this is also the hardest part because you can only know it after you heard that sound.
reminds me when i let my friend in college listen to VNV Nation in my car on my DIY sound system and he said " now i understand why people listen to this kind of music " - he has heard the same music on his little multimedia PC speakers and couldn't see the point but when he heard it on dual 12" MTX subwoofers with Rockford Fosgate Class D sub amplifier pummeling the entire car with bass he could feel the power of the music.
reality is it's a circular evolution where your music taste and your speaker taste evolve in parallel in a sort of a spiral fashion where the music you like is dictated by speakers you have and speakers you like is dictated by music you listen to ...
so just always strive for richest and most complex music as well for the most capable speakers and let the natural process take place ...
100%
a lot of 4-way systems in prosound now that are either a small 3-way + sub or a large 3-way but the HF unit is Co-Axial ( BMS ), making it a 4-way.
and those are commercial systems where they have to keep costs down to stay competitive ! they don't go to 4-way just because they are bored !
i would call those 3-way + sub. which is a pretty standard arrangement, and for a good reason.
Sub is sub when its crossed low enough that can no longer be localized. Then it can theoretically be placed anywhere. Sub itself should not be heard, only noticed when turned off as some bottom missing. But system should be able to perform just fine without sub. Most of the time i noticed incorrect setup for the sub, too loud or crossed too high. Or not steep enough.
Woofers are typically crossed higher and must be placed as close as possible to mid and tweeter.
Woofers are typically crossed higher and must be placed as close as possible to mid and tweeter.
OK not a sub, but that's cheating because dipole.
it would have been a 3-way + sub if it wasn't dipole.
LOL
it would have been a 3-way + sub if it wasn't dipole.
LOL
No baffle and MTM...Blah talk about a nightmare
Normal 3 way is not too bad.
Computer aided design saves a lot of guessing. Mount the drivers close and offset the drivers.
Not following typical trends, and finding actual accurate responses is pretty easy.
Matching drivers is not that bad either.
If already thinking about it, we all eventually wanna build it.
Take on a pre designed path. Or learn sim and roll your own.
With diffraction tools, and crossover design tools. you finally wrap your head around all this tech and theory quickly.
It is very visual and straight forward.
Normal 3 way is not too bad.
Computer aided design saves a lot of guessing. Mount the drivers close and offset the drivers.
Not following typical trends, and finding actual accurate responses is pretty easy.
Matching drivers is not that bad either.
If already thinking about it, we all eventually wanna build it.
Take on a pre designed path. Or learn sim and roll your own.
With diffraction tools, and crossover design tools. you finally wrap your head around all this tech and theory quickly.
It is very visual and straight forward.
Bose Acoustimass subwoofer XO frequency is over 200 hz
it's one of the most commercially successful systems ever
best 4way is 5way
20-80-320-1280-5120-20,480 Hz + infra sub for < 20 Hz
another 6-way total
<20-40-90-300-800-3400-20K
What are your room dimensions? What covers the walls? Any openings? How close are the speakers to the wall? Is it a hard wall? (baffle step need). Where do you listen to the sound? How high are your ears? Do you walk around and expect similar sound at many places? Is there a TV between the speakers? How big?
How good is your hearing? Do you have response to 20000 hz (unlikely), 15000 hz, 7000 hz? Test with decent earphones (~$50) and a high frequency hearing test. No sense spending money on frequencies you cannot hear.
What kind of music do you listen to? How loud do you expect it to be? Does it need to be louder for parties? How loud? What sensitivity do you require? How powerful is your amplifier? Are you intending stereo sources or 5 way?
Does your significant other object to large enclosures? Objections to any color?
How good is your hearing? Do you have response to 20000 hz (unlikely), 15000 hz, 7000 hz? Test with decent earphones (~$50) and a high frequency hearing test. No sense spending money on frequencies you cannot hear.
What kind of music do you listen to? How loud do you expect it to be? Does it need to be louder for parties? How loud? What sensitivity do you require? How powerful is your amplifier? Are you intending stereo sources or 5 way?
Does your significant other object to large enclosures? Objections to any color?
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Thanks for this long answer.
I fully agree on what you are saying here. For a technical point af view.
But for example, even if a lot of tweeters are beeming at 15k or upper I doubt anyone can ear it at this frequency.
There is also some other possibility like using a waveguide to reduce the crossover frequency between tweet and mid.
If you for example look a the 2 way mechano23 speaker it measure realy well. Dont you think adding a 12 inch woofer crossed at 400 wouldn't add both lower extension and slam that thé speaker probably miss?
IME, women and children sure can to the point where I quickly began relying on the females when 'voicing' my builds/home installs. One young female's ears would perk up when a neighbor blew his dog whistle. Fun times and had no clue what 'WAF' pertained to when I got on the audio BBs, etc. because I never had the problem per se other than they typically used my/our audio system more than me with weekends often winding up being little more than dance parties.