracy / tolerance - and even the best are notoriously inadequate in predicting what the real world performance of said driver will be in any particular enclosure / room
secondly, even the most sophisticated software modeling tools can only provide approximations of how well a particular enclosure / alignment will "work" in a given real world room / application
very few drivers of the class under consideration simply "stop" their output at their rated extents, but rather roll off at varying slopes - there are any number of tools from use of multiple drivers, careful enclosure design, room placement , bandpass filtering and more, that can extend the "impression" of output at lower frequencies - and if you think you're hearing it, aren't you?
Yeah, I'm not sure if there's a definitive answer for this but I was thinking about an experience I had with different computer speakers. The first I think was with a 3 watt per channel pair of Altec Lansing and the other the Logitech X-140. Now, I sold the X-140 because of the sound (and gave away the Altec Lansing) but I could hear a pigeon at the beginning of one of the episodes of 6 Feet Under but not with the Altec Lansing. Now I see the X-140 only go down to 80hz anyway. So, just to be clear, I meant are there sounds you can't hear from some speakers. Actually, I appreciate the fact that you answered, just trying to clarify what I meant.
Don't get frequency response (FR) mixed up with downward dynamic range (DDR). The sound of the pigeon is very unlikely to be outside the FR of either of your computer speakers, but the cheap drivers & electronics could eaily have poor enuff DDR to bury the pigeon in the "noise".
How low a speaker goes is related to Fs, Q, the kind of box, and the Vas. AND the room, and placement in the room.
Sometimes you can use the box to extend the response of a driver to below its Fs (it won't be a sealed box), and a smart designer can anticipate room-gain to get it there with less compromise, but there is no free lunch. Trying to maximize LF often leads to reduced mid/top performance. With a small driver in a small box it is often expedient to put a bit of a bump in the response to give the illusion that the box goes lower than it does. Part of the reason that this works is that much of what peoplethink of as bass is actually upper bass (80+ hz)
dave
I'm looking into doing something similar to the Minirig, so I'm also in the market for a well performing 3"/4" driver.
Have anyone found out which driver is used for the Minirig?
Minirigs | Portable, Rechargeable Speaker
Have anyone found out which driver is used for the Minirig?
Minirigs | Portable, Rechargeable Speaker
Don't forget that frequency response specs also include (implicitly or explicitly) a +/- Xdb portion as well. Your 100 -13000 is more likely 100 - 13000 +/- 3dB. Give typical rolloff, that speaker may do 70 Hz at 10dB down, whic would still be "hearable" at typical levels.
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