well you could use a visaton al130 for the midrange.....only downside would be the 87dB/W eff. but usuable up to say 5or6kHz especially if you use a notch filter to roll off the high end before the tweeter...IMO its a great driver and not overpriced...not perfect but then this is a baseline 'ref' design
Probably not enough to have them design a custom speaker. However, SEAS are very very good to deal with and spend alot of time dealing with their clients(well me anyway), so they could perhaps consider it. But I would imagine I would have to purchase a few of them to make it worth their while....hundreds I would think.
I once had an email discussion with a speaker manufacturer, Vifa before Tymphany, and back then it was 1000 units per run, how-ever there is a speaker maker here in Australia that would do smaller runs than that, but we were looking here at world-wide availability so we can't go with a boutique maker for this project; can we??
Some OEMs are doing smaller runs, and it will likely get more common. Misco does, i believe runs of less than 50, and eminence has done runs of 100. These do need to be parts bin specials thou and they will cost more than if you did a larger run.
dave
dave
For 12 units I wouldnt think so. The only way in which I would purchase the units is if it became a kit worth selling for a while. It all depends on what they require. Im actually thinking of getting SEAS to design a kit for the AU/NZ market. Something unique for us down in the pacifics.
I can't see it being viable to use custom drivers on a low budget. The development and production setup cost amortisation would be prohibitive. we'd end up paying more for basically less. Sorry that's the accountant in me coming out
In saying that, this will be a longshot, but I know someone who knows someone who has a factory in china which makes all the speaker manufacturing components for smaller speaker companies and some larger ones, I dont know which ones. If someone has access to say speaD we could look into designing something of our own. But that would be major, but fun!!!!
I can't find a folder in my computer, poor housekeeping.
Who has the details of the Australian specialty manufacturer who makes the PRO drivers, I know that he doesn't like making low Fs high Qts drivers but his frames and magnets have a good reputation with the people who do live sound and I think he does runs as small as 12 woofers.
Who has the details of the Australian specialty manufacturer who makes the PRO drivers, I know that he doesn't like making low Fs high Qts drivers but his frames and magnets have a good reputation with the people who do live sound and I think he does runs as small as 12 woofers.
And of course if some-one knows how to break "Hoffmans Iron Rule" pitch in.
Seriously if designing the best compromise for a 10inch /255mm woofer, what is the priority?
Are we going to design for a sealed box or ported ( or even TL? )
low Fs ( 20 - 25 Hz ),
medium Q ( Qts 0.38 - 0.45 ),
relatively high power handling (48- 55mm voice coil )
low Le,
and flat to 2 octave above the desired XO point.
I get a kick out of campfire discussion of what constitutes the ideal driver.
Seriously if designing the best compromise for a 10inch /255mm woofer, what is the priority?
Are we going to design for a sealed box or ported ( or even TL? )
low Fs ( 20 - 25 Hz ),
medium Q ( Qts 0.38 - 0.45 ),
relatively high power handling (48- 55mm voice coil )
low Le,
and flat to 2 octave above the desired XO point.
I get a kick out of campfire discussion of what constitutes the ideal driver.
Not easy to find good woofers fore closed box
But if you find one you could make a proto box with adjustable volume, and determine the size, or should we say the best compromise fore a box size
But 10" is a bit small in my book
I would use 12-15", or at least 2x 10"😀
But if you find one you could make a proto box with adjustable volume, and determine the size, or should we say the best compromise fore a box size
But 10" is a bit small in my book
I would use 12-15", or at least 2x 10"😀
Big woofers have low acceptance with spouse usually, so I guess 10 inch is a compromise between deep base and high WAF, so we better add low Vas to the list of spec's
Tinitus what would YOU say to triple 10inch in parallel with one facing rearwards 16 / 3 = 5.6 near enough to 4ohms for any reasonable amp to drive and smaller value coil ( with bigger wire of course ) which may mean having a batch of coils specially wound
Use of 16R drivers is really not the way to go as the SPL is related to the impedance so you don't get the full benefit of dual (or more drivers) as you do with lower impedance versions. You really only gain with extra cone area.
Using the 6.5" Revelator as an example you can see the SPL for 2.83V varies for each version.
