Hello all! After reading many threads here for years, I wanted to give it a try. So, this is my first post and attempt at building speakers!
I love JBL speakers and horns, especially the 4349 and 4367. I have a relatively small living room, so I’ve decided to build a 60-80L vented box with a 12-inch horn and a 12-inch woofer. To match the directivity, I plan to cross the woofer between 700-900 Hz with an LR4. It will be an active speaker, so the crossover is digital. The F3 is important, but as long as it’s below 45 Hz, I probably won’t use DSP to boost it.
So far, I’ve found the Faital 12RS430 and Acoustic Elegance TD12S. I’m willing to pay a premium for two drivers, but I really want to do something special. What are some of the best woofers I can buy that suit my project? Especially with low THD.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
I love JBL speakers and horns, especially the 4349 and 4367. I have a relatively small living room, so I’ve decided to build a 60-80L vented box with a 12-inch horn and a 12-inch woofer. To match the directivity, I plan to cross the woofer between 700-900 Hz with an LR4. It will be an active speaker, so the crossover is digital. The F3 is important, but as long as it’s below 45 Hz, I probably won’t use DSP to boost it.
So far, I’ve found the Faital 12RS430 and Acoustic Elegance TD12S. I’m willing to pay a premium for two drivers, but I really want to do something special. What are some of the best woofers I can buy that suit my project? Especially with low THD.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Hi, not a lot people here inspired by pro drivers. I think there are not a lot of people with 12" in their living rooms 😉
The RS430 should be my choice. You should give a budget, you have driver at any price.
You are on the right track but I wonder if you are going to use a 1.4" or 2" tweeter It is the tricky choice, 1'' is possible too.
The RS430 should be my choice. You should give a budget, you have driver at any price.
You are on the right track but I wonder if you are going to use a 1.4" or 2" tweeter It is the tricky choice, 1'' is possible too.
What horn/waveguide, and compression driver?
If you live in Portugal the AE's have a high price with export/shipping etc.
The defacto JBL that is universally liked and "cheap" is the venerable 2206H.
Newer versions with different motor design etc. are hard to come by.
Just some suggestions.
JBL:
JW300SW.
2213ND.
2213ND-1.
2213ND-2.
SB audience:
12MWN400D.
12MWN700D.
Fostex:
W300A1.
W300A2.
Eighteensound released some the last years:
12NW350.
12NTLW3500.
12NTLW2500.
Beyma:
12P80ND
12P80FE
Faital:
12PR320
Spanish DAS has some 12"s but not familiar.
Etc. Plenty you can check out
If you live in Portugal the AE's have a high price with export/shipping etc.
The defacto JBL that is universally liked and "cheap" is the venerable 2206H.
Newer versions with different motor design etc. are hard to come by.
Just some suggestions.
JBL:
JW300SW.
2213ND.
2213ND-1.
2213ND-2.
SB audience:
12MWN400D.
12MWN700D.
Fostex:
W300A1.
W300A2.
Eighteensound released some the last years:
12NW350.
12NTLW3500.
12NTLW2500.
Beyma:
12P80ND
12P80FE
Faital:
12PR320
Spanish DAS has some 12"s but not familiar.
Etc. Plenty you can check out
You can choose Acoustic Elegance TD12S, BMS 12N630 or Beyma 12P80Nd v2.
Thanks for the comment. I didn’t set a specific budget for my woofers, just wanted to see some possibilities. That being said, I will probably use an 12 inch x-horn with 1.4 inch driver. In this case it is Faital HF1440.
But to be honest, I also think what if I use a smaller horn with 1 inch driver and a Purifi 10 inch woofer… That bugs me.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll check those.
X-horn 34 (audiohorn.net) and Faital HF1440.
Yes, I would be happier to spend the total (shipping, import etc) to a EU manufacturer…
Seems to be a good choice 🙂 Some test here 1.4 inch compression drivers test, FaitalPRO vs 18Sound
Why not ? but a 1" tweeter can do the job (fx1.5kHz), it is an other paradigm but very expensive.
A three ways like his one Faital-12-430
Some inspiration : 12’’ 2-WAY POINT SOURCE
The Fostex FW305 is a good choice because it is sort of half way between a high sensitivity pro type and a domestic type.It does not need bass EQ which simplifies things.Will go down to about 30 hz in a 75 litre ported box. I use one with my Edgar horns crossing at about 600hz/first order [passive] and it integrates well and has nice midrange .
Performs very well anc lean until breakup at ca 4khz. Goes decently low for its size and sensitivity.
But not a 10-12"🙂
I would also say the 12RS430 is a good choice. The other choice would be a Beyma 12BR70 for this. But the Faital is the obvious choice now except JBL or (very expensive) GPA or AE drivers for this kind of application.
I designed a similar style speaker, with the Beyma 12BR70 (the RS430 was not out yet) and the Faital HF-201 tweeter in P-Audio clone of the JBL 2380 horn. This works very well, but the 12BR70 needs a big cabinet, the 12RS430 is way more efficient with space.
If you can accomedate a big woofer, the 15" Faital 15BR400 is also great. It was used in the Calpamos design (the original one) and used by many others in this kind of setups. But the cabinet will be a bit bigger than wished i think...
I designed a similar style speaker, with the Beyma 12BR70 (the RS430 was not out yet) and the Faital HF-201 tweeter in P-Audio clone of the JBL 2380 horn. This works very well, but the 12BR70 needs a big cabinet, the 12RS430 is way more efficient with space.
If you can accomedate a big woofer, the 15" Faital 15BR400 is also great. It was used in the Calpamos design (the original one) and used by many others in this kind of setups. But the cabinet will be a bit bigger than wished i think...
Look into Kartesian, and more specifically the vKi line:
https://www.kartesian-acoustic.com/product/wom265_vki-6
I second the recommendation for the Fostex FW305. I used it for years, and it's a very good sounding woofer.
600Hz 1st order, though... 🤦♂️
That's nice from 200 to 1500hz. However, it's hard for me to say if I like the 2206 to 1500 a little better, depends on the music.
It works well like that with the Edgar horn which has a. naturall roll off around that frequency [technicaly it is a 500hz horn ].With other midrange drivers yes it might need a steeper slope.