I am looking in to building new floor speakers, currently I have three way conventional bass reflex with bi-amping and active crossover.
They will be used for both TV/movie and music (no disco or metal, mostly jazz and folk). No subwoofer will be used.
How would fullrange 8" satisfy this? Seas FA22RCZ in a vented (sealable) enclosure, (in Finnish) Audiokit Aw-F22 rakennussarja - Hifitalo ?
Or the same driver in a horn enclosure, Mauhorn IV – D a r k L a n t e r n ? How do they sound, are they very directional and difficult to place in an apartment?
I have access to a full fledged carpentry workshop but no competence in designing enclosures.
They will be used for both TV/movie and music (no disco or metal, mostly jazz and folk). No subwoofer will be used.
How would fullrange 8" satisfy this? Seas FA22RCZ in a vented (sealable) enclosure, (in Finnish) Audiokit Aw-F22 rakennussarja - Hifitalo ?
Or the same driver in a horn enclosure, Mauhorn IV – D a r k L a n t e r n ? How do they sound, are they very directional and difficult to place in an apartment?
I have access to a full fledged carpentry workshop but no competence in designing enclosures.
To be honest, this is entirely subjective. You mention folk / jazz, and an apartment, which are usually situations where wideband drivers do well (and the Seas is a decent example of an 8in whizzer-cone unit). There is little technical data on the box & its tuning from a very quick look, but it suits regular vented box loads well enough.
The Mauhorn IV was not designed for the Seas driver, so I would not anticipate it being a drop-in replacement for the 1990s era Lowther units.
Subjective; we all of us differ biologically, value different things and frequently mean different things with a given phrase, especially those that have no precise technical definition. Since I don't have the skill to describe sound in a way that everybody else will agree with, I won't attempt it.
Reasonably so to the former, for the latter, it rather depends how you define 'difficult to place'; this will also to a point depend on the enclosure & how large it is! Usually though, if you're able to adjust the toe-angle, you shouldn't find it too difficult.
Last edited by a moderator:
Greets!
I assume apt. construction in Finland is more robust than in my locale, i.e. more concrete/massive Vs wood framing/flex, so FWIW/IME a traditional prosound frequency response works well in mine: nominally flat from 80-300 Hz, rolling off at 24 dB/octave [4th order] to a 40 Hz tuning if vented and best corner loaded if sealed.
Done a few in concrete n' steel high rise apt. using much larger speakers with 20-35 Hz tunings, which wound up needing isolation pads, so if using a BLH, recommend one that rolls off below 60-80 Hz, especially if corner loaded.
My SWAG is the FH3 [BVR] alignment modded as required to whichever driver you choose would be the 'hot ticket' 😉.
GM
I assume apt. construction in Finland is more robust than in my locale, i.e. more concrete/massive Vs wood framing/flex, so FWIW/IME a traditional prosound frequency response works well in mine: nominally flat from 80-300 Hz, rolling off at 24 dB/octave [4th order] to a 40 Hz tuning if vented and best corner loaded if sealed.
Done a few in concrete n' steel high rise apt. using much larger speakers with 20-35 Hz tunings, which wound up needing isolation pads, so if using a BLH, recommend one that rolls off below 60-80 Hz, especially if corner loaded.
My SWAG is the FH3 [BVR] alignment modded as required to whichever driver you choose would be the 'hot ticket' 😉.
GM
It is concrete and pretty robust yes, I cannot really hear any of my neighbors. But my speaker placement options are limited, around my TV basically.
Tqwt with Lii audio crystal 10, better bass than an 8" and from my experience better all round. Now that I use a Bakoon 11r they are the most astonishing driver I ever heard. Music I thought I knew well has very different tones to instruments and very immediate.
Any opinions on this design: Fostex BK-20 Folded Horn Kit - Pair ?
I can find the drivers at a reasonable price in Europe.
I can find the drivers at a reasonable price in Europe.
The BK20is another not so great antique design.
The SEAS FA22 is a nice driver, one of 2 8” i like (i tend toward smaller drivers). Mine went into a sealed box (recycled KEF Calinda), a bit bigger would be a bit better.
I see no point in putting this driver in anything but a sealed box, but if you want one with a hole in it, Scott did a BR and a Festival (ML-Voigt).
Miscellaneous designs -Mark Audio, Fostex, TB, Dayton, Seas etc.
If you wanted a horn you would have to start from scratch and it, i expect, would be HUGE.
dave
The SEAS FA22 is a nice driver, one of 2 8” i like (i tend toward smaller drivers). Mine went into a sealed box (recycled KEF Calinda), a bit bigger would be a bit better.
I see no point in putting this driver in anything but a sealed box, but if you want one with a hole in it, Scott did a BR and a Festival (ML-Voigt).
Miscellaneous designs -Mark Audio, Fostex, TB, Dayton, Seas etc.
If you wanted a horn you would have to start from scratch and it, i expect, would be HUGE.
dave
It seems the FA22 is best suited for sealed or vented enclosures. Wonder how it would work with a passive radiator?
A passive radiator is a BR vent substitute for a proper vent when you have a small box tuned low and the vent becomes too large.
It complicates things by adding an addiitonal suspension resonances. If i get into a place where one would be mandated i move on, rethinking the driver or the box. I do not like them.
dave
It complicates things by adding an addiitonal suspension resonances. If i get into a place where one would be mandated i move on, rethinking the driver or the box. I do not like them.
dave
OK but how do you see this design would stand up against a multi-way BR, e.g.
Seas CX871, Seas CX871 Coaxial 3-Way Speaker Kit by Peter Noerbaek - Pair
or a smaller design with two Seas Excel 6.5"?
Will these fullrange drivers in an MLTL sound as good as or better than 3-4 times as expensive multi-way design?
My listening room is around 5*5 meters.
I have full-range desktop speakers ( 3D printable speakers ) and like them very much.
Seas CX871, Seas CX871 Coaxial 3-Way Speaker Kit by Peter Noerbaek - Pair
or a smaller design with two Seas Excel 6.5"?
Will these fullrange drivers in an MLTL sound as good as or better than 3-4 times as expensive multi-way design?
My listening room is around 5*5 meters.
I have full-range desktop speakers ( 3D printable speakers ) and like them very much.
Could work quite well actually. While Dave's concerns are a good reason to avoid them for most wide BW/'FR' apps, the Seas has a low enough Fs, high enough Qt to allow a low enough tuning below Fs [~0.707x] for them to decay enough to make the driver 'feel' a ~ sealed alignment above the mid-bass where our hearing acuity starts getting better.
It will need dual opposed 8" PRs that can be tuned to ~20 Hz, so do any exist?
GM
Not sure if I did everyting right but did a comparison in WinISD with BR and PR in an 80l enclosure, with the Seas SP22R 10" PR:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Also did a comparison with FA22 and CX871 (dual L22RN4X/P 8") recommended enclosure.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
