It'll be a few years before I will be able to make a decent pair of speakers, but I still like to learn what I can in the meantime.
I have to agree with TLS Guy's opinion of the AN-15 full range driver. Stay away from it, despite the reviews you've read. Right now, you seem a bit like a moth, determined to crash through a glass light bulb and fry itself on the filament. So its, a good thing that you have a few years before you can go ahead with any plans.
Now is an excellent time to read and learn – in books, not the internet! First I suggest you try one or both of these books:
Right now you seem to know some of the vocabulary, but you don't have a clear understanding of what's involved. Off the top of my head, based on what you have mentioned so far, you need to learn:
- Much more about crossovers. Their design is really central to how drivers become good sounding speakers. Most of the internet "wisdom" that says crossovers are the source of distortion, poor sound, or other evil, comes from people who don't understand this. Any evil that results from a crossover (I'd call them compromises not evil) is far preferable than what you'll get by avoiding a crossover.
- The benefits and disadvantages of various different crossover slopes.
- Selecting drivers and crossover frequencies to maximize off-axis dispersion and minimize unwanted noise (such as woofer break up noise at high frequency) or distortion (such as tweeter distortion at low frequencies).
- The benefits of low Qts in designing a cabinet for a woofer. High Q does produce more low frequency output, but it comes at the expense of ringing bass. You get a muddy sound where a single bass note rings on and on and obscures much upper bass, lower mid-range detail.
I could go on, but I'll stop here.
