Weather Proof... I Wish I Was

[rokr]

I wanted to build a concrete speaker for some time now. So, when I decided to build speakers for the garden, I thought it's like getting two birds with one stone (well two, for the stereo effect ).
Couldn’t find any tutorials so I started searching for weatherproof drivers and found the Visaton FR (full range) series ranging from 3.3" to 6.5". they are all very affordable and very easy to get.
started with the 5" https://www.visaton.de/index.php/en/products/drivers/fullrange-systems/fr-13-wp-4-ohm-white.
.found the Thiele & Small parameters in the loudspeaker database and loaded it to winsd
As always, I got the "driver data fails integrity check" (I am getting it also with the drivers that comes with winisd), anyway, this is what I got

Increasing or decreasing the volume doesn’t do much. I got more or less the same results with the bigger driver.
Is this as bad as I think it is? Or this is what you get from a 25$ driver that can keep going Neither snow nor rain nor heat…?
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[DVDdoug]

Of course different drivers with different parameters will give different results but you can't expect a whole lot of bass from a small woofer.

It's pretty common to use EQ with sealed speakers and EQ tends to work better than with ported speakers but you still have the limitations of physics.

 

[Chr1]

I wonder if it wouldn't be better to weatherproof somehow with better drivers. I can't imagine that they will be particularly good at that price. Presumably you could make some kind of protection which is removed for use in reasonable weather. Or do you want to play music in all conditions?

 

[AudiOhm]

Are all your driver parameters correct?
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/winisd-error-help-please.2973506/

Ohms

 

[rokr]

I wonder if it wouldn't be better to weatherproof somehow with better drivers. I can't imagine that they will be particularly good at that price. Presumably you could make some kind of protection which is removed for use in reasonable weather. Or do you want to play music in all conditions?

While I'm not planning on listening when It's raining, I do want these to be able to withstand harsh conditions without the need to protect it. I don't think that a regular driver, even when protected (from the sun/rain) in someway will survive the heat, humidity and dust.

 

[Chr1]

Fair enough but it seems to me like a lot of work for something that most likely won't sound particularly good. YMMV.

 

[rokr]

Are all your driver parameters correct?
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/winisd-error-help-please.2973506/

Ohms

Switching to winisd pro and entering minimal number of parameters worked and I got the integrity check. Results are exactly the same...

 

[Vincent Kars]

https://www.visaton.de/index.php/en/products/drivers/fullrange-systems/fr-13-wp-4-ohm-white says 70–16000 Hz
I call this type of speaker wide banders as full range is exactly what they are not

 

[ppataki]

I wanted to build a concrete speaker for some time now. So, when I decided to build speakers for the garden, I thought it's like getting two birds with one stone (well two, for the stereo effect ).
Couldn’t find any tutorials so I started searching for weatherproof drivers and found the Visaton FR (full range) series ranging from 3.3" to 6.5". they are all very affordable and very easy to get.
started with the 5" https://www.visaton.de/index.php/en/products/drivers/fullrange-systems/fr-13-wp-4-ohm-white.
.found the Thiele & Small parameters in the loudspeaker database and loaded it to winsd
As always, I got the "driver data fails integrity check" (I am getting it also with the drivers that comes with winisd), anyway, this is what I got

View attachment 352269

Increasing or decreasing the volume doesn’t do much. I got more or less the same results with the bigger driver.
Is this as bad as I think it is? Or this is what you get from a 25$ driver that can keep going Neither snow nor rain nor heat…?
Any advice would be appreciated.

