Na wat verzoeken om hier een verslag te doen van mijn speakerbouw project, heb ik maar even de moeite genomen om een copy paste te maken van een ander forum
. Het is een soort samenvatting van het hele project.
a year and a half ago, i wanted to buy a completely new HiFi set. At that time, i wasn't planning to do anything myself. I visited lots of HiFi shops, listened to lots of speakers and amps, and found out that the speakers i wanted were way too expensive (€5.000+). So i decided to take a look into the DIY world. I listened to all the conventional designs, with units like Vifa, Visaton and Scanspeak. None of those designs really convinced to go DIY. At that time, a friend on mine, a experienced DIY-er, was working on a system with Oris 150 horns and a Fostex Fe208Sigma driver and bent horns with Eminence Delta 15 speakers. I still haven't found a system capable of beating that set.
Not willing to risk putting a lot of money in my first DIY project, i decided to try to make a cheap directional and efficient 2 way full range speaker as a experiment. Well, keeping things simple isn't my strong point :P, so what started out as a experiment brought where i am today
.
In the mean while sound wasn't only a hobby anymore, i got more and more involved with pro sound in the Theater i work (1000 seat theater in Utrecht). And the pro sound buisness fascinated me with the concept of fully active speakers. Not only because you lose the passive crossovers, but also because of the possibilities it gives: delaying, real time adjustement of crossover types, slopes and frequency, and EQ-ing. When you see EQ's and delays day-in day-out, you can't accept it when you can't use those tools at home. At my work we use 2 XTA DP200's.

The units hang in a 19" rack on the sidestage, and you them using a laptop sitting at the front of house using the RS232 protocol via the multicore. XTA is a very expensive brand, started by a former employee of Klark & Technik. Bss makes similar units, and are more affordable. But those too, were extremely expensive because i needed 6 analogue outputs (around €4.000,- inc VAT). So i finally decided to buy the Sony SRP-F300, which i could buy for €2200,- inc VAT. It's a great unit, with lots of features, the only drawback is the software. If you're used to the software XTA includes, it's really a step back to the Sony software, which also doesn't work in NT systems.
Because i wanted to triamp my system, i would also need three amps. I wanted three similar amps, and decided to go for second hand units. Since the occassion market for pro amps is way bigger so it would be easier to find three similar units, i decided to go pro on the amps. After listening to some amps, i chose the Crest Vs serie, and bought a Vs-1500, Vs-1100 and a Vs-450 for a total of €1800,- inc VAT.
In the mean while the plans for the speakers were getting more complicated every week. I wanted a different driver for highs instead of going for a wide range unit. After some research, i settled on the Visaton TL16H

Visaton say on their site that the the driver is meant be used for 7K and above, but using a 4th order crossover i think i can safely go as low as 5KHz. That made it far easier to chose a midrange driver. I decided that a 200Hz horn would give the highest acceptable size, so i started to look for a driver capable of doing 200Hz - 5KHz without resonating or beaming. I settled on a Focal 5W4211 with the w-cone. This driver also has a step up in it's response starting at 1KHz, ideal for my situation. The only drawback was that it is only 87.5dB sensitive, but using a horn would increase it to an acceptable amount. So i started thinking about a way to manufacture this 200Hz horn. I couldn't just buy a Oris horn, because they're ugly :P. I wanted the horn to be mounted in it's own enclosure, together with the Visaton unit. I also chose the trapeziod shape, just for looks

a year and a half ago, i wanted to buy a completely new HiFi set. At that time, i wasn't planning to do anything myself. I visited lots of HiFi shops, listened to lots of speakers and amps, and found out that the speakers i wanted were way too expensive (€5.000+). So i decided to take a look into the DIY world. I listened to all the conventional designs, with units like Vifa, Visaton and Scanspeak. None of those designs really convinced to go DIY. At that time, a friend on mine, a experienced DIY-er, was working on a system with Oris 150 horns and a Fostex Fe208Sigma driver and bent horns with Eminence Delta 15 speakers. I still haven't found a system capable of beating that set.
Not willing to risk putting a lot of money in my first DIY project, i decided to try to make a cheap directional and efficient 2 way full range speaker as a experiment. Well, keeping things simple isn't my strong point :P, so what started out as a experiment brought where i am today

In the mean while sound wasn't only a hobby anymore, i got more and more involved with pro sound in the Theater i work (1000 seat theater in Utrecht). And the pro sound buisness fascinated me with the concept of fully active speakers. Not only because you lose the passive crossovers, but also because of the possibilities it gives: delaying, real time adjustement of crossover types, slopes and frequency, and EQ-ing. When you see EQ's and delays day-in day-out, you can't accept it when you can't use those tools at home. At my work we use 2 XTA DP200's.

The units hang in a 19" rack on the sidestage, and you them using a laptop sitting at the front of house using the RS232 protocol via the multicore. XTA is a very expensive brand, started by a former employee of Klark & Technik. Bss makes similar units, and are more affordable. But those too, were extremely expensive because i needed 6 analogue outputs (around €4.000,- inc VAT). So i finally decided to buy the Sony SRP-F300, which i could buy for €2200,- inc VAT. It's a great unit, with lots of features, the only drawback is the software. If you're used to the software XTA includes, it's really a step back to the Sony software, which also doesn't work in NT systems.
Because i wanted to triamp my system, i would also need three amps. I wanted three similar amps, and decided to go for second hand units. Since the occassion market for pro amps is way bigger so it would be easier to find three similar units, i decided to go pro on the amps. After listening to some amps, i chose the Crest Vs serie, and bought a Vs-1500, Vs-1100 and a Vs-450 for a total of €1800,- inc VAT.
In the mean while the plans for the speakers were getting more complicated every week. I wanted a different driver for highs instead of going for a wide range unit. After some research, i settled on the Visaton TL16H

Visaton say on their site that the the driver is meant be used for 7K and above, but using a 4th order crossover i think i can safely go as low as 5KHz. That made it far easier to chose a midrange driver. I decided that a 200Hz horn would give the highest acceptable size, so i started to look for a driver capable of doing 200Hz - 5KHz without resonating or beaming. I settled on a Focal 5W4211 with the w-cone. This driver also has a step up in it's response starting at 1KHz, ideal for my situation. The only drawback was that it is only 87.5dB sensitive, but using a horn would increase it to an acceptable amount. So i started thinking about a way to manufacture this 200Hz horn. I couldn't just buy a Oris horn, because they're ugly :P. I wanted the horn to be mounted in it's own enclosure, together with the Visaton unit. I also chose the trapeziod shape, just for looks
Comment