Speaker idea...

[Toxis]

I'm toying around with the idea of building a line array speaker. Not sure exactly how I want to go about this but found some speakers that look kinda beefy and wanted you DIY'ers opinions. Gotta love the 'bay!

This is an auction for 6 1/2" woofers, in a case of 12 drivers for $48.
http://cgi.ebay.com/6-Woofers-new-WOF10662case_W0QQitemZ5750902329QQcategoryZ51000QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This is an auction for 5 1/4" drivers, in a case of 16 for $64.
http://cgi.ebay.com/5-1-4-WOOFERS-new-WOF10575case_W0QQitemZ5758143976QQcategoryZ51000QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thoughts? I know they don't have a name but I wanted to know how they'd work for a line array setup. 8 5.25's in each speaker or 6 6.5's... I'd still have to find a tweeter but I'd probably lean towards a nice Ribbon or maybe a Vifa silk dome. I know I'd have a lot of work to do in terms of x-over points and what-not but I'm sure that can be calculated somehow later down the road. Right now, I'm just playing around with different concepts mentally.

I found this guy online because he had some 8" subs (HERE) (http://cgi.ebay.com/BassX-SubWoofer-High-performance_W0QQitemZ5789575623QQcategoryZ3275QQss PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) on sale for $40/pr. and my buddy bought a pair. He is absolutely in love with them. He built his own cabinets that look real nice and he is running an NHT sub amp on them. Impressive for a "no name" brand. So I figured why not give his other driver's a chance...

[Early B.]

Have you considered using full range speakers?

[unc2701]

With 8 on each side you'll be able to get a more friendly impedence, but those 6.5's dig a lot lower... with the 5.25's you'll absolutely want a sub; with the 6.5's you can probably get away with out it.

If you're going to go full range, I'd say forget the line array and go single driver, high effiency.

[mhardy6647]

I am not a big fan of line arrays per se. There are problems (challenges) with comb filtering between drivers and also challenging VC inductance effects when the drivers are series/paralleled to provide a reasonable impedance load for the amp to drive. The "tone" can be good but "imaging" is really weird at best IME (at least near-field). They are good for moderately long throw sound reinforcement, though.

Curved arrays can mitigate the comb-filter issue for relatively near-field listening. Another option is the so-called "Bessel array", which is actually a bit complicated.

Lots of line-array talk over the years at James Melhuish's full-range driver site and forum: www.melhuish.org and/or www.fullrangedriver.com

The venerable (and long-gone) PartsExpress 269-469 4" fullranges were quite good and inexpensive (as little as 69 cents!) drivers for full range and/or line array experimentation, FWIW. See, e.g., http://ratch-h.com/farm.html and http://ratch-h.com/69centwonder.html

http://www.ratch-h.com/art28a.jpg

[burdette]

Check Parts Express. They regularly have cheap buy-out speakers and the guys on their forums are always playing around with line arrays and various other set-ups to use the cheap drivers.

For example, here is an Onkyo 6" full range driver for $0.75 each (!!).

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=159

They have several styles of Onkyo 3/8" mylar tweeters for less than 50 cents each. I found another mylar tweeter, not Onkyo, 1/2", for $0.93.

There are other listings as well - other brands and price ranges.

Go to the home page, scroll down, and along the right-hand side there is a heading called "Factory Buyouts". There are also a few things in the category just above that - "Inventory Clearance".

Granted, you have to pay return shipping - but a nice thing about Parts Express (besides the great customer service and VERY helpful forums) is that you can return the stuff if you don't like it. You might not have the opportunity (and you certainly won't have the support) from an EBay buy.

[neomagus00]

the bessel array isn't terribly complicated...

the O is a tweeter, the X is a tweeter wired out of phase:

OXOOO
or
OOOXO


the interesting thing to see would be a 3-D bessel array, how would that turn out?

OXOOO
OXOOO
OXOOO
XOXXX
OXOOO

[mhardy6647]

http://www.prosoundweb.com/install/synaudcon/tt25_4/tt25_4_2.php

:-)

[gatemplin]

Unless you can measure the TS specs of those drivers, I suggest you look elsewhere. The NSB (PE) drivers might still be available here and there, and there are lots of projects already.

[Toxis]

Well, price wise, I think I'm gonna have to build a set of bookshelf speakers instead. *Sigh* Oh well, someday...

[RuSsMaN]

Come on man, go for it!!!