What to look for when choosing speakers for DIY project? (1 Viewer)

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

I keep jumping back and forth on either making my own bookshelf speakers or just buying them. The tinkerer in me just won't let me go and buy a pre-made set.

On a few of the DIY sites I found, some said that you need to choose speakers for your project that complement each other and that you can't just go and arbitrarily pick out a woof and tweet. I notice some sites use a Dayton woofer with a Dayton tweeter and others prefer a Morel Woofer with a Vifa tweeter. Of course then you have the crossover.

So my question is: What makes one choose a particular woofer and tweeter pair when doing a DIY project? Would it be the parameters in particular the frequency range (i.e. - woof = 50 - 3500 and tweet = 3500 - 20k)? Is it that they come from the same manufacturer? Or is it none of this and it's the crossover that makes all the difference?

By the way, this is for a stereo bedroom system. Wanting to use 5.25" woofs to limit exterior width to 7.5". And trying to get as much bass as possible. Won't be using subwoofer.

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

There are dozen's of proven 2 way designs out there. You want to find one of these and follow the recipe. It is necessary to make real world adjustments to crossover components with any given pair of drivers to end up with a good result- generic crossovers or crossovers designed by software based on the driver's perameters do not work. Trust me, you do not want to embark on this project. The heavy lifting has already been done many times.

Your specification of good deep bass in a cabinet 7.5 inches or narrower are to some extent mutually exclusive. If you can go up to 10 inches, this project has great bass. Scanspeak woofers and their Usher clones are known for good bass output at any given driver diameter.



2 way project with good bass

That site has some other projects that may interest you, and thats just scratching the surface.

Having drivers from the same manufacturer is a non issue. They do have to have a little overlap in frequency response as you surmised.



Basically yes, although cabinet volume, port tuning, driver positioning on the baffel all come into play.

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Is this worth getting into as a beginner?

 

[Brendan_Lewis]

We were all beginners at one point.

A kit or published design is a good way to ensure satisfaction and make sure you don't feel like you've wasted time and effort.

 

[John_B]

Could you guys give some links to these DIY sites for speaker kits? I'd like to try my hand at this, but, not sure where to look. I have already made the Stryke HE-15 sub from scratch, so I think I could handle this. I would be looking for a surround system.

Thanks
John

 

[Bob K]

I want to emphasize Brian's comment that, unless you have the equipment and are prepared to spend a ton of time, use a proven design. http://www.partsexpress.com and http://www.madisound.com are two leading forums in which to search for suggestions. For a specific lead, I'm a fan of http://www.pispeakers.com . It's also worth mentioning that the easiest first speaker project is a sub: try http://www.adireaudio.com for specific designs.

Tempest Construction Pix: http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/m...view_album.php

 

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

Unfortunately I am stuck at 7.5" wide. This is going next to my TV in an armoire in the bedroom. These will never see reference levels. My wife and I just want a good sounding bookshelf that will thump without the use of a sub. I don't expect sub output levels from these. They can be 25" tall and 20" deep it's just I'm stuck at 7.5" wide. I was thinking MTM configuration but that's a little more than I want to tackle right now.

John_B, Here are the sites I have found so far:

http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_fi.../D2/d2main.htm
http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_fi...D3/dayton3.htm
http://www.geocities.com/cc00541/Dayton_MTM_CC_FIN.html
http://www.speakerbuilding.com/content/1015/
http://www.partsexpress.com/projects...mni/index.html
http://www.creativesound.ca/
http://www.partsexpress.com/projects...ylumfinal.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/
http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/
http://www.gr-research.com/
http://home.earthlink.net/~etunstal/diy.htm
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/sanaka/AudioDIY/DHT/DHT.html
http://murphyblaster.com/content.php?f=main.html
http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_files/default.htm
http://www.io.com/~patman/s1.html#construction

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

You found a lot of the good stuff, your on your way. I just finished this project :

Jordan single driver

and it has suprizingly satisfying bass. I measured the FR and it is actually flat all the way to 20,000 Hz (on axis at least). Amazing driver. Since your willing to have a tall cabinet, you could go with the TL version and get even more bass. As a bonus, since there is only one driver, you don't have to deal with building a crossover. This driver is avaliable at creative sound (the 6th link on your list), and from there you can find info on the TL version.

 

[John_B]

Wow, lots of reading to do. Thanks guys. I am planning to do a Home Theater setup at 7.2 speakers. The 2 subs I already have, Stryke HE-15's. I would like the 3 fronts and 2 rears to be the same in design and try to find 2 dipoles for the sides if I can. This could be a problem. I may just have to do a 5.2 for now.

John