My first DIY speakers and my challenges.

[newaudiofile]

This is a project that might take some time due to different reasons that I wont go into now.

I planning on building two 3-way tower speakers from left-over speakers that I used to use.

Tweeter--- not bought yet.
4 in woofer---available
6.5 in woofer---available

I have the idea of how I want the speakers to look like. But I'm so sure of the technical part of it.

The first challenge
Apart from the tweeters that I will buy, i do not have any information on the two speakers. So how can I design the crossover.

The second challenge.
Since i do not have information on those two speakers how will i figure out the enclosure size?

I plan on using MDF. Maybe 3/4 in. Not sure yet.

Here is my outward design below.

The top enclosure will contain the tweeter and the 4"
The mid enclosure will contain the 6.5"
The bottom enclosure is for hight purposes.

Any ideas, software, and circuit design will be much appreciated.

 

[newaudiofile]

Still need help. As i dont have parameters on my bass driver. I have been doing a lot of reading about ported and non-ported speakers. From what i'm getting with non-ported, you dont have to be so precise with everything. Mistakes are allowed.

So I have decided to build a non-ported speaker. My question then is will it be best to have a larger or smaller volume? Which one will reduce errors if you know what i mean?

 

[Rickster71]

i do not have any information on the two speakers. So how can I design the crossover.


Since i do not have information on those two speakers how will i figure out the enclosure size?

Hi newaudiofile,
You've asked a very good question.
The answer is you can't build a crossover or a cabinet, without first having the driver parameters.

 

[jinjuku]

Still need help. As i dont have parameters on my bass driver. I have been doing a lot of reading about ported and non-ported speakers. From what i'm getting with non-ported, you dont have to be so precise with everything. Mistakes are allowed.

So I have decided to build a non-ported speaker. My question then is will it be best to have a larger or smaller volume? Which one will reduce errors if you know what i mean?

You should start out with a design already on the web:

http://www.zaphaudio.com/
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/support_pages.php?page_id=165
http://www.rjbaudio.com/

This is just an example...

 

[TLS Guy]

This is a project that might take some time due to different reasons that I wont go into now.

I planning on building two 3-way tower speakers from left-over speakers that I used to use.

Tweeter--- not bought yet.
4 in woofer---available
6.5 in woofer---available

I have the idea of how I want the speakers to look like. But I'm so sure of the technical part of it.

The first challenge
Apart from the tweeters that I will buy, i do not have any information on the two speakers. So how can I design the crossover.

The second challenge.
Since i do not have information on those two speakers how will i figure out the enclosure size?

I plan on using MDF. Maybe 3/4 in. Not sure yet.

Here is my outward design below.

The top enclosure will contain the tweeter and the 4"
The mid enclosure will contain the 6.5"
The bottom enclosure is for hight purposes.

Any ideas, software, and circuit design will be much appreciated.

As it has been explained to you, you need to know the Thiel/Small parameters to design the box. You can measure these with a woofer tester. However to deign a crossover, you need the T/S parameters of all drivers, and reliable acoustic data for all drivers.

I have an observation, that making a three way when using 6.5 inch woofers is redundant. The fewer crossover points the better, as crossovers cause phasing aberrations and time smear. A two and a half way using two 6.5 inch drivers and a tweeter, will turn out much better, and allow for good correction of diffraction loss.

Three way speakers are difficult, and I always advise against them for a first project.

If you want to change to a less ambitious project with drivers that are a known quantity, or use a well regarded kit, then we can help you.

 

[newaudiofile]

Thanks guys but let me be more precise.
Like I mentioned before the mid and bass speakers are from my old speakers.
When I took the bass speaker out to check the crossover circuit, i realised that it had no coil connected to it. the tweeters in that cabinet had some capcitors. This makes me think that the bass speaker is a full-range speaker so I can cross it at any frequency that I want.

I'm going to open the other cabinet that encloses the mid speaker and see at what frequency it is crossed.

I will buy the tweeter from a shop and i will have parameters for that.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I could come up with some sort of crossover circuit. The only problems is that the speaker sensitivities will not be balanced.



So now i guess the only problem will be the enclosure itself, assuming my assumptions are right.

I'm still open for ideas if available.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks guys but let me be more precise.
Like I mentioned before the mid and bass speakers are from my old speakers.
When I took the bass speaker out to check the crossover circuit, i realised that it had no coil connected to it. the tweeters in that cabinet had some capcitors. This makes me think that the bass speaker is a full-range speaker so I can cross it at any frequency that I want.

I'm going to open the other cabinet that encloses the mid speaker and see at what frequency it is crossed.

I will buy the tweeter from a shop and i will have parameters for that.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I could come up with some sort of crossover circuit. The only problems is that the speaker sensitivities will not be balanced.



So now i guess the only problem will be the enclosure itself, assuming my assumptions are right.

I'm still open for ideas if available.

Honestly this project is not worth time and effort. If the bass driver was running full range, you have a set of speakers that need a decent burial, not precious time and effort.

Move on to a project more worthy of your time.

 

[jinjuku]

Thanks guys but let me be more precise.
Like I mentioned before the mid and bass speakers are from my old speakers.
When I took the bass speaker out to check the crossover circuit, i realised that it had no coil connected to it. the tweeters in that cabinet had some capcitors. This makes me think that the bass speaker is a full-range speaker so I can cross it at any frequency that I want.

I'm going to open the other cabinet that encloses the mid speaker and see at what frequency it is crossed.

I will buy the tweeter from a shop and i will have parameters for that.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I could come up with some sort of crossover circuit. The only problems is that the speaker sensitivities will not be balanced.



So now i guess the only problem will be the enclosure itself, assuming my assumptions are right.

I'm still open for ideas if available.

While we are definitely glad to have another member on these forums, we can only help you if you are willing to listen. You need to pull back, clear some of this out of your mind, and re-read all the posts (including yours) as an outsider.

You will then have the perspective that we are trying to get across to you.

 

[jamie2112]

While we are definitely glad to have another member on these forums, we can only help you if you are willing to listen. You need to pull back, clear some of this out of your mind, and re-read all the posts (including yours) as an outsider.

You will then have the perspective that we are trying to get across to you.

Great advice.......

 

[newaudiofile]

If you want to change to a less ambitious project with drivers that are a known quantity, or use a well regarded kit, then we can help you.

I have been thinking about that so that is what I'm going to do.

While we are definitely glad to have another member on these forums, we can only help you if you are willing to listen. You need to pull back, clear some of this out of your mind, and re-read all the posts (including yours) as an outsider.
You will then have the perspective that we are trying to get across to you.

Thanks guys. Very much appreciated advice. I'm going through all this because i dont want to spend money, screw my first project up to cost me money. Yeah i know in the end it will still cost me money because i will not be satisfied with the results, but by then I would have hoped to learn alot.

From my experience you never really learn much when everything is hand out with parameters. I want to gain character from what I do.

Anyway i hope you get my drift.......

I will take TLS Guys advice and go less ambitious.