Design Software?

[nikbrewer]

I did a search, and came up with a lot of answers, nothing definate.

i have downloaded Win ISD Pro Alpha

looks be used maily for subs?

I have not down loaded the passive crossover excel chart ( can someone post alink?)

Now here is my question, does PE sell any software that is worth the money to design speakers?

It lookeds like most people think poorly of winspeakerz. Why is this?

is there anything else under lets say about 100$ thats worth it?
I am pretty computer savy and pick stuff up failry quick

[johnastockman]

I did a search, and came up with a lot of answers, nothing definate.

i have downloaded Win ISD Pro Alpha

looks be used maily for subs?

I have not down loaded the passive crossover excel chart ( can someone post alink?)

Now here is my question, does PE sell any software that is worth the money to design speakers?

It lookeds like most people think poorly of winspeakerz. Why is this?

is there anything else under lets say about 100$ thats worth it?
I am pretty computer savy and pick stuff up failry quick


WinISD is for more than subs...I used it to design ported enclosures with excellent results. Same with sealed, whether a small 2-way, or larger.

You can buy software like Sound Easy, but many outstanding designs have been built using WinISD or Unibox and Jeff Bagby's PCD 6.20:

http://audio.claub.net/software/jbagby.html

Another program is Speaker Workshop, and it's free. Learning curve can be steep.


John A.

[nikbrewer]

so is winspeakerz a no go?

[johnastockman]

so is winspeakerz a no go?


I can't say, never used it. But the programs listed have been used and are well proven, as the guys here can attest to. I"ve built many designs that have used these programs, and they all have exceeded my high expectations.

John A.

[nikbrewer]

well, itshard to beat good and free, right?

[djarchow]

so is winspeakerz a no go?

Winspeakerz doesn't allow the use of measured frequency response and phase making it of little value. SoundEasy and LspCad are both commercial packages that will do about anything you ever wanted for design and measurement (though LspCad is weaker in measurement functionality than SoundEasy).

Passive XO designer is great and is free. SpeakerWorkshop is also free and fine for measurements and some design, though SoundEasy and LspCad are far more complete.

Please be aware though that any of the design and measurement tools, even the free ones are not wizard based tools that do all the work for you. These are real design tools and require at least some knowledge of speaker design to get the most out of them.

Regards,

Dennis

[nikbrewer]

so, is there any wizard style software availible?

[dthomas]

so, is there any wizard style software availible?

Depends on what you expect from a wizard. PCD is about as close to a wizard as you can expect. But even it still requires some knowledge of how filters works to get the optimum result. At a minimum you need:

SPL Trace
Minimum Phase Response Modeler (baffle step, diffraction and box calculations)
Passive Crossover Designer

This would allow you to design based on manufacturer's data sheet measurements. I also use Unibox for box modeling because it will calculate mechanical limits of the driver/enclosure as a system. There are other box modeling programs that will do this also. You can design very good systems this way especially if you use Zaph's measurement data or stick with better quality manufacturers' whose data tends to be more reliable. The biggest stumbling block here is incosistency in manufacturing or obsolete data from the manufacturer. I modeled a system recently using Zaph's measurement data then ordered the drivers and measured myself and basically ended up with near identical results so Zaph's data is very accurate as is the modeling software.

For best results you need a measurement package for response and impedance. This way you know you have the correct data for you particular drivers and you can verify your results. I use ARTA for acoustic measurements you can download a free version to try it will do all you need except save data files but you can copy the graphs and trace them with SPL Trace to create .frd and .zma files for crossover optimization. It will also do impedance measurements but I use the woofer tester 2 for this as I picked one up cheap and it is so simple and fast to use. The woofer tester also will double as an accurate LCR meter if you need custom cap values or want to build your own inductors. At first it might seem intimidating but if you have the prerequisite technical knowledge of how filters and drivers work it will come quite quickly.

[nikbrewer]

sweet. Part #1 : buy book, read lot to full yunderstand what i need to know
Part#2, download software
Part #3: design and build speakers
part #4, repeate steps 1-3 as often as needed

[dthomas]

sweet. Part #1 : buy book, read lot to full yunderstand what i need to know
Part#2, download software
Part #3: design and build speakers
part #4, repeate steps 1-3 as often as needed

No substitute for experience... that is for sure. Find a group in your area that gets together for meets. That is a great way to gain information and insight.

Here in Dallas/Ft. Worth we have a pretty good group of guys who gets together regularly to listen, try and just discuss audio.

[nikbrewer]

Well, im up in okc, ill have to chech around and see if there is anythig up here. Any idea how to find a group?

[dthomas]

Well, im up in okc, ill have to chech around and see if there is anythig up here. Any idea how to find a group?

Post it on this website... under a new topic. You might be surprised how many local to OKC frequent this board. Also we do a lot of events here on the North side of DFW so you are only a couple of hours we even get folks driving up from Austin.

We will probably do an event after the holidays so watch the board we usually post our events here also.

[nikbrewer]

Sweet, Will Do