If you want to know the basics of why and how you design speakers and why certain combinations work just head to the top of the section. In the stickys there are 2 sticky posts, one by wintermute and another by AllenB
So you want to design your own speaker from scratch!
Introduction to designing crossovers without measurement
These people explain things better than I possible can. My daughter just went from Bass guitar to a Stratocaster clone and just bought a cheap amp & driver combo for practice and learning, 10" and 30 watts and she says it's enough for practice, not sure that helps you tho.
So you want to design your own speaker from scratch!
Introduction to designing crossovers without measurement
These people explain things better than I possible can. My daughter just went from Bass guitar to a Stratocaster clone and just bought a cheap amp & driver combo for practice and learning, 10" and 30 watts and she says it's enough for practice, not sure that helps you tho.
I skipped over most of the band stuff.
"in regards to the measuring mic as I came across those late last night on the PartsExpress website [...] will this equipment allow me to in to a fairly good detail measure the volume amount of a sound?
Yes, that's the point
The only flaw of this particular mic is the shape of the frame (there will be a tiny bit of reflection off the cable).
That's pretty minor, and in practice will be swamped by other effects.
"I was asking about this mic and its uses is that one thing I have been looking to try to do but found very hard to do is balance out all the various peddles on my board so that per how they are setup when I turn them on or off can be setup right so the eventual volume is as close to not being changed as possible."
This mic + Audiotool would be fine for that.
e.g a guitarist could set their gear up exactly how they like.
- strum with "averaging" turned on
- record for 5 seconds
- take a screenshot
- print it off, laminate it, and tape it to the inside of their guitar case
That image would be their reference "perfect" sound.
Then, when setting up in a different location, they'd repeat the test (same mic position etc), and check the result against that printout. Any glaring changes to volume / frequency response (like having the treble turned to zero) would show up.
This would be easier if using a big device (e.g. a tablet).
"I don’t say I am looking for ultra-tight measurements of that (or looking to spend the money that could need), but as close as I can get for a reasonably amount of money is what I am looking for."
You get as much or as little detail as you want.
Attached are two screenshots (just measurements of ambient noise) as examples. One is 1/3 octave, the other is "full res".
If you want more detail, or to display the info differently, or to compare minute differences in two tests, you can export the raw data to a computer and plot it (with Excel or whatever).
That's OK if you only need to do it a couple of times.
If you want to do it often, it is much more convenient to spend a bit more (about $100) and get a USB mic.
"in regards to the measuring mic as I came across those late last night on the PartsExpress website [...] will this equipment allow me to in to a fairly good detail measure the volume amount of a sound?
Yes, that's the point
The only flaw of this particular mic is the shape of the frame (there will be a tiny bit of reflection off the cable).
That's pretty minor, and in practice will be swamped by other effects.
"I was asking about this mic and its uses is that one thing I have been looking to try to do but found very hard to do is balance out all the various peddles on my board so that per how they are setup when I turn them on or off can be setup right so the eventual volume is as close to not being changed as possible."
This mic + Audiotool would be fine for that.
e.g a guitarist could set their gear up exactly how they like.
- strum with "averaging" turned on
- record for 5 seconds
- take a screenshot
- print it off, laminate it, and tape it to the inside of their guitar case
That image would be their reference "perfect" sound.
Then, when setting up in a different location, they'd repeat the test (same mic position etc), and check the result against that printout. Any glaring changes to volume / frequency response (like having the treble turned to zero) would show up.
This would be easier if using a big device (e.g. a tablet).
"I don’t say I am looking for ultra-tight measurements of that (or looking to spend the money that could need), but as close as I can get for a reasonably amount of money is what I am looking for."
You get as much or as little detail as you want.
Attached are two screenshots (just measurements of ambient noise) as examples. One is 1/3 octave, the other is "full res".
If you want more detail, or to display the info differently, or to compare minute differences in two tests, you can export the raw data to a computer and plot it (with Excel or whatever).
That's OK if you only need to do it a couple of times.
If you want to do it often, it is much more convenient to spend a bit more (about $100) and get a USB mic.
Attachments
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Hey guys
Sorry that I haven't had the time to dig into this thread much as I have been pretty busy for a few days and today as well, but I just wanted to chime in and thanks for all the info that was posted, and as well to mention that I just order the miniDSP measuring Mic here: miniDSP UMIK-1 Omni-directional USB Measurement Calibrated Microphone as well as USB adapter to the port in my Android pad for it as while this one does cost a few bucks, if it works well for this I will probably be using it for a long time for the guitar items.
Past that I am hoping I can get to the rest of what has been discussed soon.
Thanks again all.
Sorry that I haven't had the time to dig into this thread much as I have been pretty busy for a few days and today as well, but I just wanted to chime in and thanks for all the info that was posted, and as well to mention that I just order the miniDSP measuring Mic here: miniDSP UMIK-1 Omni-directional USB Measurement Calibrated Microphone as well as USB adapter to the port in my Android pad for it as while this one does cost a few bucks, if it works well for this I will probably be using it for a long time for the guitar items.
Past that I am hoping I can get to the rest of what has been discussed soon.
Thanks again all.
Hello all.
So I have made some selections on which drivers to buy and being that I don’t know enough about the deep fine details for making choices, these ones were based more on things like the boxes cutout hole sizes, as my amp is 8 ohms making sure they were 8 ohms (as I think that matters I guess), staying inside the budget, as well as their Watt rating specs so they would hopefully last through some abuse as well as over time from that.
Also as far as brand names go as I wouldn’t know a good one from another that was not much of a influence for me, but for each I did look around on them a little and they all seem well enough respected.
One other quick note that in checking the drivers in the speaker set out better I actually think all the drivers are to some degree working and including the Peerless tweeters..or at least I can say there is sound coming out of them.
So for the moment and since I was able to find some spec’s on them I think I will leave them for now and see how that goes as this now means I can spend a little more on the Woofers and Mids and other thigns.
So for the Woofer I was looking at this one: Goldwood GW-12PC-8 12" Heavy Duty Woofer 8 Ohm
Again as I wouldn’t be able to understand per the finer details if this is a good choice, for things I can understand I chose this one in part due to its Watts rating plus all the heavy duty parts on it, so hopefully it’s going to last.
Next and since I can spend a little more with the tweeters still working, I chose this for the midrange: SEAS Prestige MCA12RC (H1304) 4.5" Coated Paper Midrange
Basically, all the same as the woofer my knowledge, but the brand seems to be well respected, the its Watt capacity seems good, but most of all it looks like it should fit in the hole in the cabinet, which oddly finding something that was just a simple mid-range and not a blend of something else, and in 8ohm and a good watts rating that will also fit in a 4” hole was not easy.
Lastly for the tweeter as mentioned I will see if I can get by with the Peerless ones I have, but if those don’t work out I was looking at this driver: Peerless DA25TX00-08 1" Corundum Dome Tweeter
So for all four of those options and as I was able to find a version of this for the old Peerless Tweeter, I think the correct spec sheets for what people would want to see are attached below.
So those are things I have picked and so I guess what comes next is the cross-over, which I have to say the more I look at this part of things the more I just get confused.
Essentially what I would really just like to do is just buy one that will work best for the drivers I am putting in, but all I ever see are things about what they are and how they work, or worse of all, all the ways of going deep into a lot of info for how to build one from scratch…which I really really don’t want to do as I just do not have the time to learn all that will be needed to do that, which just adds to the frustration as if that is the only route means I can’t even do this at all.
So I know this might be asking a lot, but if by any chance anyone can look at what have been provided so far and just link me the best option that would work and also not burn itself up or damages the drivers, I would be very grateful.
Thanks
So I have made some selections on which drivers to buy and being that I don’t know enough about the deep fine details for making choices, these ones were based more on things like the boxes cutout hole sizes, as my amp is 8 ohms making sure they were 8 ohms (as I think that matters I guess), staying inside the budget, as well as their Watt rating specs so they would hopefully last through some abuse as well as over time from that.
Also as far as brand names go as I wouldn’t know a good one from another that was not much of a influence for me, but for each I did look around on them a little and they all seem well enough respected.
One other quick note that in checking the drivers in the speaker set out better I actually think all the drivers are to some degree working and including the Peerless tweeters..or at least I can say there is sound coming out of them.
So for the moment and since I was able to find some spec’s on them I think I will leave them for now and see how that goes as this now means I can spend a little more on the Woofers and Mids and other thigns.
So for the Woofer I was looking at this one: Goldwood GW-12PC-8 12" Heavy Duty Woofer 8 Ohm
Again as I wouldn’t be able to understand per the finer details if this is a good choice, for things I can understand I chose this one in part due to its Watts rating plus all the heavy duty parts on it, so hopefully it’s going to last.
Next and since I can spend a little more with the tweeters still working, I chose this for the midrange: SEAS Prestige MCA12RC (H1304) 4.5" Coated Paper Midrange
Basically, all the same as the woofer my knowledge, but the brand seems to be well respected, the its Watt capacity seems good, but most of all it looks like it should fit in the hole in the cabinet, which oddly finding something that was just a simple mid-range and not a blend of something else, and in 8ohm and a good watts rating that will also fit in a 4” hole was not easy.
Lastly for the tweeter as mentioned I will see if I can get by with the Peerless ones I have, but if those don’t work out I was looking at this driver: Peerless DA25TX00-08 1" Corundum Dome Tweeter
So for all four of those options and as I was able to find a version of this for the old Peerless Tweeter, I think the correct spec sheets for what people would want to see are attached below.
So those are things I have picked and so I guess what comes next is the cross-over, which I have to say the more I look at this part of things the more I just get confused.
Essentially what I would really just like to do is just buy one that will work best for the drivers I am putting in, but all I ever see are things about what they are and how they work, or worse of all, all the ways of going deep into a lot of info for how to build one from scratch…which I really really don’t want to do as I just do not have the time to learn all that will be needed to do that, which just adds to the frustration as if that is the only route means I can’t even do this at all.
So I know this might be asking a lot, but if by any chance anyone can look at what have been provided so far and just link me the best option that would work and also not burn itself up or damages the drivers, I would be very grateful.
Thanks
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Is that one of the mics you can't time, so that delay is missing if you don't use special techniques?
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