Hi all, I'm new at DIY speaker building. Please recommend a woofer; I need to buy four 6 1/2" woofers for use in a pair of two-way floor standing speakers, TWW configuration. I'm willing to pay up to about $50 per woofer.
So far I've got two Dayton silk dome tweeters and 2nd order L/R two-way crossovers @ 2,500 Hz from PartsExpress.com. The enclosures are 2.06 cu ft each, 37H x 8W x 12D, ported in the front. I assume 8 ohm woofers would be best (?). And, although I'll be using this pair of speakers for home theater, I'm hoping they'll turn out good enough for listening to music as well.
Thanks for your recommendations.
So far I've got two Dayton silk dome tweeters and 2nd order L/R two-way crossovers @ 2,500 Hz from PartsExpress.com. The enclosures are 2.06 cu ft each, 37H x 8W x 12D, ported in the front. I assume 8 ohm woofers would be best (?). And, although I'll be using this pair of speakers for home theater, I'm hoping they'll turn out good enough for listening to music as well.
Thanks for your recommendations.
Here's a Dayton woofer I'm considering (Part Number 295-305 Dayton 6 1/2 woofer).
And here's an Audax woofer (Audax HM170G8 6-1/2" paper woofer).
And here's a Vifa woofer that looks pretty good (Vifa P17WJ-00 6-1/2" woofer).
And here's a Peerless woofer (Peerless 832732 CC 6-1/2" woofer).
Does any one of these look better than the others? Or, can you recommend another? Thanks again.
And here's an Audax woofer (Audax HM170G8 6-1/2" paper woofer).
And here's a Vifa woofer that looks pretty good (Vifa P17WJ-00 6-1/2" woofer).
And here's a Peerless woofer (Peerless 832732 CC 6-1/2" woofer).
Does any one of these look better than the others? Or, can you recommend another? Thanks again.
The audax is a very nice woofer, I think it's more modern than the others. And in my opinion is paper better sounding than polyprop.
Thanks to your input, Taco, unless I hear any other opinions to the contrary, I'll be going with the Audax woofers. 🙂
I like Peerless, but thats just me.. 🙂 I suppose it is also a matter of if you want quality, or cheapness... lol
1Time,
Based on my personal experience I would go for the Vifa P17WJ - exceptionally good driver, very smooth, very easy to integrate with a variety of x-overs (I would go for 1st order with it, but that's me, I dislike higher order filters). Just check:
www.sonique.com.au
and some of their floorstanding speakers.
Also the price is about right.
Stan - Vifas don't lie
Based on my personal experience I would go for the Vifa P17WJ - exceptionally good driver, very smooth, very easy to integrate with a variety of x-overs (I would go for 1st order with it, but that's me, I dislike higher order filters). Just check:
www.sonique.com.au
and some of their floorstanding speakers.
Also the price is about right.
Stan - Vifas don't lie
SkinnyBoy said:
Peerless, Vifa and Scan Speak are manufactured by the same company. And Peerless is the budget range, Vifa the midrange and Scan Speak the Top range.
The Vifa and Peerless are both drivers which are a couple of years on the market. The audax is almost brand-new, it has good parameters and the frequencyresponse is very flat up to 5 khz.
I don't say that Vifa & Peerless is bad, but I think in this range the Audax is better.
Hi,
If you want to go for 6½ inch units you need to go for long-throw types for reasonable bass at the low end. The Peerless CSX range is extremely good value for the money.
Also have a look at the Visaton AL130:
http://www.visaton.com/cgi/VisatonFramed.asp?Artikel_ID=130&Sprache=english
And the SEAS L18RNX/P (rather expensive):
http://www.seas.no/standard_line line up.htm
😎
If you want to go for 6½ inch units you need to go for long-throw types for reasonable bass at the low end. The Peerless CSX range is extremely good value for the money.
Also have a look at the Visaton AL130:
http://www.visaton.com/cgi/VisatonFramed.asp?Artikel_ID=130&Sprache=english
And the SEAS L18RNX/P (rather expensive):
http://www.seas.no/standard_line line up.htm
😎
Okay, here's what I'm primarily considering now. It's a Peerless 850122 CSX 6 1/2 woofer. It has a wide frequency response and the SPL is only 87db which should work better since I'll have 2 woofers per speaker. Although I think a paper coned driver like the Audax would sound more natural and the Vifa is a great woofer, after doing a bit more research it seems more important to keep the SPL at or below 87db. Nice call Pjotr and thanks to all for the recommendations.
Member
Joined 2002
1Time said:
Those are 8 ohm woofers. If you use the PE crossover, it will need to see an 8ohm load. If you wire 2 of them together, it will be either 4ohms or 16ohms.
So, either find a 4ohm woofer to use 2 of them in series, use only 1 8ohm woofer, or build a custom crossover.
The Vifa P17 is more than ten years old and there are a number of midwoofs that are a better choice today IMO.
Peerless HDS 6.5" seems to be the hotest budget alternative today IMO.
Check out Linkwitz measurments on 5"ers from vifa, peerless, scanspeak and audax. I think the 5" HDS unit is the one.
The vifa has a very resonant cone and the Peerless is much smoother.
About the x-over, you cant use a readily made one for your own design, just doesn´t work that way... sorry!
/Peter
Peerless HDS 6.5" seems to be the hotest budget alternative today IMO.
