This speaker looks like a joke, but actually NOT AT ALL

M

myprotein

New Member
I got this tiny 3 way speaker in a whole set with a vintage amp and tuner. The mid range driver is fake, just a plastic cover there, no crossover, just a 2.3uf cap on the tweeter, the woofer is connected directly to the out port, there is a reflection port on the back. I don't expect much in the first place. But one day when I hooked up and I was exciting that it output very high volume (25W woofer and 25w tweeter), very clear and deep bass, I am not joking, the bass is better than the other two speakers that I have, NHT SuperOne, Paradiam Titan v2. The weakness is midrange, compared to the other two, it's like you fully push the midrange knob on the EQ. This make sense as no midrange driver. The other weakness is the sensitivity is much lower, you have to turn the volume knob 30% more to reach the same sound level than the other two. I guess it uses long-throw woofer to reach the deep level, but in the other hand sacrifices the sensitivity. So in summary, I like its sound style, you can hear a very clear edge of the bass, tight, in the same time with a deeper extension. The Titan's bass is boomy overlapped with too much midrange.

The next thing I will do is to add a midrange driver and a 3 way crossover to separate and boost the midrange, and let the woofer do the deep bass only. Will update when done.

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So...too much mid and you want to add a real mid driver? The reason you are hearing too much midrange is probably because there is no filter on the woofer in the first place. There is a bump or step in the response due to the baffle width - that's why they call it Baffle Step. An off-the-shelf crossover usually doesn't take that into consideration. If you want a tiny speaker that produces ample bass and have basic woodworking skills, build a pair of Duane Brown's "Dayton 4". They really sound great!

http://duanebrowndesigns.blogspot.com/2018/10/getting-your-feet-wet-in-diy-speakers.html

I borrowed his box design and came up with a variant using a Peerless tweeter.
IMG_4227_1600.jpg
 
Fully agree with the above.

However. I couldn't resist having some (cheap) fun with these.
I'd try two things:
A. Go through my collection of scavenged crossovers and find a suitable crossover, implement that and see what is does. (I assume that the nominal impedance is 4Ω, but check if you can find some info on that..)

In case I'd not have any crossovers around, this one seems pretty cheap and cheerful:
www.parts-express.com

CLEARANCE 3-Way Crossover Mylar Cap 1000/6000Hz

3-Way Crossover Mylar Cap 1000/6000HzThis 3-way passive crossover is designed for 4 ohm drivers with the following crossover points: Woofer: 1,000 Hz low pass @ 6 dB/octave Midrange: 1,000 Hz high pass @ 6 dB/octave with -4 dB attenuation Tweeter: 6,000 Hz high pass @ 12 dB/octave
www.parts-express.com
However, I'd prefer to implement a much lower crossover point from low range woofer to mid woofer. However, without measuring speaker response it's a guess really what the correct crossover point should be. Additionally, other assembled crossovers are imho too expensive for what this speaker is:

Crossover Type

Make building or repairing a speaker easy with Assembled Passive Crossovers. Save time by not tracking down individual components. Available in multiple configurations and crossover types.
www.parts-express.com
So I'd stick with that cheap'n'cheerful one.

B. If you have a surround amplifier: Disconnect the mid and tweeter, blank them off on the inside of the speaker cabinet and connect the thing to a subwoofer channel. Set the amp to stereo obviously, so you can run it as a 2.1 setup with the NHT's or Paradigms.

I totally get it if some don't like these kind of experiments, but again, I couldn't resist.
 
TBH, I'm not even sure what species that veneer is. It must have been something cheap from the bargain bin at Veneer Supplies that I tossed in the cart a few years ago. It took a few days of softener soaking to flatten it out and there are a few little cracks that have opened up.
 
TomSc said:
So...too much mid and you want to add a real mid driver? The reason you are hearing too much midrange is probably because there is no filter on the woofer in the first place. There is a bump or step in the response due to the baffle width - that's why they call it Baffle Step. An off-the-shelf crossover usually doesn't take that into consideration. If you want a tiny speaker that produces ample bass and have basic woodworking skills, build a pair of Duane Brown's "Dayton 4". They really sound great!

http://duanebrowndesigns.blogspot.com/2018/10/getting-your-feet-wet-in-diy-speakers.html

I borrowed his box design and came up with a variant using a Peerless tweeter.
View attachment 3596489
Click to expand...
I think he means that the midrange is lacking. Hard to tell from the post...
 
TomSc said:
TBH, I'm not even sure what species that veneer is. It must have been something cheap from the bargain bin at Veneer Supplies that I tossed in the cart a few years ago. It took a few days of softener soaking to flatten it out and there are a few little cracks that have opened up.
Click to expand...
Wish we had a veneer supplier over here with a bargain bin! Even the stuff they're about to toss out is expensive at wood supply shops. :(

You did a fine job with that 'dollar bin' variety!
 
coonmanx said:
I think he means that the midrange is lacking. Hard to tell from the post...
Click to expand...
Reads to me like it's overemphasized.
So indeed hard to read. ;)

P.s. I also assumed that he means that there are no electrical (crossover) components between the bass woofer and the speaker terminals.
 
Some high-end designs wire direct to a woofer, you could implement a first order crossover by just adding an inductor to the woofer so there's less overlap to bloat the midrange.
See if the binding posts are magnetic, that might be a clue.
 
John3655 said:
Some high-end designs wire direct to a woofer, you could implement a first order crossover by just adding an inductor to the woofer so there's less overlap to bloat the midrange.
See if the binding posts are magnetic, that might be a clue.
Click to expand...
True enough. I'd prefer energy to be taken away above the passband, but that's not a relevant discussion for this thread. ;)
 
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