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Well, more than a year after I bought the parts, I finally finished a pair of speakers. Sad part is I didn't even have to build the cabinets. Life has been busy I guess.
Anyway, these are a speaker designed to be an easy and inexpensive "high end" stand-mount monitor. I have always been attracted to the empty BR-1 cabinets that PE sells as a good bang for the buck option for when time, lack of tools, or lack of finishing skills prohibits cabinet building. I have tools, but not much time and minimal finishing skills. So, BR-1 cabs and easy: BReasy..Breezy Monitors. Cheesy I know
As far as driver selection, I have always liked the Vifa/Scan ring radiators, and they have been used successfully in many speakers, some quite expensive. XT25BG60-04 was the choice. Having a fixed enclosure volume of about 0.50 ft3, I needed to find a driver to match. Fortunately I really wanted to work with a large diameter coil driver like the Dynavox, Morel, Esoteric Series, etc, and the new Dynavox LW6004PMR-N 6.5" units fit the budget and enclosure volume.
Neither driver fits the driver recesses. I found the Silkie and Dayton Classic woofer both have odd frame size. Fortunately the openings were adequate. The XT25 fit in the recess with a small gap around the perimeter and the Dynavox fit as a surface mount. The diameter of the Dynavox was too large to accommodate the BR-1 grilles, so I removed the grille grommets on the baffle and used a sheet of black craft foam glued to the baffle. It provides coverage for the tweeter gap and grommet holes, and makes a nice suede-like appearance.
As far as enclosure tuning, I cut the factory port down to 3.5" (I may to increase to 5") to the outside of the flare. The enclosure is lined inside with polyester batting. This appears to set tuning in the high 40s. I feel the low end is sufficient for most music.
The crossover (schematic not drawn yet) was going to hopefully be simple. It kind of was, except once in the baffle the Dynavox produced a peak of about 5db around 1200hz that I had to create a notch to reduce to make things work out. Otherwise, it is a 2nd order electrical on the woofer and a 3rd order electrical on the tweeter. The xo frequency ends up at about 2900hz. I know this is high for a 6.5" two-way but it was comfortable for both drivers so I went with it. I feel like I liked this better than hammering drivers to a specific xo frequency that I wanted instead of letting the drivers choose, like I have done in the past. With the higher xo frequency and third order parts, it seems I was able to avoid notching the XT25's FS.
I always get excited at the end of a project and end up quasi-reviewing the sound of my own speakers when I finish them, but I am going to avoid that (because who am I to judge them) and just say that I am very pleased with the result. Pics and charts to follow. Thanks for looking!
Anyway, these are a speaker designed to be an easy and inexpensive "high end" stand-mount monitor. I have always been attracted to the empty BR-1 cabinets that PE sells as a good bang for the buck option for when time, lack of tools, or lack of finishing skills prohibits cabinet building. I have tools, but not much time and minimal finishing skills. So, BR-1 cabs and easy: BReasy..Breezy Monitors. Cheesy I know
As far as driver selection, I have always liked the Vifa/Scan ring radiators, and they have been used successfully in many speakers, some quite expensive. XT25BG60-04 was the choice. Having a fixed enclosure volume of about 0.50 ft3, I needed to find a driver to match. Fortunately I really wanted to work with a large diameter coil driver like the Dynavox, Morel, Esoteric Series, etc, and the new Dynavox LW6004PMR-N 6.5" units fit the budget and enclosure volume.
Neither driver fits the driver recesses. I found the Silkie and Dayton Classic woofer both have odd frame size. Fortunately the openings were adequate. The XT25 fit in the recess with a small gap around the perimeter and the Dynavox fit as a surface mount. The diameter of the Dynavox was too large to accommodate the BR-1 grilles, so I removed the grille grommets on the baffle and used a sheet of black craft foam glued to the baffle. It provides coverage for the tweeter gap and grommet holes, and makes a nice suede-like appearance.
As far as enclosure tuning, I cut the factory port down to 3.5" (I may to increase to 5") to the outside of the flare. The enclosure is lined inside with polyester batting. This appears to set tuning in the high 40s. I feel the low end is sufficient for most music.
The crossover (schematic not drawn yet) was going to hopefully be simple. It kind of was, except once in the baffle the Dynavox produced a peak of about 5db around 1200hz that I had to create a notch to reduce to make things work out. Otherwise, it is a 2nd order electrical on the woofer and a 3rd order electrical on the tweeter. The xo frequency ends up at about 2900hz. I know this is high for a 6.5" two-way but it was comfortable for both drivers so I went with it. I feel like I liked this better than hammering drivers to a specific xo frequency that I wanted instead of letting the drivers choose, like I have done in the past. With the higher xo frequency and third order parts, it seems I was able to avoid notching the XT25's FS.
I always get excited at the end of a project and end up quasi-reviewing the sound of my own speakers when I finish them, but I am going to avoid that (because who am I to judge them) and just say that I am very pleased with the result. Pics and charts to follow. Thanks for looking!
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