Check out Linkwitz measurments on 5"ers from vifa, peerless, scanspeak and audax. I think the 5" HDS unit is the one.
The vifa has a very resonant cone and the Peerless is much smoother.
About the x-over, you cant use a readily made one for your own design, just doesn´t work that way... sorry!
/Peter
Another factor that's led me to the Peerless 850122 CSX 6 1/2 woofer is the "Vas" specification which for it is .98 cu. ft.. And, as I understand it the "Vas" indicates an approximate or perhaps optimal volume to be allowed in the cabinet per woofer. And so, since my speakers have approximately 2 cu. ft. of volume, it would seem 2 of the Peerless woofers at 2 x .98 would come much closer in this respect than almost all of the other woofers at PartsExpress. One of the Scan Speak Revalators at over 4 times the cost was the only exception I found.
The x-overs: since I've already got them, I'm willing to at least try them. And then if they don't work out, oh well, lesson learned and I'll see about getting a pair tailor made.
Here's a link to the PartsExpress x-overs I'll be using. The following quote from this listing is what led me to believe I could use two 8 ohm woofers per speaker with this x-over.
"A unique design feature of the low pass section allows use of 4 or 8 ohm woofers, perfect for building D'Appolito style or multi woofer 2-way systems. The high pass crossover frequency is rated for an 8 ohm load."
I understand the need to get 8 ohms out of two 8 ohm speakers, however according to the PE description, it seems I can. Am I not understanding this right, or is this okay? Thanks.
The x-overs: since I've already got them, I'm willing to at least try them. And then if they don't work out, oh well, lesson learned and I'll see about getting a pair tailor made.
Here's a link to the PartsExpress x-overs I'll be using. The following quote from this listing is what led me to believe I could use two 8 ohm woofers per speaker with this x-over.
"A unique design feature of the low pass section allows use of 4 or 8 ohm woofers, perfect for building D'Appolito style or multi woofer 2-way systems. The high pass crossover frequency is rated for an 8 ohm load."
I understand the need to get 8 ohms out of two 8 ohm speakers, however according to the PE description, it seems I can. Am I not understanding this right, or is this okay? Thanks.
I don´t see how two 8 ohm drivers can be 8 ohm in the end. Must be 4 or 16 ohm.
Oh, maybe they mean using one woofer up to x-over and roll the other off at 300-500Hz for bafflestep compensation.
This is the only way to get a readily made 8 ohm x-over to sum anywhere close to good with two 8 ohm drivers. On the other hand, you must know if the x-over is deisigned with or without BSC.
Also be aware that the x-over need to be designed for the specific phase and fr. response of the tweeter, the woofer and the size and shape of the baffle. The chanses that a readily made x-over does a good job with any two drivers are as good as non.
/Peter
Oh, maybe they mean using one woofer up to x-over and roll the other off at 300-500Hz for bafflestep compensation.
This is the only way to get a readily made 8 ohm x-over to sum anywhere close to good with two 8 ohm drivers. On the other hand, you must know if the x-over is deisigned with or without BSC.
Also be aware that the x-over need to be designed for the specific phase and fr. response of the tweeter, the woofer and the size and shape of the baffle. The chanses that a readily made x-over does a good job with any two drivers are as good as non.
/Peter
I have no idea how these PE x-overs are suppose to work with 8 ohm speakers, but it seems they're designed to. It would be a waste to order these woofers and then find out I can't even order custom made x-overs to work with them.
I did look for 4 ohm woofers but didn't find any better than these Peerless 8 ohm woofers. So, I don't see buying different woofers as much of an option if I can be assured x-overs can be made to work with a pair of 8 ohm woofers.
Does anyone know for sure?
I did look for 4 ohm woofers but didn't find any better than these Peerless 8 ohm woofers. So, I don't see buying different woofers as much of an option if I can be assured x-overs can be made to work with a pair of 8 ohm woofers.
Does anyone know for sure?
If a x-over is designed for one 8 ohm woofer, you can not use it with another type of woofer or with two woofers, or with the intended woofer but in a 4 ohm version. If you do this you will get a very funny response from the speaker.
Simply put, the x-over must be used exactly as it is intended.
It´s not a link in the chain that be used as a generic solution, like a cable or source.
Normally a two-way speaker consists of a midbass and a tweeter mounted in a baffle of a box.
If you change the bass, tweeter or baffle to something else then the x-over needs to be adjusted as well. You can´t just swap a driver for something else, or use a 4 ohm driver if the x-over is designed for 8 ohm.
Sorry, no quick fix in designing speakers 🙂
If you want to be sure on a good result you should buy a complete kit, or build by a plan for a completed speaker on the net.
/Peter
Simply put, the x-over must be used exactly as it is intended.
It´s not a link in the chain that be used as a generic solution, like a cable or source.
Normally a two-way speaker consists of a midbass and a tweeter mounted in a baffle of a box.
If you change the bass, tweeter or baffle to something else then the x-over needs to be adjusted as well. You can´t just swap a driver for something else, or use a 4 ohm driver if the x-over is designed for 8 ohm.
Sorry, no quick fix in designing speakers 🙂
If you want to be sure on a good result you should buy a complete kit, or build by a plan for a completed speaker on the net.
/Peter
- Status
- Not open for further replies.