[wushuliu]

The usual suspects are small horns, FT17, FT96, T90. If you can find some Radio Shack "tweeter pods" they have some nice little horns i rank a bit above FT17 (especially if you get older ones with Al horns -- i have lots of the plastic horned ones). You might get away with some of the cheap horns, the pair of Goldwoods i got need to be disassembled and the plastic mouldings detailed at a minimum.

People have also been using domes (ie ERT26) or ribbons, bit they will have alarger dispersion flare at the bottom of their passband (i guess you could waveguide load the appropriate dome)

dave

How about the Apexjr piezo. Would that work?

Btw, I visited Apexjr at its previous location and it was such an insanely cluttered dirty mess that it put the fear of God in me  . It was like Scared Straight for slobs. Dirty narrow pathways weaving between looming towers of anything electronics. Barely shoulder width. All that was missing were some muppets popping in and out and the occasional david bowie. Prime material for a hoarder special on A&E if there ever was one. Steve was very nice though...

[chrisby]

if you mean this one:



we played with those a few years ago, and I didn't particularly care much for it

for dirt cheap, I much preferred the





cross 'em over nice and high with a single cap


with a little creative routing and rear mounting, these can be given a little wave guide

[wushuliu]

for dirt cheap, I much preferred the



cross 'em over nice and high with a single cap

that's the one. thanks!

[wushuliu]

Tried out the 1611s and they are easy on the ears but dave was right dispersion is really limited. Very fun though and were great out the box. They reminded me of the 2-ways I used to build, I guess because of the cone... Instead of using the 165wk I gave in and got Alpair 10s instead. Just installed them in sealed PE cabs and they sound *wonderful*. Wow do they go low. And dispersion is *not* a problem. Nice big sound. Exactly what I was looking for.

[wushuliu]

Update, the Alpair 10.2s are running ported w/ ~200hrs break-in. Halfway through I did some measurement sweeps and realized that the then-sealed 10s were improving with the sweeps and then realized that breaking them in sealed was a bad idea. So I ported the cabs and they opened up dramatically and have become sublime. If I had left them sealed who knows when they would have broken in if at all. Unfortunately since all my previous Mark Audio builds have been sealed I think I may have missed out on getting the best performance from them. The range of the Alpair 10.2, no filter, in a small cab is just jaw-dropping.

[Mr. Oczka]

The alpair 10.2's really interest me!  I'm glad to hear that you are getting good results with them.

Just curious, which size speaker boxes did you use with the Alpair 10.2's.  How big a port did you cut?

I very much would like to build some diy speakers.  My problem is I don't have the tools or skills (or patience) to build the boxes.

[wushuliu]

The alpair 10.2's really interest me!  I'm glad to hear that you are getting good results with them.

Just curious, which size speaker boxes did you use with the Alpair 10.2's.  How big a port did you cut?

I very much would like to build some diy speakers.  My problem is I don't have the tools or skills (or patience) to build the boxes.

I used these Parts Express cabinets (in black), with vinyl floor tile, Ultratouch 1/2in. and cotton batting on the insides. 2in X 7in. port. The 10s are surface-mounted.

If you can deal with cutting the driver hole and chamfering it's rear to let the drivers breath, and then one for the port then that's all the tooling you need to do...

[Æ]

if you mean this one:



we played with those a few years ago, and I didn't particularly care much for it

Basically not suitable for audio. I'm thinking they were some sort of annunciator, buzzer. I've measured some of them, very narrow bandwidth. Unusual for a ribbon.

[Æ]

How about the Apexjr piezo. Would that work?

Apex Jr. doesn't have a piezo. I've been to APEX, the original in Sun Valley (part of the San Fernando Valley) what an incredible place and what a mess too.

[planet10]

I used these Parts Express cabinets (in black), with vinyl floor tile, Ultratouch 1/2in. and cotton batting on the insides. 2in X 7in. port. The 10s are surface-mounted.

The curved cabinets can be used without additional damping/bracing. They would cost $50 more (the 1/2 ft^3) -- worth it IMHO.





http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=302-723

dave

[JLM]

The Fountek FR88EX is a high quality $40 3 inch aluminum driver.  The specs (Madisound) indicates limited power/spl, but at least one vendor rates them up to 150 watts!? in tiny cabinets:

http://www.home-speaker.net/home-surround-sound-system.html

[Æ]

The Fountek FR88EX is a high quality $40 3 inch aluminum driver.  The specs (Madisound) indicates limited power/spl, but at least one vendor rates them up to 150 watts!? in tiny cabinets:

http://www.home-speaker.net/home-surround-sound-system.html

Even if they are capable of 150 watts, they'll hit the stops (bottom out) before reaching their thermal limit.

[JohnR]

Perhaps it's 150 whats - I expect it can handle that.

[Æ]

Perhaps it's 150 whats - I expect it can handle that.

What?!?

[skite30]

Which size PE cabinet are u using?

[wushuliu]

@skite30: I have the taller .75cu ft MTM cab pictured earlier. Another option is the one
Planet10 linked above.