I've just acquired a pair of Seas Excel W26FX001 10" drivers, which I want to use as the basis for a new pair of 3-ways.
In terms of general design objectives:
1. I'll use these with some form of active DSP, but I'll leave the decision whether that's going to be a pre-pro/multichannel amplifier or a Hypex plate amp arrangement until later.
2. I'm open to creative cabinet designs as long as I can make them and they're up to WAF standards. Some aspects of the cabinet design will emerge as I make the other design decisions.
3. They'll be used for stereo listening only (no HT) and I have very varied tastes. I tend to gravitate towards good recording quality.
4. My listening room is 15' wide x 22' long x 8' high. The speakers will be 8' to 10' apart and 3' to 4' away from the end wall. My listening arrangement is the classic isosceles triangle. Of course, this may change in the future.
5. In addition to my current active DSP speakers, I have a pair of passive 3-ways based on Dennis Murphy's MBOW1 design. This design uses an OW1 tweeter, GR Research M130 midrange, and Peerless 850146 10" woofer in a sealed box. I like this speaker, but would like bass that's a little tighter and deeper. I could (probably) replace the Peerless woofers with my newly acquired Seas woofers, but where's the fun in that?
Unibox tells me that the Seas woofers should give me an F3 of 41 to 42 Hz in a sealed box of 45 to 66 litres. This seems like very wide volume range, but that's what I get. I'll go with the bottom end of that range, so 45 to 50 litres, in order to keep the cabinets relatively small. This F3 is about 5 dB lower than the slightly more sensitive Peerless woofers which are in about 50 litres.
The Peerless woofer is a good performer and was excellent value for money, the M130 midrange was terrific value at its price, and the OW1 is a well-respected tweeter, but perhaps we can achieve a modest improvement? Replacing the Peerless with the Seas and then converting the speakers to DSP may be the way to go, but I'd like to explore the potential for a new design first.
My preliminary thoughts for mids and tweets are the Seas Prestige MCA12RC mid and the Vifa/Peerless XT25TG-30-04. Both are available at modest prices. If we want a mid that's a visual match with the woofer, there's the Excel W12CY001, and if we want to go all-Seas there's the Prestige 27TDFC tweeter. These options add significantly to the budget, but that's acceptable if they will produce a better result.
I must emphasise that my knowledge of how to pick compatible drivers is thin, so my first objective in this thread is to ask for guidance on how to do this, whether any of these are good choices, and whether there are better ones. Price is always a consideration, but not necessarily a show-stopper within reason. I prefer to avoid the more "exotic" stuff.
So there we are. . . your ideas, please!
In terms of general design objectives:
1. I'll use these with some form of active DSP, but I'll leave the decision whether that's going to be a pre-pro/multichannel amplifier or a Hypex plate amp arrangement until later.
2. I'm open to creative cabinet designs as long as I can make them and they're up to WAF standards. Some aspects of the cabinet design will emerge as I make the other design decisions.
3. They'll be used for stereo listening only (no HT) and I have very varied tastes. I tend to gravitate towards good recording quality.
4. My listening room is 15' wide x 22' long x 8' high. The speakers will be 8' to 10' apart and 3' to 4' away from the end wall. My listening arrangement is the classic isosceles triangle. Of course, this may change in the future.
5. In addition to my current active DSP speakers, I have a pair of passive 3-ways based on Dennis Murphy's MBOW1 design. This design uses an OW1 tweeter, GR Research M130 midrange, and Peerless 850146 10" woofer in a sealed box. I like this speaker, but would like bass that's a little tighter and deeper. I could (probably) replace the Peerless woofers with my newly acquired Seas woofers, but where's the fun in that?
Unibox tells me that the Seas woofers should give me an F3 of 41 to 42 Hz in a sealed box of 45 to 66 litres. This seems like very wide volume range, but that's what I get. I'll go with the bottom end of that range, so 45 to 50 litres, in order to keep the cabinets relatively small. This F3 is about 5 dB lower than the slightly more sensitive Peerless woofers which are in about 50 litres.
The Peerless woofer is a good performer and was excellent value for money, the M130 midrange was terrific value at its price, and the OW1 is a well-respected tweeter, but perhaps we can achieve a modest improvement? Replacing the Peerless with the Seas and then converting the speakers to DSP may be the way to go, but I'd like to explore the potential for a new design first.
My preliminary thoughts for mids and tweets are the Seas Prestige MCA12RC mid and the Vifa/Peerless XT25TG-30-04. Both are available at modest prices. If we want a mid that's a visual match with the woofer, there's the Excel W12CY001, and if we want to go all-Seas there's the Prestige 27TDFC tweeter. These options add significantly to the budget, but that's acceptable if they will produce a better result.
I must emphasise that my knowledge of how to pick compatible drivers is thin, so my first objective in this thread is to ask for guidance on how to do this, whether any of these are good choices, and whether there are better ones. Price is always a consideration, but not necessarily a show-stopper within reason. I prefer to avoid the more "exotic" stuff.
So there we are. . . your ideas, please!
