Newb question: 2.5 is two identical woofers and a tweeter, crossed over to have the woofers take different frequency ranges? Downsides?
Digging in a bit, with DSP, I don't see that a 2.5 way would help me much since the biggest advantage seems to be BSC without power loss, which isn't an issue with a DSPed woofer. Still feels like a strong 2 way or budget 3 way makes more sense.
Don't you use the same technique with DSP to make a 2.5 way, I don't understand the concern over power?
well and you get 2X low end output versus a 2-way without having to make a chamber for a midrange and with a simpler XO than a 3-way.
if you're going DSP your main benefit is you can use a lower XO than is practical passively. many practical passive designs use higher than optimal XO just to save on the size / cost of crossover components.
this is one benefit of dome midranges is you can implement a 800 hz or so passive crossover with much cheaper components than say a 250 hz crossover.
that said you should still do a 3-way passive + active woofer.
1" dome, 3" dome, 8" midbass and active 12" sub. 3 khz, 800 hz, 150 hz.
Forgive the editing. You don't mention a budget limit, but if that's not a problem this seems to me to be the ideal use case for the Purifi woofers- a small format speaker that can provide high-fidelity, relatively full-range reproduction without subs in a smaller room. The cost of the woofer for a three-way speaker would instead be put towards the passive radiators that let the Purifi's do what they do. There are a myriad of tweeters from which to choose, depending on the desired dispersion.
While the looks might be off-putting, the LX-minis do provide quite a nice listening experience at a moderate cost. I quite like full-range dipoles, but they are challenging in a small space. The Mini's give a nice dose of the dipole spaciousness in a small footprint, and I can imagine that would be very nice for a couple of readers.
using more expensive components is almost never the answer.
the result will always reflect design and execution, not how much money was spent on parts.
only use expensive components if your explicit goal is to brag about how much your components cost.
Porsche and Hyundai are both made of the same Iron and Aluminum atoms. It's how they are arranged that makes the difference. A Hyundai made out of Gold would still be a Hyundai.
Not trying to optimize for price here, mostly for footprint, blending into the environment, and sound quality without taking up space both physically and visually. I was inspired by my father in law's listening environment (who sadly I never got to meet), a pair of monkey coffins book-ending a bookshelf of LPs so that you could barely see them, but they were excellent at clarity and dynamic range for the small living room they were in. Used to play mostly classical, jazz, and 60s-70s well mixed rock.
Just noticed http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/BOOKSHELF-3WC.htm, which is intriguing though I might mess with the design to eliminate porting and convert to active.
Edit: wife is a bibliophile, so we have hundreds of books, this room will be full of them, and will try to situate the shelving to use the books for at least diffraction room control.
Just noticed http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/BOOKSHELF-3WC.htm, which is intriguing though I might mess with the design to eliminate porting and convert to active.
Edit: wife is a bibliophile, so we have hundreds of books, this room will be full of them, and will try to situate the shelving to use the books for at least diffraction room control.
This sounds like you want a wide and consistent radiating speaker. This leads to small driver distances and diameters (at least for mid/high). Not what's popular to build today - but it works very well for consistent sound during the room. Esp. whe there is some absorption and diffusion in the room!
But you need the right drivers for such a project. And the right cabinet.
WIDE corner roundings to have minimal corner influence. Simulate placement on the baffle.
You need a special tweeter - not the 28mm wide surround ones. The best one for wide and linear off axis radiation would be Bliesma T25A. You can cross it at 2kHz or even lower when active and low listening levels - which not all "small" tweeters can do (but the modern ones can).
Small midrange - 4" or max 5". I used the Satori 2,5" dome and cut out the front plate for the tweeter - you get the drivers very close that way and come close to a coax listening impression. The sound is incredible stable and similar even wide off axis.
What active module do you plan to use?