Sica 6.5 Coaxial Speaker build

[RickS]

Upgraded test rig and it shows even smoother response below 7 kHz. Still have yet to finalize the bass tuning but sounds pretty good.

I tried some of my bass test tracks and a couple of Amir's female vocalist test tracks. His tracks are great recordings, and this speaker really performed nicely. Will have Amir test with the passive crossover but will supply a harness to allow the driver to be measured for active crossover development.

 

[RickS]

Here is another round with my EMM-6 mic at higher resolution and using loopback...

As I mentioned, nicely flat until after it hits the crossover to the tweeter. Might be worth trying a bit more attenuation on it but will save for active version. In this round, both the on-axis and 10 degree traces (yellow ones) make the directivity appear worse than it is. Later today, expect to get to checking the bass.

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

Here is another round with my EMM-6 mic at higher resolution and using loopback...

View attachment 437401

As I mentioned, nicely flat until it hits the crossover to the tweeter. Might be worth trying a bit more attenuation on it but will save for active version. In this round, both the on-axis and 10 degree traces (yellow ones) make the directivity appear worse than it is. Later today, expect to get to checking the bass.

Looking good! What is the crossover point?

 

[RickS]

Looking good! What is the crossover point?

2500 Hz

 

[RickS]

Had a couple of distractions and got delayed by a messed up far field export that took some time to find, but here is the current merged result...

This puts f3 at around 55 Hz. Is a bit better than my quick enclosure sim but seems about right,

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

Had a couple of distractions and got delayed by a messed up far field export that took some time to find, but here is the current merged result...
View attachment 438064

This puts f3 at around 55 Hz. Is a bit better than my quick enclosure sim but seems about right,

Except for two small spots (6Khz and 10Khz) this is +/-2db from 60Hz to 18Khz. Spectacular.

 

[RickS]

Except for two small spots (6Khz and 10Khz) this is +/-2db from 60Hz to 18Khz. Spectacular.

Both are improved slightly off-axis, but is difficult to see from my earlier posts. Will post a graph that will make it easier to see.

 

[ThatSoundsGood]

Both are improved slightly off-axis, but is difficult to see from my earlier posts. Will post a easier graph that will make it easier to see.

Did you change the crossover?

 

[RickS]

Did you change the crossover?

no

 

[RickS]

here is look at 20 degrees off-axis (green trace) and 20 degree increments after...

 

[ryanosaur]

here is look at 20 degrees off-axis and 20 degree increments after...

To confirm, green is 20º and Orange is 40º?

 

[Rednaxela]

Is it me or does the 6-10k region look a bit hot at every angle?

 

[RickS]

Is it me or does the 6-10k region look a bit hot at every angle?

End of my second post mentions that, but it is the Sica crossover as designed. Mods to come…

 

[Rednaxela]

Right yeah sorry!

 

[ryanosaur]

Big thank you to Sigberg Audio and Rick!

Thorbjørn highlighted Sica in all three of his builds and opened my eyes to the possibilities. Rick's thread here made me much more comfortable making a decision about them.

I have 4 of these 6.5 Coax Drivers en route, to be used for building Atmos Speakers for high-wall mounting. According to DHL, I should have them on Friday!

I was going to hang JBL Studio 530s, but keep running into problems with their cabinet design and fitting brackets to them. Also their lower sensitivity concerns me with the added vertical distance from mounting location to LP.

Now... Do I go active or passive?

 

[Salt]

+1 active

 

[ryanosaur]

+1 active

I know. It's just the cost...
4in-8out DSP + 8 channels of amplification.

 

[RickS]

Big thank you to Sigberg Audio and Rick!

Thorbjørn highlighted Sica in all three of his builds and opened my eyes to the possibilities. Rick's thread here made me much more comfortable making a decision about them.

I have 4 of these 6.5 Coax Drivers en route, to be used for building Atmos Speakers for high-wall mounting. According to DHL, I should have them on Friday!

I was going to hang JBL Studio 530s, but keep running into problems with their cabinet design and fitting brackets to them. Also their lower sensitivity concerns me with the added vertical distance from mounting location to LP.

Now... Do I go active or passive?

Passive. As Atmos speakers, they are getting eq’d anyway.

If you want, can do some driver spins and see how to improve Sica’s crossover. May be a while before we will have some from Amir.

 

[Salt]

I know. It's just the cost...
4in-8out DSP + 8 channels of amplification.

A TAD amp is almost costless

 

[ryanosaur]

Passive. As Atmos speakers, they are getting eq’d anyway.

If you want, can do some driver spins and see how to improve Sica’s crossover. May be a while before we will have some from Amir.

A major part was this being an "easy" way to learn active... simple 2-way, simple cabinet.

But the cost is a drawback.

Passive XO parts will maybe cost $2-400 all in, and I already have most of the random stuff I would need from hookup wire to pressboard. Realistically, I would only need to buy a 2-ch amp for my Phil 3s, put my rears on the NC400s, and use my 4 Outlaw M2200 amps for Atmos channels.

Anyway, back to the original program. Just wanted to give props where they are due! . Might hit you up over PM to discuss more details if you are cool with that.