DIY dorm speakers, need suggestions.

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

Ok, I'm looking to do some DIY bookshelf speakers for my dorm. It just going to be playing music, no movies. I wanted to go 3-way, plus a sub which will be a Type R off a bash 300w amp. I'd like to stay around $150 on just the speakers, dont worry about the crossovers and building materials. I was originally thinking of doing either 8's or 7's for the midbass, 4"s or 3"s for the midrange, and some tweets, then the sub. Which driver would yall suggest? I've been looking around partsexpress.com for a while now and looking at the builds other people have done and the drivers they used, but some are a little out of my price range. Would it be possible to do 3-way or should I just stick with 2-way just because of my price limitations? All suggestions are appreciated.

This will be ran off my computer, or course going through a 2 channel amp first. This Klipsch 2.1 aint cuttin it.

Click to read more...

 

[bk12321 10+ year member]

partsexpress.com is a GREAT DIY site

you could pick up some speakers off there, get a cabinet for them, and run them off an HT receiver and ud be set

another great place to find cheap "dorm" speakers is a local pawn shop... lots of great finds to be had there

the tang bands are great dedicated subs/midbass drivers, and then grab a pair of dayton references or some other speakers for the midrange

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

yea, i was leaning toward the tang bands for the midbass and midrange and then one of daytons tweeters. I was going to make the cabinet myself, and make sure each speaker has the proper volume.Any suggestions on which speakers I should get or should I get the best and the most power handling for my price range?

 

[BassBallin]

dayton and tang band are 2 really good speakers for your dorm setup

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Dayton RS MTM's...

nG

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

im thinkin this...

Tweet=http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=275-070

Mid range=http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=264-820

Mid Bass=http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=295-364

other suggestions...?

 

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

Dayton RS MTM's...
nG

Agreed.

Quality dorm setup.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

http://zaphaudio.com/BAMTM.html

/thread

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

With that price you might be better off looking at a 2-Way setup.

You would not only save money on drivers, but on wood and crossover materieals also.

Unless you are going to run a large midbass driver you really don't need a little mid-range driver.

Also, you might want to look into the Dayton Midrange and then move up to the Dayton 8 inch.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

Post #15

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269210

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

To lazy to copy and paste... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

You could have done this too...

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3614436&postcount=15

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

have been researching for a while, and am still stuck between these two.

http://zaphaudio.com/BAMTM.html or http://www.rjbaudio.com/RS180MTM/rs180-rs28-mtm.html . Both are MTM designs that include a tweeter and a 7" mid. The one with the alumimun cone and the seas tweeter is cheaper than the Dayton setup, but is the all Dayton worth the extra cost?

Another thing im not sure of is if i should use the 7" daytons or the 6"s. I dont know if they used to 7"s because they provide a little more low end response than the 6"s, but if i have a sub, would i need the larger driver? The 7"s would increase the midbass some, but the 6"s can play a little higher and would take some of the stress off of the tweeter.

I'm goign to have a sub for sure, either a 12" Type R or a Dayton 12" Dayton Reference (both ported in proper inclosure to around 30hz, Dayton is more efficient). Any suggestions between the two?

The speakers will be ran off a reciever (at least 100w x 2) and the sub off a 300w Bash amp.

99% of listening will be music, not movies if that makes a difference.

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

The MTM's look great, but I would look into a push pull system instead of the MTM. One driver is mounted in the front, the other in the rear, one is out of phase (the rear).

Use a rod between the drivers to secure them into place. The tighter the better, stiffens the box by effectively pushing the stress to the driver's frames/rod instead of the cabinet, use duct seal, which is cheap, to further stiffen the frames (its a clay like material)...

The advantages of going this route:

- Removes the disadvantages of MTMs by moving the driver to the rear

- Great imaging and sound stage usually sounds BIG

- Still have the advantages of an MTM in the lower octaves

- Battles diffraction caused by cabinet's shape which is a BIG plus

- Stiffer loudspeaker

Disadvantages:

-Obviosly the driver mounted in the rear, which leads to...

-Need to be placed away from a wall, usually atleast a meter is good...

Just be sure to offset the tweeter to combat diffraction, and round the edges for the same reason...

 

[Spud2388 10+ year member]

I dont have enough room to do a push pull system. Remember, im in a college dorm, so they need to be somewhat close to the walls. A foot of so for the MTMs is better than a "meter or so" for the push pull.

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

I dont have enough room to do a push pull system. Remember, im in a college dorm, so they need to be somewhat close to the walls. A foot of so for the MTMs is better than a "meter or so" for the push pull.

MTM it is then //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif I really like Zaph's designs, he is over at DIY audio and seems very knowledgable...
I can't comment on the other design, but the RS series from Dayton is very good. So long as the design is acceptable, I would go with the latter //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif