Seas CA15RLY bookshelf designs.

[fakeout]

I found this design:
Calypso

Anyway, I wonder if anyone has any comments on this. Like, is the driver too old, is a vented design OK for that driver or better sealed, etc.?

Also, this one. Does anyone have any pics of the inside of the cabinet? It looks complicated.
SEAS 5INCH

So, would either of these two designs work well with a Emotiva mini-X a-100 amplifier and Asus Xonar D1 sound card?

By the way, I found this one also, but I just noticed it's for the larger CA18RLY:
CA18RLY/22TAF-G

 

[Jay1111]

Not sure exactly what you're asking? Theyre all established designs, and the drivers are still available. Any reason you want to use that Seas? The value isnt great compared to newer drivers.

 

[fakeout]

Oh OK, I was thinking about that driver because there are free plans for it. Uh, I can't tell which ones are newer. Well, anyway I can look at the other Seas but I also prefer finding free plans for them. Looking for smallish desktop. I know people will say you need minimum 6.5 inches for adequate bass.

I'd prefer the smallest, biggest bass sealed speakers I can reasonably get for say under $500.

 

[Jay1111]

The overnight sensations sound exactly like what you want, other then being ported and way under your budget.

https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/diy-overnightsensations

https://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/overnightsensationmtm

 

[system7]

Lovely range of drivers at SEAS. I like all of them! Cheapskates look elsewhere please.

FWIW, the CA15RLY is a driver suited to around 14L of bass reflex cabinet. That's how it is with a Qts around 0.34. A closed box driver is nearer 0.5.

I don't suppose Troels Gravesen has ever published a duff design.
SEAS 5INCH
CA18RLY/22TAF-G
But if heavy bass is your bag, a larger bass coil and cabinet helps. Thus the second design is going to have a lot more. The metal 22TAF-G is a gem, but you could fit a less loud 22TFF soft-dome and just reduce the treble filter input resistor to brighten it up.

The Calypso CA15RLY is a good bass filter with a nice notch around 5kHz and will be bassier than Troels' design due to bigger bass coils, but the treble filter looks overly fussy and I would simplify it. None of these cabinets are overly complicated. Just simple bass reflex at heart. Bracing is optional.

I enclose a couple of filters that will work with most 6" paper bass units. The red resistors are your level adjustment. See these filter things are mostly the same!

 

[fatmarley]

Here's another: CAOW1

 

[fakeout]

w00t! Seas H1480 L16RN-SL

Here's another: CAOW1

Yeah, oddly enough I was looking and read quickly the driver was used to replace another driver. I quickly saw the name of the other driver and got confused so I didn't put up the link.

Anyway... Thank you System7 for the info. I just found these:
Seas CA18RLY QTS 0.47
Seas L16RN-SL QTS 0.45

Scan-Speak 18W/8434G00 QTS 0.43

I know Scan-Speak might be my second choice but people say it depends which specific drivers you're comparing. It looks like the Seas L16RN-SL might be the one that would make the smallest closed box. (The full name is H1480 L16RN-SL.) Can that go down to 47 Hz in a sealed cabinet? (My Creative T12 can go down to 47 Hz.) I haven't looked for free designs yet for that model.

 

[system7]

SEAS L16RN-SL : H1480 L16RN-SL

You could be entering a world of PAIN with that metal one, my friend. Needs a good notch at 5kHz. Not for a rookie!

Scanspeak and Vifa are actually all part of Tymphany. Nice drivers, but VERY pricey at the top end. This looks affordable, and Wilmslow Audio's Mercury Cabinet will house the 149mm and 104mm drivers in about 11L IIRC:
Vifa PL14WJ-

The Vifa PL14WJ is rather similar to the Scan-Speak 15W/8434G00, IIRC. Just vented on the bass.

Pricier Sliced paper:
Ellam-XT

My friend, the world is your oyster really. We have moved away from 5" to 6.5" units, it seems. Now I'M getting confused...LOL

 

[5th element]

Scanspeak and Vifa are actually all part of Tymphany.

Technically speaking Scan split off from Tymphany a good while ago as a completely separate entity. This left Vifa and Peerless under the Tymphany roof, but Tymphany are trying to do away with Vifa entirely having Peerless absorb all of its product lines.

On the Tymphany website Vifa don't actually exist, it's the rest of the world/parts stockists that still bear the Vifa name.

This is all somewhat academic though, but Scan are not owned by Tymphany any more.

 

[system7]

Technically speaking Scan split off from Tymphany a good while ago as a completely separate entity. This left Vifa and Peerless under the Tymphany roof, but Tymphany are trying to do away with Vifa entirely having Peerless absorb all of its product lines.

On the Tymphany website Vifa don't actually exist, it's the rest of the world/parts stockists that still bear the Vifa name.

This is all somewhat academic though, but Scan are not owned by Tymphany any more.

Ah, quite right, I'm sure. The Vifa PL14WJ is hard to find these days, and only made in limited runs by SOMEBODY!

Somebody is using the same tooling though. Apart from the bass vent and change of cone material, the PL14WJ is remarkably similar to the Scan speak 15W-8434G00. Useful if you want to reuse a cabinet.

