DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

[Cahudson42]

Unbiasedsound

I see the dimensions of the Melscalito are very close to ones you have used : 21"x 43" and 22" x 38" for the Pro...Bit confused that they say '4 or 8 ohms' and '2 x 80 watts'

Are they talking the pair together, and getting 8 ohms by series connect? Or does each panel have two Exciters?

Do you know where the exciter(s?) are placed?

PS - https://youtu.be/M4xAnbwoeGM Note the Parts Express cap..

Another video seemed to briefly show the outlines of four Exciters in a offset diagonal, as shown on the PE exciter write-up..

A Guess: Each Mescalito has 4 DAEX30HESF 40w 4 ohm Exciters. Bi-Amp each speaker with two two-exciter series pairs, each amp sees 8 ohms. Single amp with connecting the two series pairs in parallel, single amp sees 4 ohms. '2 x 80' makes sense for two series pairs of 40w Exciters per speaker...

[Unbiasedsound]

I am not sure either as I don't know the details of what they use.....I didn't notice the P.E. cap until you pointed it out lol …..can you post the vid that shows the outline of the 4 exciters.

In the comment section of this vid >

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvHrtYBf8lU&t=47s

He states Honeycomb paper and 20 watt exciters but that could be for the original Mescalito and not the pro.

Unless we know for a fact its any ones guess.

[Cahudson42]

About 20 seconds in:

https://youtu.be/dvHrtYBf8lU

[Unbiasedsound]

Ahhh ok now I see it, you really have a good eye.

[Zene]

Hi gang ... has anyone compared a small panel to a larger one using the same frequency bandwidth? I know there are a lot of variables. My dilemma is bass being verboten in my apartment complex. Not a big deal as I prefer to listen under 80db and no rock. Question relates to quality of one vs the other. I've usually suspected bigger in this case might be better as there would be less excursion. My goal is super sound for decade of 300 to 3k hz. I do have good woofer (not subwoofer) if I need and ribbon tweets are available. I can also play around with active crossover. Zene

[Unbiasedsound]

Bigger panels will produce more bass, while smaller panels will produce less bass.

I am not totally sure what you are asking but if your goal is to produce sound in the 300-3khz range then it would be better to use a smaller panel....its basically the same concept of conventional cone drivers for example if you wanted a conventional cone driver to produce sound in the 300-3khz range would you choose a 3-4inch driver or a 10inch? Ideally I would choose the smaller 3-4inch driver for that specific frequency range.

[Zene]

Thx, I guess I should modify question a bit. Better thought out range would be 300hz to as high as possible. That said what is considered to be a small panel and what is large? Zene

[Unbiasedsound]

Small panels are usually under 15inches (about the size of a bookshelf speaker) while larger panels are 2ft. and up.....XPS or EPS material rectangle shape width 10inches height 15inches, and thickness of panel should be 1/2inch with at least a 19mm exciter of your choice.

[Zene]

Unbiased ... I have appreciated all your posts that got me to this point, now I can start.
I've never liked full range single OB speakers even when back loaded. There was nothing there to excite me having come from big horn breeding; Khorns, LaScalas and various large straight horns. I have used OB a lot, but with large drivers in normal bandwidth situations.
Getting to the point I thought of a way to optimize a pseudo OB some 20 years ago, but ever tried. That is using two identical drivers on the same panel, but crossing them over. Distortion would be cut greatly as well as efficiency leading to a cleaner sound, also.
I can compliment that principle with DML's. Same driver on each of two different panels. one small and one large as you suggested. My Ashly active crossover can cross with it's variable slope feature and should give an almost seamless transition. I will keep the panel sizes constant so I have one less variable to contend with. Zene

[Unbiasedsound]

Your welcome, I am just glad to see someone else is interested in this technology as not many realize the potential of exciters/dml panels.

[Zene]

Hi gang ... some confusion here. Most of you have shied away from bracing exciters because of transmitting vibrations to the frame. If an exciter is rigidly mounted, but not connected to frame or any vibrating material, wouldn't performance be greatly improve?

[Unbiasedsound]

I was always for bracing of the exciters....Why because it does 2 things.....The first is that the magnet of the exciter needs to be braced/held in place so that the voice coil has something to push off of as without a brace the voice coil will push off of the panel material and move the magnet instead of moving only the panel....The second reason a brace is needed is it prevents voice coil sag while the brace holds the magnet in place the frame holds the panel material in place basically like a conventional cone speaker which uses the metal basket as the frame.

[Zene]

Yep, me too. Always wondered why the magnet moving back and forth would be good. Did think it might be a synchronous push-pull thing, but nice to hear a sound explanation. I will look for a good solution. First is a huge mass so force cannot move. From there I'm lost.

[Unbiasedsound]

Don't have a pic.

[Unbiasedsound]

I just revised my "Bastat", sats/sub DML panels using a slightly larger panel and a larger 19mm exciter instead of the smaller 13mm exciter.....The bass and spl has increased as well as the fullness of the sound....They are now even listenable without the sub.

If I could display my panels at the Midwest audio fest I know for sure I could get more people interested and also realize the true potential of exciters/dml's.