I been planning to go for one of the 3 way setup. This would be for a room that's in the size of around 200 sq.ft.
Plan is go passive for now and may be near future get it running active.
The crossover that I would pick is for a 3 way Dayton XO3W-375/3K 3-Way Crossover 375/3,000 Hz | Parts-Express.com
Drivers choice
COMBO 1
1. Seas prestige 8" CD22RN woofer. In a ported enclosure of .26 cu.ft with port tuned at 32hz.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_228_257&products_id=8661
2. Seas prestige 5" MCA15RCY midrange. In a ported enclosure of 3.4 cu.ft or sealed sphere enclosure.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_234_266&products_id=1315
3. Seas Prestige 19TFF1 Dome tweeter. In a sealed sphere enclosure.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_229_324&products_id=8813
COMBO 2.
1. Scan-speak 22W/4534G Discovery 8" Woofer 4 ohm. Will be used in ported enclosure.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_228_257&products_id=8771
2. Scan-Speak 15M/4624G Discovery, 5.25" Midrange.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_234_266&products_id=8926
3. Morel Cat 378 tweeter.
Morel CAT 378 1-1/8" Soft Dome Horn Tweeter | Parts-Express.com
COMBO 3. 2-way.
1. Seas 8" CA22RNY woofer. crossed at 2500hz 12 db in ported enclosure.
2. Morel Cat 378 tweeter.
Which one of these will give best bang for the buck?
The idea is to cover the entire frequency range starting from 25hz to 20khz.
Plan is go passive for now and may be near future get it running active.
The crossover that I would pick is for a 3 way Dayton XO3W-375/3K 3-Way Crossover 375/3,000 Hz | Parts-Express.com
Drivers choice
COMBO 1
1. Seas prestige 8" CD22RN woofer. In a ported enclosure of .26 cu.ft with port tuned at 32hz.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_228_257&products_id=8661
2. Seas prestige 5" MCA15RCY midrange. In a ported enclosure of 3.4 cu.ft or sealed sphere enclosure.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_234_266&products_id=1315
3. Seas Prestige 19TFF1 Dome tweeter. In a sealed sphere enclosure.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_229_324&products_id=8813
COMBO 2.
1. Scan-speak 22W/4534G Discovery 8" Woofer 4 ohm. Will be used in ported enclosure.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_228_257&products_id=8771
2. Scan-Speak 15M/4624G Discovery, 5.25" Midrange.
https://www.madisound.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=45_234_266&products_id=8926
3. Morel Cat 378 tweeter.
Morel CAT 378 1-1/8" Soft Dome Horn Tweeter | Parts-Express.com
COMBO 3. 2-way.
1. Seas 8" CA22RNY woofer. crossed at 2500hz 12 db in ported enclosure.
2. Morel Cat 378 tweeter.
Which one of these will give best bang for the buck?
The idea is to cover the entire frequency range starting from 25hz to 20khz.
If you want to play music relatively loud, then I would suggest that a larger woofer should be used. Unfortunatedly, off the shelf x-overs are not going to work very well. If you are able to use a large box, there are lots of options on drivers. Getting fancy with the cabinet will probably not make the speaker significantly better. Can you elaborate on what type of performance you are after? Music only? Home Theater? How close to the walls will they be?
I'm not fond of small ported boxes, so I would rule out combo 1 for me. I think I would look for an alignment that I could tune rather low since there is no sub. Maybe tuned to 25 hz would be optimum. I would go 3-way and concentrate on getting the midrange right. Putting the speaker near the wall will boost the bass, so a sensitive mid may be needed to get the tonal balance right. I've not looked up the specs on your suggested drivers, but 89 dB for a mid should work. I like the idea of a horn type tweeter, and I have used some nice conventional Morel tweeters. If you slope the front of the box, a simpler tweeter may work as well, and save you some money.
Dayton Crossovers
If you're going to spend the money it will take to buy the drivers you have in mind, I recommend strongly against a generic crossover such as the Daytons. Crossover points and slopes should be carefully selected for the individual characteristics of each driver, and this becomes even more critical in three-way designs.
So I would suggest having someone design proper crossover networks for you, which Madisound will do, or buy a kit that comes with included crossovers, or to build an established design from sites such as Zaph Audio, RJB Audio, or Troels Gravesen, to name just a few.
If you're going to spend the money it will take to buy the drivers you have in mind, I recommend strongly against a generic crossover such as the Daytons. Crossover points and slopes should be carefully selected for the individual characteristics of each driver, and this becomes even more critical in three-way designs.
So I would suggest having someone design proper crossover networks for you, which Madisound will do, or buy a kit that comes with included crossovers, or to build an established design from sites such as Zaph Audio, RJB Audio, or Troels Gravesen, to name just a few.
Ditto on the recommendations to avoid stock crossovers.
8" woofers can't move a lot of air and therefore won't reach very deep unless you limit your listening level. Better to cross to a sub at 40-60 Hz.
If you go 2 way with an 8" driver push the crossover down to 1200 Hz or so. and use the Scan.
The Seas woofer will move a little more air and possibly reach lower but the 600 Hz breakup is tough to deal with.
Overall, the Scans are smoother and will be easier to work with for a novice designer.
Any particular reasons that you chose those tweeters? I have not used them, they may work out just fine. In between them price wise are the Seas 27TBFCG, 27TDFC, Dayton RS28 series and the SB Acoustics SB29RDC. I've used all but the SB and recommend any of them crossed at 1500-2000 Hz LR4. You'll want to to push the tweeter crossover down to smooth out the power response. Notice that the mids off axis response drops starting at 1 KhZ or so.
If you are going to design your own crossover, I strongly recommend that you purchase a calibrated microphone and learn how to use it.
Active crossovers make it a little easier, because you can ignore the driver impedance variation. Inexpensive parts swaps make tweaking easier on the wallet. You still need to measure and understand what the measurements are telling you to get the best results.
Good luck with your build.
8" woofers can't move a lot of air and therefore won't reach very deep unless you limit your listening level. Better to cross to a sub at 40-60 Hz.
If you go 2 way with an 8" driver push the crossover down to 1200 Hz or so. and use the Scan.
The Seas woofer will move a little more air and possibly reach lower but the 600 Hz breakup is tough to deal with.
Overall, the Scans are smoother and will be easier to work with for a novice designer.
Any particular reasons that you chose those tweeters? I have not used them, they may work out just fine. In between them price wise are the Seas 27TBFCG, 27TDFC, Dayton RS28 series and the SB Acoustics SB29RDC. I've used all but the SB and recommend any of them crossed at 1500-2000 Hz LR4. You'll want to to push the tweeter crossover down to smooth out the power response. Notice that the mids off axis response drops starting at 1 KhZ or so.
If you are going to design your own crossover, I strongly recommend that you purchase a calibrated microphone and learn how to use it.
Active crossovers make it a little easier, because you can ignore the driver impedance variation. Inexpensive parts swaps make tweaking easier on the wallet. You still need to measure and understand what the measurements are telling you to get the best results.
Good luck with your build.
Member
Joined 2003
Thanks all for the vital inputs.
I am mainly the car audio guy. I have been tuning and designing since last 17 years. my drivers are running active through the Pioneer P99RS head unit and with 8 channel of amplification in my car with a complete flat response thanks to the TruRta.
The reason why I choose the Morel Tweeter is first the dispersion in lower range is more efficient. The Idea was to get a seas tweeter with a waveguide. But Morel tweeter which horn loaded has better dispersion between 2-6khz. What I wanna try is having them in sphere enclosure to eliminate diffraction along with the midrange. The other advantage could be with the sphere is slight better imaging.
Compared to the Seas woofer and Scanspeak Discovery woofer. I guess the Seas CD22RN4 has better midbass response when I model in Winspeakerz but it's less sensitive compared to Scanspeak.
The other Seas woofer for 2 way is Seas CA22RNY THE ART OF SOUND PERFECTION BY SEAS - H1471-08 CA22RNY
This one has a good response upto 2khz and could be ideal for 2 way in my opinion along with Scan discovery.