 

[fakeout]

Cool, I like that EllamXT idea. OK, then if Vifa and Scan Speak are somewhat related, how would these work out?
Peerless 830870 QTS 0.54
Peerless P830991 QTS 0.49
Peerless P835024 QTS 0.65

I don't want to go down too much in quality but wanted to explore my options.

 

[dragonweed]

A very nice alternative from SB acoustics: SB15MFC30-8. Fs: 39Hz, Qts: 0.37, Vas: 17.7 liters, Xlin: +/-5mm, Sens.: 87dB. Works nicely up to 5k. Price is around 58USD

 

[system7]

A very nice alternative from SB acoustics: SB15MFC30-8. Fs: 39Hz, Qts: 0.37, Vas: 17.7 liters, Xlin: +/-5mm, Sens.: 87dB. Works nicely up to 5k. Price is around 58USD

Very nice, indeed, dragonweed. I like the look of it myself. But what on earth would you do about a filter? How would you model it?

SB Acoustics :: 5" SB15MFC30-8

I suppose you could throw the usual 1mH and 10uF at it along with a standard sort of tweeter, but we hope to be more precise than that usually.

Not much help in SB Acoustics little reference designs...
SB Acoustics :: REFERENCE DESIGNS

 

[fakeout]

will this work?

Ah, quite right, I'm sure. The Vifa PL14WJ is hard to find these days, and only made in limited runs by SOMEBODY!

Somebody is using the same tooling though. Apart from the bass vent and change of cone material, the PL14WJ is remarkably similar to the Scan speak 15W-8434G00. Useful if you want to reuse a cabinet.

That Vifa PL14WJ looks interesting. I'm still wondering what I want to do but if anyone was looking for these, I know there's a kit at solen.ca at Solen Electronique Inc.
the only thing that's keeping me from getting it is the design is 39cm tall. lol

There's one design out there for the SB Acoustics SB12NRXF25 but it's in French: Projet Toybox : la mini aux deux visages ! - Enceintes

a Google translate version: Google Translate

Can anyone with experience verify the crossover and box design? It's small, not too expensive, not too cheap and goes down to the 50 Hz range. Pretty interesting.

 

[fakeout]

By the way, for those looking for more expensive designs in mini monitors, I found these:

Scan Speak 15W/8530-K00 and Vifa XT25
(author says it's the best 2-way he's designed)
Zaph|Audio - ZD5 - Scan Speak 15W8530K00 and Vifa XT25

Scan-Speak 15W/8530-K00 and Vifa XT25TG-30-04
Ellam-XT

Scan-Speak 15W/8530-K00 is $213 at
Scan Speak, 15W8530K00

Seas W12CY003 and Seas 22TAF-G
Eekels' Mini

Seas W12CY003 is $183 at
https://www.solen.ca/pub/index.php?...4&niveau1=&niveau2=&niveau3=&s1=1&s2=&s3=&s4=

I don't know if this is of any use, but I found a sealed box calculator:
http://www.mh-audio.nl/CBC.asp

 

[SAKsuper]

Hi Fakeout,
there are probably tons of designs out there. I would go for a kit/design of well etablished designer. The chances of being able to hear one are small. Therefore it is important to know what the philosophies of the designer are. with Troels or Zaph there is a good deal to be found out.
In Germany, there are two magazines dedicated to designing and testing DIYloudspeakers. There philsophie is usually to make the right choice in economy vs performance and mostly per speaker there is a certain purpose. All of these designs are sold at strassacker.de, most have a sort of review/desription. Only thing missing is measurements. And that sucks. But be assured that most kits really are well engineered.

 

[fakeout]

SEAS L16RN-SL : H1480 L16RN-SL

You could be entering a world of PAIN with that metal one, my friend. Needs a good notch at 5kHz. Not for a rookie!

Are you saying even if I find a design on the Internet where the crossover has already been done, I shouldn't bother with it?

By the way, for those looking at the same type of speakers, even though I've read lots of positive comments on different brands, one person stated that Seas, Scan-Speak and SB Acoustics are all good.

 

[SAKsuper]

And indeed they are. they have excellent build quality and are very well enigineered. But what IS a good driver? It all depends on the purpose.
If u find a good design nothing should stop u. But how do u judge wether it is a good design?

 

[fakeout]

And indeed they are. they have excellent build quality and are very well enigineered. But what IS a good driver? It all depends on the purpose.
If u find a good design nothing should stop u. But how do u judge wether it is a good design?

Well, at this point, only people like the person on audioexcite who verified the Zaph SR71 design know. I wanted to start reading my books on speaker design over the last weekend and ended up reading web site after web site trying to find designs, info.

I'm still not convinced on a final design though. My idea was kind of similar to the one on the French web site although the modeling said it's vented. I was looking more towards a similar-sized sealed one. There's always one plus or negative for every aspect of a speaker but I was leaning towards sealed partly because some people claim it produces a cleaner bass.

 

[fakeout]

lol, I just found a $23 cabinet. It's 0.23 ft^3 or 6.5 liters. Knock-Down MDF 0.23 ft³ Mini Bookshelf Cabinet 300-7062
I know MDF might not be ideal but still interesting for saving money.