Hey all!.....been a long while......a brief explanation as to why.......with the new Atmos/Immersive audio streaming, the thing I’ve been searching for for decades has been achieved...almost.
We went for a demo a little over a year ago and decided to jump in to 5.1.4. System with 4 in ceiling overhead speakers as well as the typical LCR front and standard rear surrounds.....and....well.......music mixed for Atmos/Immersive and even BluRay Audio 5.1 matrixed is absolutely stunning. In a word, we’re done with stereo folks.....immersive jazz, classical, chamber,etc.....this is as good as it gets so the journey for the perfect set of stereo speakers just doesn’t matter anymore when there’s 7 other speakers sharing the spacial load.
Which brings me to this post......a DIY need for a center channel speaker. There’s serious space constraints set down by the other half of the ‘We’.....and that’s a center channel box that can be no higher that 3.5”. It can be as wide as 40” and as deep as 12”....but the 3.5 is absolute.....sorry
Given often playback with 100db transient peaks,a single driver solution won’t hold up, but I suspect a full range /woofer system ‘could’ handle it with the right drivers and decisions.
So the first decision is the fullrange or Mid Tweeter driver........gotta have great off axis response to 8khz and 30 degrees, can handle some power and work within the 3.5 enclosure. My search has led me to only one driver, the FaitalPro 3FE25 or 3FE22. Would like to start here with suggestions and other end users experiences with this and similar drive units. I’ll order a couple to of the top selections to face off. Remember, I’ll be adding a woofer or woofers to support 400hz and below when making suggestions or commenting.
Thanks for reading....and it’s great to be back if only for one more hurrah!
We went for a demo a little over a year ago and decided to jump in to 5.1.4. System with 4 in ceiling overhead speakers as well as the typical LCR front and standard rear surrounds.....and....well.......music mixed for Atmos/Immersive and even BluRay Audio 5.1 matrixed is absolutely stunning. In a word, we’re done with stereo folks.....immersive jazz, classical, chamber,etc.....this is as good as it gets so the journey for the perfect set of stereo speakers just doesn’t matter anymore when there’s 7 other speakers sharing the spacial load.
Which brings me to this post......a DIY need for a center channel speaker. There’s serious space constraints set down by the other half of the ‘We’.....and that’s a center channel box that can be no higher that 3.5”. It can be as wide as 40” and as deep as 12”....but the 3.5 is absolute.....sorry
Given often playback with 100db transient peaks,a single driver solution won’t hold up, but I suspect a full range /woofer system ‘could’ handle it with the right drivers and decisions.
So the first decision is the fullrange or Mid Tweeter driver........gotta have great off axis response to 8khz and 30 degrees, can handle some power and work within the 3.5 enclosure. My search has led me to only one driver, the FaitalPro 3FE25 or 3FE22. Would like to start here with suggestions and other end users experiences with this and similar drive units. I’ll order a couple to of the top selections to face off. Remember, I’ll be adding a woofer or woofers to support 400hz and below when making suggestions or commenting.
Thanks for reading....and it’s great to be back if only for one more hurrah!
These are great little drive units, but your big problem is HF dispersion. Even if touching each other, the upper frequency limit of an array of 80mm drivers will be limited to about 1500Hz before lobing in the response becomes significant and possibly intrusive. The size limitations suggest to me a single centre-mounted (horn loaded) compression HF driver with a collection of 80mm midrange units either side of it.
I'm happy and encouraged to hear that your multi-speaker setup is a success - I also feel that two-speaker systems are so incredibly limiting in trying to recreate a 'real' acoustic environment in a domestic setting. I started my simulated acoustics journey in the '80s using a Yamaha DSP-100, and once set-up and accustomed to it, turning it off was akin to switching from 4K UHD colour to 405 line black-and-white!
I'm happy and encouraged to hear that your multi-speaker setup is a success - I also feel that two-speaker systems are so incredibly limiting in trying to recreate a 'real' acoustic environment in a domestic setting. I started my simulated acoustics journey in the '80s using a Yamaha DSP-100, and once set-up and accustomed to it, turning it off was akin to switching from 4K UHD colour to 405 line black-and-white!
Thanks for the reply. Sorry I wasn’t clear in my post, but yes......i plan on only one Mid/high driver unit, centrally mounted to cover 400hz and up......as close to a point source as possible. I’m hoping a singe 3Fe can handle 85db with 100db transients when high passed at 400hz.
The woofers I’ll be using are a pair of 6” low profile Dayton units. They’ll be upfiring to maintain the 3.5” profile I mentioned earlier so not really a full range system but a FAST as you folks call it. The off axis is response on these is super flat up to 90degrees up to 1khz and then flat up to 1.8khz at 60 degrees......I suspect the motor design makes them almost a BMR. My question is can the 3Fe handle it and/or is there a better driver suited for the task?
I had first considered a 1” compression driver but I can’t find any with an outside diameter 3” or less. Next up would be a conventional dome tweeter but the lowest I can safely go would be around 1.2khz. The ‘problem’ there is that these are large domes 1.25” and up whose off axis response higher up is no better than the 3Fe?....they’re all beaming above 8/9hkz. A 1” dome would be an improvement but they don’t exist to play as low as I would need it to.
The woofers I’ll be using are a pair of 6” low profile Dayton units. They’ll be upfiring to maintain the 3.5” profile I mentioned earlier so not really a full range system but a FAST as you folks call it. The off axis is response on these is super flat up to 90degrees up to 1khz and then flat up to 1.8khz at 60 degrees......I suspect the motor design makes them almost a BMR. My question is can the 3Fe handle it and/or is there a better driver suited for the task?
I had first considered a 1” compression driver but I can’t find any with an outside diameter 3” or less. Next up would be a conventional dome tweeter but the lowest I can safely go would be around 1.2khz. The ‘problem’ there is that these are large domes 1.25” and up whose off axis response higher up is no better than the 3Fe?....they’re all beaming above 8/9hkz. A 1” dome would be an improvement but they don’t exist to play as low as I would need it to.
Thank you Sir! I’ve got one coming to see how it performs from a Timbre and intelligibility perspective.
I’m going to try a 1” dome tweeter in this design as well since the LW150 woofers are flat 90 degrees off axis to 1khz……the Peerless DX25BG with the bucking magnet has an Fs of 485hz so i think I can cross it at 1.2 kHz or so with a 2nd order filter which on top of the native rolloff will yield a 3rd order…….it’s cheap enough to try. My reasoning here is speaking voice intelligibility…….male voice fundamental is 80hz to 900hz and harmonics above……if I can keep that out of any XO range, with a reasonably flat response……..the tweeter will handle all the harmonics and definition.
But there’s also the thought of a 60” wide center channel as well with four 3FE drivers each spaced 12“ from each other. This would allow for handling of the full range to 80hz I think…..and I’m not sure the brain would be able to identify any combing at 12 ft listening distance. Will there be cancellations from interference and a HF rolloff?
Good thing about this 5.1.4 is that since there’s 9 speaker playing, each individual speaker requires much less current to achieve listening volume.
But there’s also the thought of a 60” wide center channel as well with four 3FE drivers each spaced 12“ from each other. This would allow for handling of the full range to 80hz I think…..and I’m not sure the brain would be able to identify any combing at 12 ft listening distance. Will there be cancellations from interference and a HF rolloff?
Good thing about this 5.1.4 is that since there’s 9 speaker playing, each individual speaker requires much less current to achieve listening volume.
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