best sounding Full Range driver|box

[tarunp]

Horn designs, as being discussed here, are tried and tested. However, I have a single driver (Hempcone, 4.5 inches) in a Bass Reflex box that sound great with a tripath amp (Virtue Audio One). The speaker in question is Omega XRS. Beautiful midrange and highs and decent bass (am yet to measure, but it does seem to reach the advertised 40Hz in room).

Ive heard Open Baffles sound the best, but they require larger drivers with eq. Anyone with experience with BR or OB?

TP

 

[stevieboy]

hi tarunp,

shaizada on the forum has omega speakers. i forget which model he has... i have the harmony one single drivers fe 167 drivers from lyrita audio. good to hear of another single driver lover!

regards

 

[prem]

Hi Tarunp

Nice set up. I like the Omega speakers.

I use Rethm myself but they have amplified bass.

 

[odyssey]

Horn designs, as being discussed here, are tried and tested. However, I have a single driver (Hempcone, 4.5 inches) in a Bass Reflex box that sound great with a tripath amp (Virtue Audio One). The speaker in question is Omega XRS. Beautiful midrange and highs and decent bass (am yet to measure, but it does seem to reach the advertised 40Hz in room).

Ive heard Open Baffles sound the best, but they require larger drivers with eq. Anyone with experience with BR or OB?

TP

If you are ever in Bangalore or in Mumbai you can listen to an Equalised set of OB speakers - Emerald Physics. I dont know of any other OB speaker that is EQ'd, otherwise there are quite a few OB speakers which just rely on getting the speakers far off into the room.

cheers
Sridhar

 

[SimonB]

Any idea on what the best sounding FR driver + box plan is [of course acc. to your own opinion]?

Would appreciate thoughts/comments/links to those speakers that were actually built or heard by you. Please post details/pics [enclosure plans too please] and also why you consider it the best sounding.

Hi. I suggest drivers from Audio Nirvana, which can be bought from commonsenseaudio.com. They also recommend bass reflex enclosure designs, and send the plans free when you buy the speakers. This company also sells the renowned Lowther drivers, but in my opinion the Audio Nirvana ones sound even better, by which I mean more musical and true to the original recording. I can't offer any information on how they sound with pop or jazz, but they're excellent for classical music.

 

[doors666]

I have alpair 7s mk2 in a 6 liters sealed box for my desktop use. Stunning sound. This is the only FR I have ever heard, so cant comment about others.

It has absolutely no bass, of course thats expected from a 4" driver in a sealed cab. it needs to be crossed over with a sub.

It does not do very well with complex music like orchestras, metal, classic rock (some bands) etc. But where it does well, its a giant killer. blues, jazz, vocals etc. Its just 20w if crossed over with a sub, so cant use it in large rooms.

a few days ago a musician friend of mine was here and he said that he hasnt heard vocals and instrument's tone like this. he owns a usher x-718 (usher 8948, 9950-20 tweeter, 1.5" cabs, joe d'appolito designed crossover).

A lot of full rangers have a problem of shout as per a lot of forums, but not this one. check this issue before you plonk your money.

 

[gobble]

I have alpair 7s mk2 in a 6 liters sealed box for my desktop use. Stunning sound. This is the only FR I have ever heard, so cant comment about others.

It has absolutely no bass, of course thats expected from a 4" driver in a sealed cab. it needs to be crossed over with a sub.

It does not do very well with complex music like orchestras, metal, classic rock (some bands) etc. But where it does well, its a giant killer. blues, jazz, vocals etc. Its just 20w if crossed over with a sub, so cant use it in large rooms.

a few days ago a musician friend of mine was here and he said that he hasnt heard vocals and instrument's tone like this. he owns a usher x-718 (usher 8948, 9950-20 tweeter, 1.5" cabs, joe d'appolito designed crossover).

A lot of full rangers have a problem of shout as per a lot of forums, but not this one. check this issue before you plonk your money.

What is the crossover setting you are using at the sub? What sub is it?

A link to the sealed box plan will help me decide my plans

Thanks

 

[doors666]

What is the crossover setting you are using at the sub? What sub is it?

A link to the sealed box plan will help me decide my plans

Thanks

my system is far from perfect. I had space limitations on my desktop and hence the design. You can definitely extract more from this in a better cabinet. The volume is in the recommended range. the size is wxhxd - 7.5"x10"x9". its loosely based on the dmarken7 or something like that (mini onken for alpair 7). did it with the help of planet10 in diyaudio. He also recommended a supporting brace for the driver, but i havent put it yet. I am using something like 17mm mdf (advertised as 19mm) for this.

