Is there a recommended equipment one software package for a beginner speaker designer?
Not looking to make a huge investment but id like to have quality useful equipment. My goal is to be able to produce passive crossover multiway speakers that sound good in my room.
Thanks in advance for any help. I searched on this topic and couldn't find a comprehensive list of recommendations in one location.
Not looking to make a huge investment but id like to have quality useful equipment. My goal is to be able to produce passive crossover multiway speakers that sound good in my room.
Thanks in advance for any help. I searched on this topic and couldn't find a comprehensive list of recommendations in one location.
You'll probably find a wealth of conflicting opinions on this, but for me, I'd start here:
For measuring FR, Phase and Impedance:
ARTA/LIMP (come together as a software package, available for free)
For crossover design:
Passive crossover designer 7 (make sure you import data from above programs)
To trace graphs for impedance etc and produce data useable for crossover designer 7:
Dagra (google it)
Hardware:
I use a pair of 3.5mm stereo to RCA cables connected to RCA chasis sockets, drilled through a simple smalll piece of 3mm MDF...
(like these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000KMCW5Y/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
This allows a jig to be built to measure impedance with LIMP. You'll need two high quality resistors, one higher value, one lower value. I use 18 ohm and 3.7 ohm, as they happen to be what I have laying around. use the 3.7 ohm to calibrate the impedance measurement tool in limp so you can have at least some faith in your measurements. For added accuracy, swap the channels around, calibrate again, and average results. I use a high quality DAC/headphone amp to produce the signal for measurement.
You'll need a measurement mic, the cheapest option in the UK is the Behringer ECM8000, which is a basic model re-labelled by a few companies, have a look around and see if you can find a cheaper one, bear in mind it will need phantom power, so you'll need to get a PSU/through box, and presuming you're measuring on PC you may as well jump straight to a XLR-minijack cable too.
Finally, to assemble crossovers with any accuracy you need to measure and match all your components. I was kindly recommended the LC100-A inductance/capacitance meter off ebay and couldn't be more delighted with it, for xo purposes it's ideal. Only thing is I presume it works through measuring the voltage division of the component and a known resistor/frequency, that means that with inductors if the resistance is high the inductance measurement will be a little off, however you can work around that, and a few % won't make too much difference, whilst matching the components accurately will.
Think that's my primary tool list... software is all free, hardware comes up to about £120
For measuring FR, Phase and Impedance:
ARTA/LIMP (come together as a software package, available for free)
For crossover design:
Passive crossover designer 7 (make sure you import data from above programs)
To trace graphs for impedance etc and produce data useable for crossover designer 7:
Dagra (google it)
Hardware:
I use a pair of 3.5mm stereo to RCA cables connected to RCA chasis sockets, drilled through a simple smalll piece of 3mm MDF...
(like these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000KMCW5Y/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
This allows a jig to be built to measure impedance with LIMP. You'll need two high quality resistors, one higher value, one lower value. I use 18 ohm and 3.7 ohm, as they happen to be what I have laying around. use the 3.7 ohm to calibrate the impedance measurement tool in limp so you can have at least some faith in your measurements. For added accuracy, swap the channels around, calibrate again, and average results. I use a high quality DAC/headphone amp to produce the signal for measurement.
You'll need a measurement mic, the cheapest option in the UK is the Behringer ECM8000, which is a basic model re-labelled by a few companies, have a look around and see if you can find a cheaper one, bear in mind it will need phantom power, so you'll need to get a PSU/through box, and presuming you're measuring on PC you may as well jump straight to a XLR-minijack cable too.
Finally, to assemble crossovers with any accuracy you need to measure and match all your components. I was kindly recommended the LC100-A inductance/capacitance meter off ebay and couldn't be more delighted with it, for xo purposes it's ideal. Only thing is I presume it works through measuring the voltage division of the component and a known resistor/frequency, that means that with inductors if the resistance is high the inductance measurement will be a little off, however you can work around that, and a few % won't make too much difference, whilst matching the components accurately will.
Think that's my primary tool list... software is all free, hardware comes up to about £120
You can DIY a mic good enough to use with a sound card. See Linkwitz.
HOLM, ARTA, LIMP, Edge, WInISL, TrueRTA , Zelscope, Bagby etc.
I much prefer WooferTester for my impedance, but it costs a little. I use a ECM with a Focusrite 2i2. When moving up from a $5 DIY mic, which is more than god enough fro crossover design, save buying twice and get a calibrated mic to start with. I also wasted a lot of money on crap M<-Audio and ECM units.
HOLM, ARTA, LIMP, Edge, WInISL, TrueRTA , Zelscope, Bagby etc.
I much prefer WooferTester for my impedance, but it costs a little. I use a ECM with a Focusrite 2i2. When moving up from a $5 DIY mic, which is more than god enough fro crossover design, save buying twice and get a calibrated mic to start with. I also wasted a lot of money on crap M<-Audio and ECM units.
What about something like Omni Mic V2? Dayton Audio Dayton Audio OmniMic V2
Or this USB Mic: Dayton Audio UMM-6 USB Measurement Microphone - Test & Measurement
The latter has a calibration file associated with the serial number apparently.
Or this USB Mic: Dayton Audio UMM-6 USB Measurement Microphone - Test & Measurement
The latter has a calibration file associated with the serial number apparently.
Can you expand on this? My understanding was calibration was for sensitivity and not FR... what were the crap m-audio units? and by ecm i presume you mean the ecm8000? can you say more about why it was crap?
thx
Have a look at a typical calibration file, you'll realize that you can have faith in a crossover at 2KHz but you cannot trust the FR on the raising response after 5KHz. This is an example, but in general you can work on a small range and cannot compare SPL on distant frequencies because the response of the mic is not flat.
The advice is good, buy a calibrated mic, the difference in price is not that much, but you'll have a much more powerful tool.
Ralf
The advice is good, buy a calibrated mic, the difference in price is not that much, but you'll have a much more powerful tool.
Ralf
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