How to put 10" Audio Nirvana drivers in 8" speakers designed by Decware?

[hebrer]

I am currently building my second pair of speakers (first was Metronomes with Fostex 127eN, with quite satisfying results) and I face the following dilemma.

I have bought a pair of 10" Audio Nirvana cast frame drivers for which I need to build a fitting enclosure. I am tempted not to build the manufacturer-recommended bass reflex speakers but rather to try the HDT enclosures designed by Decware. But the plans I purchased from Decware are for 8" Fostex drivers.

What do you think of modifying the size of the HDT enclosures to fit the 10" AN drivers? Anybody tried something similar? What principles should be applied when "enlarging" enclosure so as not mess up the acoustics originally finetuned for different size?

Thanks for your opinions.

Peter (Slovakia)

AN driver specification: http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/an10cfspecs.jpg

Decware HDT speakers: http://www.decware.com/newsite/HDT.htm

 

[RayW]

It sounds like there is quite a bit of acoustic filtering going on in that enclosure. It is probably designed around that particular driver. Changing the size of the chambers will change the filtering and therefore the sound. Putting in a driver with a different response will cause things to react differently. You might get lucky by simply putting a different driver in the cab, but changing the cab without knowing what and why you're changing is probably going to be a lesson in frustration.

 

[shelly_d]

I just looked at the specs of the two speakers. While the QTS of the 2 are not that different, .254 vs .23 the VAS is very different 174 ltrs vs 54 ltrs. That is a huge difference. I did not look at any of the other specs so there may well be more differences. The enclosure for one will not work very well for the other. I would not go that route.

Shelly_D

 

[Slowhead]

Peter, as you know single full range speakers are very dependent on their enclosures. It is a deal breaker. In theory you could increase the cabinet size the % difference in the size of the speakers. Although, the specs. of the speakers are different. So, I would say it would work, but not ideal. Better known as: money not well spent. I have built my fair share of these type cabinets for single full range and what the manufacturer suggests, delivers the best performance. I did a little fine tuning for the room they were in and to my tastes.
My two cents: build the largest, proven design for the AN 10's and go from there.

 

[fastbike]

If you do some reading you will find that the AN specs are quite a bit different from actual measurements. I recognize that this is the case with many manufacturers, but apparently somewhat worse in the AN case. I put some AN10s in the recommended 2.6 cabs and was pretty disappointed compared to the glowing reviews.

I finally bought WT3, but haven't measured the AN10s yet.

 

[hebrer]

Tweaking the only way to go, it seems...

Thanks everyone for their opinions. With the variation in technical specs, and the widely differing opinions on fitting enclosures (also from other forums), I gather there is no way around doing some tweaking and finetuning after speaker construction. Reading the input from a few people, I am pretty sure I will not use the manufacturer recommended cabinets but will take some other design as a starting point. I do hope that with the right cabinet the AN10 will suprise me in a good way.