I am using m-audio revolution 7.1 sc as the source and topping tp20 as the amp. I am still waiting for my sub amp (future sub - tb1363sb and jack hidley's plate amp), presently using the mx5021 sub. Its junk:lol:. I crossover at 120 for rock metal etc and 80hz for other music. I run it full range sometimes late in the night, it has lean but very nice bass. The power is seriously limited in this case. sims show max 8w and excursion is exceeded. With a sub, I havent gone beyond 1-2 o'clock on the topping, it gives good volume for my small 11x11 room in nearfield. the cone hardly moves. I think it will hit the thermal limits before the excursion limit (4.5mm xmax). That reminds me, I need to get chamfering done for the cab..

the beauty is not in the cab or the setup. its the driver, its magical. You can try the pensil 7 design for FS or dmarken7 (cant get the onken nomenclature right) for small spkrs.

Make sure it meets your needs first. its a very niche drivers, with some shortcomings. If it does, it will give you a lot of pleasure. Its only 85$ for a driver. Considering it doesnt need a tweeter and a crossover, thats one hell of a vfm deal.

 

[gobble]

my system is far from perfect. I had space limitations on my desktop and hence the design. You can definitely extract more from this in a better cabinet. The volume is in the recommended range. the size is wxhxd - 7.5"x10"x9". its loosely based on the dmarken7 or something like that (mini onken for alpair 7). did it with the help of planet10 in diyaudio. He also recommended a supporting brace for the driver, but i havent put it yet. I am using something like 17mm mdf (advertised as 19mm) for this.

I am using m-audio revolution 7.1 sc as the source and topping tp20 as the amp. I am still waiting for my sub amp (future sub - tb1363sb and jack hidley's plate amp), presently using the mx5021 sub. Its junk:lol:. I crossover at 120 for rock metal etc and 80hz for other music. I run it full range sometimes late in the night, it has lean but very nice bass. The power is seriously limited in this case. sims show max 8w and excursion is exceeded. With a sub, I havent gone beyond 1-2 o'clock on the topping, it gives good volume for my small 11x11 room in nearfield. the cone hardly moves. I think it will hit the thermal limits before the excursion limit (4.5mm xmax). That reminds me, I need to get chamfering done for the cab..

the beauty is not in the cab or the setup. its the driver, its magical. You can try the pensil 7 design for FS or dmarken7 (cant get the onken nomenclature right) for small spkrs.

Make sure it meets your needs first. its a very niche drivers, with some shortcomings. If it does, it will give you a lot of pleasure. Its only 85$ for a driver. Considering it doesnt need a tweeter and a crossover, thats one hell of a vfm deal.

Interesting. I just ordered a 2nd jxr6-hd to make a stereo pair and will be venturing into my first speaker building attempt in October.

...and excursion is exceeded.

Is this a danger with sealed enclosures? Is it necessary to have a crossover network to save the driver from over-excursion? Or will limiting the volume of the box ensure it never goes beyond max excursion at resonance frequency? I have not yet read up properly on speaker building science so pardon my silly questions.

--G0bble

 

[doors666]

Interesting. I just ordered a 2nd jxr6-hd to make a stereo pair and will be venturing into my first speaker building attempt in October.



Is this a danger with sealed enclosures? Is it necessary to have a crossover network to save the driver from over-excursion? Or will limiting the volume of the box ensure it never goes beyond max excursion at resonance frequency? I have not yet read up properly on speaker building science so pardon my silly questions.

--G0bble

cab doesnt matter. for ported, danger is unloading below the port tuning freq. for sealed, in full range, if you feed it enough watts, it will go. Many a speakers that can handle about 100w above 80hz, can only handle 20-30w at full range. Std problem, nothing specific to alpairs or full range. I wouldnt go beyond 7-8w if running full range. with a sub crossed at 80hz, manufacturer recommends no more than 20w. take the extreme case, a tweeter can do 20hz, but will blow at probably 0.1 watts.

if you are really interested in fr drivers, hit the diyaudio full range forum.

Another thing, these are quite revealing drivers, so GIGO is very much applicable. Bad recordings, mp3s etc sound quite bad. tried some hindi mp3s, quite bad, though rangeela cd sounded quite nice.

 

[gobble]

cab doesnt matter. for ported, danger is unloading below the port tuning freq. for sealed, in full range, if you feed it enough watts, it will go. Many a speakers that can handle about 100w above 80hz, can only handle 20-30w at full range. Std problem, nothing specific to alpairs or full range. I wouldnt go beyond 7-8w if running full range. with a sub crossed at 80hz, manufacturer recommends no more than 20w. take the extreme case, a tweeter can do 20hz, but will blow at probably 0.1 watts.

if you are really interested in fr drivers, hit the diyaudio full range forum.

Another thing, these are quite revealing drivers, so GIGO is very much applicable. Bad recordings, mp3s etc sound quite bad. tried some hindi mp3s, quite bad, though rangeela cd sounded quite nice.

