My first 3 way speaker build

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  • mattsk8
    Seasoned Veteran
    • Sep 2011
    • 2726

    My first 3 way speaker build

    Edit: I guess technically it should be "My first 3 way speaker design", not build.

    My goal here is to prove that you can take fairly expensive, well received drivers and make them sound bad :p. Kidding, hopefully this doesn't play out that way; thankfully I will again be guided through the measuring and crossover design process by the wonderful guys at Meniscus Audio .

    I need to thank Craig Kinnison in a big way for helping with driver selection on this project, I've been all over the place for about a year now trying to put it together and he helped me nail it. For drivers I'll be using the following...

    SB Acoustics SB29NRX-6

    Scanspeak 18w4531

    Scanspeak HDS Tweeter

    I don't need to measure the drivers out of the cabinets because there's a wealth of info out there for these drivers, so I can get started building the cabinets and measure the speakers in the cabinets for crossover design. Still thinking on how I'll do the cabinets. Per Madisound's recommendations, I'm building the woofer's cabinet 2 cf tuned to 28hz. I think the mid/tweeter cabinet will end up somewhere in the 0.4-0.5cf region. Going to make curved cabinets for these, and right now I'm thinking cherry front and rear baffles with satin black for the sides for a classic look. I'll definitely post pics of progress. These speakers will replace my ER18s, and not because I'm unhappy with those, more-so because I have a speaker building disease :rolleyes:. I'll probably take my ER18s apart and re-purpose the Seas ER18rnx drivers in a TM monitor using the SB Acoustics stac26 tweeters (which will basically be an SR71, just uses a different tweeter).

    Excited to get this build started!!

    Click image for larger version

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    "The ability of any system to produce exceptional sound will be limited mainly by the capability of the speakers" Jim Salk
    "Audio is surely a journey full of revelations as you go" JasonP
  • isaeagle4031
    Seasoned Veteran
    • Jun 2008
    • 5855

    #2
    Re: My first 3 way speaker build

    Nice selection of drivers for sure. With your woodworking skills, you will do them justice.
    https://www.facebook.com/Mosaic-Audi...7373763888294/

    Comment

    • mattsk8
      Seasoned Veteran
      • Sep 2011
      • 2726

      #3
      Re: My first 3 way speaker build

      Originally posted by isaeagle4031
      Nice selection of drivers for sure. With your woodworking skills, you will do them justice.
      Thanks Chuck! Once the crossovers are roughed in, I'll voice these with "what would Chuck do" in the back of my mind; I've always loved the sound of your designs.
      "The ability of any system to produce exceptional sound will be limited mainly by the capability of the speakers" Jim Salk
      "Audio is surely a journey full of revelations as you go" JasonP

      Comment

      • isaeagle4031
        Seasoned Veteran
        • Jun 2008
        • 5855

        #4
        Re: My first 3 way speaker build

        Well thanks Matt. Be ready for some decent sized parts on the woofer there. I would suspect you will be in 300 hz range on it.
        https://www.facebook.com/Mosaic-Audi...7373763888294/

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        • ani_101
          Seasoned Veteran
          • Feb 2012
          • 1802

          #5
          Re: My first 3 way speaker build

          Nice. Well, hope you have a nice journey.

          I too am starting on a similar quest... just a bit behind... Have a stockpile of drivers and odds and ends.... need to jump the learning curve and get moving.

          Regards
          Ani

          Comment

          • Navy Guy
            Seasoned Veteran
            • Feb 2013
            • 2112

            #6
            Re: My first 3 way speaker build

            I'm sure it'd be hard to make a bad sounding speaker with those drivers.
            -Kerry

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            • gabel87
              Been Around Awhile
              • Nov 2010
              • 182

              #7
              Re: My first 3 way speaker build

              This should be a pretty sweet build.
              Buyout MTMWW

              Comment

              • Tessera
                New Member
                • Aug 2014
                • 7

                #8
                Re: My first 3 way speaker build

                Nice!
                I'm curious about how you plan to measure the woofer for x-over design work? Measuring the bottom of 3-ways far field is difficult for me because I must measure indoor and can't get them far enough away from boundaries.

                Comment

                • mattsk8
                  Seasoned Veteran
                  • Sep 2011
                  • 2726

                  #9
                  Re: My first 3 way speaker build

                  Originally posted by Tessera
                  Nice!
                  I'm curious about how you plan to measure the woofer for x-over design work? Measuring the bottom of 3-ways far field is difficult for me because I must measure indoor and can't get them far enough away from boundaries.
                  I'm actually going to rely on Meniscus to help me with that because I've never measured a woofer like this for a passive crossover. For now I'm thinking that will largely depend more on the mid driver's measurements, like Chuck said I'm guessing it'll be crossed to the mid somewhere in the 200-300hz region from the measurements I've seen (I'd like to pull as much out of the Scanspeak as I can so I'd like to go fairly low).

