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EAC has posted DIY speakers, Samba and Overnight Sensation measurements

Rick Sykora

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Yeah, the tweeter inversion is needed. Erin mentioned in his review that the polarity was inverted, so it just needs to be changed in software. Here is what happens if the tweeter is flipped back on the third order design.

Note in @abdo123 earlier post, Erin is no longer inverting the tweeter.;)

Second order on the woofer is possible, but I felt like suppressing those woofer breakup modes was worth the extra component.

Understand and prob makes sense for your lower crossover point (if you are targeting 4th order acoustic slopes).
 

AnalogSteph

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In that aspect i think i like Erin's crossover the most, hopefully the messed up phase is an error or something.

288948202_10101419789348343_6405647569113433925_n.jpg
I like his for the sheer fact that he has the lowest number of crossover components - 10, vs. 11 or 13/14. The tweeter's filter slope also is pretty much the least steep though, so it would have to be seen how that would fare in terms of level handling.

BTW, Facebook images don't embed. Twitter is even worse though IIRC.
 

alex-z

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Note in @abdo123 earlier post, Erin is no longer inverting the tweeter.;)

I grabbed the latest .zip file off his website last night so I think the tweeter data is correct?

The file was labelled "Samba Driver Data v3 (note flip the tweeter polarity in the sim)"
 
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ROOSKIE

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I am seeing some good stuff from you all here in my humble opinion.
I need to get these files downloaded.

I don't think directivity will ever be perfect between a 6.5" & a 1". That is why all the big r&d is in waveguide if that goal needs to be met. What is here is great and I bet these speakers will sound excellent.

I have never heard this particular woofer nor this tweeter. The old RS tweeter easily and I mean easily handled 1500-1700 4th order in my active. High SPL with no meaured nor heard stress. If the new one is roughly equal a very low crossover may be fine??

This would be a good one for active filtering. Much easier to shape the woofers roll off and maybe shape the tweeter a bit before blending the crossover region. Plus should cross a bit lower if wanted.

Great time to try this dsp/amp board for the price of passive parts.

Also needs a power supply and programming board. Still low$$
 

ta240

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I have a pair of the overnight sensations that I built around 10 years ago. Once upon a time there weren't so many $100-$200 commercial options available so they were likely a better option back when they first came out. Commercial speakers have dropped so much in price and kits have gone up so much that it is out of balance now.
The new marketplace is killing the perpetual argument of 'cut out the marketing and retail and you can make a speaker yourself for a fraction of the price'. It is just too cheap to mass produce completed speakers overseas compared to someone in the US piecing kits together. Especially when the kit people are buying the components in smaller quantities. How do you compete when the big guys are selling floor standers for a couple hundred and delivering them for free?

It is still fun doing DIY and they probably beat plenty of options that are out there, just not the best options.

I'd love to see some $500, $1000 and $1500 DIY designs measured to see if things change at the higher dollar amounts. (I'd also like to listen to them).
I've always been interested in the Solstice, it seems to have really high end drivers. Mark K's ER18DXT would also be interesting to see. Something really labor intensive and big like the Elsinore. The youtube infomercials go crazy for CSS Audio's offerings too.
 

Rick Sykora

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I grabbed the latest .zip file off his website last night so I think the tweeter data is correct?

The file was labelled "Samba Driver Data v3 (note flip the tweeter polarity in the sim)"
That is one I have, but never saw a v1 or v2.
 

Rick Sykora

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I like his for the sheer fact that he has the lowest number of crossover components - 10, vs. 11 or 13/14. The tweeter's filter slope also is pretty much the least steep though, so it would have to be seen how that would fare in terms of level handling.

BTW, Facebook images don't embed. Twitter is even worse though IIRC.
Yes, agree fewer components is better if it does the job…

The big inductor will not be cheap though and the rest of it needs a reality check as some component values are not available. ;)
 

D!sco

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The new marketplace is killing the perpetual argument of 'cut out the marketing and retail and you can make a speaker yourself for a fraction of the price'.
I hate how right you are. Inflation is killing the value of most kits. Raw drivers are going up, and an individual has to cough up direct value vs. a warehouse with stock to work through. Watching the price of magnets soar was certainly the deathknell of mediocre builds. At this point, DIY seems to compete with extremely high-end designs with little actual value added for their inflated MSRP.

