Tower Build Help

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I am new to home audio and to speaker building, but I am trying to build a set of tower speakers to go with my home theater system. I would like to run a 3 way design and have been thinking about these

Dayton RS28a Tweeter
Dayton Audio RS28A-4 1-1/8" Aluminum Dome Tweeter 275-130

Dayton RS225 8in Woofer
Dayton Audio RS225-8 8" Reference Woofer 295-356

DIY Cable Exodus EX-Anarchy Midwoofer
DIYCable.com : Intro » Home » Exodus Anarchy »

Since I have little knowledge in crossover design I would like to try to use pre-built passive crossovers or an active crossover that i could tune myself. Any help you can give me in driver and crossover choice would be greatly appreciated. Building the cabinet will not be a problem, but after parts are chosen I may need help with the design of it.

Tell me what you think, thanks.
 
Your selection of drivers are kinda all over the map.Note the sensitivity of your Mid-woofer, at 84 Db your system will be a power eater. You system is only as efficient as the least efficient driver. The cool thing about towers is they are ripe for MTM arrangement , or two woofers with the tweeter placed between the two. Effectively a two-way this set-up gives you great imaging. Using two 8" drivers will be a bit of a challenge getting the frequencies to overlap effectively. PE has two-way crossovers with connections for two woofers, exactly what we're after. I would phone-up PEs' tech line as I don't know if these crossovers have impedence compensation or allow for the two woofers to venture into the 4 Ohm range when they cross.
The biggie on MTM is the De Appolito "effect", or symmetrical lobing effect.

________________________________________________________Rick.....
 

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I can toss out the mid-woofer, it just seemed to have a good build quality and a good frequency response, I forgot to look at the sensitivity. I am not set on any of the drivers I posted above, they just looked good to me after looking at other builds online. I like the idea of a MTM with two 8's, but I was afraid of the frequency overlap like you pointed out and that is why I added the Exodus 6.5

I'm really open to any set of drivers that can give me a wide range of low distortion frequency response with good output.
 
Hi,

I've already answered this by PM, why bother with PM if
you want other opinions? FWIW I suggested : Daedalus
as it uses two of the wanted drivers.

An MTM with two 8"ers is not good with current 8" drivers, if ever.

If you can't build a c/o from a parts list and diagram you should have
said so, but if you wan't anything decent you will have to learn.

Stay the hell away from from simple active c/o's that can't be set
to do the job properly and even more away from passive off the
shelf c/o's that are an utter disaster area waiting to happen.

rgds, sreten.

http://sites.google.com/site/undefinition/diy (see if nothing else, the excellent FAQs)
http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?t=219617
http://www.zaphaudio.com
http://www.zaphaudio.com/ZA5/
http://www.rjbaudio.com/Audiofiles/FRDtools.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20090902124715/http://geocities.com/woove99/Spkrbldg/DesigningXO.htm
http://www.rjbaudio.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20090902202231/http://geocities.com/woove99/Spkrbldg/
http://speakerdesignworks.com/
http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=28655
http://www.deadwaxcafe.com/vzone/david/david.htm
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Diy_Loudspeaker_Projects.htm
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/download.html
http://www.quarter-wave.com/
http://www.frugal-horn.com/
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/
http://www.musicanddesign.com/

Great free SPICE Emulator : http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/tina-ti.html
 
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Just another Moderator
Joined 2003
Paid Member
Hi Sreten, Blame me ;) I suggested opening a thread, as I thought that my suggestions alone were not enough. The Daedalus looks like a well executed project, I particularly like that he made the speaker workshop file available for download.

Tony.
 
re: 'I've already answered this by PM...' LOL, so have I, FWIW I suggested a design nearly identical (post 3) - HTGuide Forum - Summary of key information from the 3-way WTMW / TMWW thread

re:'If you can't build a c/o from a parts list and diagram you should have
said so, but if you wan't anything decent you will have to learn' - yes, but us 'old hands' take so much for granted,
perhaps a link to a really simple primer on crossovers would help the OP realise it's not that hard, once some basic understanding is reached
 
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Sorry for my uncertainty guys, I'm very indecisive
PeteMck sent me a link to this
HTGuide Forum - Summary of key information from the 3-way WTMW / TMWW thread
and I am really liking the look of that design, it seems to do everything that I am looking for and is a proven design that I can emulate and learn from
I couldn't find the parts list on that build though, I must be missing it
is parts-express the cheapest place to get the parts for that build?

