Sorry for being really long, but I had to make it detailed
Ok tell me what you guys think about this a speaker design I’ve been working on.
The basic design is a slim full range tower, I have yet to decide if it will be one piece or two piece and would like your opinions on it. Anyways at the top I was considering a MTM design using the Aurum Cantus AC-130MK2 5-1/4” carbon fiber/kevlar woofer with the Aurum Cantus G2Si ribbon tweeter. I was considering a crossover at about 2.5-3kHz. For the subwoofer section I am planning to use the Peerless XLS 12” woofer and Peerless 12” passive radiator in an opposing side firing configuration located near the bottom of the tower. The active woofer would be on the inside and the pr would be to the outside. As far as the general shape of the tower I’m planning on having the MTM section angle inward on the sides few degrees and the whole front baffle angle so the drives are time aligned. The top is going to be sloped down at the back so it reduces back wave reflections from coming out the front. For total height I was thinking somewhere around 4-4 ½ feet and width the be about 7-8”, the depth would be determined later after calculating optimal volume sizes for the drivers
This is where I have gotten so far, and now I have a bunch of options and don’t know what to do to make it sonically optimal.
If I have it as a one piece design would it be better to make the top part and the bottom part the same size, depth wise, or make the top smaller and curve it out to match with the bottom part. If I did a two piece design I would make the top smaller and have it mount on the woofer section and the woofer would be curved in the back as well. Regardless of whether it is a one or two piece design the MTM and subwoofer section will be sealed off from one another.
To amp the sub or not? The crossover on the sub is going to be around 100Hz regardless if I use a power amp or not, but what do you guys think. I have two options here as well. I could use a plate amp on the rear, but I would have to find a narrow plate amp to fit inside the narrow width of the tower. It’s also a possibility to use a rack mount amp, such as a class G. However I don’t know if I could mount it in the woofer enclosure because while the class G doesn’t produce much heat, it still has no way to escape. If I do the whole power amp thing, I won’t have to buy a separate sub and the whole speaker will be more efficient, but I have to deal with the bass management issues of having stereo bass and figuring out how to combine it for movie watching
Regarding the Aurum Cantus 5-1/4”, they are really flat from 100Hz-3kHz, but I’m concerned about it being a little muddy around 100Hz, would bumping up to a 6-1/2” or a 7” provide the midbass with any additional punch and/or clarity. Would that come at a sacrifice to midrange quality?
Based on what I’ve found bass starts to lose direction around 120Hz, so I feel the crossover to the sub of 100Hz should be good enough so that from there on down doesn’t sound like it’s coming from the side of the speaker. If this isn’t the case, I could cross it over at 80Hz to be safe, but then I feel I would need a larger woofer in the MTM configuration or either go to a 4 way design(3 way with active sub), and use an 8”, 5-1/4”, and the ribbon tweeter.
Driver information
http://www.aurumcantus.com/Midwoofers/ac-130mk2.htm
http://www.aurumcantus.com/g2g3/g2si.htm
http://www.tymphany.com/peerless/data/830500.htm
http://www.tymphany.com/peerless/data/830548.htm
So, what do you think, comments, suggestions, anything would be appreciated.
