[ebag4]

My son's PSB Alphas have bitten the dust.  I want to build him a pair of bookshelf speakers capable of big bass.  He will not have space for a sub, but he has gotten use to the bass output of my V1s.  I know I will not be able to recreate that type of bass in a bookshelf speaker, but I am trying to determine my best option.  My preference is not to use a sub built into a cabinet that requires a plate amp (that requires a nearby outlet), but instead build a speaker that will get all of it's power from his Onkyo AVR (100 wpc). 

I have read up on a couple of Anarchy builds (including Danny's design) that have peaked my interest but am looking for additional feedback.  I have a couple of new GR-T6 tweeters that I would like to use for this build.

The rooms these will be used in are/will be small (dorm room next year), sensitivity shouldn't be too much of a concern with 100 watts and a small room although a fairly benign 6-8 ohm impedence may be a benefit.

His musical preferences include Rap, Classic Rock, and Country.


Thanks,
Ed

[jparkhur]

What if you three way and side fire an 8 or 10? 

[ebag4]

Thanks for the reply Jon.  I am open to a 3 way design but I am not a crossover designer so I will need a proven design or a kit.

Best,
Ed

[Early B.]

What's your budget?

[jparkhur]

I'm just saying take a proven monitor and add a helper woofer???

[ebag4]

What's your budget?

I am leaving that a bit open now because I would like to hear various options but in the end I would like to keep it in the $500. range or less.

Best,
Ed

[ebag4]

I'm just saying take a proven monitor and add a helper woofer???

That is a possibility but I believe that would take a complete redesign of the crossover of the proven design.  Of course I could add a helper woofer and drive it with a plate amp separately, but that adds the requirement of having an outlet in the proper locations and I would like to stay away from that if possible.

Best,
Ed

[persisting1]

If you really want base, the Anarchy build sounds like it won't be beat.

Only concern is that they are not an efficient speaker. Is his receiver 100 wpc shared?

[Danny Richie]

Deep bass is not that hard to get from a small driver or bookshelf design if you are willing to give up sensitivity.

[Danny Richie]

I designed a speaker once that used the GR-T6 tweeter and the Eminence Alpha 8 woofer. It sounded really good, had good sensitivity, and really pounded in the bottom end. I think the -3db down point was mid 50's though. And it needed an elliptical network requiring a lot of parts. I still have that pair of speakers.

[persisting1]

I designed a speaker once that used the GR-T6 tweeter and the Eminence Alpha 8 woofer. It sounded really good, had good sensitivity, and really pounded in the bottom end. I think the -3db down point was mid 50's though. And it needed an elliptical network requiring a lot of parts. I still have that pair of speakers.

Any pictures of this speaker?

[ebag4]

If you really want base, the Anarchy build sounds like it won't be beat.

Only concern is that they are not an efficient speaker. Is his receiver 100 wpc shared?

It's a standard 5 channel AVR rated at 100 wpc.  I am sure the amps share a power supply but with only 2 channels being used I would believe there should be plenty of reserve available from the power supply.

Best,
Ed

[ebag4]

Deep bass is not that hard to get from a small driver or bookshelf design if you are willing to give up sensitivity.

I believe he has all the power he should need for a small room even with a low sensitivity speaker.  What were your impressions of the anarchy design and what would you recommend instead?  If I could use the T-6 that would be a bonus.

Thanks,
Ed

[ebag4]

I designed a speaker once that used the GR-T6 tweeter and the Eminence Alpha 8 woofer. It sounded really good, had good sensitivity, and really pounded in the bottom end. I think the -3db down point was mid 50's though. And it needed an elliptical network requiring a lot of parts. I still have that pair of speakers.

Danny,
I would like to learn more about this design, what the cabinet size is, what the crossover parts cost, etc. 

I am also rethinking my position on a built in sub, in lieu of separate plate amps requiring local outlets I could simply use one of the Dayton amps, sit it next to the AVR and run the built in subs from it, biamping the speaker.  All that would be required is a second set of speaker wires for the subs.

Best,
Ed

[Coldfusion]

A DIY version of the deftech sm65 may work?  Or put a passive radiator into an existing (larger) bookshelf?

[Danny Richie]

Any pictures of this speaker?

I didn't have any on hand so I had to take a few.

[cheap-Jack]

hi.

Deep bass is not that hard to get from a small driver or bookshelf design if you are willing to give up sensitivity.

Please tell me how & give us a built example.

Mine is a large pair of 2-way bookshelvers with 13"x9.25" oval-shaped woofer, mounted on lead-shot stuffed heavy steel  tripots & yet not goood enough to deliver 20Hz sub-sonic bass.

c-J

[Danny Richie]

hi.
Please tell me how & give us a built example.

Mine is a large pair of 2-way bookshelvers with 13"x9.25" oval-shaped woofer, mounted on lead-shot stuffed heavy steel  tripots & yet not goood enough to deliver 20Hz sub-sonic bass.

c-J

Kevin's woofer that was mentioned earlier is a good example.

http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=538

That thing will play fairly low and really move some air, but sensitivity dropped to 84db.

And it would be no problem to increase the moving mass and lower the Fs to gain even more low frequency extension but sensitivity could then easily drop into the upper 70's.

[cheap-Jack]

Hi.

Kevin's woofer that was mentioned earlier is a good example.

http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=538

That thing will play fairly low and really move some air, but sensitivity dropped to 84db.

That small mid-sub driver gets its natural resonance frequency up to 46Hz. To get down to 20-30Hz it needs a huge tapped horn cabinet to help out.

So it can't go down so low in a bookshelf size cabinet.

c-J

[Danny Richie]

I had a bunch of 8" servo subs made for open baffle applications. See them here: http://gr-research.com/sw-12-08-1.aspx

In that same batch run they also made 4 ohm and 8 ohm lower Q versions for sealed boxes. Rythmik has them in stock right now. We went in together on the order to share the 500 piece minimum.

The sealed box version only needs .35 cubic feet of air space. And with the servo control they are capable of playing to a -3db down of 20Hz.

So there is an example of really low extension in a really small box.