Crossovers and tweeters for dummies

[nelsonjarvis]

Ok, I need help. I know nothing about crossovers and tweeters.

I have this speaker:
#290-518 Eminence Basslite S2012 Neo 12" Bass Guitar Speaker, 150w, spl 97, 8 ohm.

I have a 150 watt amp (#300-797) to build a powered speaker which will be used for bass and electric guitar monitoring, vocal, and playing my iPod through.

I need a tweeter/crossover to go with this speaker. I don't want a big horn, just something to project the highs. What should I get?

Should I add a midrange?

[Chris Roemer]

> Ok, I need help. I know nothing about
> crossovers and tweeters.

> I have this speaker:
> #290-518 Eminence Basslite S2012 Neo
> 12" Bass Guitar Speaker, 150w, spl 97,
> 8 ohm.

> I have a 150 watt amp (#300-797) to build a
> powered speaker which will be used for bass
> and electric guitar monitoring, vocal, and
> playing my iPod through.

> I need a tweeter/crossover to go with this
> speaker. I don't want a big horn, just
> something to project the highs. What should
> I get?

> Should I add a midrange?

problem is, I don't think anyone here can tell what you're trying to do. Do you have your 12" in a cab? Your amp says it's -3dB around 15kHz - 18kHz. Doesn't your woofer's +9dB peak near 2.5k bother you?

I know that woofer's 12", but my 6" Daytons will reach lower. I guess you need to find a tweeter with an SPL around 94dB - 97dB, and if it's 8 ohms so much the better. It doesn't have to be clean up to 20k, 'cause your amp isn't.

If you're OK with the "hump" at 2.5k, then just cross to a mediocure hi-output tweeter at 5k. If it only goes to 16-17kHz that's great! If you don't like the 2k hump, then you need to roll your 12" off by 1kHz, and add a mid and tweeter.

Chris

[stevef]

> Ok, I need help. I know nothing about
> crossovers and tweeters.

> I have this speaker: #290-518 Eminence Basslite > S2012 Neo 12"

> I have a 150 watt amp (#300-797) to build a
> powered speaker which will be used for bass
> and electric guitar monitoring, vocal, and
> playing my iPod through.

> I need a tweeter/crossover to go with this
> speaker. I don't want a big horn, just
> something to project the highs. What should
> I get?

> Should I add a midrange?

I would build one of the cabinet designs in the project ideas for your woofer. It will sound fine for bass guitar, and OK for guitar. It is not the best for vocal use without a midrange/ tweeter. It will not sound very good for music from your Ipod.

Once this speaker gets above 1KHz it is not going to be very nice for music, but OK for Bass or Guitar. A big horn can sound good if done right.

You will want an efficient mid/tweeter for best results. Adding the Dayton PA130-8 5" Full Range PA Driver as a midrange would be an inexpensive way to get better sound. It would be even better to have a tweeter in addition to the midrange.

Another idea is to use a small 2-way speaker for vocal and music playback.

Steve

[unknownuser]

> I have a 150 watt amp (#300-797) to build a
> powered speaker which will be used for bass
> and electric guitar monitoring, vocal,

You need nothing else but a box for that speaker.

> ...and playing my iPod through.

Well, if you want that driver to be part of a mid-fi system as well as a musical instrument speaker, then you should add a tweeter. It won't sound as good for the instreuments though. Just try the speaker on its own first, see how the IPod sounds through it.



(Originally posted by: BFB)

[nelsonjarvis]

> problem is, I don't think anyone here can
> tell what you're trying to do.

What am I trying to do? Good question. I'm trying to make a powered speaker, that I can use for different things, but not all at one time. I have quick gigs, fast setup, perform, and fast take down and out. I don't want a bunch of extra lugging stuff around (but I could add wheels).
My 3 applications are:
- Bass guitar amp/monitor
- Electric guitar/monitor
- Playing iPod while using vocals.

Also, I already have the amp, so I was going to start with that, and build a cab & install the woofer and tweeer into it.

I already had the woofer, and its neodym so I thought it would be lighter to carry, and I did not want to spend money on another woofer.

But I also have an Eminence Alpha 10A, 150 watt that I could use, or an Eminence 12" modeling speaker, but it is only 120 watts.

So I thought (because I know nothing about tweeters/crossovers) I could just add a tweeter to catch the highs for my vocal/iPod, but add a SWITCH to turn off the tweeter when using bass/guitar?

But after all the responses, I'm not sure what to do here. Maybe I should start from scratch in selecting a speaker/tweeter/crossover.

But thank you all for your responses and look forward to what else you have to contribute.

[unknownuser]

You could try to even the response of the 10" a little bit, to damp down it's hump. Maybe just add a 0.8mH coil. And add a tweeter on a switch. ANd put both changes on a switch. It would make a good modelling amp. And it would sound decent with iPod music.


(Originally posted by: BFB)

[unknownuser]

I have a 2 way speaker system with a 10" Eminence Alpha and a 3" full range speaker crossed over at about 600Hz. It sounds good for what it is. Since you have a woofer which will work well with instruments, you might like to make a two way system with it. I suggest a Tang Band W3-593SF 3" Driver (264-809).

For the low pass crossover I would use a 4mH inductor (266-562) and a 50uF capacitor (027-354). For the tweeter I would use 17uF capacitor (027-346) and a 2mH inductor (255-054).

I am not a crossover expert, but this should sound pretty good. At least it is a concrete example.


(Originally posted by: Emery)

[Chris Roemer]

> I have a 2 way speaker system with a
> 10" Eminence Alpha and a 3" full
> range speaker crossed over at about 600Hz.
> It sounds good for what it is. Since you
> have a woofer which will work well with
> instruments, you might like to make a two
> way system with it. I suggest a Tang Band
> W3-593SF 3" Driver (264-809).

> For the low pass crossover I would use a 4mH
> inductor (266-562) and a 50uF capacitor
> (027-354). For the tweeter I would use 17uF
> capacitor (027-346) and a 2mH inductor
> (255-054).

> I am not a crossover expert, but this should
> sound pretty good. At least it is a concrete
> example.

I'm guessin' that if someone's not bothered by a 9dB peak, then they'd probably be OK with a tweeter that played 11dB quieter. That's only a 20dB drop from 2.5k to 5k, still probably better than no highs at all

[Max_Andrews]

I used a 1" eminence compression driver with a horn crossed at 1500hz underlapped (woofer is rolled of sooner to reduce the hump). I used a BIG box though, 6 cubic feet vented to get an F3 of 36hz or so. Unfortunately you lose a lot of this deep bass because of the steep baffle step due to a waide baffle, I find myself padding down the 400hz-1000hz midrange in EQ. The actual crossover idea worked pretty well, I don't hear much of the 2k breakup.

If I were to do it again, I'd use a seas TDFC with the same underlapped design, also at 1500hz, and add an extra coil on the woofer to roll it down to 92dB prior to the XO point.