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I've been reading many websites and forum posting about speaker driver selection but have found very few articles which help me make a driver choice. I've enjoyed HIFI for the last 10 years or so through my small but adequate B&W 601's, playing music such as Dire Straites. In the last 2 years I've been listening also to dance music (House/Trance), as well as DJing & monitoring dance music I've created on my PC.I noticed the dance music invariably sounds better from good PA type systems - I guess because it is more bass & treble orientated than midrange???........but stick on the Dire Straites through a PA and it sounds so lacking its almost pointless!!!!
I want to design some speakers which will suffice for listening to Dire Straites but will also give me a nice sound with the dance music. I guess flat response is quite important since I will be using them for developing my own music??? The speakers will be used in average size room, say 14x12 Ft but I'd also like them to be suitable for bigger rooms if & when I move house.
The speakers have to be robust - you get some funny levels with some vinyl through my mixer and I managed to blow up the tweeters on my B&W's twice now. I also like volume (luck I live in the country), so am thinking very well chosen PA/monitor type drivers would be the best way to go???
One consideration was using Eminence beta 10CX or the new deltalite 2510 coupled with APT 80 in a simple two section transmission line design - is this an unorthadox suggestion? Any better ideas I'd be so grateful to hear of as I'm now quite confused and unsure,
Thanks very much,
Ian
Follow Ups:
The reason "dance music" sounds better to your ear on the PA speakers is the opposite of why Dire Straits sounds WORSE on them. One is music.....one is not. Vocals, especially FEMALE vocals are very revealing and require good, accurate speakers to reproduce. On the other hand, dance music is electronic(do you REALLY know what it's SUPPOSED to sound like?) and the excentuated bass and treble fool your ears into thinking it's better. Its not better.
The reason your blowing tweeters is your underpowering them. Get a better amp. Not just a more powerfull amp........a better amp.
PS.....ditch the mixer. use it for PA use.......NOT home audio ok?
http://ldsg.snippets.org/index.php3
In general, high efficiency (low Qts) drivers don't work very well in transmission lines. Transmission lines work best with medium to fairly high Qts woofers (.35 to .90), at least in my experience.High efficiency (low Qts) woofers work best in reflex or (in extreme cases) horn enclosures, so most high-efficiency systems use reflex enclosures.
For more specific recommendations, try your question over at the High Efficiency Asylum. You might also want to try the Pi Speakers Forum, sponsored by Wayne Parham of Pi Speakers. Wayne offers plans and parts kits that will do what you're looking for.
Personally, I think well of the Eminence Delta-Lite woofers. If it were me, I'd use the APT-200 tweeter instead of the APT-80. But please recognize that crossover design is the heart and soul of speaker design, and that it's also what separates the men from the boys. Consider using a driver combination for which a tried and proven crossover design is already available.
Best of luck with your project!
Duke
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