While playing around with some very modded 4 inch PA drivers (twin cones) I tried them on open baffles and found the result quite stunning. I then compared them to 6.5 and 8 inch drivers I have, they utterly ate them alive, the larger drivers sounding boring by comparision. Now all this should be tempered by saying I am not trying to get big bass, I have two subs for that, rather I am going for great mid/highs.
So I decided to try the speakers in some old tower cabinets with the front baffle removed, I mounted the drivers on the back baffle and simply turned the speakers around, a pair of piezo tweeters properly crossed over was added. I had a listen and the result was quite sublime, but then when I got around the back of the cabinets I noticed how nice it sounded from the rear......so I mounted the drivers the other way around and turned the cabinets so the cavity faced me and then mounted the piezos in front of the drivers.
Now even in a really raw experimental state I can say with hand on heart and and an electronics catalogue in hand this is a truly special sounding set-up, and I don't mean that in the way "it sounds pretty good", I mean utterly amazing, highs are crystal, mids open and clear and even the mid bass is sweet as, it is very very easy to listen to, no fatigue and detail like I have never had before and I have tried just about everything, hell even the iPod sounds great through the system.
Where to next, well I am going make a horn in front of the driver, basically running from the edge of the driver to the edges of the cab, it won't be big but preliminary results and experiements are very promising.
One really nice feature is that the sweet spot is amazing ,but no matter where you stand or sit in the room you still get a really full soundstage and nice stereo image.
If it sounds like I'm excited your right, I have spent 18 months building and experimenting with my full diy system and now suddenly it has all just come together.
I would love to hear from anyone who had had a similar arrangement and get a few thoughts.
Zero One
