Hey All,
Noob here, (and it's my first post) I just bought these cheap tower speakers for $99 AUD, wanted to see what options i have to uplift them to a better quality on a budget.
Goal is to make them sound better than they are now without breaking the bank (and loosing the point of buying cheap in the first place). (I don't consider myself an audiophile but enjoy music when it sounds good), these don't have a crossover in them as i understand. (do off the shelf crossovers like the one below (from aliexpress) work? i guess the woofers are the same spec and cover mid to low range, is there any advantage in splitting the workload (Mid's on one and bass on the other) using a crossover?
(Oh, and i will be driving these with a JLH 1969 that i built myself (tube amp as a pre-amp))
Thanks in advance.
Noob here, (and it's my first post) I just bought these cheap tower speakers for $99 AUD, wanted to see what options i have to uplift them to a better quality on a budget.
Goal is to make them sound better than they are now without breaking the bank (and loosing the point of buying cheap in the first place). (I don't consider myself an audiophile but enjoy music when it sounds good), these don't have a crossover in them as i understand. (do off the shelf crossovers like the one below (from aliexpress) work? i guess the woofers are the same spec and cover mid to low range, is there any advantage in splitting the workload (Mid's on one and bass on the other) using a crossover?
(Oh, and i will be driving these with a JLH 1969 that i built myself (tube amp as a pre-amp))
Thanks in advance.
What makes you think they don't have a crossover, because that would be unusual.
You might try room placement and equalisation.
You might try room placement and equalisation.
I saw on the review comments by one of the purchasers who has modded it, he had claimed there's only a single filter cap on the tweeter (as the only crossover component?)
You may want to...
1. Decide to use it as a 2.5 way, and choose a crossover point for each driver,
2. Decide to make it an MTM and choose a crossover frequency,
3. Find your baffle step frequency,
4. Measure or at least find some responses and impedances to use in a simulator.
1. Decide to use it as a 2.5 way, and choose a crossover point for each driver,
2. Decide to make it an MTM and choose a crossover frequency,
3. Find your baffle step frequency,
4. Measure or at least find some responses and impedances to use in a simulator.
What's the brand on those $99- speakers?
What size are the woofers?
Share the reviews too and any links
I ask because I have something very similar I pickled up from the street a while back, if they are the same or similar don't waste too much money trying to improve them as the boxes might be so badly assembled it won't work well.
What size are the woofers?
Share the reviews too and any links
I ask because I have something very similar I pickled up from the street a while back, if they are the same or similar don't waste too much money trying to improve them as the boxes might be so badly assembled it won't work well.
Thanks @AllenB,
Not sure what you meant by baffle step. (your suggestions are way too technical for me to understand)
Thanks, @Moondog55 link below. (Brand is Fenton, size 6.5 inches)
https://djcity.com.au/product/fenton-shft60b-2x-passive-6-5-inch-tower-set-black/
Not sure what you meant by baffle step. (your suggestions are way too technical for me to understand)
Thanks, @Moondog55 link below. (Brand is Fenton, size 6.5 inches)
https://djcity.com.au/product/fenton-shft60b-2x-passive-6-5-inch-tower-set-black/
This and the follow up (note that there has been some evelotin in thot and understanding in the last decade since i wrote the first bit.
https://www.t-linespeakers.org/tech/bafflestep/intro-bds.html
dave
First off I suggest you do some reading up so you understand Allens suggestions before you try and do anything with the crossover.
But I doubt very much they are 3-Way speakers at $99- a pair, even if they are $2- drivers, maybe 2.5 at the most
But I doubt very much they are 3-Way speakers at $99- a pair, even if they are $2- drivers, maybe 2.5 at the most
The Chinese seller would be happy to get A$30, the rest goes in shipping etc.
You really should open them up, most likely the material of the box will not like repeated unscrewing.
Tell us what is inside.
And a series tweeter as cross over has been seen in my local Philips speakers, nothing else, no resistors, inductors, circuit board, just the wires in parallel, and capacitor soldered to the tweeter, one leg to wire, other terminal to other wire.
Not a surprise if you have something like that inside.
They were 6" full range and a small piezo tweeter, maybe 1.5" diameter with a 4.7 uF/50V (IIRC) in series.
No stuffing, baffles or braces either, it was chip or MDF board, moisture damage on some cabinets.
I paid $1.25 each at the flea market here, no regrets.
Speaker quality from a cheap source will be cheap...they are not doing charity.
As an aside, in 2018 most of the balloon makers in my area closed down...the Chinese goods were arriving with balloons as stuffing, instead of bubble wrap or Styrofoam.
