What drivers with a $400 budget??

[chrisb]

Thanks Zman! Appreciate the help. Always nice to hear from someone that has experience. Leaning very heavily toward the 12p. Almost everything I have read has been positive. If i need more bass I can always plant a sub somewhere under one of my machines. Leads me to a couple more questions.

As mentioned, floor space is at a very high premium. I could buy or build some mounting brackets, install them as close to the ceiling as possible and tilt them downward. Wouldn't be difficult to do and could make them to fit where i have room. Something much easier would be to hang them from the rafters in some rope nets. (The old sailor in me dies hard, lol). Would hanging the boxes in the air change the acoustics any??

One more while I'm at it. The drawings show the port firing to the rear. By necessity they will be 4 to six inches from a wall. Is that okay or can i move the port to the front? Thanks for any advice.

Ig81....Appreciate the box suggestion, but is a little tall for the available space. Am grateful for your suggestions.

Thanks again gentlemen. Do appreciate the input. Am a total fng at speaker building and need some help, thank you very much. Bass reflex may not be the most exotic boxes in the world, but do play well with my very limited wood working skills. Regards, J.D.

JD -a few random thoughts:

- which drawings in particular with rear firing ports? My immediate response would be that the port could be rotated to the front easily enough.

-hanging from guy-wires or braided ropes should be just fine for this application - in fact if near ceiling corner locations are available, that could be ideal

- total volume of room isn't huge, so the high sensitivity and abuse tolerance that pro drivers offer is probably not a priority

-if your budget can afford the Alpair12, I think you'd be very happy with the results - mind you I've only heard this driver in two much larger enclosures than the small reflex (Lindgren's SuperPensil in which it seriously rocks, and Dlugos' MarKen12T, which has less slam, but far more finesse from upper mid-bass on down) . I'm not so sure what the small standard BR enclosure has been modeled or measured at, but wouldn't to rule it out either.

- in the Mark Audio line, the Alpair10.2 is a lower cost option that as far as bass is concerned can certainly deliver the goods for lower cost than the 12P - one just needs to be VERY careful with the metal cones during assembly and installation

- the FF165WK is also a great contender - just look elsewhere than the "factory recommended" enclosure designs - I've built a few of Fostex's over the years, and with the exception of some of the large Nagaoka manifold horns, most have been lackluster at best.

 

[jdsackett]

Thanks for the thoughts Chris. The bass reflex box I was looking at is the one on Madisound's site where the 12p specs are posted. The box for the 10 fores front, for the 12p, rear. The size box is almost perfect for my needs.

Agree with the Fostex opinion. The only ones I have listened to is the 206en in the factory recommended enclosure. They were being driven with some very nice equipment and I was not impressed. Thanks again for the help. Think I'll get hold of those guys and get the drivers coming. Gert them breaking in anyway. Regards, J.d.