Full range speaker thread.. dedicated post on frequency response and imaging of full range speakers

Dear Ravindra, can we use a vintage tweeter of 11 ohms connected in series with First Order cross over (4 uF - 100v) to a vintage full range speaker of 4 ohms? or the impedance of both FR & Tweeter should be same? Thanks.
Impedance is a function of frequency & the driver will be seldom 11 ohms in its entire band-width. Also impedance phase angle is an important parameter to consider in crossover design else the speaker will get shorted at high volumes.
 
Impedance is a function of frequency & the driver will be seldom 11 ohms in its entire band-width. Also impedance phase angle is an important parameter to consider in crossover design else the speaker will get shorted at high volumes.

There will be no crossover and the FR to be connected directly from the amp. But, from the FR, the tweeter will be connected just with a filter capacitor in series. Is it correct? Will get any trouble? Thank you Hari Iyer.
 
Top up the tweeter in parallel. However impedance mismatch needed to be taken into account. And how about sensitivity of your FR and tweeter ? And further you need to see what impedance load your amp is happy driving.


The sensitivity of the FR is 95dB & tweeter is 97dB. I think the maker is Magnavox. Thank you Yogi.
 
All crossover simulation require FRD & ZMA files. If not available, the drivers are to be measured and the FRD & ZMA created.
 
So finally purchased the SK12FRX drivers yesterday. Paid 2800 for a pair.
Brought them home and couldnt resist to open em up. I had them laid on the ground and run through an old yamaha amp. Some of my observations:

1. Sound quality: The biggest doubt i had about these was the sq. I wasnt sure whether this "PA driver" would be giving me the same or nearly the same sound quality as lets say a driver meant for "hifi". Boy was this myth busted! The sound that came from these was unquestionably "musical". No loss in details and no smearing of spectrums. It was just all there. Except for the bass ofcourse but hey i was running these drivers naked without any baffles. I could compare these to some dayton full rangers that i had heard last week and for the price i paid, i would recommend the ahuja any damn day over the daytons.

2. Size of the driver: i have heard full rangers before in various configs (sealed, BR, TL, Horns, etc) but those were 4 or 6.5 inchers at best, the largest being a bolton 8 inch. When i heard this 12 inch full range yesterday i can comment that the larger driver brings more presence to the music. I listened to some radiohead live recordings and almost all of them sounded soo much more "livelier". Good recordings and high def music particularly sounded very good.

3. All about the highs and mids: the over all texture of the highs and mids was soo much more refined. I did an a/b with a jbl monitor using the same amp by flicking the speaker selector switch and the ported box monitor sounded stuffed and congested while the ahuja was airy and swift. I cannot make a final comment here as i was running the speaker baffleless and introducing a baffle would change things for the ahuja as well. On a side note, the highs were soo good that i wonder why anyone would want to add a tweeter to this?

4. The sound of open baffles: the most intriguing observation for me was the airy and life like sound of a speaker without a box. I liked it. A/b with my jbl monitors furthur reinforced this point. I couldnt take the boominess of the jbl after i heard this. I was of the general opinion that a speaker couldnt sound good without a box. Having heard it first hand that opinion has changed. Open baffles have a very peculiar sound. Not all music will go with it. But what it offers for acoustic, instrumental and live recordings; boxed speakers apparently cant match that sound.

Anyway, now i am stuck. Open baffle or ported box for the ahuja??
 
So finally purchased the SK12FRX drivers yesterday.

Way to go drgb!!

Now here is something I wouldn't want you to miss for anything in this world:

Since we are in the thick of summer, I strongly recommend that you rush to the farmers/ vegetable market in your city. Find the place where they sell earthen pots. There will be two types: one used for cooling drinking water and other to be used as flower pot.
Choose the one used for cooling drinking water. They are more thinner and fragile of the two. Choose the one with a round bottom with the mouth size that will accommodate your Ahuja FR speaker, cone side up. It's ok, if its over size mouth. We'll make a cover piece of ply or mdf if required. Now choose three near equal ones w.r.t. the shape and size and buy it.
Use two as enclosures for your speakers and the third one to cool water.