Toys, torches, butane lighters, decorative stuff. lights, mosquito rackets and so on...all with balloons!
Some people checked, they did not leak, so sold them after packing. They were free, so sold for whatever the seller was happy to get.
The idea of using balloons as cushions is a bit out of left field, they must have been very cheap in China.
Now the few makers who survived are reviving their business.
Moral: unless you know how to evaluate a speaker, do not play with it too much, at that price they are average to poor.
You really should open them up, most likely the material of the box will not like repeated unscrewing.
Tell us what is inside.
And a series tweeter as cross over has been seen in my local Philips speakers, nothing else, no resistors, inductors, circuit board, just the wires in parallel, and capacitor soldered to the tweeter, one leg to wire, other terminal to other wire.
Not a surprise if you have something like that inside.
They were 6" full range and a small piezo tweeter, maybe 1.5" diameter with a 4.7 uF/50V (IIRC) in series.
No stuffing, baffles or braces either, it was chip or MDF board, moisture damage on some cabinets.
I paid $1.25 each at the flea market here, no regrets.
Speaker quality from a cheap source will be cheap...they are not doing charity.
As an aside, in 2018 most of the balloon makers in my area closed down...the Chinese goods were arriving with balloons as stuffing, instead of bubble wrap or Styrofoam.
Toys, torches, butane lighters, decorative stuff. lights, mosquito rackets and so on...all with balloons!
Some people checked, they did not leak, so sold them after packing. They were free, so sold for whatever the seller was happy to get.
The idea of using balloons as cushions is a bit out of left field, they must have been very cheap in China.
Now the few makers who survived are reviving their business.
Moral: unless you know how to evaluate a speaker, do not play with it too much, at that price they are average to poor.
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Hardly. Ok, here's a fairly common option.
Once you understand planet10's page, use an inductor to cross one woofer at the baffle step. Use a smaller inductor to cross the other woofer at 3kHz or so, and add an inductor to the tweeter.
Add resistors to the tweeter to reduce it's level.
"way too technical" - a common probem with over-enthusiastic noobs; even if you're polishing a turd, you still have to learn how to polish.
I would suggest start with a simple 2-way series xover, hard to stuff up: https://sound-au.com/articles/6db-xover.htm
You still need to learn how to make impedance plots (that's the point where the enthusiasm evaporates from the wannabes)
I would suggest start with a simple 2-way series xover, hard to stuff up: https://sound-au.com/articles/6db-xover.htm
You still need to learn how to make impedance plots (that's the point where the enthusiasm evaporates from the wannabes)
These speakers look like they should be better left alone, nominally not being worth of any investment. Still, knowing how enthusiastic a DIYer can be, the imagined improvement may become real, hence justified in their own eyes.
Yeah, what other said...
The 2.5 way (not quite three) approach suggests ,yes, one midwoofer handles more lowish notes and the other makes more midrange, and it's placed near the tweeter (WWT or better...MidWoofer)and...since both woofers are not low-passed, you'll get a double contribution to bass, hence +6dB or whatever and then double for stereo.
So this suggests, either, that the MW is good till crossover, and depends on the speaker.
The classic and never surpassed 3 way approach suggests that each driver specialized in its own range ( passband operation) ...
wait...passband...SPECTRUM...wavelenghts
So the specialization is first offered by the diameter ( and form) of the cone.
small and light cone = less moving mass, more attitude to vibrate at high speed...hmmm...yes, they follow ( voice coil suggests that...) signal LF content ( what else?) and we hear from 20 to 20000 Hz
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I imagine the good reviews are because people are hearing LOUD not quality, if they are like the roadkill I found all of the LOUD is distortion, a 4R tweeter with a 35V cap in front of it etc:::etc::: etc.
Then there's the MTM approach like we see in the first pic
Thousand of technical pages are written on the subject
Very subtle ( or gigantic) variations due to the two cones emitting together; great care in minimize their distance 'coz the higher the frequency, the smaller the wavelenght
Thousand of technical pages are written on the subject
Very subtle ( or gigantic) variations due to the two cones emitting together; great care in minimize their distance 'coz the higher the frequency, the smaller the wavelenght
Having demolished many similar discarded East Asian boxs, it is highly likely some serious internal bracing & damping need to be added, as a first step.
I usually just burned them. Literally 100s of them. Some not cheap when they were new.
dave
dave
Do you have a subwoofer? In that case, running them as a 2-way MTM rather than a 2.5 way would be easier. I support modding them, you'll learn some things and probably have some fun. A long as you don't pour a bunch of money into the process, it will probably be an improvement. It won't matter how good they actually sound because then you will be bitten by the DIY bug and build something new anyways.