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Crossover questions

Well, the fact is that I am in the unlikely situation of my girlfriend WANTING a second system in my house. When we remodel the family room, she wants an A/V setup in there. That includes buying a nice(Lovan, VantagePoint, etc.) rack, and filling it with things like a tv, vcr, dvd player, amplifier, etc. She has been really into looking at racks and speakers lately. So, I told her that I can build a better pair of speakers than would ever be in the budget. I used to play around in this hobby a fair amount, but those days are a few years in the past. Now, I am faced with designing/building a pair probably in the next six months. My tastes, opinions, and views about audio have changed a lot since my speaker hobby days. Mostly in the realization that less is more, and that tubes appeal to me. That is why I am approaching all the great members of this site with my questions. I will build a pair of speakers that are definitely tube friendly. Maybe even take that to the next level. Very easy to drive. I think I will probably go with two midranges, because I am thinking about wiring them in series. The reason being the impedence would be doubled. Has anyone ever designed such an arrangement? I will run them flat out, with no capacitors, inductors, or resistors in the circuit. Moreover, I am considering wiring the entire crossover in series. Does anyone have experience in this area? I recognize that this was the way things used to be done a long time ago, and there aren't many of the proponents of the design around these days(other than Bud Fried). But everything old is new again. I do see renewed interest in series crossovers, so want to at least consider it. Bud is local to me, so I am thinking about contacting him. However, his designs were anything but easy to drive. I am also pondering whether or not I should use additional woofers on the low end. If I do that, I will equip them for biwiring, and may have to use a beefier amp on the bottom end. My most profound thank yous to all in advance for any opinions offered, Joe.
trelja

Showing 3 responses by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
Joe, how do you feel about horns ? They meet all of your criteria and then some. Highly efficient, easy to drive AND very dynamic. This would work with either a tube audio set-up or a "punchy" HT set-up. You can easily get away with a single mid and tweet and use double woofers for "HT impact" and to keep the sensitivity relatively even across the band. Something along the lines of a Klipsch Heresy with a built in sub or double woofers might work very nicely for your project. I was thinking about doing something along those lines myself sometime in the future. As to the specifics in crossovers and doing the "series thing", you might try contacting Clayton over at the Asylum. I know that he has played with Series crossovers and is normally more than willing to share his knowledge and experience. Hope this helps. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Joe, apply your "deader than a door nail" speaker cabinet theory to the horns / horn bodies on your dad's speakers. Keep in mind that some horns have some type of screen / mesh "diffusor" in the throat near the driver. If that is the case with those specific speakers, remove them. Most of the glare / ringing that you hear from horns can be directly attributed to the resonance of the two culprits i just mentioned.

As to using "Black Hole" (which is quite expensive in large quantities) for damping / deadening / mass loading, try using "damping sheets" from Parts Express. MUCH, MUCH cheaper and it will do at least 80% of what you're looking for. I'll snag a part number later should you or anyone else need it. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Hey Trelja, i know a guy with four mid woofers from a set of Coincident Eclipse's. I think that they are relatively efficient according to Coincident's ratings ( appr. 92 or so...), easy to drive, no fancy crossovers or notch filters required, etc... They might work great for your project. I bet that he'd get rid of them pretty cheaply compared to what they cost brand new. If you think that they might work for you, drop that guy an email... : ) Sean
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