Diy center channel

bilferd

New Member
I'm wanting to build a center channel speaker for my home theater and I have two 3 inch woofers and two tweeters. The only problem is I don't have the specs for them. They were given to me from a friend. They came out of a set of Sony tower speakers that were part of a surround sound. I believe they're 6 ohm. How could I figure the size box to build for them and also to build the crossover
 
I'm wanting to build a center channel speaker for my home theater and I have two 3 inch woofers and two tweeters. The only problem is I don't have the specs for them. They were given to me from a friend. They came out of a set of Sony tower speakers that were part of a surround sound. I believe they're 6 ohm. How could I figure the size box to build for them and also to build the crossover

You should be able to determine the ohms using a multimeter. Or... if you think you could identify the model of Sony towers you might be able to find some of the specs you need.

Parts Express technical support might be able to help you out. Give them a call and tell them what you want to do. They have various crossovers that you can choose from and they will actually find the right crossover for you to use with those speakers. They can tell you the size of the box and the size and depth of the port (if you figure out if they came out of a sealed or ported box).

Hopefully some others will chime in here with additional suggestions.

And by the way, welcome to AK!!
 
I'll give them a try. I found that they were from a set of Sony Sava 27. I only have the mids and tweeters from them. The other woofers were I think 6 inch hidden down inside of the towers
 
I have done the deed 4 times. But each time I used the same drivers as the left and right speakers, Just fewer in number. two or four tweeters versus 8, one smaller mid versus one or two mids, one woofer versus two or four. But the early centers were for stereo only and only required 25% of the power of the left and right. For HT, the center has to do the most work and should be equal or more capable than the left and right speakers not less.
 
It's mainly just for fun and the experience. I've never built a crossover so I figured these would be good to try it out with
 
So for the crossover, should I just wing it with a cap for the tweeters and leave the woofers full range?
 
I have done the deed 4 times. But each time I used the same drivers as the left and right speakers, Just fewer in number. two or four tweeters versus 8, one smaller mid versus one or two mids, one woofer versus two or four. But the early centers were for stereo only and only required 25% of the power of the left and right. For HT, the center has to do the most work and should be equal or more capable than the left and right speakers not less.

My setup is a bit odd. I have cerwin Vega d3's as my front, Bose 301 series ii as my rear, no center yet and a white van scam media labs subwoofer with a plate amplifier surround receiver. It isnt setup yet but that's what I have to work with
 
The advantage of me using the same speakers but in smaller numbers was I could use the universal crossover Bozak built for either 8 ohm or 16 ohm speakers. Another advantage was the crossovers were first order which made things simpler, even with the bridged T filter that was added later on to improve the 200Yc response..
 
Search for the Sony Sava 27 service manual and see if it contains any crossover drawings.

Good luck!
 
It's important for the front and center speakers to match with the same timbre. Otherwise, there will be discontinuities in the sound. What you're proposing is not likely to give you good results. In order to design the proper cabinet and the crossover for your drivers, you'll need their Thiele/Small parameters, impedance and SPL plots, and access to the appropriate modeling program. Without those tools, what you're doing will be an educational and fun project, but it's unlikely to produce a good result. At least the drivers were free, right?
 
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