Hi
I'm planning to build a small tabletop speaker, or a set of two to get stereo. This is my first build and I have some questions about bass. It seems I have some options when it comes to handling the thinks going on on the backside of the sub driver.
Okay, does anyone have any word of advise before I start designing a mini woofer? Is there any relevance of my assumptions above in the real world?
I'm planning to build a small tabletop speaker, or a set of two to get stereo. This is my first build and I have some questions about bass. It seems I have some options when it comes to handling the thinks going on on the backside of the sub driver.
- I could box it in and dampen the walls. In an ideal dampening I'd get some attenuation of the membrane, but nothing that would show up as a peak or dip in the frequency response. Just a weaker signal over the whole spectrum.
- I can do some kind of wave guide to channel the energy, or waves, on the backside of the membrane out of the box. The wave guide must be dampened or else there will most likely reflections, which will show up on the response.
- Another alternative is to have a smooth wave guide that have a resonant frequency, kind of like a horn instrument. However, the wave guide must be quite long to affect the lower frequencies, 1.5 to 2 meters long. 1.7 meters if the resonant frequency is 50 Hz and the speed of sound is 340 m/s.
Okay, does anyone have any word of advise before I start designing a mini woofer? Is there any relevance of my assumptions above in the real world?
Hi liquidfuzz
I'm not sure what you want to do or require .... but you say mini sub in the headline ...
Size, lowest frequency and output performance is all connected 😉
So how much output do you require and how low do you want to go?
Right now I'm hawing some overhead/overkill with my desk setup, using a 10" Earthquake sub with 10" SLAPS + ca 200W and DSP.
Not long ago I used the Reckhorn D-165 6.5" with passives, and ca 200 W.
6.5" is the smallest I would recommend for sub, even for you desk.
The D-165 is a super speaker, but the Reckhorn passives are not worjt the money.
The SMPS stopped working, so right now the sub is out of commission, but the plan is to get it back instead of the Eathquake, but aegumented with a M8 Earthquake SLAPS.
Inspiration here:
Reckhorn Mini-Sub – SensibleAudio
I'm not sure what you want to do or require .... but you say mini sub in the headline ...
Size, lowest frequency and output performance is all connected 😉
So how much output do you require and how low do you want to go?
Right now I'm hawing some overhead/overkill with my desk setup, using a 10" Earthquake sub with 10" SLAPS + ca 200W and DSP.
Not long ago I used the Reckhorn D-165 6.5" with passives, and ca 200 W.
6.5" is the smallest I would recommend for sub, even for you desk.
The D-165 is a super speaker, but the Reckhorn passives are not worjt the money.
The SMPS stopped working, so right now the sub is out of commission, but the plan is to get it back instead of the Eathquake, but aegumented with a M8 Earthquake SLAPS.
Inspiration here:
Reckhorn Mini-Sub – SensibleAudio
Hi Baldin!
Sorry for being so vague in my opeing post.
I'm looking to buy a 3" sub and a 2 - 3" full range driver for this speaker. I'm not going to build a muscle speaker... How do you guys do the enclosure on speakers this small?
Sorry for being so vague in my opeing post.
I'm looking to buy a 3" sub and a 2 - 3" full range driver for this speaker. I'm not going to build a muscle speaker... How do you guys do the enclosure on speakers this small?
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Sorry but I do not see how you get anything "sub" with a 3" speaker.
What you can do is apply dsp to add higher harmonics to fool the brain to think it is bass.
This is how most small BT speakers achieve something resembling bass sound.
AD's Sigmastudio SuperBass or MaxxBass, or other Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement
But if you want real sub bass down to say 25 Hz, you need to move a lot of air ....
What you can do is apply dsp to add higher harmonics to fool the brain to think it is bass.
This is how most small BT speakers achieve something resembling bass sound.
AD's Sigmastudio SuperBass or MaxxBass, or other Psychoacoustic Bass Enhancement
But if you want real sub bass down to say 25 Hz, you need to move a lot of air ....
If you can find someone who has a Tang Band T3-2190s subwoofer "module' in stock, it does a relatively remarkable job of generating surprising amounts of relatively low bass from a compact device (for nearfield moderate volume listening), probably more than anything else that I can think of that's as (or anywhere near as) relatively compact
Thanks for the Tang Band suggestion. However, on their site they also have a driver called W3-1876S. According to Tang Band's own graphs it seems perfect for my application.
Would you dampen it or try some kind of transmission line?
Would you dampen it or try some kind of transmission line?
One option for the w3 is a passive radiator design by Wolf, called "microdot. There are also TL and double chamber 3d printable enclosures for the W3 by "Hexibase"
I still have a bandpass sub that will eventually come out also with it called Goosebump.
It's a solid little driver, but vented needs 2 ltrs to work best, and a looooooong port or PR to get it there.
Wolf
It's a solid little driver, but vented needs 2 ltrs to work best, and a looooooong port or PR to get it there.
Wolf
I tried to find some information on the microdot build, like drawings build plans and such, without any luck. But thanks for the suggestion.
It seems to me that my initial questions still sort of holds, and are unanswered. How do you guys do? Do you just build and test/measure stuff? And iterate until you're satisfied? Normally I like to do my homework before I start...
It seems to me that my initial questions still sort of holds, and are unanswered. How do you guys do? Do you just build and test/measure stuff? And iterate until you're satisfied? Normally I like to do my homework before I start...
I've been tinkering a bit with vitxuiCAD and Xsim to ses if I could set up a nice x-over filter. I'm a bit puzzled by this to because the two software don't show the same result for the same filter/circuit. Do anyone of you have any experience from working with these software? And maybe suggestions of others I should try?
Thanks!
Thanks!
I generally seem to be in broad disagreement with the consensus. You can only do so much "homework" because one of the overriding factors when it comes to speakers is location. (1) The sub in my bedroom rocks the world, but only because it 'works' in that location (under the bed). Place it in the hall and it sounds like a transistor radio. (2) Most software calculations based on the assumption that everybody wants to build a pair of NS10s (flat frequency response). But in truth sound appreciation is very subjective. Movie and modern MOBO fans prefer 'rumbling' bass whereas lovers of other musical genres may prefer something a little tighter. (3) With personal systems there is little or no point to producing predetermined level of response. You will judge the speakers on the whether or not they reproduce sound in the way YOU 'like'. (4) Our own personal microphones are also to be considered. Having spent a large portion of a misspent youth DJ'ing in night clubs a lot of my top end hearing has gone. Ergo, I require my ideal system to compensate by being a little sharper.
Many small systems have passed through my hands. I have tested and recycled a bunch of systems. For your system I recommend a 130mm cube with a 100mm downward firing sub-woofer. Install a 50 / 75 mm full range driver to the front elevation. Seal it from the cabinet space (PVC pipe works fine). Your compact speaker should cover 40Hz to 20Khz.