[teunhamel]

Hello!

I am a complete novice when it comes to audio and speakers, but recently I have really wanted to start a project to build my own. ive already gotten multiple tips to start of with a kit for my first time but still I wanted to ask this question.
a design I had in mind and would really like to build eventually contains either 3+ tweeters or other driver (purely because it would look nice). Now I also have seen some videos and a forum post on this subject stating that it won't work and in fact that it would be worse than just a single tweeter (or woofer) due to comb filtering. I understood the information and kind of accepted that the design idea would never work. but then I thought about speaker setups I had already seen at festivals like this:


maybe im totally wrong but this looks like multiple sources of sound next to each other playing at the same time. wouldn't this than also "not work" because of things like comb filtering? or are they using some other strange technique to combat this? I would love to hear what you guys think because maybe in the future I can still work out the idea I had

[JLM]

PA speakers main purpose is to play loud, secondly to offer wide dispersion.  The design shown would seem to accomplish both.  Tweeters are very efficient and wide dispersing so multiples shouldn't be needed for home or studio use. 

[FullRangeMan]

IMO for home audio or hi-fi you need refinement, refined performance, not alot of parts or crossovers to sterilize your music. For DIY are suited simple projects with full-range drivers that are know to have good sound as Visaton B200, Mark Audio or Li Audio F15 or F18.

Check this simple and efficient project below that will give you great music per dolar, this is a inexpensive DIY project from an AC member, it have only four(4) parts: Eminence Alpha15A + 4.7mH + Visaton B200 and a MDF baffle.


Other option are the Lii Audio F15 FR driver $399/pair, not each.
Here Decware OB with the Lii Audio F15 driver:

If one have a woodworker is possible try the Lii Audio F15($399/Pair, pair not each) 97dB/8Ω and benign impedance curve suited to OB or Bass Reflex box or the F18($540/pair), no Crossover, no Tweeter beaming, no Phase rotation, no driver sensitivity loss, no Harmonics loss, no Retail price.
http://www.glowinthedarkaudio.com/lii-audio-f18.html

Please note if you use a Lii Audio F18 you will not need a external sub or woofer in the baffle.

My personal choice is the Lii F18 in Single Driver configuration, but if you make question of wanting a 2-Way speaker you may want a bigger woofer than the Alpha15A, so there are W18 inches and W21 inches from Lii Audio, personally I dont like these two VCs woofers, they are hard to drive with a small tube amp.
https://www.lii-audio.com/product/w-18/

https://www.lii-audio.com/product/w21/

[FullRangeMan]

If you want a line array to large sound-stage consider this project made by a AC member years a go, it use 8 Visaton B200 in serial-parallel or you can connect all 8 drivers in parallel to 48 ohms and order a 45/47 ohms OPT to your tube amp.
This is a very musical speaker(hence no cross-over), sweet music and great sound-stage and power handling.

[FullRangeMan]

Comb Filter is a psycho-acoustic effect that varies from person to person,
some hear the effect others dont.  Others Comb Filter variables are>
= Type of music listened
(acoustic music, electric/Rock/, live recording, multi-track, Loudness level etc)
= Type of output stage amp
= Room or room acoustics
= SPL or music volume in the room

[teunhamel]

PA speakers main purpose is to play loud, secondly to offer wide dispersion.  The design shown would seem to accomplish both.  Tweeters are very efficient and wide dispersing so multiples shouldn't be needed for home or studio use.

thanks for the info! good to know that for home listening multiple tweeters shouldn't be needed. I still want to ask a question about how manageable/realistic my idea is then: the idea roughly is to make a pair of speaker with a honeycomb shape integrated into the design. so in my head it would look like either 3, 5 or 7 hexagons all very very slightly facing away from each other like a small round-ish honeycomb. don you think this would be realistic to do with for example some very small drivers that all fit into their own hexagon? or is it better to let this dream go? 
anyways thanks again and have a good day/morning/evening

[FullRangeMan]

Do you checked Tekton?
They have alot of drivers to be moved LOL
https://tektondesign.com/product/full-range-speakers/full-towers/double-impact/#color

[opnly bafld]

Tekton only uses 1 as a tweeter, the rest are used for midrange.

[Early B.]

Tekton only uses 1 as a tweeter, the rest are used for midrange.

How much of the midrange are those tweeters covering? At the 9:28 mark of this video, Eric claims the tweeter array starts kicking at 270Hz. Are tweeters capable of playing that low?   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GFnarjmG1c

[FullRangeMan]

I have seen many dome mid-ranges reach down 600Hz on paper no more than it.
Most tweeters have the low register under 1.5 - 2kHz, some can down to 1200Hz,
this Beyma are typical, range are 1.5kHz - 20kHz.
https://usspeaker.com/beyma%20t2010-1.htm

[richidoo]

Comb filtering becomes noticeable when the wavelength exceeds the center to center distance between drivers. 

Your idea of an array of 7 full range drivers arranged in circle/hexagon should work well, imo. The center driver handles the treble alone, and the surrounding drivers handle midbass. 1st order crossover would be somewhere 500-800Hz depending on the box size/shape and crossover slope etc.  You just want the outer drivers to be out below 2000Hz, and the treble driver not to play too low and suffer intermodulation distortion.

[Rusty Jefferson]

.... the idea roughly is to make a pair of speaker with a honeycomb shape integrated into the design. so in my head it would look like either 3, 5 or 7 hexagons all very very slightly facing away from each other like a small round-ish honeycomb. don you think this would be realistic to do with for example some very small drivers that all fit into their own hexagon?....

Such a design would not have good off axis performance which is important because the reflected sound from all those drivers playing the same frequencies would arrive at your ears at different times. That, plus they won't blend smoothly with the midrange driver(s) at the crossover point. This is confusing for the brain. Line arrays are the best way to implement multiple tweeters in a speaker.

Search on the YouTube for a Floyd Toole presentation. It's a discussion that touches on these issues.

[planet10]

Comb Filter is a psycho-acoustic effect that varies from person to person,

Cons filtering looks worse than it sounds, but it is still an issue.

In an ideal world. any 2 drivers would be within a quarter wavelength centre-to-centre. Vanishingly few tweeters will allow for this. At that point there is no lobing at all.



A PA system has quite different requirements than one for home hifi.

dave