Best way to properly crossover my HT set up

[CstrokerV]

Have you looked at partsexpress yet? You should get some good ideas from there pretty sure there are speaker builds like you are talking about for your fronts xover designs for them are usually up for them too

oh and when you buy drivers try to make sure they are all the same series.. for example all reference series from dayton .. this will make it so the tonel ballance of all drivers are the same..

don't get me wrong not doing it that way still can work and turn out good

[RooTxBeeR]

Yes I was looking at getting these.

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rs225-8-8-reference-woofer--295-356 8" x 4 for front and rear left and right woofer

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rs125-8-5-reference-woofer--295-353 5" for center woofer

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rs100-8-4-reference-full-range-driver--295-352 4" x5 mid range for all corner and center

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-nd25fn-4-1-neo-silk-dome-tweeter-element-4-ohm--275-053 1" tweeter x5 for all corner and certer high

http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rss315hfa-8-12-reference-hf-subwoofer-8-ohm--295-445 12" in the closet for the low end

http://www.parts-express.com/eminence-pxb3-3k5-3-way-speaker-crossover-board-500-3500-hz--290-652 x5 passive crossover for conrner and center speakers

I am uncertain on the Stereo. There are only a few 5.1 stereos on the parts express site. I am sure those speakers together could take a bit over 100 watts in total. Would like around 100rms, nothing to nuts. I just want to make sure those channels have a hpf cutoff so they don't get fed subsonic frequencies.

[bbeljefe]

First a few clarifications. There is no such thing as 5.1 stereo. There is 5.1 (surround) and there is stereo. Stereo is two. 5.1 is five channels plus an LFE (low frequency effects) channel. 2.1 is stereo plus a subwoofer. Of course, there is also 7.1 but that's not something you mentioned.

And I'm not trying to be anal about it... it's important that you understand what those terms mean when you're designing a system because part of what you're asking is answered with an understanding of what the .1 in 5.1 surround actually means.

In home theater, the .1 channel is a dedicated sub bass channel that is actively crossed over in the processor, so there's no need to worry about sub bass reaching your mid bass and mid range drivers if you're building for a true 5.1 setup. As has been mentioned, some receivers allow you to choose between large and small surround speakers and some even have actual active crossover points that can be set. So there again, you have active crossovers in an HT receiver or processor by default. But what you don't have in the majority of them is active crossover points between midrange and high range, so there's where you need to be concerned with passive crossovers.

Keep in mind, however, that sub bass is actively filtered, so you can choose a passive crossover that starts at upper mid bass. For instance, you can choose a three way crossover that taps at, say 20-250, 250-2500 & 2500-20K. The processor will take care of 80 and below.

As for building your own surround speakers, timbre matching is important in creating a balanced setup that flows across all planes seamlessly. In simple terms that means using the same drivers, crossovers and cabinet alignments on all five surround speakers and the best way to accomplish that is to build MTM arrangements. If you choose 6" mids and 1" soft dome tweets then use two mids and one tweet in each cabinet.

LCRs are easy, because you can basically build three identical cabinets with the center laying horizontal and the LRs standing vertical but with all three tweets on the same horizontal plane at about ear level to the listener.

For surrounds, it gets a bit more complicated because what we want is the same timbre but we don't want the rears to be localizable. So... we build dipole or bipole cabinets, depending on where they will be located in the listening room. Both alignments include a midbass driver on opposing ends of the enclosure with the tweets on one baffle with one mid. Dipoles work well when placed to the immediate left and right of the listening position, with the baffles facing front and rear. The midbass drivers are wired out of phase with one another and this creates a null zone at the listeners ear, while sending sound forward and rearward to bounce off the walls and reach the listeners ears at different times. Tweeter positioning usually works better to the rear.

Bipoles work better when placed behind the listener and, the midbass drivers are wired in phase. They accomplish the same delays and nulls by virtue of the fact that two of them are firing directly at one another while the other two are bouncing off side walls. Tweeter positioning usually works best to the outside.

If you want to make it super simple, you can build five of the same cabinet but you should place the rear speakers so that they're bouncing off walls and not facing the listening positions. Also, you should (ideally) space your L & R speakers about 4' to the left and right of the center channel (but at least 2' from a side wall) and you should have the screen dead center in the room, with the vertical center of the screen at or near eye level to the viewing/listening position.

And, you should keep the size of the screen proportional to the room it's in. Too large a screen mounted to high or too small a screen mounted anywhere will cause headaches before the end of a movie. I've been out of HT for a while now but with CRT screens the distance from the screen ratio was 2-3 times the diagonal screen size. So if you have a 60" screen, you should be sitting between 10 & 15 feet from it. I can't help but think that flat screen ratios are the same, even though they're not so similar to staring at a light bulb as CRTs are. ;-)

[RooTxBeeR]

I only say stereo when I am talking about a home "stereo". I do know the difference in the channels and I am looking for a 5.1 surround. For the stuff I posted would that all be fine to use? ANd as far as the screen size, it's going to be triple monitor set up 27" monitors.

[bbeljefe]

I only say stereo when I am talking about a home "stereo". I do know the difference in the channels and I am looking for a 5.1 surround. For the stuff I posted would that all be fine to use? ANd as far as the screen size, it's going to be triple monitor set up 27" monitors.

I'd go with the same sized drivers in all cabinets if it were me but if you also plan to use the system for two channel music listening, the 8s would be good for L&R. And sorry, I read the monitor part but I kinda went on a tangent and forgot. :-)

[RooTxBeeR]

I only say stereo when I am talking about a home "stereo". I do know the difference in the channels and I am looking for a 5.1 surround. For the stuff I posted would that all be fine to use? ANd as far as the screen size, it's going to be triple monitor set up 27" monitors.

I'd go with the same sized drivers in all cabinets if it were me but if you also plan to use the system for two channel music listening, the 8s would be good for L&R. And sorry, I read the monitor part but I kinda went on a tangent and forgot. :-)

I plan to have a TV above my my monitors. The surround will really only be used when playing games, and just jamming out. If I am going to watch TV, if possible will reduce to 2.1 or 3.1 with the center channel.