Side firing woofers on towers

[walter duque]

What are the pros and cons of sidefiring woofers on towers. Is it the bigger soundstage you get from side firing or what?

 

[R-Carpenter]

It allows a speaker design with relatively narrow face and a large woofer. It's another type of compromise as well as any other speaker designs. A properly executed design with well made crossover will sound great and a bad crossover with for example high enough crossover point for the side firing woofer will create a havoc of standing waves and cancellations. As far as side firing vs front firing I'd imagine a front firing base speaker may have a slight advantage in the crossover design flexibility and probably a slightly better upper base/lower midrange.

 

[walter duque]

[

QUOTE=R-Carpenter;571390]It allows a speaker design with relatively narrow face and a large woofer. It's another type of compromise as well as any other speaker designs. A properly executed design with well made crossover will sound great and a bad crossover with for example high enough crossover point for the side firing woofer will create a havoc of standing waves and cancellations. As far as side firing vs front firing I'd imagine a front firing base speaker may have a slight advantage in the crossover design flexibility and probably a slightly better upper base/lower midrange.[/QUOTE

]
I use side firing towers for my surrounds. When ever somebody stops over and checks out my system these towers always get the most attention. They sound that good. I was actualy thinking about replacing my front towers with these below.
http://www.sourcespeaker.com/83triline.html

 

[just-some-guy]

[]
When ever somebody stops over and checks out my system these towers always get the most attention.

are these a/vphiles that are stopping by ?

 

[walter duque]

just-some-guy;571452]are these a/vphiles that are stopping by ?

[/QUOTE]
Yes they are. These are not cheap did cost me $2200.00.

 

[fredk]

Yes they are.

Did you make sure with the secret handshake? You never can be too careful...

 

[walter duque]

Did you make sure with the secret handshake? You never can be too careful...

You got me on that one.

 

[TLS Guy]

You got me on that one.

The problem with side firing woofers, is that to do a good job, active crossovers are pretty much essential. Side firing woofers require a low crossover point, below 350 Hz, and passive solutions are expensive and less than ideal even if correctly designed.

With side firing woofers and and a crossover point appropriate for passive crossovers, good driver integration is not possible.

 

[just-some-guy]

Yes they are. These are not cheap did cost me $2200.00.

ooops. i didn't see/click the link. i can see why they the attention. those look pretty sweet.

 

[walter duque]

With side firing woofers and and a crossover point appropriate for passive crossovers, good driver integration is not possible.

[/QUOTE]
TLS Guy
I think you kind of answered my question. And I thank you for that.

 

[R-Carpenter]

The problem with side firing woofers, is that to do a good job, active crossovers are pretty much essential. Side firing woofers require a low crossover point, below 350 Hz, and passive solutions are expensive and less than ideal even if correctly designed.

With side firing woofers and and a crossover point appropriate for passive crossovers, good driver integration is not possible.

Or perhaps if the sidefiring woofer crossed around 100hzwith either active crossover or IT actually being a subwoofer with an amp? But then again it becomes a subwoofer at that point. Yeah passive crossover in this case is far from being ideal or cheap.

 

[walter duque]

Or perhaps if the sidefiring woofer crossed around 100hzwith either active crossover or IT actually being a subwoofer with an amp? But then again it becomes a subwoofer at that point. Yeah passive crossover in this case is far from being ideal or cheap.

Thanks for all your input. I am getting quiet an education on this, which none of it I am aware of. Crossovers I really don't have a good understanding of, I know how they work and what they do, but that's about as far as it goes. So in the model below it would be considered a sub, right? Not a woofer. I have to say you guys are good at this.

http://www.sourcespeaker.com/83triline.html

 

[MatthewB.]

I have the DefTech BP7001sc and let me tell you the good and the bad.

Good - room filling mid bass that is very powerful and beacsue it is used in stereo configuration, set-up is very easy.

Bad - Although DefTech claims each tower has a Supercube 1 with 1500 watt amp[ in each tower. DT claims it will go down to 13Hz. Mine drops like a rock after 30Hz, so from 30hz-80Hz (internal crossover point) the bass is very tight, well controlled and can be adjusted very loud (I have mine set at 12:00 and it is very loud) but below 30Hz the bass becomes muddy and I get this overbloated bassy sound.

So since my reciever only can go as low as 40Hz before it sets the speaker to large. I have to use the tower woofers as mid bass drivers (which to me defeats the purpose of having built in subs. I should have looked hard for a BP30 speaker and saved some money but considering I got these at about the cost of the BP30's I can't complain. But if I had to do it over again. I would use the money for towers and gotten some great non woofer towers or great low extending bookshelves and put the saved money into a great sub.

 

[walter duque]

I have the DefTech BP7001sc and let me tell you the good and the bad.

Good - room filling mid bass that is very powerful and beacsue it is used in stereo configuration, set-up is very easy.

Bad - Although DefTech claims each tower has a Supercube 1 with 1500 watt amp[ in each tower. DT claims it will go down to 13Hz. Mine drops like a rock after 30Hz, so from 30hz-80Hz (internal crossover point) the bass is very tight, well controlled and can be adjusted very loud (I have mine set at 12:00 and it is very loud) but below 30Hz the bass becomes muddy and I get this overbloated bassy sound.

So since my reciever only can go as low as 40Hz before it sets the speaker to large. I have to use the tower woofers as mid bass drivers (which to me defeats the purpose of having built in subs. I should have looked hard for a BP30 speaker and saved some money but considering I got these at about the cost of the BP30's I can't complain. But if I had to do it over again. I would use the money for towers and gotten some great non woofer towers or great low extending bookshelves and put the saved money into a great sub.

I use Powertowers for my front mains. 2-8" subs build in with 400 watt amps. They do sound good but like you say they sound a little muddy (set at 12 o'clock), but for the money I have to agree with you because the top is a tweeter and 8" midbass or mid range, so it's really a bookshelf speaker. I have been turning my subs on the towers off and only using the top. I also use two regular subs which sounds better. I could have safed me some money on this. I am not saying they sound bad but just not tight enough for me. I own these for about 10 years and I guess I am getting tired of them and just looking for an excuse to get something new.