I have just finished designing a speaker that utilizes a p7hd full range driver and dayton sd270A-88 sub. The full range driver is in the open baffle area. I am not experienced with open baffle designs and would like to know if there are any are any glaring issues in that area. I am still working on bracing the exterior of the design so don’t worry about that aspect of the rigidity of this speaker. The blue outline around the front baffle represents a piece of acrylic which I am hoping will reduce the negative effect of edge diffraction. The acrylic sheet will be fused flush with the front baffle. The baffle size is 300mm wide by roughly 1000mm tall. I intend to create a passive crossover between the two and would also appreciate any advice on that end. Generally are there any big issues with this design.
Generally Specs:
Roughly 5 10” in height
Roughly 600mm wide at its widest point
Subwoofer box is separated from the full range driver.
Sub box: 400mm x 400mm x 250mm
Sub port: 3” port 225mm long (tunes to 35hz
Drivers:
Madisound p7hd
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.c...pluvia-seven-hd-4-metal-cone-full-range-gold/
Dayton 10” sub
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-SD270A-88-10-DVC-Subwoofer-295-486?quantity=1
Designed in Fusion360
Generally Specs:
Roughly 5 10” in height
Roughly 600mm wide at its widest point
Subwoofer box is separated from the full range driver.
Sub box: 400mm x 400mm x 250mm
Sub port: 3” port 225mm long (tunes to 35hz
Drivers:
Madisound p7hd
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.c...pluvia-seven-hd-4-metal-cone-full-range-gold/
Dayton 10” sub
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-SD270A-88-10-DVC-Subwoofer-295-486?quantity=1
Designed in Fusion360
Well it looks cool!
I recently tried several Markaudio drivers in an open baffle with a 21” Misco driver providing supplemental bass. I never was fully satisfied with the results. I only tried metal cones because I generally prefer them, so your experience with the p7hd may be different than mine.
The MAOP 10.2 had amazing mids but was lacking in treble. The Alpair 7ms has great treble but was thin and weak in the mids, with insufficient power handling for my needs. The Alpair11ms was meh all-around… the mids and treble were both ok but not great, and vocals didn’t sound real to me. Moving to a two-way with the MAOP 10.2 and the Alpair 7.2 (plus supplemental bass from the 21” Misco) sounded the best. Still, I liked it less than my existing OB speakers with Eton drivers.
I have previously heard Markaudio drivers sound really fantastic in other enclosure types, so I wonder if open baffle just isn’t their strong suit.
One challenge with a design like this is getting upper bass/lower mids right. The sub will do fine with low bass, and the fullrange will do fine with upper mids/treble, but you may find a gap in the frequencies from 100hz-400hz. Dipole rolloff is brutal if you don’t correct for it somehow. The problem then becomes: if you cross over to the sub low (say, below 200hz), then you will be lacking in upper bass/lower mids. If you cross over to the sub higher (say 400hz), then, with the big distance between the drivers, you don’t get a very coherent sound, and some sub drivers just don’t sound good in that range.
The baffle around your fullrange unit is small and round. This will exacerbate both the dipole rolloff effect (due to the small size) and baffle step/diffraction issues (do to most radial directions from the driver being equidistant to the baffle).
I don’t want to be discouraging because your project looks really cool and could turn out great.
I’ve found the best way to make a good OB system is to keep experimenting/prototyping/iterating and trying many different things. It is hard to predict what the issues will be and whether they will bother you, without building it. I’ve ended up with some weird designs that don’t make sense in theory but turn out to sound great.
Good luck and keep us posted!
I recently tried several Markaudio drivers in an open baffle with a 21” Misco driver providing supplemental bass. I never was fully satisfied with the results. I only tried metal cones because I generally prefer them, so your experience with the p7hd may be different than mine.
The MAOP 10.2 had amazing mids but was lacking in treble. The Alpair 7ms has great treble but was thin and weak in the mids, with insufficient power handling for my needs. The Alpair11ms was meh all-around… the mids and treble were both ok but not great, and vocals didn’t sound real to me. Moving to a two-way with the MAOP 10.2 and the Alpair 7.2 (plus supplemental bass from the 21” Misco) sounded the best. Still, I liked it less than my existing OB speakers with Eton drivers.
I have previously heard Markaudio drivers sound really fantastic in other enclosure types, so I wonder if open baffle just isn’t their strong suit.
One challenge with a design like this is getting upper bass/lower mids right. The sub will do fine with low bass, and the fullrange will do fine with upper mids/treble, but you may find a gap in the frequencies from 100hz-400hz. Dipole rolloff is brutal if you don’t correct for it somehow. The problem then becomes: if you cross over to the sub low (say, below 200hz), then you will be lacking in upper bass/lower mids. If you cross over to the sub higher (say 400hz), then, with the big distance between the drivers, you don’t get a very coherent sound, and some sub drivers just don’t sound good in that range.
The baffle around your fullrange unit is small and round. This will exacerbate both the dipole rolloff effect (due to the small size) and baffle step/diffraction issues (do to most radial directions from the driver being equidistant to the baffle).
I don’t want to be discouraging because your project looks really cool and could turn out great.
I’ve found the best way to make a good OB system is to keep experimenting/prototyping/iterating and trying many different things. It is hard to predict what the issues will be and whether they will bother you, without building it. I’ve ended up with some weird designs that don’t make sense in theory but turn out to sound great.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Ah… I just re-read your post and had missed the part about the Acrylic sheet on first read. That’s a good idea that should help.
Well, any add-on to the woofer box Is toxic. As you don't want your mid and treble driver to be in contact with the vibrations produced by the woofer. This extends to the woofer box either, as you don't want to put It against the floor.