Building the best 3-way (NOT) full range speaker in the world

It is a a fairly low resonance frequency (50Hz) well below the main frequency range this unit is responsible for (approximately 250 to 3k tbd) optionally stuffed as an aperiodic dampened vent indeed and that gives these units some breathing space and will sound smoother. (In my previous design I didn’t stuff the port and sounds fantastic)
 
  • Like
Reactions: stv
Coming back to your question: I do not think you will get a top performance with these amps if used full range. The DSP with fairly straightforward AD and DA conversion will be limiting factor. And if you just spend big bucks to a >15k DA converter for your Tidal account it sounds wrong to me to then let it pass full range to this design with possible a 15 dollar AD > DSP > DA structure. The non-processing NC500 is a serious high end contender though

Agree active for the woofer is the Way to go (though passive Can Sound fantastic aswell).

I was curious to know comparison, but guess we wont get it this time 🙂

I myself think Sound would benefit from some loss/resistance with passive components in the chain with Hypex Fusion if running fullrange. This is feeling and not knowledge.
 
Another update as the project is moving slowly due to holidays and the woodshop moving location.

We have been working on some details as the basic structure is defined.
The Plate-amp gets a custom heatsink. It has 2 3-pole screw terminals where a bridge between two crews enables the loop of a speaker terminal into the high level input of the ams, and removing it is used when the XLR input is selected.
Two banana sockets between the terminals are connected to the output of the plate amp so you can dial in the the gain of the plate amp by measuring with an AC volt meter (and get back to that value when the input adjustment attenuator is changed)
This is a picture of the plate amp.
1724936948347.png


We also defined the aluminum base and stainless steel feet.
Based on the finite elemente feet we decided to make them custom (many variations are available on chinese websites) as none were exactly what we need. Making 16 pieces made the price very acceptable.
The feet cylinder sits in a 10mm cavity of the base extensions and therefore there is some adjustments possible without the cylinder edge is will become visible. The Cylinder and the base edge are connected via an M10 bolt that is fixed to the Cylinder of the stainless steel feet.
1724936372427.png


Here the inside of the feet:
1724937545807.png


I plan to make the walnut side panels as separate 90mm high sheets (18mm thick) and mount them on the HDF inner enclosure with 3mm gaps between them. These gaps will be filled with a special kit that is used for teak boat decks.

So next is ordering the amp plate, base and feet so we can start assembling these. Next month the MDF/HDF inside will be CNC cut and we can assemble these then and order the aluminium front and back,

Here some more pictures of the final (inside) design
1724937944508.png



1724937961443.png



1724937977403.png


1724938027402.png


The green sheets will be some sort of (solid) rubber like EPDM to reduce the stress on the metal rods when temperature changes.

Take care Peter
 
We will need to check that, but the two woofers wil be in parallel and the crossover frequency will be around 150Hz. As this is done by the Hypex module a 4th order 24dB/oct is possible.

As it looks now an external active filter (in front of the power amp driving MF/HF) seems the way to go as filtering the two midrange units (@2,7 ohm Re and a resonance frequency peak at around 80Hz) will be a challenge in execution and cost. The preferred capacitor (270uF Silver/gold/oil) is around €700
 
  • Like
Reactions: profiguy and GM
Another update:
We started building the inner enclosure.
1729706681622.png

Adding felt to the parts that cannot be reached later.
1729706967421.png

The first enclosure in clamps
1729707037552.png

The amp plates and heatsink (will be sand blasted and anodized)

1729707166473.png


1729707205530.png


The stainless steel feet

1729707236821.png


The base machined out of a solid billet (will be sand blasted and anodized)

1729707346171.png


And the Hypex plate amp arrived .......

So we are progressing.
Till next time.
Peter
 
Most absorbing material doesn’t work for the lowest frequencies. But depending on the crossover frequency and slope a woofer produces frequencies that sits in the range this stuff starts to work. There will also be another layer of damping material (like wool for the midrange and Akotherm Basic D20 for the LF part)
Some tests proved that the material I initially wanted to use (technocell) actually decreases the volume of the enclosure while this felt and Akotherm increase the volume.
Technocell works better to isolate a room from another than actually absorbing the sound.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GM
Scherm­afbeelding 2024-10-25 om 14.58.40.png

Pardon me for the hijack, but I feel I have to debunk some myths about felt… Now this is probably best case scenario, since stemming from a felt supplier.

You are right that low frequencies are hard to tame. In a typical enclosure however, we’re fighting mid frequencies from 150Hz to about 2k max in case of a 2-way. That is home territory for the usual >50mm foam or wool solutions.
 
  • Thank You
  • Like
Reactions: profiguy and GM
No worries marbakk, that is why this forum should be used, share, challenge and learn.
I must admit I was puzzled by the graphs and real results. Influenced by Troels Gravensen who from a DIY point of view has the best website and although I don't like everything he does he has an impressive state of speakers.

When I used tecnocell (and sorry it is called Acousticcell in English but tecnocell in Dutch) in my original design I had the idea that it lowered the volume of the enclosure instead of increasing. So the resonance frequency went up.

Discussing that with a specialist from Merford (the supplier of all sorts of damping and isolation material) he said that to absorb the lower frequency in a speaker enclosure the material should not be too dense as reflections can occur and that is fine to isolate for instance an enclosure to keep the sound inside (like a noisy compressor) but will still scatter.

A much better material is Akotherm and use it as a filling. Troels does something similar by combining Bitumen pads, felt and a Polyester wool.

1729865918494.png


So for this we decided to do the same, but with less bitumen as a combination of 15mm MDF + 13mm HDF and 20mm Walnut (+ 40mm Aluminium front panels) would be rigid enough and is only used on some internal panels.
A full layer of felt (just recycled cloth and not really felt) on all sides and then this akotherm loosely in the gaps of all the braces is the best of both worlds.

The midrange enclosure will be felt and wool or Twaron.

Please take a look at the graphs provided by the links I shared, it is very interesting.




IMG_6365.jpg


IMG_6366.jpg


here you see in real life what the 3D renders looked like in earlier pages of this tread.

By the way. I used the Finsa Compac Plus as internal braces as it extremely rigid, cuts very clean and sharp and uses less volume than plan MDF.
This structure will get a full layer of that material on the outside as well. Compac Plus

take care, Peter
 
By the way. I used the Finsa Compac Plus as internal braces as it extremely rigid, cuts very clean and sharp and uses less volume than plan MDF.
This material looks very interesting. Is it denser than MDF? Looks like plastic but is it a mix with wood fiber like some hybrid decking? I don't suppose it's available outside of Europe... I wonder whether there's anything comparable in Canada?
 
I've had really good luck using neoprene foam sheet gaskets under the midrange drivers and woofers, fastened with floating threaded inserts to decouple the chassis. It makes a massive difference in vibrational transmission between the chassis and front baffle, cleaning up the lower midrange without excessively stiff and unnecessarily thick cabinet walls. The trouble with many larger floor standing speaker designs is the panel resonances landing right around the 200 - 800 hz range. Thats right in the meat of lower midrange and will ruin neutrality in that range.

Sandwiched higher density neoprene foam with MDF side panels creates a highly dampening composite material. I started using this on all my slimmer floor standing designs with great success.