It's hard to call the price bump of their kits a 'price gouge', but they are definitely not competitive anymore with commercial, powered designs. JBL's entry models just blow everything in their lineup out of the water. The worst part, IMO, is Dayton's CNC machines and collection of drivers perhaps could compete, but there just isn't interest. A standard, box two-way is all anyone ever looked for. Flush-mounting is luxury enough for most, it seems.
 
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I think, right now, we're seeing PE matching inflation faster than other OEM's like JBL. Not too long we'll see JBL's, and others, prices go up and then the value proposition level out, just everything is higher.

I would like to see a nice three way design, sort of like Warfedale Linton come from PE using their drivers for < half the cost that has a decent preference score / DI. This 1" to a 7" mating isn't worth the tradeoffs.
 

Rick Sykora

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Parts Express has many great values. It is a shame that some of their kits are so mediocre. While DIY can be fun, should not have to be fixing basic flaws in their kits. Overnight Sensations are an old design and are what they are. The Sambas are newer and should have been given a better crossover design to extract their potential. The Copperheads appear to have comparable issues.

Like that EAC is posting raw data for these speakers. Would be so much nicer if the designs were more polished.:facepalm:
 

FloatingPoint

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I bought this kit last year when they were on sale but I haven't got around to building them yet. I wouldn't mind just starting out with a new improved crossover. Does anyone know or have a link to what is considered the best version?

Edit: I just realized that I didn't specify that I'm talking about the Samba kit.
 
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alex-z

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I bought this kit last year when they were on sale but I haven't got around to building them yet. I wouldn't mind just starting out with a new improved crossover. Does anyone know or have a link to what is considered the best version?

Edit: I just realized that I didn't specify that I'm talking about the Samba kit.

Depends on how much you want to spend.

The best solution would be a digital crossover. miniDSP 2x4HD + pair of TPA3255 amps would be $350. Dayton KABD-4100 + KPX programmer would be $117, but that would probably have a bit worse noise and distortion.

The passive design I did on post #9 of this thread maximizes the preference score but uses a lot of parts, so it would probably end up between the Dayton KABD and miniDSP solutions in price, if you used good air core inductors.

I also came up with a really cheap approach, reusing the stock parts. Just unwind the stock 1.2mH inductor to 1mH, and then add the series notch filter. Should only cost $20-30 in parts, but the improvement is much smaller. Mid-range is a little smoother, and some woofer breakup is suppressed.

 

Rick Sykora

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I bought this kit last year when they were on sale but I haven't got around to building them yet. I wouldn't mind just starting out with a new improved crossover. Does anyone know or have a link to what is considered the best version?

Edit: I just realized that I didn't specify that I'm talking about the Samba kit.

How are you planning to use them and what are your skills/measurement capability?

As @alex-z mentioned, knowing your budget would help too. Even some of the passive designs could add some significant cost.
 

Paweł L

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I played with it a little once Erin posted the data. Looks decent, but it will sound flat, I have no idea, since I don't have the drivers to take listen and voice to them to my liking. Most likely better than what the PE X-O is, with a few extras. Just quick cellphone picture.
IMG_20220829_002501655.jpg
 

AudioAaron

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I have never heard this particular woofer nor this tweeter. The old RS tweeter easily and I mean easily handled 1500-1700 4th order in my active. High SPL with no meaured nor heard stress. If the new one is roughly equal a very low crossover may be fine??

This would be a good one for active filtering. Much easier to shape the woofers roll off and maybe shape the tweeter a bit before blending the crossover region. Plus should cross a bit lower if wanted.

I think you're on to something here. The old RS28 could be crossed lower. I used the 8" version of the Dayton RS (RS225) with various tweeters crossed around 1200-1500Hz with 24db slopes. I was doing this 15 years ago with a used $150 head unit in a car, but everything sounded great. I think if someone made the investment for mini-dsp and a umik-1 it opens the door for all kinds of DIY options that would even the playing field with commercial speakers imo. I wouldn't waste time trying to modify the Samba passively.
 

Paweł L

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The original PE RS28 tweeters were very good, low distortion, easy to implement, could take low X-O points, available replacement domes. The RST are rather disappointing ones in side by side comparison.
 
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