on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

[fastbike1]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

Look at the Dayton DTA-100a. That should be plenty powerful enough to drive the Nano's.

Thinking of something that I can use around my desktop PC for music and these are definitely great for the price as well as the extended bass response...but they do appear to be very low efficiency speakers. How many watts would I realistically need to drive these for near-field listening? I was thinking of putting together a small desktop system with a t-amp or something using one of the tripath chips likely to be 20wpc or less...but not sure that would work for these nano neos...thoughts?

[Dennis]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

Chris,

I'm filling my shopping cart now for a pair of the Nano Neos with the updated crossover. But I'm wondering about that cap on the high pass filter. Your earlier posted recommeded part # 027-419 whicih is 4.3 uF, but the diagram in your gallery lists a 4.0uF cap. Any reason for the difference in value? Or did I miss something along the way?

Looking forward to the build.

Thanks,
Dennis

[Chris Roemer]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

Chris,

I'm filling my shopping cart now for a pair of the Nano Neos with the updated crossover. But I'm wondering about that cap on the high pass filter. Your earlier posted recommeded part # 027-419 whicih is 4.3 uF, but the diagram in your gallery lists a 4.0uF cap. Any reason for the difference in value? Or did I miss something along the way?

Looking forward to the build.

Thanks,
Dennis

I'd use the 4.3uF.

As I'm sure you're aware, even mass marketed products always have the "reserve the right to make product changes to blah, blah, blah . . ." disclaimer. I'm pretty sure it's even more prevalent in DIY designs.

When I first made the Nano Neos about a year ago, I had a very strict (self imposed) budget. That's really what drove them. I had this $12 woofer (on sale, right now it's $14.90) and an $8 tweeter, and $7.50 left for a crossover.

I actually bough the parts for a 5 element XO (Fc near 6k, actually) with a cap & L-pad for the HP, and a coil and shunt cap on the 4" woofer. When I took them for a test drive, I didn't like what the woofer was doing coming up to 6k. I fiddled with my sim and found that I could change the cross pt. to 4k by just adding a resistor to the woofer's shunt cap, effectively making it a Zobel. I had already revised the XO, and hadn't even published the design yet. As soon as I did, people wanted to know what a "non-budget" XO would look like, and also how to mod it for an MTM version.

When the Nano Neos debuted at DIY Iowa last October, we were lucky enough to have someone volunteer to bring in their measurement system. Even though I liked the way they sounded, I could see that they had a bit of a bump around 2 to 3kHz, actually almost +3dB. Since then I've added another shunt (cap) to the low pass section, and with a little redesign, smoothed out the hump. Of course, this was only affordable on the "non-budget" version of the XO.

Since then (the 2 crossovers on my blog) I've made slight changes to both those non-budget XOs so that the NNs and the ntns will have the same response. YOUR shopping list has the lastest non-budget XO changes. When I get around to it, I'll be revising those 2 schematics just a tad, as well as adding a budget version using 7 elements (old 3 el. HP, but new 4 el. LP) that's still under its original $7.50 price tag. I'm going to go with a higher value, #20 coil, so I can afford the extra shunt cap. Stay tuned.

Chris

[Dennis]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

Thanks Chris. Yeah, it is the latest nonbudget XO that I am interested in using. I assume that I just swap the 4.3 uF cap for the 4.0 uF cap in the diagram in your gallery?

I can't thank you and all the other guys enough for designing all these great speakers for the rest of us to build!

Dennis

[Chris Roemer]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

Thanks Chris. Yeah, it is the latest nonbudget XO that I am interested in using. I assume that I just swap the 4.3 uF cap for the 4.0 uF cap in the diagram in your gallery?

I can't thank you and all the other guys enough for designing all these great speakers for the rest of us to build!

Dennis

You got it.

Be sure to let us know how it went, after you build 'em.
Also, check the 1st half dozen of my posts. I HIGHLY recommnd 3/4" cab stock, and you really need to relieve the backside of the baffle around the woofer so it can breathe. You'll see what I mean when you get to actually hold them.

Chris

[Herman Trivilino]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

I want to build some of these, too. I need to get off my but* and order the drivers before the sale ends. Just so you know, the 015-4 resistor is out of stock until December 2011 :eek:

Might want to opt for the 10-watt version which is out of stock until only later this month.

