What to look for in DIY project drivers? (1 Viewer)

[Aaron_Morris]

I am wanting to eventaully make a set of mains, a center, and surrounds. I have been looking through the madisound catalog and looking on PE for possible drivers to use. What are some T/S parameters that are common to good drivers? What should I be looking for?

 

[Greg Monfort]

The question is a bit too general, specs by themselves don't necessarily tell you much about a driver's sound quality, and with no idea what your listening preferences are, the level of performance you expect and whether you can afford it in $$/space, etc.....

GM

 

[Justin Ward]

When dealing with subwoofers, X-max and VD are very important when determining maximum volume capabilities.

 

[Aaron_Morris]

Well, I dunno what I really want yet. I am just trying to feel my way through the options.

I think I would like to build MTMW for the mains and a MTM (or something similar, like a 6.5" on the outsides and a 3 or 4" in the middle with a tweet on top of it) for the center, and TM for the surrounds. My ear is not used to highend equipment, so I think a decent setup would be a step up from where I am at. I don't have matching speakers for my front stage, nor are the surrounds matching to the rest of the setup.
For a sub, I am going to use a tempest with a rythmik amp. I have bass shakers in my couch already.

But what I was trying to get at for the T/S parameters is for the midbass(woofers for the mains), midrange, and tweets. Are there certain specs that would stand out as markers of drivers that are not well rounded? I understand Xmax as a decent indicator of a subs potential (yes, I know that there is more to it, but it is a nice flag to look for) are there similar flags regarding other types of drivers? Should I be looking for mids with certain chacteristics or tweets with certain similarities?

Or is there no way to tell by the numbers if a driver will fit my application? I figure there must be some reason those numbers are posted, wheter it be for modeling purposes or something else. I just want some guidance on choosing drivers, so that I can narrow down what I can and cannot do.