Helper Woofer(s) for "punchy" FAST/WWW/SAW/etc. to go w/ Fane 12" full range drivers
See my unnecessarily long thread on the speaker concept here:
Full Range Build, 12" driver...
Basically a typical build using a full range driver for most of the spectrum, with stereo helper woofers for the lows. Full range drivers selected are Fane 12" 12-250tc. Crossover will be an adjustable electronic unit, so I can futz around with the xo point and see what sounds best, but 150 - 750 hz is the anticipated window, based on what I've heard and read here. FR and Woofers will be bi-amped from some older Yamaha receivers and will each receive ~80w.
Helper Woofer parameters:
1. Punchy! Looking for that "hit you in the chest" feel, ability to be cranked up to 11.
2. Able to be run up to volume = 11 with only 80 watts, so we need some efficiency. Amp can be run at 8 ohms or 4 ohms, so there are some options for woofers and multiples in parallel, etc.
3. Space is of some concern, both footprint and height. The full range cabinets will sit on top of woofer cabinets, so the woofer cabs can only go up so high. A reasonable footprint of less than 24 x 24 would be ideal but not mandatory. Probably not enough room for any fancy horn or TL business.
4. Punchy, not boomy! Primary application is for music in my living room (so things like kick drums hitting hard would be ideal). I know, I know, a properly designed bass reflex isn't necessarily boomy, but I'm pretty sure I want to just go with a simple sealed enclosure here.
5. Secondary function is for HT use, so it would be nice if they dug down to around 40 hz anyway.
6. There will be a dedicated HT SUBwoofer for HT use only, which will cover approx the 20-60 hz range.
7. Living room is approx 25 ft wide x 12ft deep with 8ft ceiling, but there are doorways in both front corners, so speakers are inboard of doorways (so no corner loading currently - though a move is in the near future so this will change).
8. I had my heart set on 1x 18"s for each side originally, but it would seem that 2x 15"s per side has a greater cone area, Sd, and for the same Xmax will move more air (more punch), and perhaps the 15"s having a typically lighter cone mass creates a "faster" sound. I've never dealt with 18s and have limited experience with 15s - most of my experience is with 12"s. If a 12" goes "punch", and a 15" goes "PUNCH!", and a 18" goes "Thud!", then it seems that 15" is the happy medium size (highly technical comparison, for talking points sake mostly).
9. Headroom is a good thing. Ideally the woofers wouldn't be pushed past Xmax for any reasonably sane volume. In fact ideally they wouldn't have to work hard at all.
10. As you may have guessed, there's a budget in play here. There's only about 250 bucks remaining for the helper woofers, though we'll pretend that wood and other little bits are free and just concentrate on the drivers. Budget might be stretched slightly for something awesome, but seems that there's enough there for some entry 18"s, 15"s, etc.
11. Foam surrounds suck, would prefer something with a cloth or accordion surround. Durability and longevity are important. Sound is important. Looks are not important.
I've played around with WinISD a bit now, and have a feel for it. My current favorite for the helper woofer is a pair of 8 ohm 15" drivers in parallel on each channel, 2x 15" for a total of four 15" drivers total. These could either be stacked vertically, 15 on top of 15 with both on the front of the cabinet, or even one 15 on front and one 15 on back configured "push-push".
My top pick so far is 2x 15"s per side, using Pyle PPA-15 drivers, in a sealed 8 ft3 box. I know, I know, Pyle... ugh. but price vs performance is hard to beat, even if they are on the "bottom of the pyle"
🙂
Thoughts? Opinions/ideas are welcome.
Thanks,
Jesse
Edit:
*I'm open to the possibility that bass reflex could be the answer (my current main speakers are BR and I don't find them to be boomy), if it could be somehow demonstrated that BR would carry the same punch that sealed enclosure would. One thought I had was to make the enclosures BR, but make the tuned port "pluggable" such that it becomes a sealed box. With the right pvc fitting and a thread in plug, or just a heavy chunk of wood with screws and hurricane nuts, this could certainly be workable.
**OB is not an option, though I'd like to try it someday, there isn't room in my living room to pull the speakers out the requisite distance from the walls - rather, they need to be basically up against the walls to maximize living room space.