16R = 83dB
8R=87dB
4R=90dB
From those numbers you are better off running 2 8R in parallel (best) or 2 4R in series (next best) which will give better outcomes than parallel 16R drivers.
Most decent SS amps output much more power and current into the lower impedance so you are better off aiming for a speaker between 4R-6R. Low impedance (say 4R) is not the problem, the aim is for no large impedance peaks or dips (I try to keep within a 4R envelope excluding the woofer resonance peak) and the impedance phase is kept amp friendly at say ±30° max. Do that and the amp will thrive and love you and the speaker will sound better.
The day of the 8R speaker is over and the trend is to lower impedance speakers to utilise power amplifier capabilities.
Using the 6.5" Revelator as an example you can see the SPL for 2.83V varies for each version.
16R = 83dB
8R=87dB
4R=90dB
From those numbers you are better off running 2 8R in parallel (best) or 2 4R in series (next best) which will give better outcomes than parallel 16R drivers.
Most decent SS amps output much more power and current into the lower impedance so you are better off aiming for a speaker between 4R-6R. Low impedance (say 4R) is not the problem, the aim is for no large impedance peaks or dips (I try to keep within a 4R envelope excluding the woofer resonance peak) and the impedance phase is kept amp friendly at say ±30° max. Do that and the amp will thrive and love you and the speaker will sound better.
The day of the 8R speaker is over and the trend is to lower impedance speakers to utilise power amplifier capabilities.
Well, a high WAF project doesnt seem very interesting, seen from the side of best sound quality
I dont know about multiple 10", which does have some issues with regards to best transistion to mids section
If you used say 2x 10" a 3.5way would seem a sensible choise
But 3.5way passive doesnt really make sense, as the upper woofer is crossed around 300hz, which means the low woofer should be crossed lower
It can be done passive though, with HUGE inductors
With regards to inductors a low impdance is helpful
So, low woofer might be 2x 10" sidemounted
I dont think this is very easy
10" is not ideal in the 500hz range, and upwards, which it needs to be
Besides, dont forget the need fore lots of box volume, and down goes WAF
Fore a handsome design I would maybe consider multiple 5", but could be expencive, and maybe with too many drawbacks
Best is one driver fore each passband
Could be Mundorf AMT, 4" mid, 6" woofer with high sensitivity(maybe Beta-8A, 10" Eminence or similar(AE?)), 12" sub
Last edited:
Not to mention multiple 10" drivers is likely to double your driver cost which kinda goes away from the whole approch of keeping it to a reasonable budget, why not just stick to a single 10" or two 8" drivers.
Most SS amps that us mear mortals can afford really start to fall apart below 8 ohms.
So i'm with Moondog. 2 16 ohm in pararallel are better than 2 4 ohm in series.
dave
Its not very hard nor expencive to build a 40watt SS amp that will drive 2ohm all day
But the biggest problem is not really impedance, unless you favour tubeamps
The issue is more driver integration
Still trying to figure out a good mid driver
Not so easy, but Im thinking maybe Eminence Alpha-6C
But it will need a woofer with good sensitivity
Preferably a 95db 12" PRO driver
🙂
But the biggest problem is not really impedance, unless you favour tubeamps
The issue is more driver integration
Still trying to figure out a good mid driver
Not so easy, but Im thinking maybe Eminence Alpha-6C
But it will need a woofer with good sensitivity
Preferably a 95db 12" PRO driver
🙂
Last edited:
I do favour tube amps...
You may be able to build such a 40W amp, but many of the favorites -- gainclones, Pass Amps -- don't do well into 4 ohms.
dave
Its really very easy
If you can do a gainclone, it wont be any problem
Take classAB design with tough outputs that will do about 100watt
Make it into a 30-40watt with lower supply voltage
Use double 500watt trafos
Mount output on nice big heatsinks, and its done
As long as you dont persist on high power its no big deal
But dont think that such 40watt isnt powerful, it is
How dare you say such about Pass amps
Well, it may be true that it will loose some classA power into low impedance, but apart from that I dont think theres any problem
Tho with the above classAB you will get tons of power in low impedance
And with minimum 90db speakers it will scare your pants off 😉
But sure, with any good speaker design you will also have to consider which amps to use
🙂
Last edited: