I’m making a pair of WAW for a friend. We’ve settled on the alpair 5.2 but am unsure which bass assist driver size to use. Cabinets can be stand mount or floor standing.
Looking at SBAcoustics drivers of 5-8 inch sizes which will run downwards from about 300hz. Crossover will likely be PLLXO
Dual opposed drivers is also an option
Are there any rules/benefits regarding certain woofer sizes?
Looking at SBAcoustics drivers of 5-8 inch sizes which will run downwards from about 300hz. Crossover will likely be PLLXO
Dual opposed drivers is also an option
Are there any rules/benefits regarding certain woofer sizes?
Last edited:
Just wondering how you went with this project, and how did the little Alpair 5 sound? I’m about to do the same and would appreciate any feedback.
Cheers!
Matt.
With my project I'm nearly there. I've been using the Pluvia 7's in a temporary box (an old speaker I found in the attic) resting atop the 8inch woofer box. I'm currently building the enclosure for the Pluvias (a modular system so that I can swap out various FR units). I also have the Alpair 5.2s but they are still in their packaging. When I finish the Pluvias then the Alpairs will be next.
The type of enclosure I am building for the full ranges can be read about here.
A question about mid-tweeter transmission lines.
Sound wise I am very pleased so far even without an appropriate box for the Pluvias and a Xover that is not optimised. I'm trying 1st order passive. With the Alpairs I'll probably go 2nd order as they a bit more delicate.
The type of enclosure I am building for the full ranges can be read about here.
A question about mid-tweeter transmission lines.
Sound wise I am very pleased so far even without an appropriate box for the Pluvias and a Xover that is not optimised. I'm trying 1st order passive. With the Alpairs I'll probably go 2nd order as they a bit more delicate.
I use a 10" scanspeak woofer (the 26W/8534G00) for a waw with an Alpair 10M Gen3 (6") FR. There is no real rule, as long as they fit in the setup physically and are not to big and can handle the frequencyrange and spl needed. It also depends on what alignment and how low you want it. A 8 to 10" is what i would start with. If you can't find a fit woofer for your goals, maybe a 12" could also fit the bill (but then the box will be large probally). But I would not go smaller than a 8" for a woofer that goes real low and needs to keep up with sensivity of the FR. They won't be able to keep up, as the XMAX is often very small (not enough) and the cone is to small to move enough air for real bass.
The Alpair 5.2 has a stated sensitivity of 84.6dB so not that sensitive. Higher sensitivity full range drive units can be attenuated in the same way tweeters would be. If the woofer has a higher sensitivity then that can be incorporated into baffle step compensation (a 300 Hz X-over being roughly useful in a 30cm+ ish wide baffle which is handy for 8-10 inch woofers). However the original poster expressed using a PLLXO (LL=line level) therefore bi-amping, so different sensitivities can be easily adjusted for.
Yes, that is true. But when the woofer has not enough xmax and a too small cone, it won’t be able to keep up, even with an active cr and a seperate amp...
Thanks for the replies.
The woofer is the Faital Pro 15PR400, actively driven and with active XO, so matching sensitivities and XO points won’t be a problem.
Are there any thoughts on the Alpair 5.2/5.3 subjective sound quality? I’ve read good things but any further thoughts or experiences would be great to hear.
Cheers,
Matt.
The woofer is the Faital Pro 15PR400, actively driven and with active XO, so matching sensitivities and XO points won’t be a problem.
Are there any thoughts on the Alpair 5.2/5.3 subjective sound quality? I’ve read good things but any further thoughts or experiences would be great to hear.
Cheers,
Matt.
Thanks.
I’ll also be using dsp eq, and the 15” woofers will be crossing over to servo subwoofers. The dsp will enable a smaller enclosure than would otherwise be appropriate for the chosen bandwidth.
Integration between the Alpair and the 15 will be interesting, but the 15 has smooth frequency and power response up to around 1kHz. There is also a decent overlap with the Alpair. This particular 15” driver is also used in some high end 2 way and 3 way designs so I think it’s worth a go.
Cheers,
Matt.
I have the Faital pro 15FH520 woofers, they have no problem crossing over at 250hz to my Alpair 11ms. You should be in for some great sound.
That turns out to be the efficiency. Sensitivity is 88-88.5 as measured. It is a nominal 4Ω device.
I would not hesitate to swp the A5.2/3 for the FF85wKeN in Tysen V2. It uses a pair of Silver Flute W14 which provide amazing performance for little money. PLLXO at about 250Hz but the SF do reach up high enuff — even on the sides, for a 450 Hz 1st order XO.
There are a huge number of suitable, available midBasses that can be used. The key is the blending with the FR, so a suggested extension of some 2 octaves beyond the XO. And the voicing of the midBass (ie we get a slightly better blend with the Alpair 12pw than the SDX7, both WAWs are stellar).
The other keys are the amp you want to use, the size of the box you can live with, bass extension desired, kind of enclosure that suits, and of course budget.
SB has a bewildering array of decen tlooking midBasses. I have not yet worked with any of those, but have used suitable Peerless, Silver Flute, CSS, Foster, ScanSpeak, TAD, from 4 to 16” in size, and looked at many more. Some of the larger ones probably better matched with a 4” midTweeter (or Alpair 10p for the big efficient midBasses — a system that makes no excuses when faced w loud).
dave
Alpair 10.3 is a nominal 5.25” FR with a bigger than usual bezel (as all the older Mark Audio do).
dave
VERY good. It (A5.2eN) and the FF85wKeN are the best 3” FR i have experiences. They are close, but the Alpair may be a bit smoother. I really want to play with the A5.2/3 more.
dave
I have one more question... The woofer and the full range driver both will be used in a transmission line. I do not have measuring equipment, hence i want to use Unibox and response modeler to do the simulation. Now what should i do as my design includes TL for woofer and the full range. Can unibox be used in case of TL enclosure? Or i need to go ahead considering TL as Ported while working with unibox. Please let me know your opinions. Thanks in advance.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.