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Adding 6" mid-range driver to cab

#21
MuzikMan said:
FWIW I don't think a tweeter is necessary once a midrange driver is used but others will disagree.
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+1. A good mid driver will go to 6kHz or better, and you don't need higher than that. OTOH running a tweeter and woofer and leaving an octave or more response hole in between them is just plain poor engineering. But it's a lot less expensive than using a mid driver, and so...:hiding:
 
#22
Should be getting a delivery from Parts Express today. Went with Bill's advice and got the Eminence 1.6k crossover and the Eminence closed basket 6" woofer. I only had enough cash to do one cab at the moment, but the way I position the cabs, the 6" will be at the highest point possible, fairly close to my ears, so I figure I'll be able to hear it pretty well. Before and after review to come in a few days.
 
#24
MuzikMan said:
Any lower and there would be nasty resonance peaks.
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Not really, certainly no worse than those seen with many woofers. The reason I recommended 1.6kHz is that the woofer has adequate response to that both on and off-axis, so there's no reason to possibly stress the midrange or crossover by going lower.
 
#25
billfitzmaurice said:
Not really, certainly no worse than those seen with many woofers. The reason I recommended 1.6kHz is that the woofer has adequate response to that both on and off-axis, so there's no reason to possibly stress the midrange or crossover by going lower.
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Are you saying that there are no ill effects from having such a small enclosed space? My language may be bad but I am under the impression that there will be a large peak in response below a certain range because the enclosure is too small for the driver.
 
#26
The response chart for the la6cbmr has peaks at either end. The low one will be chopped off by the xover. I wonder about the generally tonality of the thing. In my home bi-amping experiments that 1k area that can sound nasally in some fullrange speakers sounds nicer to me coming from a mid driver.

But...these closedbacks have a fs close to 500 instead of the 100something of the regular alpha6 so the probably should be crossed at 1k or higher. Lower than that and they distort when you put some power to it. At least that's the problem I was having with the closedback 6's in some celestion 3way PA speakers I got. An alpha6 and "stuffed dogfood bowl" subchambers fixed that.
 
#27
MuzikMan said:
Are you saying that there are no ill effects from having such a small enclosed space? My language may be bad but I am under the impression that there will be a large peak in response below a certain range because the enclosure is too small for the driver.
Click to expand...
Well, I wouldn't use them from 500Hz. But the good news is that there's no need to.
 
#29
Alright, the mid driver and crossover have been installed. Only took about an hour and a half, which includes cutting the hole, removing the old xover and mounting/ wiring the new one, and reassembly. Played though it for a few minutes, and I dig it so far... more clarity overall, and I can hear what I'm playing pretty well off-axis. The true test will be at band practice tomorrow, but so far, I am happy. I may eventually try a xover set at 800hz rather than 1.6k... the eminence board is labeled for 500, 800 and 1.6 (meaning they use the same board, albeit w/ different components, for each frequency), so I may look into modifying what I already have rather than buying new... that way I can always go back if I want!
 
#31
will33 said:
Good to hear. Should be a heckuva improvement for what around $100 for a one woofer cab? I don't why more companies don't make cabs like this. It's not that much more expensive than a tweeter/filter.
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Well, with a Memorial Day coupon, and free shipping, it came to $101 total. Not bad at all. I'll see if modding the other cab will be necessary once I play this live.
 
#32
Practice tonight went well... I was able to hear what I was playing better than before. After tonight, I think I'm going to add a 6" to my other cab, to even things out a bit more. The 12's are really beefy, and can get boomy with some EQ pretty easily.... the 6 added some nice clarity. One thing I'm happy with is the distorted tone I'm getting- I'm used to running sans tweeter, so normally my distortion is only going through a full-range woofer. With the mid driver, I get a nice top-end distortion, with plenty of bottom end.
 
#35
Pic of the cab with the mod:
0604111332.gif
 
#37
Blues Bass 2 said:
Nice job , That looks like it was made to be in that cab ! If someone was crazy enough they could add that mid and a different crossover and have a three way . I'll bet it sounds much better just like that .
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I thought about keeping the tweeter and making it a 3-way, but others in this thread talked me out of it. I'm not lacking any highs, as the mid driver handles them, and nicely to boot. I don't think I'll use tweeters ever again!
 
#38
NicJimBass said:
I'm not lacking any highs, as the mid driver handles them, and nicely to boot. I don't think I'll use tweeters ever again!
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+1. The meat of the bass signal is below 8kHz. Tweeters offer an octave above that which you don't need, but leave out the octave below 4kHz that you do.
 
#39
It looks like the LA6-CBMR goes to about 5.5khz, but a good 4db cut around 3.5-4kz would even it out a bunch.

I'll probably have a go at this for a summer project.
NicJimBass, did you make any separate chamber/filling for the mid? How did you measure/cut the mid hole? How did you wire/mount the x-over?
If you don't mind :p
 
#40
thudfromafar said:
It looks like the LA6-CBMR goes to about 5.5khz, but a good 4db cut around 3.5-4kz would even it out a bunch.

I'll probably have a go at this for a summer project.
NicJimBass, did you make any separate chamber/filling for the mid? How did you measure/cut the mid hole? How did you wire/mount the x-over?
If you don't mind :p
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I'm assuming since he used the closed back mid, there was no chamber.
 

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