Share with me us your experience.

You will now have all the time in the world to think OB or ported enclosure while listening to the goodness of music!
To me, this is the real magic of full range!!

Regards,

Ravindra.

P.S. You can leave them running for long time. It will only help the cotton surround to loosen up making them tad softer and sweeter.
I would not be surprised if you totally give up on the idea of making any 'formal' enclosure.
 
You will now have all the time in the world to think OB

I have done simulation of this driver with published parameters for an OB and they roll-off around 250Hz due to low Qts. Not suitable for OB IMO without helper woofer like Eminence alpha 15A.
 
Way to go drgb!!

Now here is something I wouldn't want you to miss for anything in this world:

Since we are in the thick of summer, I strongly recommend that you rush to the farmers/ vegetable market in your city. Find the place where they sell earthen pots. There will be two types: one used for cooling drinking water and other to be used as flower pot.
Choose the one used for cooling drinking water. They are more thinner and fragile of the two. Choose the one with a round bottom with the mouth size that will accommodate your Ahuja FR speaker, cone side up. It's ok, if its over size mouth. We'll make a cover piece of ply or mdf if required. Now choose three near equal ones w.r.t. the shape and size and buy it.
Use two as enclosures for your speakers and the third one to cool water.

Share with me us your experience.

You will now have all the time in the world to think OB or ported enclosure while listening to the goodness of music!
To me, this is the real magic of full range!!

Regards,

Ravindra.

P.S. You can leave them running for long time. It will only help the cotton surround to loosen up making them tad softer and sweeter.
I would not be surprised if you totally give up on the idea of making any 'formal' enclosure.
Hehhe, as soothing and cool as it sounds i will surely give it a try! :)

I would couple this Ahuja 12" FR with a helper woofer and experiment crossing anything from 250Hz down to 100Hz in real time room response and trust my ears.

No JBLs or any other setup would ever be needed for being musical !

When you add the helping woofer, the FR will sound warmer and if you cross it intelligently and biamp, you may have option of switching off the woofer anytime and just enjoy the FR.

I would do all above in OB setup, and run FR unfiltered.

OB bass if done right, its another experience to be felt.
Yes sir. You were right on the money about the ahuja sounding fine in an OB! :D

Had a post breakfast listening session and i think im leaning heavily towards OB. these sure need a LF driver for proper low end but i think i'll make it a second step and go for the full range in an ob for now and compliment the lows with proper positioning and a larger baffle.
 
How about this as a design?images-6.jpgimages-7.jpg
Im thinking of offsetting the driver a bit and since my listening position is a bit high i will mount the driver slightly higher.
 
There are some plans on the internet for such PA drivers wherein they have put these fr drivers into a folded horn. I believe they call these bass scoops. Anyone tried such designs?AES01_zps2a2aed4b-1.jpg
 
Used Edge to simulate an open baffle. However to go low it is asking too much space. Going in for a folded baffle instead. Will do the readings first tomorrow.
Anyway, what material is good for making open baffles? I browsed through some shops today, mdf quality was not satisfactory. However i found particle board to be more rigid. Or should i go for ply instead??
 
Used Edge to simulate an open baffle. However to go low it is asking too much space. Going in for a folded baffle instead. Will do the readings first tomorrow.
Anyway, what material is good for making open baffles? I browsed through some shops today, mdf quality was not satisfactory. However i found particle board to be more rigid. Or should i go for ply instead??
IMO particle board will be better than mdf as it has good resonance damping properties.
 
I have one more question though. What is a better practice at mounting the driver: surface mount; flush mount or recessed (ie behind the baffle)? Does it make any difference?
 
If skills are available, then I will prefer flush mount to baffle. If going OB, use 25mm baffle instead of 18mm.
 
Oh my god these obs are killing me!! o_O
Im in heaven! Project is complete! I've only been listening for the last 20 mins now and i still cant believe this was possible.
Will return back with photos and videos.
Thank you all for your support and guidance!:):)
 
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