Hello!
New forum member here who is in the process of building my first loudspeaker pair when i stumbled upon your great source of knowledge/information/inspiration here at diyaudio.
Personal background:
I am a guitarist from Sweden who has recently taken an interest in music production/mixing. I would like to do it seriously, but since I have sold my last pair of event opal reference/studio monitors to my bass playing twin brother (who is even more serious about learning) I have been on the lookout for something new. Then it hit me! Maybe I can try to build my own pair of 3-way reference studio monitors?!
The last couple of weeks I have been searching for the ideal drivers for my project (willing to spend money to get the best) and ended up with a choice of tweeter and midrange that I feel would work perfectly:
Midrange: Scanspeak Illuminator 12MU/4731T00
12MU/4731T00 – Scan-Speak A/S
Tweeter: Scanspeak Illuminator D3004/662000
D3004/662000 – Scan-Speak A/S
What remains now is choosing a matching bass-driver/subwoofer for a full range 3-way loudspeaker pair.
My questions regarding this are a few:
Can you use a subwoofer as the third driver in a 3-way loudspeaker (i would prefer not needing a separate sub)?
How high can a subwoofer play? The aforementioned midrange driver I have my eyes on begins to drop off around 200Hz. Would there be a choice of subwoofer that would succeed in adding the necessary low-end and at the same time maintaining a flat and accurate frequency-response?
If a midrange drop-off point of 200Hz is a bit too high for easy matching to a subwoofer, would it help to design the midrange-enclosure with a bass-relex/transmission line design in order to extend the bass-response for better matching to subwoofer?
At the moment, for the third driver/bass driver of the build, I have my eyes on:
Scanspeak Revelator 32W/4878T00
https://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/32w-4878t00.pdf
This choice of subwoofer seems to have a nice and flat frequency response and would be great if it is able to integrate nice and smooth with the rest of the drivers.
My thoughts were maybe use a port for the midrange (extending the low-end) and keeping the sub in a sealed enclosure (minimizing box-size and keeping a tight low end with good transient response). The specs of the drivers seem to allow for this.
Would this work? Is there something I have missed? How do you think I should proceed?
Is there maybe a better choice for low-end-driver in my build? My wallet would really appreciate something alot cheaper haha, but still I would opt for best/flattest frequency response almost regardless of price.
Thank you so much in advance for any help/input! It is greatly appreciated.
New forum member here who is in the process of building my first loudspeaker pair when i stumbled upon your great source of knowledge/information/inspiration here at diyaudio.
Personal background:
I am a guitarist from Sweden who has recently taken an interest in music production/mixing. I would like to do it seriously, but since I have sold my last pair of event opal reference/studio monitors to my bass playing twin brother (who is even more serious about learning) I have been on the lookout for something new. Then it hit me! Maybe I can try to build my own pair of 3-way reference studio monitors?!
The last couple of weeks I have been searching for the ideal drivers for my project (willing to spend money to get the best) and ended up with a choice of tweeter and midrange that I feel would work perfectly:
Midrange: Scanspeak Illuminator 12MU/4731T00
12MU/4731T00 – Scan-Speak A/S
Tweeter: Scanspeak Illuminator D3004/662000
D3004/662000 – Scan-Speak A/S
What remains now is choosing a matching bass-driver/subwoofer for a full range 3-way loudspeaker pair.
My questions regarding this are a few:
Can you use a subwoofer as the third driver in a 3-way loudspeaker (i would prefer not needing a separate sub)?
How high can a subwoofer play? The aforementioned midrange driver I have my eyes on begins to drop off around 200Hz. Would there be a choice of subwoofer that would succeed in adding the necessary low-end and at the same time maintaining a flat and accurate frequency-response?
If a midrange drop-off point of 200Hz is a bit too high for easy matching to a subwoofer, would it help to design the midrange-enclosure with a bass-relex/transmission line design in order to extend the bass-response for better matching to subwoofer?
