improving a dayton 8?

[xstephanx]

i will be making dayton 8" MTMs very soon, but was thinking, is there a tweeter that i could drop in there with little or no modifications to the crossover, instead of the dayton 1 1/8 silk dome, that would give better performance? id like to set a budget of less than 25$ per tweeter though.
it would be better to just buy better tweeters right off the bat, then to build it and upgade tweeters later(by better i mean more money efficient)

who knows, maybe the dayton silk domes are great value and beat out other things under 25$, but what about those dayton euros? i know the efficiency is higher, but that would just be a small mod to the Xovers right?

 

[RJ]

Sheesh, Did I put that speaker through it's paces. I put it in every type of box I could. The best bass was in a Dual-Chambered Reflex Box;

This speaker has what is called a recessed midrange. The vocals just don't sound right. The best I could do was cross it at 400 hz.
Even then female vocals sounded thick.
I used the Hi-Vi mid/tweeters;
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&PartNumber=297-411&DID=7
A pair of these per side and crossed over at 400 hz brought back the midrange, but the mid/tweets could only go to 10khz.
So I hung one of these super-tweeters on the back of the speaker;
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=270-125
I just used the capacitor that came with it and did nothing else to the crossover and it brought up the highs really good. The imaging was excellent and it also had depth.
Later it was suggested to use an AuraSound or Fostex full-range driver on sale at Madisound;
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=5203486.18942&pid=1757
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=5203486.18942&pid=901
And maybe a better Super-Tweeter, but I put that project on the back-burner.
The Dayton 8's just didn't have the Xmax I wanted.
If I resurrect this project in the future, I'll definetly use a full-range driver.

 

[xstephanx]

so you WOULDNT reccomend dayton 8s? everything else ive heard has been only praise

do you have any other speaker projects i should look into in the same pricerange?

 

[RJ]

so you WOULDNT reccomend dayton 8s? everything else ive heard has been only praise

I won't recommend them for midrange duty. They are good for bass.
Everybody likes the low FS (29hz) but the Xmax 4.5 mm prevents it from reaching it (29hz)....
Such a big box also (90 litres)...
They are much better off in a 3-way, but for a few dollars more the Veritas are a much better value.
http://www.wadsnet.com/~dtenney/d27_veritas.htm

Than again - What type of music do you listen too primarily???

These speakers are much better off for Rock and some Pop..

 

[RJ]

I've heard has been only praise

Yes, but did you ever follow the builder several months later.
He'll be on the boards looking for a better sounding speakers...

 

[leadbelly]

so you WOULDNT reccomend dayton 8s? everything else ive heard has been only praise

do you have any other speaker projects i should look into in the same pricerange?

Stay away from Parts Express if budget is a concern. They pack things poorly and insist on air mail shipping to Canada so the final cost to you is significantly higher. Stick to projects where you can source the driver and crossover parts from Creative Sound, Solen, McBride, etc. in Canada. The US places that are good for shipping to Canada are Madisound, Apex Jr., etc.

 

[mondaycurse]

The dayton 8's were a good value, but better designs are out now. Here's another MTM that is possibly out of your budget. Oh well, it sounds better in the midrange(tested as best Harmonic distortion. I'd rather save money for an incredible-sounding speaker than be urged in 6 months to build new speakers.

 

[xstephanx]

the veritas look MUCH too expensive, and though the zaph audio speakers also looked like they fit the bill they are definately too expensive(if i still build that power amp....).

I cant find a price for the parts on the veritas(never mind, found it)...ouch looks like parts would be close to the zaph audio mtms now im really in trouble two terribly appealing designs at a bit higher than i wanted to spend. Ive only got 440$ cad which is about 380 US...there goes my plans of building an amp along with the new speakers...for a while at least.

are there any other speakers people would reccomend? im looking for a floorstanding deisgn, with bass WELL into the 30s, it needs to be under 330 US, and it needs to be able to get loud(although i dont usually listen that loud thee will be used for the occaisional party)

for music.....i listen to lots of stuff
punk
ska
jazz
metal(thrash, death, speed)
clasic rock stuff(led zepplin, neil young, grateful dead, the who, god classic rock is too broad a spectrum!)

box size?! hahaha im a 15 year old kid, i live with my parents and they dont care how big the speakers in my room are! so go crazy with box size, if i wanted to i could do 12cuft each.

 

[leadbelly]

im looking for a floorstanding deisgn, with bass WELL into the 30s, it needs to be under 330 US, and it needs to be able to get loud

That's actually a tall order. Do you want coffee with your cake? 🙂 Getting into the 30's, and if by loud you mean efficient, with a passive crossover floorstander under $US330 is not that easy.

I think you have 3 ways to try and do it best: (1) drop the floorstander idea and go small sub + 2 way bookshelves (2) put one of the large Fostex fullrangers in some variation of a t-line and give it some help on top with a tweeter (3) ignore my advice about not buying from Parts Express, wait for the Selenium 15CO1 to come on sale like it does every 3 or 4 months, and build something like Cal Weldon's speakers. You'll need to budget for some resistors to L-pad the tweeter down from that wicked HF peak in the built-in crossover. I guess some place in Canada probably sells the 15CO1, if you're willing to phone or email around.

 

[xstephanx]

im nto that concerned if i lose some extension at loud levels, but i would like to have enough low end to listen to them alone at realistic levels.

i already have a sub, its a 15" atlas in a 6.5 cuft box tuned to 20hz

for music i prefer the sound of fullrange floorstanding speakers