                  Craig also had another good idea, and that was to put the woofer's crossover as well as the bottom of the midrange's crossover in the woofer's cabinet and have 4 binding posts, 2 in and 2 out. Then design the mid and tweeter as a sealed TM monitor that sat on top of the woofer cabinet, and I would essentially have 2 different designs. I could play the Revelator full range if I wanted to (but still crossed to the HDS tweeter), or set it on the woofers for a passive 3 way (just to have some fun with it). Not sure if I'll do this just yet, I may still just make one cabinet. Either way, my end goal is to have a similar shape to the Sony SS-AR, or maybe Sonus Fabers. I'm building these for my music system.
                  "The ability of any system to produce exceptional sound will be limited mainly by the capability of the speakers" Jim Salk
                  "Audio is surely a journey full of revelations as you go" JasonP

                  Comment

                  • isaeagle4031
                    Seasoned Veteran
                    • Jun 2008
                    • 5855

                    #10
                    Re: My first 3 way speaker build

                    Hmm I wonder where he got that idea? I've done that a couple of times. The last was my Nathan+ design. I could run them as a 3way crossed at 300ish (simple cap to mid/tweets) or let the upper section play alone where they ran all the way down to about 55hz ported.
                    https://www.facebook.com/Mosaic-Audi...7373763888294/

                    Comment

                    • mattsk8
                      Seasoned Veteran
                      • Sep 2011
                      • 2726

                      #11
                      Re: My first 3 way speaker build

                      Originally posted by isaeagle4031
                      Hmm I wonder where he got that idea? I've done that a couple of times. The last was my Nathan+ design. I could run them as a 3way crossed at 300ish (simple cap to mid/tweets) or let the upper section play alone where they ran all the way down to about 55hz ported.
                      Did you have any issues related to having the 2 ports (mid cabinet and woofer ports)? I can't think of why you would since they'd be crossed way above anything near the ports frequency, but just thought I'd double check and ask. If no issue, I could build a 0.7cf cabinet port tuned to 45hz for TM cabinet.
                      "The ability of any system to produce exceptional sound will be limited mainly by the capability of the speakers" Jim Salk
                      "Audio is surely a journey full of revelations as you go" JasonP

                      Comment

                      • Jay1
                        Seasoned Veteran
                        • Dec 2011
                        • 1317

                        #12
                        Re: My first 3 way speaker build

                        Originally posted by Tessera
                        Nice!
                        I'm curious about how you plan to measure the woofer for x-over design work? Measuring the bottom of 3-ways far field is difficult for me because I must measure indoor and can't get them far enough away from boundaries.
                        Originally posted by mattsk8
                        I'm actually going to rely on Meniscus to help me with that because I've never measured a woofer like this for a passive crossover. For now I'm thinking that will largely depend more on the mid driver's measurements, like Chuck said I'm guessing it'll be crossed to the mid somewhere in the 200-300hz region from the measurements I've seen (I'd like to pull as much out of the Scanspeak as I can so I'd like to go fairly low).
                        Measure the woofer at the same distance and drive level on axis as you do for the T/M (something like 24" is plenty of distance). Set the gate like you normally would to filter out all of the low end room related junk and save that curve. Now measure the woofer nearfield and adjust the level so the curve overlaps at the frequency your gate from the previous measurement starts. Save both curves. Use print screen and MS paint to remove the garbage and run the combined curve through SPL Copy. If there's a low frequency noise floor in your measurements like many people have you can also run the results through response modeler to add a filter that removes the junk.

                        You will need to do this for your mid as well. That noise floor in the mid/tweet measurements will throw off the phase in your x over sim.
                        http://jaysspeakerpage.weebly.com/

                        Comment

                        • dcibel
                          Seasoned Veteran
                          • Jan 2010
                          • 3748

                          #13
                          Re: My first 3 way speaker build

                          Nice selection of drivers. I'v been enjoying that tweeter for several years now, it is really excellent. Low moving mass, low compression.
                          I'm not deaf, I'm just not listening!

                          Comment

                          • mattsk8
                            Seasoned Veteran
                            • Sep 2011
                            • 2726

                            #14
                            Re: My first 3 way speaker build

                            Originally posted by dcibel
                            Nice selection of drivers. I'v been enjoying that tweeter for several years now, it is really excellent. Low moving mass, low compression.
                            Good to hear! Those were Craigs recommendation. I've never heard them, but Craig has a pretty good idea of what I like and don't like from the different times we've hung out, so I'm excited to hear those.

                            I've had my eye on that SB woofer for a while now and wanted to try it, I've heard it's very "musical" and everything about it looks good on paper.
                            "The ability of any system to produce exceptional sound will be limited mainly by the capability of the speakers" Jim Salk
                            "Audio is surely a journey full of revelations as you go" JasonP

                            Comment

                            • Mike220
                              Seasoned Veteran
                              • Sep 2013
                              • 1061

                              #15
                              Re: My first 3 way speaker build

                              Good luck Matt the drivers all go together pretty nicely. Wish i could say more intelligent things but my brain is mush from veneering all day.
                              My Build Thread's
                              Carrera's / Finalist TL's / Speedster TMM's / Speedster MTM Center / Overnight Sensation Surrounds

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