I am a sound engineer. I have very little knowledge but some little success building speakers - designs usually found online. I’m building these speakers because comparably specified “branded” studio monitors cost 3X as much as my build. As is, being only moderately successful in third world India, it has taken me a long time to save up and procure components for this current build.
“It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission” - Grace Hopper.
Every time I seek advice on driver selection and such, I get well meaning but strong, contrasting an opinions. I end up getting confused and doing nothing. This time, following my gut, for better or worse, I went ahead and bought the following drivers (per speaker):
Subwoofer - SB Acoustics
SB Acoustics SB42FHCL75-6
Woofer -
Purifi PTT8.0X04
Mid-Range -
Volt VM752
Tweeter -
Satori TW29RN-4
Four way design powered by
QSC PLD 4.2 - 4x 400W w/ onboard DSP
The listening position will be a mere 5’ from the speakers. Most of the space between the speakers and listener will be occupied by a console table.I know this could be a problem… positioning large speakers in the near-field position… but there are plenty of reputed 3 way near-field monitors, mine just add the subs. My room is very highly damped, down to about 40 Hz…
I’ve come up with two cabinet layout designs, I seek your opinions on these, and suggestions for alternatives.
Option 1: Woofer to the side of mid-range/tweeter
Advantages:
A. Driver to driver proximity should lead to a more cohesive sound?...
B. More space for subwoofer cabinet (3-way "satellite" speakers will be in a separate enclosure, placed on top of the subwoofer).
Disadvantage: path length differences will significantly affect integrity in the horizontal plane?
Option 2: Woofer below mid-range/tweeter.
Advantage: Better Integrity in the horizontal plane?
Disadvantages:
A. Woofer lip is just above the console table top, possibly leading to a reflected, comb filtered sound dominating the direct sound.
B. Less space for the subwoofer enclosure.
C. Too much driver to driver distance?
Looking forward to inputs. Thank you.