Ok, so an 8.5W tube amp may not blow this thingie. But then tube watts are "supposedly" not SS watts.

One thing I am trying to avoid is the "My system is so good, only the best recordings can be played on it" syndrome.

Hopefully some tube coloration and harmonics will compensate for the revealing nature of the speakers and bad recordings - when overdriven. Besides my instincts tell me that with tubes, I will be happier with a small room setup playing at moderate+ stress in a large room just up to the point where room reflections start coloring the SQ negatively - rather than a high power SS setup running at low power. I am finding a resistance of sorts towards being too "scientific" about it. So I'll just play it by ear and a hunch. hyeah:

I could not find the continuous power rating for these little speakers. Strangely they are not on the spec sheet.

--G0bble

 

[doors666]

Ok, so an 8.5W tube amp may not blow this thingie. But then tube watts are "supposedly" not SS watts.

One thing I am trying to avoid is the "My system is so good, only the best recordings can be played on it" syndrome.

Hopefully some tube coloration and harmonics will compensate for the revealing nature of the speakers and bad recordings - when overdriven. Besides my instincts tell me that with tubes, I will be happier with a small room setup playing at moderate+ stress in a large room just up to the point where room reflections start coloring the SQ negatively - rather than a high power SS setup running at low power. I am finding a resistance of sorts towards being too "scientific" about it. So I'll just play it by ear and a hunch. hyeah:

I could not find the continuous power rating for these little speakers. Strangely they are not on the spec sheet.

--G0bble

watts are watts, as long as they are not over rated watts:lol:

yes, tubes might help with that regard.

topping is supposed to give around 7-8 clean watts into 8 ohms. so i guess your tube amp might work fine.

Mark fenlon is the owner of the firm and he's there on diyaudio full range forum, there is also a mark audio forum on diyaudio where he frequently visits, he can answer regarding the continuous power.

 

[anilva]

I am very happy with the FE206E drivers in a Sachiko
cabinet. I completed them last month, and they
sound excellent with my KT-77 PP amp.

Build pics and details here -

Picasa Web Albums - Prasad

Prasad

Great work Prasad...

 

[GeorgeO]

So Keith

Did you go down the path of FR or still on the fence on this?

 

[jaudere]

Keith,
Whats the status? I just came to know that there a man called Karl Heinz in goa who makes good tube amps. Price range starts from 7.5k and goes trun 250k. he has stuff like Jolida.Just waiting for my chance to visit him.
This has rekindled the desire to make another hybrid speaker. Full range on open baffle with a sealed woof to help at lower end(but not crossed. You can say 1.5 way rather than 2 way).

I am using similar design now but it is kind of non scientific. It is very good but i want to do it properly this time.

 

[keith_correa]

Sorry folks, I'm not as connected to the www like I used to be so cannot frequent forums as much as I should

@George - am not on the fence any more. Have definitely crossed over. For the music that I listen to - FR's, I hear, are not for me. So be it. Would have loved to build one using the BOFU with a helper tweeter though. Pity they are NLA.

@jaudere - I wonder what the good Mr.Heinz has to offer for 7.5K. Should be interesting. Keep us posted when you get the chance to visit him.

 

[Hari Iyer]

Any idea on what the best sounding FR driver + box plan is [of course acc. to your own opinion]?

Would appreciate thoughts/comments/links to those speakers that were actually built or heard by you. Please post details/pics [enclosure plans too please] and also why you consider it the best sounding.

Fostex and Lowther are the most preferred full-range drivers . The enclosure however have to be of TL, Horn Loaded or Aperiodic designs. Typically sealed enclosures and vented enclosures do not work well with FR drivers.

 

[sarathssca]

hello,

Just curious to know may be very basic doubt. Why we dont see single full range driver speakers commercially available from the reputed brands like sony, jbl, samsung, lg etc? Also looking at the en closers that we normally see are either
2.1 or 5.1 one large subwoffer in bass reflex box and small sealed satellite speakers
bookshelves
sound bar kind of one bar and one subwoffer (bass reflex)
Why do generally see the back loaded horn or double bass reflex or other DIY enclosers in commercial market?

thanks and regards
S Sarath

 

[mekr]

If you are ever in Bangalore or in Mumbai you can listen to an Equalised set of OB speakers - Emerald Physics. I dont know of any other OB speaker that is EQ'd, otherwise there are quite a few OB speakers which just rely on getting the speakers far off into the room.

cheers
Sridhar

Sridhar,

Who in mumbai,has Emerald physic speakers,i would like to listen to these speakers.

Thanks

Cheers

mekr

 

[Sumanta]

How about Philips and Ahuja full rangers and no box?