Full range driver in a waveguide?

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luigi

Member
Joined 2004
#1
I have a pair of one and three-eighths inch circular Dayton waveguides and was wondering whether there would be any point in "modifying" these to accept a 4-inch full range driver (FaitalPRO 4FE32 4").

Or should I instead buy some compression drivers that work down as far as say 1500Hz so I can mate these with a pair of RS275P 10-inch 4ohm Dayton woofers in a sealed enclosure? Will the Daytons run this high or would I need to think about 12-inch or 15-inch pro woofers instead?

I will use an active crossover I have that's set at 250Hz if I use the Faital 4-inch drivers. Otherwise I can use another active crossover that's variable.

I have a pair of 400wpc into 4 ohm NCore monos and will drive the Faital Pros with a Burson Bang (27wpc) stereo amp.
 
#2
Hi Luigi,

I have both the 3FE22 and the 4FE32 Faitalpro. If you are looking for something for a WAW/FAST type project, IMHO the 3FE22 is a much better candidate. Has a cleaner highs and better mids.

Beyond that I can't answer much...

Oon
 
#5
Yeah the throat is much smaller. That is why I would have to 'modify' it. In other words, cut off part of the throat and then glue on a baffle of some sort.

Or else just go ahead and buy some 1.35 inch compression drivers. But then I have all the complexities of crossovers to deal with. much simpler with a full ranger, with perhaps just a low pass filter.

What Im really after is the improved imaging that comes with the waveguide concept. And the look; I quite like waveguide appearance.

Dont really need the increased sensitivity though this would probably be minor anyway (after Im finished butchering it).😉
 
#6
Oohms replied: (but I dont know where!)

Those dayton waveguides are far too small for a 250hz crossover. Either you'll have to cross much higher, or you'll need a much larger horn, or it will have a strange frequency response/polars if you do it anyway.

So I'd be looking at crossing around 1500Hz to the RS270Ps (as you might with a good compression driver)? 😕I have a MiniDSP so could do that easily enough.

The Dayton 10-inchers are meant to be good to 6000Hz but I've never extended them beyond about 150Hz.

Cheers
Peter
 
#7
So I went ahead and used some old circular horns I had lying around and attached the 4 inch Faitals. Promising. Then had the bright idea of shortening the rear of the horn by a couple of inches and less cupped mouth sounding if somewhat loud. So swapped in the Visaton b100s with a wee baffle. Nice. Clear stable imaging across a broad area. Less of the cupped presentation. They sound much bigger too. Liking these. Pics tomorrow if I can remember how. Using 10 inch Dayton subs, the HO 44s, for bottom end reinforcement driven by a Gallo Ref sub amp.
Will try actual waveguides next.
 
#12
B100s in waveguides.jpg
 
#13
What I plan to do next is modify a pair of waveguides I have here to fit the B100s and the Faitals (essentially the same size 4 inch drivers) and then I can attach them to the bass driver enclosures so it is an all-in-one speaker rather than a four-enclosure system. Much more compact of course too.
I dont have measuring gear so do this stuff by ear but I kind of know what I like; smooth presentation, stable life-like imaging, solid tune bass foundation.
The Visatons and Faital Pros both do okay top end; dont feel as though Im missing much without a tweeter.
 
#14
waveguides.jpg
So here are the modified waveguides with the B100s attached at the back.
It was merely a matter of buzzing off the thread at the rear, then sanding them back until the opening was big enough to accept the B100s which are 4-inch full range drivers. I then cut a couple of circles and glued them to the back as baffles, and reattached the drivers.
Compared with the horns, they've lost that 'cupped mouth' sound, and they've lost a bit of sensitivity too which is a good thing as it means I can turn up the volume a bit more and makes it easier to get the bass drivers honking along.
Recently I've turned the sealed subs into ported ones. The 10-inch RS265HO-44s never really did it for me in sealed enclosures but the pair of them are now much closer to the now ported 15 (RS290HO) I have sitting on the left side.
Next I plan to mate the waveguide to the ported subs so I can get rid of the pipe standmount system.
I am really liking the waveguides. Everything comes across as bigger which is a huge bonus for small full range drivers, while the imaging is stable across a wider area, and is more believable as well. I have a horrid listening room but the waveguides seem to take that out of the equation a bit.
Because it's an open baffle system there's not much in the way of bass from the waveguide system so will need to fiddle with the crossover to get things right. There's no low pass to the full rangers, while the subs are crossed at 200Hz at present (fixed active crossover).
This has been a fun project. I'm wondering why there is resistance to putting full range drivers in waveguides. I've never heard the B100s sound this good in any of my previous set-ups (all sealed by the by).
 
#15
I'm using some Seas FU10RB with waveguides, sounds great. There's been some experimenting on using small FR's in "synergy" style horns, but that's mostly in the multiway forum.
Do not think there's any kind of "resistance" towards getting FR's combined with waveguides, just not alot of it happening.
 
#16
Thanks for the feedback. Great to hear some others are trying this and finding success. Agreed; I believe they make small drivers into something much more interesting, bigger squawkers.
I imagine in a synergy horn they'd be awesome. Now you've got me thinking. will have to check out the multiway forum for these. Thanks for the heads up.
 
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