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate it
 
diyAudio Moderator
Joined 2008
Paid Member
Have a look around and see what other people are using (a large proportion will be diy)

JLH. (Not for subs though)

However...it's easy enough to luck out with a five dollar special from the local pawnbroker. Good amps tend to get closer to an ideal than is the case with speakers. I have a champagne Marantz (AB) that sounds similar to the JLH, and an early seventies NAD that has considerable character. Both I picked up in a similar way for a similar price.
 
I doubt I will be able to find any good amps in my local pawn shops, I live in a small town of 13,000 people in Northern California

I have been looking into PA Amps and so far have seen these

Behringer NU3000DSP $370
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/NU3000DSP.aspx

Crown XTI 2000/2002 (around 450-500)

XTi 2 Series

I don't need the best, but I would like a quality PA amp that puts out rated power and will last. My limit is about $500 and that is even pushing it. What amp would accomplish that? Any recommendations for powering a 2000rms sub at 2/4ohms. What about 600X2 at 8 ohms? Thanks
 
You have to look at the overall sensitivity of the drivers used in your system. Chances are that 2000W is completely unnecessary. The "2000Wrms" rating on the sub does not mean that it uses or needs 2000W. It means that you can pump 2000W into it before it self destructs from heat. Chances are that it will experience mechanical failure well before that since the "2000W spec" doesn't tell you anything about the frequencies involved.

If you use 90dBSPL/1W drivers (which are very easy to find) in your 3-way towers, running ~50W to each (100W total) will get you ~110dBSPL. If you have a mono sub with 87dBSPL/1W sensitive, which is perfectly normal, you would only need 200W to have it at ~110dBSPL. I hope that this short, technically non-rigorous explanation helps to clear things up. Movies at 100dBSPL should be plenty loud enough...and probably "too loud" if you live in an urban or suburban area.

Again, "2000Wrms" is not a requirement. It is a limit (and the thing will likely self destruct well before that).
 
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I have a custom built 4in sub built to take 2000rms daily with ease
it has a Soundstream XXX 4in VC Motor that weighs around 70lbs, a TC Sounds TI basket and an 8 layer coil
the sub has been built to be a SQ sub that will take a lot of power.

I will be buying two amps, 1 for the towers and one for my substage
The towers will only need around 325rms per and I will probably look for a 600rms per channel at 8 ohm amp to keep my options open for the future.

Sorry for the confusion on the sub
 
I think I'm going to try to power everything off of PA amps, is it possible to use one channel to power my sub stage at 2ohms and then use the other channel at 8 ohms to power both of the towers?

Also what are your opinions on these pro amps?

Crown XLS2000-$420.
Crown XLS2000 DriveCore Series Power Amp: Shop Pro Audio & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend

Crown XLS5000-$600.
Crown XLS 5000 Stereo Power Amp 1100W/Channel @ 8 Ohms

Behringer EPX4000-$400
Behringer EPX4000 Europower Power Amplifier | eBay

Peavey IPR5000-$550
Peavey IPR-5000 Power Amplifier -  Power Amps- Power Amplifiers- Pro Audio- PSSL.com
 
It's possible but you're not going to be getting a stereo signal for the mains.


I think I'm going to try to power everything off of PA amps, is it possible to use one channel to power my sub stage at 2ohms and then use the other channel at 8 ohms to power both of the towers?

Also what are your opinions on these pro amps?

Crown XLS2000-$420.
Crown XLS2000 DriveCore Series Power Amp: Shop Pro Audio & Other Musical Instruments | Musician's Friend

Crown XLS5000-$600.
Crown XLS 5000 Stereo Power Amp 1100W/Channel @ 8 Ohms

Behringer EPX4000-$400
Behringer EPX4000 Europower Power Amplifier | eBay

Peavey IPR5000-$550
Peavey IPR-5000 Power Amplifier -  Power Amps- Power Amplifiers- Pro Audio- PSSL.com
 
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