Hi There!
I'm looking at making some desktop monitors for my office and have been considering one of these seemingly great full range plans: the .53 Karlsonator, the XKI and the folded TABAQ (have I missed any others??).
I'm getting a little lost though on which speaker I should be considering/choose. Part of me thinks I should try and find a driver that works in ALL of these designs and just give them all a go.
I'll be supporting whichever speaker I choose with a Wharfedale SW150 subwoofer for low end extension, so digging as deep as possible isn't really my goal. 60-70Hz f3 would be more than enough though if it doesn't affect mid/highs then going deeper isn't a problem either.
I'm hoping to only spend $150 USD or so on drivers as a maximum.
I'm in Australia so availability isn't a huge issue, but drivers can be pretty expensive here. For example Dayton PA130-8's are $40 USD each here. I'd probably prefer a 4" or 3" driver though for more high end extension. I might also be able to find an economical way to ship smaller drivers from overseas and get a lot more bang for my buck (stupid convict tax ~ it's an Aussie thing).
I'll be listening to these in the nearfield, maybe 80cm - 100cm away from my ears but 1.5m apart from each other. Max SPL is not a problem and I don't need to fill a large room. I will be placing them on my desk or on stands on my desk and they'll be about 15-20cm from a wall.
Bit of a comparison:
0.4x Karlsonator - Faital Pro 3FE25 Driver - 60Hz f3, 83dB SPL, 310mm H x 175mm D x 175mm W.
0.5x Karlsonator - Dayton PA130-8 Driver - 60Hz f3, 87-88dB SPL, 385mm H x 203.2mm D x 298.5mm W
XKi - W5-2143 - 60hz f3? - 91dB SPL - 320ish mm H x 274ish mm D x 223ish mm W (Apparently a very good driver).
3" Tabaq Folded - 65Hz f3 - 85 dB SPL - 272mm H x 226mm D x 144mm W
What I don't really have is a comparison of sound quality between the designs!
So if anyone has any ideas, driver selection advice, listening impressions or advice to chip in I'd love to hear it. If this thread turns into a great resource for desktop speakers I'd love to see that too. It's not a topic that seems to explicitly get a lot of attention and I feel these small full range designs, tuned for musicality and frequency response, rather than max SPL are perfect candidates for this use case.
Thanks everyone and I'd love to hear from you soon!
I'm looking at making some desktop monitors for my office and have been considering one of these seemingly great full range plans: the .53 Karlsonator, the XKI and the folded TABAQ (have I missed any others??).
I'm getting a little lost though on which speaker I should be considering/choose. Part of me thinks I should try and find a driver that works in ALL of these designs and just give them all a go.
I'll be supporting whichever speaker I choose with a Wharfedale SW150 subwoofer for low end extension, so digging as deep as possible isn't really my goal. 60-70Hz f3 would be more than enough though if it doesn't affect mid/highs then going deeper isn't a problem either.
I'm hoping to only spend $150 USD or so on drivers as a maximum.
I'm in Australia so availability isn't a huge issue, but drivers can be pretty expensive here. For example Dayton PA130-8's are $40 USD each here. I'd probably prefer a 4" or 3" driver though for more high end extension. I might also be able to find an economical way to ship smaller drivers from overseas and get a lot more bang for my buck (stupid convict tax ~ it's an Aussie thing).
I'll be listening to these in the nearfield, maybe 80cm - 100cm away from my ears but 1.5m apart from each other. Max SPL is not a problem and I don't need to fill a large room. I will be placing them on my desk or on stands on my desk and they'll be about 15-20cm from a wall.
Bit of a comparison:
0.4x Karlsonator - Faital Pro 3FE25 Driver - 60Hz f3, 83dB SPL, 310mm H x 175mm D x 175mm W.
0.5x Karlsonator - Dayton PA130-8 Driver - 60Hz f3, 87-88dB SPL, 385mm H x 203.2mm D x 298.5mm W
XKi - W5-2143 - 60hz f3? - 91dB SPL - 320ish mm H x 274ish mm D x 223ish mm W (Apparently a very good driver).
3" Tabaq Folded - 65Hz f3 - 85 dB SPL - 272mm H x 226mm D x 144mm W
What I don't really have is a comparison of sound quality between the designs!
So if anyone has any ideas, driver selection advice, listening impressions or advice to chip in I'd love to hear it. If this thread turns into a great resource for desktop speakers I'd love to see that too. It's not a topic that seems to explicitly get a lot of attention and I feel these small full range designs, tuned for musicality and frequency response, rather than max SPL are perfect candidates for this use case.
Thanks everyone and I'd love to hear from you soon!
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The Tabaq is an open face direct radiator speaker and with baffle step compensation circuit can give you a very neutral “monitor” like response. The Karlsonator or XKi have an aperture that gives wide dispersion and are musical but not necessarily “neutral”. They probably have more of a suppressed mid range and high range. If you have a sub, I would use TC9FD or 3FE25 in a 0.40x Karlsonator. It’s good down to 80Hz then the sub takes over. If you want to to why more bass, the 0.53x scale for Karlsonator also makes sense.