[Chris Roemer]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

I want to build some of these, too. I need to get off my but* and order the drivers before the sale ends. Just so you know, the 015-4 resistor is out of stock until December 2011 :eek:

Might want to opt for the 10-watt version which is out of stock until only later this month.

Hey Herman.

Yup, placed an order on Jan 1st (IIRC) for parts to build 2 pair of Nano Neos (non-budget XO) and one pair of ntns, so . . . 8 woofers and 6 tweeters. I forgot about the discount when buying 4 or more, so the $8 tweeters are only $6.73. ;-)

Back THEN, it said that the 015-4 was B.O. until March 18th, so I DID order the 016-4s, which should be in Jan 24th. Also, the 2mH I-core (for the ntn low pass) is out, due Jan 14th.

I posted a thread on all the parts I measured with my Woofer Tester 3. Everything measured real close, even the npe caps.

I've got to break in my 8 little woofers to see how much the T/S parms change.

See ya.

[Dennis]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

I just bit the bullet & ordered the 004-4 instead. Or plan to, haven't pulled the trigger yet.

[Herman Trivilino]

Re: SICK - SICK - SICK . . .

Here's my version.

HP - 2nd order for safety: 4uF cap stays, then a #20 0.30mH shunt coil (to ground). Change L-pad to 5 ohm SR (series) and 3 ohm PR. Tweeter keeps positive polarity.

LP (for two ND105-4's in series): bigger coil - a #18 1.4mH (0.6 ohm DCR). Zobel changes to 6 ohm resistor and 4uF cap.Off you go.

Hi Chris,

I've been following this thread closely. I've learned a lot about component selection, especially from the post where you described the measurements. Seems that sometimes there's more variation in the inductance and resistance of the drivers than in the coils and resistors.

Anyway, I'd like your opinion on this. I'm thinking of using the above quoted xover because I've already got the most expensive parts on hand. Well, sort of. I've got the two 1.4 mH I-core inductors that were pulled from that old KLH cabinet we tried to rebuild, and I've got two 0.278 mH inductors that are part of the xovers I tried to use initially to replace the stock xovers in the KLH cabinets.

If I could use these all I'd have to buy are the drivers themselves, the caps, resistors, and spring clips. What do you think?

[fastbike1]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

By my quick calcs, you'd save less than $25 for a pair of speakers that are ridiculously cheap for the sound quality achieved. Your coil values are for the "old" XO as well.

Your call.

[greywarden]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

I can't seem to find the updated crossover, mind doing a quick blog for it?

[fastbike1]

Re: on Sale - $55/pr (drivers & XO)

Post 96 has the values and Chris' Album has the schematics.

[Chris Roemer]

Re: SICK - SICK - SICK . . .

Hi Chris,

I've been following this thread closely. I've learned a lot about component selection, especially from the post where you described the measurements. Seems that sometimes there's more variation in the inductance and resistance of the drivers than in the coils and resistors.

Anyway, I'd like your opinion on this. I'm thinking of using the above quoted xover because I've already got the most expensive parts on hand. Well, sort of. I've got the two 1.4 mH I-core inductors that were pulled from that old KLH cabinet we tried to rebuild, and I've got two 0.278 mH inductors that are part of the xovers I tried to use initially to replace the stock xovers in the KLH cabinets.

If I could use these all I'd have to buy are the drivers themselves, the caps, resistors, and spring clips. What do you think?

Are we talkin' the Nano Neos, or the "ntn"s?
Did you measure those coils somehow?

[Herman Trivilino]

Re: SICK - SICK - SICK . . .

Are we talkin' the Nano Neos, or the "ntn"s?
Did you measure those coils somehow?

The ntn's that you first described back in Post #18. And yes, I measured the inductance of those coils with a digital LRC meter.

[Chris Roemer]

Re: SICK - SICK - SICK . . .

The ntn's that you first described back in Post #18. And yes, I measured the inductance of those coils with a digital LRC meter.

I think the HP will be fine, subbing a .28mH for a .30 is OK.

For the low pass though, besides your 1.4mH coil, I'd like to see you use a 20n resistor and a 4uF cap on the Zobel. This will help to pull down that 3dB hump aroudn 2k that I saw in Grinnell.

Chris