Nitpicking but OP said "not super expensive".
IMO, a well engineered woofer box should take into account dipole or 'antiphase' vibrations coming from the motor.
I've decided on a biggish 2-way that I'm designing. For the 12" woofer the whole box will be treated like a big waveguide, so the exterior angles are a lot smoother than with a cookie-cutter 6 sided figure. I'm also attempting to decouple the vibrating speaker mass from the box. This is like levitating by pulling yourself up by your shoelaces. The speaker has to be bolted to something, just preferably not the box! The actual coupling between the speaker and the box needn't be stronger than a rubber surround.
The tweeter is still up in the air, but possibly using an Alpair 5.3 on a dipole flower shaped baffle. Exponential slots cut between the 'petals' smooth out diffraction effects that would otherwise occur with a round baffle. OTOH I'm enticed by promises of cleaner high-sensitivity sound with compression drivers, just worried that I might get something screechy and non-refundable.
Active XOs with PCBs from JLCPCB. 12dB/oct, Linkwitz transform for the bass and to make the woofer compatible with current drive. Presently using overpowered class-d amps with series resistors, but changing to open-drain class-a. None of it's super expensive, but not cheap either, and I especially value the fun time spent designing and building.
If you can design a waveguide that works well within the range and with your room, and can measure and equalise it (not necessarily flat) then you have nothing to worry about.
I seem to remember a post by Lynn Olsen where he proposed just such a speaker, although it may have been only an 8-Way, all first order XOs an octave apart starting at 40Hz.
Damn it, if your new amp does really go to 11 we'll have to design some new ones that go to 12+
Your right, I haven't built a new speaker in weeks.
I'll do something about that when I get back from the holiday cruise next month
. Passive crossover is a cheap way of minimising input wires to the speaker box. Just through everything in one box and plug it to a full range amplifier. Passive crossover help immensely in pa.
My friend has been designing speakers, for HiFi, PA and MI LFSys. He is fastidious about the design of crossovers and does not use 3 way designs. He does use 10,12 and 15” woofers and compression driver/horns capable of going down below, the beaming region of the woofer. To get the correct response you must match/use the horn and comp driver, not necessarily from the same brand.
I use one of his designs, the Silverstone, an FRFR passive design that outclasses most HiFi speakers.
I use one of his designs, the Silverstone, an FRFR passive design that outclasses most HiFi speakers.
That is generally true but for touring, line arrays are usually passive fed from DSP based LMS. Local pub/bar bands do usually use active systems.
No problem mate, I'm using this one https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CHKY484 for 1000000WattS! 
Amazon sells million watt lazers and tazers as well, one stop shop for hifi and touring and what ever!!!
Amazon sells million watt lazers and tazers as well, one stop shop for hifi and touring and what ever!!!
With enough speakers, the air loading goes up as well. The limit being 112dB/W (iirc). A big line array might only require a few watts to deliver 100dB at 10m distance.
As far as I can tell, line arrays are monumentally efficient. It's the smaller PAs that end up being thrashed with coil-smoking amounts of power because of distance-squared attenuation.
As far as I can tell, line arrays are monumentally efficient. It's the smaller PAs that end up being thrashed with coil-smoking amounts of power because of distance-squared attenuation.
1) not necessarily, frankly !
2) high efficienty : just if you need it or your normal hifi has not dynamic margin (= poor hifi driver choice)
3) Nah, not necessarily, Dunlavy is not the only one that made good loudspeakers !
4) Can we agree for a normal living room here between 25 m² and 35 m² most flat and little house cases, a 12" is enough ? (I mean low Fs enough)
2) high efficienty : just if you need it or your normal hifi has not dynamic margin (= poor hifi driver choice)
3) Nah, not necessarily, Dunlavy is not the only one that made good loudspeakers !
4) Can we agree for a normal living room here between 25 m² and 35 m² most flat and little house cases, a 12" is enough ? (I mean low Fs enough)
Im building as we speak, a 2 way 12” based, in a 100l cabinet
i fully expect that the bass of that speaker will be a clear cut compromise in terms of bass definition vs my 15” in 150l cabs
1- 2pi vs 4pi. The wider the baffle, the lower in the midrange you get direct sound (2pi)
2- hi-eff= low powered amps= better
3- ill take constant phase, lower xo parts, ect. First order is a clear cut advantage
4- bigger is better
i fully expect that the bass of that speaker will be a clear cut compromise in terms of bass definition vs my 15” in 150l cabs
1- 2pi vs 4pi. The wider the baffle, the lower in the midrange you get direct sound (2pi)
2- hi-eff= low powered amps= better
3- ill take constant phase, lower xo parts, ect. First order is a clear cut advantage
4- bigger is better
That whole 2pi vs 4pi thing -- it's hardly accurate, anyway. A lot depends on room placement and coupling to the floor.
For a super shallow 6dB per octave roll-off rate, the woofer voice had better be 1" diameter and about 5mm high to get great performance out to 5 or 10kHz, which is hardly feasible if you also want room shaking bass.
For a super shallow 6dB per octave roll-off rate, the woofer voice had better be 1" diameter and about 5mm high to get great performance out to 5 or 10kHz, which is hardly feasible if you also want room shaking bass.
