dave-b Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Hi,Hoping somebody can give me the thums up about the design of a pair of 6" speaker cabinets I am planning to build. I am making a small portable system, it will have a sub and 2 satellite type boxes. The sub is a vented 12" cabinet and the satellites each have two 6" drivers and a horn loaded HF driver. I plan to use Eminence Alpha 6a/b drivers. My query is - is it musically sound to put two of these 6" drivers + HF into a cabinet approx 250 x 250 x 500mm? Eminence suggest either a vented or sealed cabinet of a much lower volume. I'm looking to create a more acoustic sound rather than a very loud sound. Can I put two drivers in the same cabinet? Below is a CAD drawing of the proposed cabinet (this one with vents, not sure whether I need them or not??).Any comments appreciated, thanks.http://s162683801.websitehome.co.uk/6inch-Cabinet-1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Beesley Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Hi Dave, You may get a better response over on the Speakerplans forum ... the guys over there may be better suited to answering this type of question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave-b Posted November 8, 2009 Author Share Posted November 8, 2009 OK Thanks, will take it over there. (http://forum.speakerplans.com/topic32451_post324515.html#324515) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djandydee Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 If you have a dedicated sub then these boxes wont need to produce much LF hence the physical volume can be reduced. You can do this by boxing off the 6" drivers within the cabinet to the recommended volume or reducing the size of these boxes to the correct volume. Remember to allow for the internal dimensions, accoustic wadding, the volume taken up by the drivers including the compression driver and the horn and the crossover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyP1955 Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 You need to put the horn in the center (D'Appolito configuration), otherwise you'll get some pretty bad lobes/cancellations as you move even slightly off axis vertically. (With the horn in the center you'll still get some, but they will be livable.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 There are plenty of Googleable speaker cabinet software odds and ends out there, but it's a pretty complex subject, and my own experience of randomly picking dimensions and drivers is that the results are also random. It certainly will work, but as to how well - it's guesswork really. Interaction between two drivers adds to the complication. Other variables are the internal volume and port tuning. I've found with single driver units that retaining internal volume and tweaking the 3 dimensions works as long as the changes are not too far from the original, but I've also produced some real horrible sounding ones, that the box calculators said would work! What I'd probably do, if I had the components already is simply build it and try it out. Tweaking the port gives some control over response - and if you can run sweep tones through it, you can spot nasty unwanted resonances. Trial and error is not a brilliant way to go about this, but if you have the time ..........? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 The answer to the original question has to be, "It will work, but whether you would want to listen to it for long may be a different matter"! Buying a well respected name you are buying their development expertise and their craftsmanship. You are simply guessing what cabinet will make what sound with the drivers and crossover that you choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 Thats about the size of it. I've recently "built" a load of 100V line sopeakers for show relay. I say "built" because they are actually 12 inch bookcase cubes into which I've stuffed a 8 inch speaker with integrated transformer and a bit of wadding. For their purpose they sound OK but I wouldn't actually want to use them for reinforcement or indeed listening purposes :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djandydee Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 You need to put the horn in the center (D'Appolito configuration), otherwise you'll get some pretty bad lobes/cancellations as you move even slightly off axis vertically. (With the horn in the center you'll still get some, but they will be livable.) what? Please explain - This should be interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefez Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 what? Please explain - This should be interesting not sure about the specifics, but a quick google came up with this picture that should explain the physical difference with a D'Appolito configuration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Alcock Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Dave, Don't be discouraged about having a go building your own caninets. You never know, you may get lucky and it sound fantastic. Either way you'll learn a lot and the second one you make is bound to be better. Size-wise, it's about right for a reflex cabinet and about twice as big as it needs to be for a sealed box (according to the program I use anyway). Ported it might give a response (-3dB) down to 80Hz whereas a sealed box the -3dB point would be at around 150Hz but with a gentler roll-off. If you think you'd ever use them without a sub, maybe go for the ported option. If you want maximum loudness in the midrange and will always allow the sub to do the bass-work, make the box smaller and sealed. A speaker design program is useful and will save wasting time and plywood. Crossover design is another potential nightmare if you try yto design your own, though you can get reasonable ready-made ones from Adam Hall. This is arguably the pinnacle of design of the kind of cabinet you're describing: D&B T10. See how small their box is. Good luck. Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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