How to go about designing desktop monitors

[06goat 10+ year member]

Tired of these ****** little speakers ive used forever so I wanna build some 2-ways out of raw drivers I got layin around. Ive got Peerless 3" fullrangers and 6.5 HDS Mids. Since theyre going to be directly pointed at my face the 3" should do fine for the top end.

Now, do I basically just build a simple sealed enclosure? Seperating the midbass and midrange? How big should I go?

They will have removable baffles so I can mess around and test other driver configurations as well.

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[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

get rid of all diffraction. It isn't easy to make near field monitors. What your talking about seems closer to bookshelf speakers.

I'd go sealed as it will be easiest to get flat playing and not take up your entire desk top.

 

[JohnnyBASS 10+ year member]

ive been thinking about doing the same thing. i'd be interested in hearing what others have designed and how to power them.

im sick to death of laptop speakers ha

 

[FlexnInLa 10+ year member]

Tired of these ****** little speakers ive used forever so I wanna build some 2-ways out of raw drivers I got layin around. Ive got Peerless 3" fullrangers and 6.5 HDS Mids. Since theyre going to be directly pointed at my face the 3" should do fine for the top end.
Now, do I basically just build a simple sealed enclosure? Seperating the midbass and midrange? How big should I go?

They will have removable baffles so I can mess around and test other driver configurations as well.

There are forums dedicated to this stuff, not being rude, just pointing you to a more knowledgeable overall group of folks.

There are lots of cheap raw drivers to play with, I'd look at dong what is called and MTM design.

 

[wenn_du_weinst 10+ year member]

mtm is horrible for a monitor. 2 way or single point is what you should be looking at.

 

[06goat 10+ year member]

get rid of all diffraction. It isn't easy to make near field monitors. What your talking about seems closer to bookshelf speakers. I'd go sealed as it will be easiest to get flat playing and not take up your entire desk top.

So what's the difference in near field monitors and bookshelf speakers that are close to me? As far as getting rid of diffraction should I fill the hard corners inside the enclosure?

 

[06goat 10+ year member]

There are forums dedicated to this stuff, not being rude, just pointing you to a more knowledgeable overall group of folks.
There are lots of cheap raw drivers to play with, I'd look at dong what is called and MTM design.

I figured id check here first to see what people thought. I have plenty of other more lnowledgable forums to ask about it on but they seem to go further in depth than what im focusing on.

 

[FlexnInLa 10+ year member]

mtm is horrible for a monitor. 2 way or single point is what you should be looking at.

I've never recorded in a high end studio, but I've heard nearfield playback on I think they were M-Audio MTM's, and I thought they were very nice.

 

[Moble Enclosurs 10+ year member]

You want to go sealed. You can go ported if you like and get decent results, but for desktop, size would be a factor. That's really the main difference between that and bookshelf. Placement and environmental factors are the same. 30 degrees into the focal listening point and head level or angled to the head for best efficiency when dealing with sealed layouts.

The reason I would not recommend ported is due to near field response reflections of higher frequencies. By loading the enclosure with a port, you induce resonances more so than in room resonance, and when the two meet, they excite and become "hollow". This can be the effect of too small of a port and when dealing with proper response from "desktop" space, this is vital. No damping is required, no diffusers necessary, just plain accurate output. You are not looking to hit a 30hz note from a desktop enclosure with authority because that would be unnecessary due to placement and size issues. You would get some out of phase output either at the subrange or above it, so I'm sure you are not worried about that part. Have a dedicated sub for that, and make sealed enclosures based on the golden ratio and you should be fine.

You could make small passive radiators that are dipole for a more rich effect also.

And if sealed is not the route you want to go, due to the need for complexity and accomplishment, go full open baffle and place diffusers or acoustical absorbers behind them on the wall to reduce reflections.

As far as power, you should only need about 5 watts total. Then a separate 10 watt subamp. The sub, I would port....no question. Because in a room for home use, the gain drops much more than in vehicle so sealed subs are not recommended due to possible negative gain response at certain frequencies.

 

[06goat 10+ year member]

You want to go sealed. You can go ported if you like and get decent results, but for desktop, size would be a factor. That's really the main difference between that and bookshelf. Placement and environmental factors are the same. 30 degrees into the focal listening point and head level or angled to the head for best efficiency when dealing with sealed layouts.
The reason I would not recommend ported is due to near field response reflections of higher frequencies. By loading the enclosure with a port, you induce resonances more so than in room resonance, and when the two meet, they excite and become "hollow". This can be the effect of too small of a port and when dealing with proper response from "desktop" space, this is vital. No damping is required, no diffusers necessary, just plain accurate output. You are not looking to hit a 30hz note from a desktop enclosure with authority because that would be unnecessary due to placement and size issues. You would get some out of phase output either at the subrange or above it, so I'm sure you are not worried about that part. Have a dedicated sub for that, and make sealed enclosures based on the golden ratio and you should be fine.

You could make small passive radiators that are dipole for a more rich effect also.

And if sealed is not the route you want to go, due to the need for complexity and accomplishment, go full open baffle and place diffusers or acoustical absorbers behind them on the wall to reduce reflections.

As far as power, you should only need about 5 watts total. Then a separate 10 watt subamp. The sub, I would port....no question. Because in a room for home use, the gain drops much more than in vehicle so sealed subs are not recommended due to possible negative gain response at certain frequencies.

Thank you. I was planning on going sealed. Just dont know what would be ideal size since it will be right in my face and not in a vehicle. Didnt know if there were seperate guidelines to go from.

 

[Moble Enclosurs 10+ year member]

Thank you. I was planning on going sealed. Just dont know what would be ideal size since it will be right in my face and not in a vehicle. Didnt know if there were seperate guidelines to go from.

not really anything different. Sound is sound. Its just that the environmental factors change is all, but when don't they? So if you want to shoot over the driver specs, I can check for a sealed volume for you. Pm me the info. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[MANTI5 10+ year member]

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[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

For the price of wood to build the enclosures, then the price of paint/carpet/etc to finish them, and the price of crossovers, it would be cheaper to just buy those Dayton bookshelf speakers. They are like $25/pair (was when I bought them) and its a pair of 6.5s and a pair of tweets in the enclosure with crossovers, grills, and terminal cups. All completely build/wired, etc. Just plug a wire in and youre set.

Ive had mine for quite a while (probably close to 2 years or so), and they sound great. They sound way better than the Turtle Beach X31 headset I have for gaming, and thats a $100 set of headphones.

 

[06goat 10+ year member]

For the price of wood to build the enclosures, then the price of paint/carpet/etc to finish them, and the price of crossovers, it would be cheaper to just buy those Dayton bookshelf speakers. They are like $25/pair (was when I bought them) and its a pair of 6.5s and a pair of tweets in the enclosure with crossovers, grills, and terminal cups. All completely build/wired, etc. Just plug a wire in and youre set.
Ive had mine for quite a while (probably close to 2 years or so), and they sound great. They sound way better than the Turtle Beach X31 headset I have for gaming, and thats a $100 set of headphones.

Its just a project for fun. Buying something premade takes the fun out of everything. Plus, I want to be able to use them to swap out speakers whenever with adjustable x-overs for testing purposes.

 

[galacticmonkey 5,000+ posts]

Well if the whole idea behind the thing is the actual build experience other than just good sound for cheap, by all means, do it to it.