I've ordered a RS225P (8" paper cone woofer) and GRS 8" "slim" planar, along with the crossover components modeled in XSim. Hopefully I can cross the planar over low, around 1khz, but we'll see. Lately I've been itching to play with a ribbon or planar of some sort, I have an old pair of Infinity bookshelves with EMIT tweeters and they just sound like magic to me, despite the limited bass and dynamics of a small bookshelf.
Nope, and I'm fully aware what I measure won't be the same as the published numbers. I do have a calibrated measurement mic and interface, and only ordered cheap crossover components to get close. My thought is to build it as modeled, and then measure and compare that against the modeled response, in order to put together a bill of materials for "good" caps, resistors, etc.
Yes, I did model the baffle step using the Bagby spreadsheet. The mic is an older condenser calibration mic PE used to sell, and I connect it to an M-Audio USB interface.
Your response at 100Hz is much lower than above that.
I would also zoom the Y-axis and push the responses upward on the plot.
I would also zoom the Y-axis and push the responses upward on the plot.
I'm hoping to be able to coax some more output at 100hz and lower with gain from the cabinet (going with a ported design). If not, I may try some attenuation on the HF side to raise the woofer's level a bit.
Dunno; my way for XOs is directivity matched, but the planar is ~160 deg for much of its BW whereas the 8" 'wants' a ~299 Hz XO, with 2nd best @ ~922 Hz (about where your sim is) and last is ~1616 Hz, but the planar's 400 Hz impedance puts a 2nd order up at ~400*2^2 = 1600 Hz, so within this narrow range is where my 'better part of valor' dictates this as your 'best' (I use the term loosely) option.
Interesting idea, I clearly hadn't put that much thought in to it. I'm really not expecting to build an "ideal" speaker, just want something I can listen to and get a feel for that mid/tweeter, and decide what I'm doing next. These will likely get donated to a friend along with a cheapie chip amp. I keep thinking about building a pair of Mini Statements, but haven't committed yet. Hopefully this will keep me busy long enough to avoid spending that much cash on new speakers.
OK, all the more important then to build in some planar 'bullet proofing' (high XO point); that, or add an inexpensive light bulb protector and use whatever XO point you want and let its brightness dictate how loud it can be safely played like we did in the 'good old days' of inexpensive prosound systems.