I can choose to go with 10" midbass also but I guess as long as its in a 3 way.
Scan midrange is 3db more sensitive compared to the Seas. Both have similar roll off pattern above 2khz in off-axis. So it's better to cross the mid at 2khz and the tweeter takes it from there?
Both Seas CD22RN and Scan Discovery has an lower Fs. Can these be crossed at around 30hz or so for slight better low end response or is it good to choose a 10" ?
I understand the crossover part but I picked the dayton crossover just for the timebeing since the plan it to use the active crossover in the future Behringer CX2310 Super-X Pro Crossover 2-Way/3-Way | Parts-Express.com
But I suppose dayton will not solve the purpose here and would need to design my crossover.
I am mainly the car audio guy. I have been tuning and designing since last 17 years. my drivers are running active through the Pioneer P99RS head unit and with 8 channel of amplification in my car with a complete flat response thanks to the TruRta.
The reason why I choose the Morel Tweeter is first the dispersion in lower range is more efficient. The Idea was to get a seas tweeter with a waveguide. But Morel tweeter which horn loaded has better dispersion between 2-6khz. What I wanna try is having them in sphere enclosure to eliminate diffraction along with the midrange. The other advantage could be with the sphere is slight better imaging.
Compared to the Seas woofer and Scanspeak Discovery woofer. I guess the Seas CD22RN4 has better midbass response when I model in Winspeakerz but it's less sensitive compared to Scanspeak.
The other Seas woofer for 2 way is Seas CA22RNY THE ART OF SOUND PERFECTION BY SEAS - H1471-08 CA22RNY
This one has a good response upto 2khz and could be ideal for 2 way in my opinion along with Scan discovery.
I can choose to go with 10" midbass also but I guess as long as its in a 3 way.
Scan midrange is 3db more sensitive compared to the Seas. Both have similar roll off pattern above 2khz in off-axis. So it's better to cross the mid at 2khz and the tweeter takes it from there?
Both Seas CD22RN and Scan Discovery has an lower Fs. Can these be crossed at around 30hz or so for slight better low end response or is it good to choose a 10" ?
I understand the crossover part but I picked the dayton crossover just for the timebeing since the plan it to use the active crossover in the future Behringer CX2310 Super-X Pro Crossover 2-Way/3-Way | Parts-Express.com
But I suppose dayton will not solve the purpose here and would need to design my crossover.
Member
Joined 2003
The 2310 uses "off the shelf" slopes, so it would present some of the same issues as the passive. If you want to use Behringer active, you need the DCX2496. With it, you can easily compensate for driver response on your baffle, acoustic offsets, etc. You will still need an accurate measurement system to achieve good results.
Take a look at the Peerless 10" and 12" SLS woofers. The 12" would take a large box, but it is very flat up to 1k then rolls off. Should be easy to x-over to the mid. I'm going from memory, so don't hold me to that. I just remember wanting to try it. I have a sub, and prefer smaller boxes in the room, so I probably never will.
I have looked at 10" & 12" too. But I suppose the best would be to run them in a sealed enclosure.
Any user experience on these.
DCX2496 is my first choice as it also comes with RTA option. However its the cost that makes me think twice whether its all worth it.
Has anyone here heard the seas midbass or any experience with these?
My DCX died after about 3 years of use. I've built active, passive, and hybrid speakers. The best to my ear are my current passives. A friend of mine says the hybrid a few years back was the best. He's nuts, and goes on and on about what violins are supposed to sound like. The DCX lets you use drivers that you couldn't use together with passive crossovers. It also lets you EQ the bass, which can be a huge help. Three way passive crossovers can be expensive, and a pain to assemble. When the part count goes past about 18 parts, that's too much work to solder up and mount. Depending on the parts used, that's also over $100 per speaker. Maybe a lot more. I think passives are more fun, but sometimes very frustrating. If you already have the amplifiers, and plan to build several sets of speakers, then active is probably the way to go.
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