I would recommend this driver:

Order the Monacor SPX-200WP Full-range Woofer

Buy the SPX-200WP online at SoundImports ✓ Same day shipping ✓ Low shipping rates

www.soundimports.eu

These are weatherproof (hence the WP in their name) full range speakers. You can find measurements about it in the Klang+Ton magazine from 2013.
I have built a project using these for my father-in-law and he loves them

Note that you will not get much bass out of these.....
When put in a sealed box with 36 liters and heavy filling you will only need 5W per channel to drive them to xmax and that will give you 88.5 + 6 = 94.5dB SPL at 1 meter at 40Hz for a pair

You can put them in a smaller cabinet too, for example in a 10 liter box they would need 25W to reach xmax

Please note that DSP will be needed to tame them (as with any FR driver)

 

[rokr]

I would recommend this driver:

Order the Monacor SPX-200WP Full-range Woofer

Buy the SPX-200WP online at SoundImports ✓ Same day shipping ✓ Low shipping rates

www.soundimports.eu

These are weatherproof (hence the WP in their name) full range speakers. You can find measurements about it in the Klang+Ton magazine from 2013.
I have built a project using these for my father-in-law and he loves them

Note that you will not get much bass out of these.....
When put in a sealed box with 36 liters and heavy filling you will only need 5W per channel to drive them to xmax and that will give you 88.5 + 6 = 94.5dB SPL at 1 meter at 40Hz for a pair

View attachment 352338

View attachment 352339

You can put them in a smaller cabinet too, for example in a 10 liter box they would need 25W to reach xmax

Please note that DSP will be needed to tame them (as with any FR driver)

Just what i was looking for. they also look really good.
What kind of cabinet did you use in your project?

 

[ppataki]

Just what i was looking for. they also look really good.
What kind of cabinet did you use in your project?

I had put it in a 25-liter sealed cabinet
I always design/build sealed speakers (easier to DSP and better sound)

 

[rokr]

I had put it in a 25-liter sealed cabinet
I always design/build sealed speakers (easier to DSP and better sound)

Hi, took your advise and ordered a 200wp driver and there are a couple of things i found out.
1. this driver has a foam ring in its front side. I think its usually used for car speakers. did you leave the foam as it is? did you flush mount the driver?

2. As my intention is to make an outdoor speaker i tried to find technical specs regarding its waterproof abilities, but except for the quote from klang and ton, and a tiny icon of an arrow and water droplets, i couldn't find a thing. I even contacted monacor, only to hear that "this driver has no IP ratings". Do you have any information about it, will it withstand direct sun, light rain and such?

Thanks

 

[ppataki]

1. this driver has a foam ring in its front side. I think its usually used for car speakers. did you leave the foam as it is? did you flush mount the driver?

The foam in the front is typical to PA drivers, it helps keeping the cabinet airtight when you rear-mount the driver
If you front-mount the driver you can remove it. I have not removed it. I have not flush mounted it either since aesthetics was not a priority.

2. As my intention is to make an outdoor speaker i tried to find technical specs regarding its waterproof abilities, but except for the quote from klang and ton, and a tiny icon of an arrow and water droplets, i couldn't find a thing. I even contacted monacor, only to hear that "this driver has no IP ratings". Do you have any information about it, will it withstand direct sun, light rain and such?

Unfortunately not
The cabinets I designed were meant to be used in a workshop in my father-in-law's garden but when he heard how they had sounded he actually moved his rear speakers (Jamo) to the workshop and started using the Monacors as new rear drivers in the living room LOL (despite the fact that aesthetics were not a design principle as I mentioned above)
If you are interested I can try to dig up a test video recording I made

 

[rokr]

If you are interested I can try to dig up a test video recording I made

This will be great. If you have images of the speakers it will also be great.

 

[ppataki]

I found them in the meantime:

And the videos:

2 new items by Peter Pataki

photos.google.com

Sorry, my then-baby-daughters in the background kind of messed up the second one

 

[rokr]

Sorry, my then-baby-daughters in the background kind of messed up the second one

They only made it better! they sound great, and actually look good. Really liked the horizontal configuration.
Convinced me to ditch the flush mount idea which would probably be a nightmare when using concrete.
Now i just need to figure out how to insert a wood plank to the back of the front baffle so i can use screws.