Raw drivers for use in front stage

falkenbd · Post by **falkenbd** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:09 am

I have been thinking about setting up a 3-way front stage. I won't need any passives, so raw drivers is my plan.

I wanted to get everyone's opinion on this. I have been thinking I'd get a combination of one or several of the following brands.

Hi-Vi, Tang Band, Vifa, Dayton

That being said, a lot of these drivers are 8 ohm drivers (not a problem)
BUT a lot of them have very little power handling, like 15w or 30w.

Just for example, 3 random drivers:
Dayton 8" Midbass
Hi-Vi BS3 3" midrange
LPG 26NA tweeter

The Hi-Vi has a 15w power handling rating, i'd bring up the crossover point a little to hopefully get more power handling out of it. but lets say I have an amp that pushes 85w per channel at 4 ohms - this is theoretically 42.5 watts at 8 ohms. Does this present a problem?? Would this limit how loud the system gets??

I picked those 3 drivers at random, but they are some of the ones in the pile of what I was considering.

What is everyone's opinion of this approach? My thoughts are, I can get decent SQ for less money and upgrade/swap each component as I see fit. This would give me a chance to hear different types of drivers in a car set up.

falkenbd · Post by **falkenbd** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:30 pm

22 views no replies... bump

JeremyC · Post by **JeremyC** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:28 pm

Are these going to be dedicated mid mass?

Having 4 dbs of head room isn't going to hurt you, as long as you use it sparingly. So a 15 watt apeaker on 42 watts shouldn't be a problem.

But I'm curious what speakers your looking at, if the rms is so low? Are you looking at full range speakers, or speakers designed to be ran as a dedicated mid bass?

cargodz · Post by **cargodz** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:17 am

It would seem to me that you are looking at the low end at Parts Express for your budget 3-way, might wanna look at stepping it up a notch and spending a couple bucks more for some more headroom.

falkenbd · Post by **falkenbd** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:34 am

I've been looking at dedicated mid-range and full-range speakers to use as a dedicated mid-range.

I already got a pair of LPG 26NA tweeters, and I plan to get a dedicated midbass. (most likely a Dayton 7" or 8")

For now, I have enough amps to power the 3-way using my old kicker ZR120 and my kicker ZX350.4 and the DLS amp for my subs. I plan to eventually have all DLS Ultimate amps (Thats a ways off monetarily).

Since we started talking about the mid-range, I'll throw out the ideas I have so far:

Dayton RS100
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=295-378

Peerless/Vifa TG9
http://www.madisound.com/catalog/produc ... ts_id=1616

Dayton RS52 - no need to attempt a sealed enclosure since its a dome - but HPF would need to be higher than with the cone midranges
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=285-020

Peerles 830986 - another cone full-range
http://www.madisound.com/catalog/produc ... ts_id=8305

THe HiVi B3n Mentioned above
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=297-428

There are also many offerings from Tang-Band that would be suitable, and I've considered the Hybrid Audio L3 since it seems well suited for an IB type of application, but the price is higher than any of the above options.

JeremyC · Post by **JeremyC** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:17 am

Quick question. where do you plan on instaling these?

JeremyC · Post by **JeremyC** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:20 am

This one scares me LOL

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=297-428

Metal cone for a mid range?

If its anything like the seas mag cone your going to have a lot of funky second and third order harmonics to deal with.

Don't forget this guy

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/produc ... ts_id=1088

Ryan from Ohio · Post by **Ryan from Ohio** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:01 am

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=295-378

or

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/produc ... ts_id=1616

Would be my picks.

falkenbd · Post by **falkenbd** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:49 am

My tweeter and midrange are going in the a-pillar. Its the next project I plan on starting after my sub boxes and trunk are put together.

I'm thinking they are going to have to be pointed somewhat towards each other or slightly in, like towards the opposite headrest. I'm not sure that I'd have room to put these on-axis, nor do I think I'd want to. The midrange will be about 3" above the dash with the tweeter being slightly above that. I'm thinking about keeping them on 1 baffle.

I'm leaning towards a dome, since I don't know if I'd have room for a 2 to 5 liter sealed enclosure, and I'm not entirely sure if these drivers would sound decent in a vented type enclosure. What do you think?

I like this one: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl ... er=285-020

The HiVi B3S/N however doesn't seem too bad, take a look at these:

frequency response:
http://www.zaphaudio.com/tidbits/HIVI-B3S-FR.gif

harmonic distortion: (seems to stay below -35db in the range i'd be using)
http://www.zaphaudio.com/tidbits/HIVI-B3S-HD.gif

falkenbd · Post by **falkenbd** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:12 pm

How do I tell if a particular driver will sound good in a smaller-than-recommended enclosure?

Likewise, how do I tell how it will sound in an aperiodic or IB situation if its recommended for sealed?

This is really the factor thats holding me back from the Dayton RS100 or Vifa TG9