# Advice on tweeters and mains cab build



## Pancakes (Jan 16, 2008)

I have built a few sets of speakers but never had a selection of tweeters to choose from with the speakers either being supplied by the people I was building for or used horns mainly for power handling at low cost. The weakest link in my system is my mains which were the first house speakers I built. Had done car stuff before that but just sound deadening and sub boxes.

I have re-done the XO's in my boxes and they are way better because of it but are still cheap 8's and cheap plastic horn tweeters. Once I have finished the speakers I will be making some mono-blocks so power won't be a problem but I really love high transients in music and so I want sensitive speakers with good imaging.

I like a high and "dry-dusty-airy" sound from the tops but hate brightness. Mmmmmm. Leaning the $14.95 USD soft dome tweeters from Apex Jr or these;
http://jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp...&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=459
from Jaycar. want to use some of the paper cone speakers for the mid and woofer from Jaycar as they are local and the freight from the states on heavy speakers blows my budget out the window!

Looking at tweeter, 4 or maybe 6" mids and 8 or 10 or 12" woofers. will be run with subs that operate from 14 -45Hz and are only just idling along at the moment with these mains which is good cos it leaves their response sounding nice and accurate.

Will be building them WMTMW and box size isn't really an issue.

Thanks for making it this far through a rambling and tedious post!

My questions and things I'm not set on are the progression of speaker sizes. ie if I cross from the tweeter at~3k is a 4" mid going to work there? How much range will a 4" play before it gets nasty and where would I be looking to cross to the woofers at? is 4" to 10" too big a step?

Also thinking about a trick moulded front baffle to help dispertion and therefore imaging. A friend has a wood CNC that I can use but not for the whole box, just the front baffle most likely. I'm thinking a kinda hourglass shape mugging the speakers and tapering toward the back. 

Fire out those opinions!

Thanks, Brian.


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## looneybomber (Sep 20, 2006)

There's a lot of stuff going on in this thread. One simple thing to think about is the relation of output and cost. Simplistically speaking, as one goes up, so does the other. 

Figure out how much output you need because you may either,
1. Be able to cut costs by using less drivers (a WMT vs WMTMW)
2. Find out you need a lot more money because you're going to need an expensive tweeter.

Re: tweeter, 4" mid, and 10" woofer.
It can totally work depending on the drivers used and application. If however you need a lot of output, you may have to jump up to a 5" or even 6-6.5" mid. Or if the tweeter can't handle crossing over low enough to a 6" (I don't know why it couldn't), then you'll have to find yourself a good woofer that can crossover a little higher to make the 4" mid work with the tweeter.

Re: WMTMW.
Now driver diameter really matters due to center to center spacing. A 4" mid can certainly help a lot of things out, along with a small framed tweeter. That allows you to get your XO high enough to not stress the tweeter too much. A 6" mid will force you to drop it a bit more. In a WMT, driver diameter isn't that big of an issue, not like it is in an MTM or WMTMW.

How much money were you looking to spend? I saw a build recently with 3, 10" Beyma woofers, B&C 6" mid, and B&C compression driver mated to an 18sound waveguide. The sensitivity should be high and the output should be fairly considerable. The guy is from somewhere in Europe, which is why I mention it.


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## Pancakes (Jan 16, 2008)

Cost can't be crazy but I feel I will need to spend around $600NZD for the drivers to get a good result. If I could spend less that would be a plus of course but would rather take longer to get the money together and have a better result. Doesn't have to be MTM or WMTMW but I like the look. My #1 requirement is a good sound stage and clear imaging for music though I may add more speakers later to make up 6.1 or 6.2 surround. I like volume but more for clear transients than rock concert reproduction as my ears can't handle too loud for too long! Also want a BIG transient sound.

I guess anything that people have seen, build or heard of is ok as I want to have a clear plan of where I am going with this before I lay any money out.

The hardest thing is lack of driver suppliers in NZ and the cost of freight pretty much doubling the cost of woofers.

So.... any ideas


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## Pancakes (Jan 16, 2008)

Please tell me more about the centre to centre measurements or point me to a thread where it has been covered.


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