Dayton PA130

[fwater]

I just recently built a pair of half Changs for a friend based upon nothing but the reviews found here. Having never heard a decent fullrange outside of various Tang Bands, I knew I was in for at least a little bit of a suprise upon completion, but- WOW! I'm absolutely hooked. Kudos to the designers and experimenters associated with birthing these cabs and speaker mods! Along with the big performance suprise found with the Changs was the Dayton PA130s that I ordered with the B20s, just for fun. I believe, with my limited experience tempered with enthusiastic optimism, that there is enormous potential with the PA130s. I started with a 12" wide open baffle, 48" high (to bring them up to ear level). The stage was huge- individual sounds seemed to emminate from all three axis, almost anywhere but localized on the drivers. The highs are abundant and articulate, suffering only from the usual off-axis rolloff. Bass was lacking, so I introduced a BSC of a 1mH coil & 4 ohm resistor, and the returns were very encouraging. Even the mid-bass gained life- snare drums seem as if they are in the room live. Sensitivity stayed satisfactory for use with my T-amp.

As said before, I see a great deal of potential (especially at the 12-15 dollar price point), so the next logical step is the enclosure. I've watched as the threads surrounding the mBVR family have developed through questions about a driver's suitability in such a design, so here goes. Is there an existing design that is compatable with this driver? If not, how much bribery would it take for the usual suspects to help dream one up? I'm willing to do all of the footwork with construction and report back regularly. The visual impact of the BVR is epic, and the one that I've heard is supurb. I want to see if I can help add another driver to the champagne tatse family at the beer-budget level.PA130

 

[gurley123]

I have been eying this little guy also. Published specs(except vas) put it close to the FE127. The vas is a bit less, so I was thinking of putting them in mFonkens. I have no idea if that will work or not. On Winisd I came up with a .25 cu. ft enclosure tuned to about 63hz with an ebs alignment. When my current que clears I was gonna give them a shot.

 

[fwater]

Jeff Bagby's box modeller suggests something similar. With the low x-max, it's easy for these things to lose control. IIRC, a Fonken tries to ease that excursion with it's semi-aperiodic qualities. I would be willing to try anything that came highly recommended (Fonken, Mileva, PAWO, Chang family, BiB, and on and on).

Since the 127 is similar but has half the Vas, could a person add another PA130 to a cabinet designed for the Fostex? Quick way to make a dipole out of an already tested cab design. Or is scaling the box down the right thing to do? Help me out, guys!

 

[John L]

Max Andrews has modeled an MTM, using the PA130s, and ND20FA tweeter. That's a very nice little tweeter, BTY, and if you check out it's specs, it performs well above it's price point. It's only shortcoming is it's higher crossover point. But that works well with the PA130.

I bookmarked it form the Parts Express forum. I think you will like the price too. It will be less than $100 for all the parts, except the cabinets, and your time, of course. I haven't gotten the crossover parts yet, but do have all the drivers sitting up, just waiting for me to find the time.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

total cost for drivers, crossover parts, port tubes, and terminal posts: $95.96

016-5 X 2
027-342 X 4
027-344 X 2
260-301 X 2
260-387 X 2
027-425 X 2
295-010 X 4
255-208 X 2
255-234 X 2
275-030 X 2


As you can see, there are all sorts of nice things you can do with the PA130.

I hope that this helps you guys.

 

[gurley123]

Interesting, There's a lot to be said for the efficency gain with runnig them in paralell. Thanks JohnL.

I was personally leaning towards a bipole type with a helper tweeter if nessesary. Minimal passives in the design. Maybe just a cap on the tweet if I can get away with it. I really don't know that much about crossovers so I like to keep it simple myself.

 

[fwater]

I saw the the MTM using the Dayton drivers since it's inseption at the PE board (I tend to frequent that board more often, out of habit). I fidled around with a few two and three way designs using this driver myself before hearing it, based on it's sensitivety and price. I'm sure something will come along with me using it in a more traditional layout.

After hearing it solo on a simple OB (and recent experience with a set of half Changs), I'm hooked on the charm of a single driver. I'm just curious to see if something can be done with these by way of a BVR, folded horn, etc. Again, Planet 10 or Scottmoose, any thoughts, ideas, suggestions? Godzilla- go right to the BiB and call it a day?