Raw drivers

[reedal]

Who still runs raw drivers active, knows the good from the bad, and can give me some brands to look into. The brands I've seen are:

Vifa

Seas

Dayton

Beyma

Mclaren

Markaudio

Scanspeak

Fostex

What are some of the others? How do you decide what is good quality and bad quality? What T/S parameters (if given with speaker) do you look for in a midbass, fullrange, and tweeter? Id like to go 3-way active one day (4-way if you include the substage) and as good as I'm sure the HAT, Focal, Hertz, etc. Component sets are, I'd rather not pay for $300 worth of speakers and a $800 crossover that I won't use (figuratively speaking). I want something that will be loud when I need/want it to be, but will also have good SQ for the quiet chill riding. Plenty of midbass that can handle ~200watts per driver, warm tweeters not bright and screaming, and a quality full range. Tweets and full range in the A-pillars that will be good for either on or off axis

[yurvalentine]

Take a look at where the speakers are designed/manufacturered, that will tell a huge part of the story. Madisound has some fucking great drivers available.

[lutkeveld]

Dayton is great for car audio. When looking for a midbass these parameters are preferable:

-high Qts (0.5+)

-low Fs (60-)

-medium Vas (15-25 liter)

Those are also parameters you'll often find with normal car speakers.

From a mechanical standpoint a rugged cone and rubber suspension helps for the rough environment.

Something like the Dayton ND140 is a great fit. Crossing (preferably active) at 3-4Khz to a nice dome tweeter.

[reedal]

Thank you.

@lutkeveld: I will definitely keep an eye for those parameters. That's my biggest issue with the T/S parameters. I've looked at multiple sources explaining their meanings, but all it says is high this for this type of woofer and a middle this will mean this. But it doesn't say what a high or low number is. So thank you for that.

@yurvalentine: I spent the better part of today looking at madisound. And I think I could spend all week and still not come to a decision. If I could pick my top five from each brand, place them each where they would be in the Tahoe and test them one by one, I think that would be the only way I could choose. And probably end up with one brand of tweet, one brand full range, and another brand of midbass. So many choices

[Keith77]

for 3ways i have heard good things about this set and at a great price
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_76162_Precision-Power-PPI-P65c3.html

[3vil]

for 3ways i have heard good things about this set and at a great price

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_76162_Precision-Power-PPI-P65c3.html

When I'm ready to hack up door cards and attempt 3way that's the set I was planning on grabbing.

[reedal]

No component sets. Just raw drivers and what specs to look for in each individually. Like what lutkeveld posted about midbass, I would like to understand what parameters/specifications makes a good fullrange driver and a good tweeter. Does the sensitivity in a tweeter cause the sound (warm, bright, tinny), or simply the type of tweeter it is (soft dome, bullet, piezo, beryllium dome, etc).

Thank you though for the suggestion

[lutkeveld]

Thiele Small Parameters are a weird set of numbers. They all mean something else but are still linked by physics. They only work when the driver behaves like a piston (<300hz) and at low power. They change non linear at higher power, but its somewhat predictable. The more you know, the less you need to spend for a high end result. Things like custom bi-amping (be it with opamps, be it with a DSP) is far superior to passive crossovers, but not everybody knows how to do it. Go read, read a lot. There's way more to audio than watts and decibels, you're on the right path. If you want me to elaborate on anything specific about custom installations and technical aspects of audio feel free to ask.

[Soccerballzs]

Seas are great speakers Silver Flutes are great for budget on mids. Dayton Audio great also.

[gckless]

I only ran raw drivers. You have to look at a few things. First thing that will eliminate choices is frequency responses. For tweeters, rule of thumb is high pass them no lower than double the Fs on rated power. You can get away with lower crossover point if power is lower. If you hear popping, you're below the limit. I wouldn't cross an 8" above 2kHz, a 6.5" above ~3kHz. If you're going three way, get an 8 and a tweeter that will both work at 2k, and then work in a midrange. Honestly though, while you're shopping and buying, just go 3 way now. And midrange is the most important, that's where you spend your money.

My budget choice of tweeters were Vifa NE25VTS-04. Crossed at 1.8-2k, never had an issue. I ran a couple different mids. Stereo Integrity TM65's are about to sell out for good, might want to jump on those if you're going two way. I liked them. I also have a pair of Dayton HO 15's, my only Dayton stuff, but they're nice.