At the moment, for the third driver/bass driver of the build, I have my eyes on:
Scanspeak Revelator 32W/4878T00
https://www.scan-speak.dk/datasheet/pdf/32w-4878t00.pdf
This choice of subwoofer seems to have a nice and flat frequency response and would be great if it is able to integrate nice and smooth with the rest of the drivers.
My thoughts were maybe use a port for the midrange (extending the low-end) and keeping the sub in a sealed enclosure (minimizing box-size and keeping a tight low end with good transient response). The specs of the drivers seem to allow for this.
Would this work? Is there something I have missed? How do you think I should proceed?
Is there maybe a better choice for low-end-driver in my build? My wallet would really appreciate something alot cheaper haha, but still I would opt for best/flattest frequency response almost regardless of price.
Thank you so much in advance for any help/input! It is greatly appreciated.
Might want to consider a kit if you want a reference monitor. It's not particularly hard to get good results but it's also not trivial for a first build.
For a lot less money, here's a proved studio monitor project: two way, but according to Paul Carmody, the designer, the F3 is 42 Hz.
Hitmakers - undefinition
Many pairs of these have been built and reviews are excellent. Parts Express sell them as kits but the web page has everything you need to know to build a pair.
You could spend huge amounts of money on drivers but unless you get the crossover right, they will sound bleah.
Geoff
Hitmakers - undefinition
Many pairs of these have been built and reviews are excellent. Parts Express sell them as kits but the web page has everything you need to know to build a pair.
You could spend huge amounts of money on drivers but unless you get the crossover right, they will sound bleah.
Geoff
You don't want to do what you're thinking of doing. Rooms have a ray acoustic region and a modal region. The two regions require different system strategies.
If you want to build speakers for enjoyment that's one thing. But if you want to use those speakers in a pro/semi-pro capacity for mixing music you should consider buying commercial studio monitors like the JBL 705Ps. Then, add a separate subwoofer system designed to operate in the modal region.
The reason you'd want something like a JBL 705P is because you'd want confidence you had a speaker calibrated for studio work.
Building your own speakers for pro/semi-pro work puts you at risk of falling into the circle of confusion.
Attachments
You forget the pressure chamber zone, where half wavelengths are bigger than the biggest oblique size. 😉
At the TS: check out Gravesen's site. The Jenzen Illuminator seems to fit the bill, only it's a floor stander.
At the TS: check out Gravesen's site. The Jenzen Illuminator seems to fit the bill, only it's a floor stander.
Recording/monitoring/mixing studios set various specific demands for acoustic design and speaker choice. First of all you must decide what is location of "reference" fullrange monitors - in-wall, on stand, on desk? Listening distance? Room dimensions and acoustic treatment? Etc.
Acoustics / Studio Design | Sound On Sound
Acoustics / Studio Design | Sound On Sound
Thanks for all the replies!
I understand your comments regarding diy not being the best way forward for a new pair of studio monitors but mixing is something I would only do for fun, recording etc for home enjoyment is more of my thing and i really want to build a pair of speakers haha!
Would probably end up enjoying music on them 99% of the time anyway.
Will read up on all the links provided! Some new information there for sure, thanks.
I have now decided closed enclosure for all drivers based on first response haha thanks alot!
I understand your comments regarding diy not being the best way forward for a new pair of studio monitors but mixing is something I would only do for fun, recording etc for home enjoyment is more of my thing and i really want to build a pair of speakers haha!
Would probably end up enjoying music on them 99% of the time anyway.
Will read up on all the links provided! Some new information there for sure, thanks.
I have now decided closed enclosure for all drivers based on first response haha thanks alot!
Look at this when you now decided to go with a closed box. Your bass driver seems also suiitable.
Sealed is Not Acoustic Suspension in Loudspeakers | Audioholics
Sealed is Not Acoustic Suspension in Loudspeakers | Audioholics