I'm interested in a FAST / WAW build an have some questions :-)

[Pygmy]

I built my first speakers 3 years ago, a Needle with Tang Band 1320SIF drivers.
I love the sound of these full range drivers, but as it goes, I wanted to build something with a little more *oomph*..

So then I built a pair of Samuel HQ speakers. (MTM)
Which I'm very happy with, but you know - once you start building speakers, you want to build more

So a while ago I started thinking that what I'd like is a speaker where the full range driver would do the most important part so there's no crossover in the critical audio range, assisted by a tweeted for highs and a subwoofer for lows.

Let it be known that I am not experienced in speaker design, so I'll have to look for builds by other people to reproduce.
Now, DIYAudio is lovely, but the only sections in this forum are either full range or multiway - it's hard to find specific WAW stuff (at least for me).

Is there a place where I can read up on different WAW builds?

I saw today that German magazine Hobby HiFi made a new version of their TBTL W6 (now Mk2),
Using drivers that I think are to my liking, found in these two places:.

Lautsprecher Shop | TBTL-W6 Mk 2 | Lautsprecher Selbstbau

Strassacker: Speaker Building, Components

I like the fact the crossovers are at 220 respectively 4200 Hz, But I don't have the technical knowledge to judge whether this build makes sense or has obvious "you don't want that!"'s.

I'd love to get more informed on WAW builds / designs, and on this specific implementation of possible!
Help an amateur out please

 

[planet10]

There are lots of threads with WAW and or FAST in them here. Youll find lots to read.

You may not need a tweeter if you get a good FR.

We have built (and they can be found here) at least 5 WAW.

dave

 

[Smirkr]

You are describing a 3 way speaker. The speakers you link to appear to be 3 way speakers. You may be better served by moving this thread to the multi-way forum.

 

[planet10]

Yes, a WAW / FAST does not usually have a tweeter. The XO up that high gets in the way and you can never get the tweeter close enuff (unless you use a coax).

dave

 

[Pygmy]

There are lots of threads with WAW and or FAST in them here. Youll find lots to read.

You may not need a tweeter if you get a good FR.

We have built (and they can be found here) at least 5 WAW.

dave

Do you have links by any chance?
It's pretty hard finding them browsing either the multiway section or the full range section!
There are so many threads and so little I find (by reading the title) that are WAW specific..

 

[Jerms]

To my mind, a "proper" (?!?!) WAW setup would itself be a 3 way.

A good, small full range driver (say FR58EX or SB65WBAC25-4).
A small woofer to cover midbass (crossover in 700-1000hz region).
...And either a pair or a single subwoofer to cover lower bass and sub-bass.

SPL would be limited by the full ranger. So not for concert halls.

 

[xrk971]

I just made a very simple flower OB with FR58EX and a single XKi sub driven by 2.1 TPA3116 amp. It’s shocking how good it sounds. Not including sub which I built previously, the OB tops took less than 2hr made out of foam core. The pentagonal symmetry and rounded petals really helps reduce baffle edge diffraction. The sound stage is excellent.

Foam Core Board Speaker Enclosures?

 

[perceval]

Do you have links by any chance?
It's pretty hard finding them browsing either the multiway section or the full range section!
There are so many threads and so little I find (by reading the title) that are WAW specific..

Use google with keywords diyaudio, fast, waw, to get more presentable and easier to search threads.

Loads of threads in here about the subject.

 

[planet10]

Links to some of our stuff.

A thread for Tysen and variations on WAW / FAST

P10-hifi Alpair 7.3eN + SDX7eN WAW (aka FAST)

Attached is a snapshot of part of the 1st page when i searched on “FAST / WAW”.

Typically they will be in Fullrange of planet10-hifi, but some are in multiway, and there might be side references in threads where people are asking about active XOs for them.

dave

 

[planet10]

To my mind, a "proper" (?!?!) WAW setup would itself be a 3 way.

True

A good, small full range driver — I’d choose the A7.3eN of A7 MAOP but only after auditioning the new A7mSeN. Smaller system could use A5.2eN.

A small woofer to cover midbass — 2 or 4 A12pw (similar voicing to midTweet to make blending easier/better), but there are a ton of good 6-8” midbasses, so maybe something i can use sealed.

A quad of subwoofers — push-push SDX10eN in each corner (approximately).

XO between mid-tweeter and midbass at 250 Hz or so, midbasses run as low as they go, no XO (a good reason to find some woofers tha work sealed. A trick digital XO for the subs such that the back ones only kick in below 40 hz or so but the front ones go higher and all 4 are EQed to deal with their own room issues as well as those of the midbasses in the mains.

dave

 

[waxx]

i'm doing it 2 way, with an Alpair 10M gen3 driver and a Scanspeak SCAN-SPEAK 26W-8534G00 in a ported box, and that works very good. The CR is 1st order at 180Hz. I'm still building the final version (first used tops that were build to work on their own and did not integrate like i want it), but even with the actual tops, it sounds way better than i expected or heared in other expensive speakers.

Some suggest i should use a filter (as the 10M starts to fall at 15K), but i use a zorbel to reduce the impendance peaks and make the slope of the fall less sharp. Like this you still got those high frequencies, but slightly less powerfull than with a tweeter calibrated flat (wich i like).

But as long as the CR is out of the 300-5K range, it's good for me. Sadly most speakers have their CR point in the middle of that.

 

[planet10]

The CR is 1st order at 180Hz

Same as these (biamped with PLLXO):

dave

 

[waxx]

I don't biamp, and my woodworking skills are not as good as yours. This is how they look now with the not fitting top with an Alpair 10M, but i'm building a new top (waiting on delivery of the last parts) ... The subs are 150L ported boxes tuned to 25Hz with one 10" driver. They are amped by the Prima Luna Prologue amp on the bottom of my rack. The speakers on top are my beloved old Goodman Mezzo SL speakers that are amped with the Marantz amp, both feeded from the same Luxman preamp.

The crossovers are now temporally in wooden boxes (from leftovers) on the back of the sub, but they will be integrated in the seperate top section that i'm building now. The tops that you see now are ment to be used on their own (with a port on the back) and are my first own design, and are still a joy to listen to (due to the good driver). now they measure rather flat (within 6dB) from 25 untill 15K where the slowly fade out... I'll may post a picture when the new tops are finished (if i don't forget it)... All is own design (designing the speakers is half the fun for me).

EDIT: pic is up now...

 

[xrk971]

Make sure file size not too big (rescale to 1200pix wide) and save as jpg before uploading.

 

[waxx]

Make sure file size not too big (rescale to 1200pix wide) and save as jpg before uploading.

The note on the uploader said 2800pix, but when i did it like you said it worked. Seems that the admins need to change that note.

But thanks for the tip, the pic is in it.

 

[Quattrofish]

I went on a similar journey a few years ago. Started with this thread:

Am I getting the most from my Fostex F120a WAW?

Then went on to this one:

Alpair 7.3eN/12pw WAW build

 

[Pygmy]

I went on a similar journey a few years ago. Started with this thread:

Am I getting the most from my Fostex F120a WAW?

Then went on to this one:

Alpair 7.3eN/12pw WAW build

Nice! I have some reading to do now