Would like to finish my Dayton III's Crossover ?

[dawg1161]

Hello to all, I would like to finish my Dayton III's. All i have left to do is the crossover. I have determined along time ago that i can't build a crossover.
My question is can i use the P.E. 260-140 2000hz crossover to finish my speakers? I know that alot of people have already told me about using prebuilt crossovers but i want to finish these speakers i have sitting here staring at me.
I want to know if i can use the woofers i have Dayton DC 180-8 (295-305) or do i need to have the 4 ohm version DC 160S-4 (295-308). Can I use 2 speaker wires soldered together at one end to for a Y for the pos/neg. Will the crossover still work correctley or do i need the 4 ohm versions and wire them for the 8 ohm load?
Please answer this question.;x(
Thank You all.

[Jim85IROC]

The generic crossover won't work well at all. What part about building a crossover is beyond your abilities? If you've got the talent to construct the cabinets, I assure you that you can assemble the crossover. Component placement is really the only "hard" part, and really it's just time consuming, but not hard. If you take your time experimenting with placement, you'll probably be able to lay out almost everything in a way that allows you to twist the wires together on the underside with maybe 1 or 2 extentions necessary. Once it's all laid out and twisted together, you just need to solder those twisted connections. If you're not familiar with soldering, just keep in mind that the items used in crossover construction are durable enough that it's unlikely you'll damage them while you learn. Soldering is very simple once you fool around with it a little bit.

If you take your time and ask questions along the way, I assure you that the crossover will be vastly simpler to construct than the cabinets were.

[fjhuerta]

I think he meant he needs help designing the crossover... Am I right?

[Licinius]

Anyone can build a great crossover. Anyone with a lot of time, $, and equipment can design a great crossover. Luckily you only need to <build> one...

Get yourself the parts, some cardboard, some glue, and some solder and do it right. =) You don't need a nifty circuit board or anything else, lay out the pieces on the cardboard, twist the ends together, glue it all down, and solder the twists =).

fjhuerta: The schematics are on the dayton 3 site...

http://www.speakerbuilder.net/web_files/Projects/D3/D3W/images/crossover.gif

[Jim85IROC]

cardboard + solder iron = fireworks.

A nice piece of pegboard material, or the perf board from Radio Shack is cheap, and extremely easy to work with, and won't burn up if you get too close with the solder iron. Plus it's stable enough that your stuff won't turn into a pretzel when you put it into the cabinet.

[Licinius]

cardboard + solder iron = fireworks.

A nice piece of pegboard material, or the perf board from Radio Shack is cheap, and extremely easy to work with, and won't burn up if you get too close with the solder iron. Plus it's stable enough that your stuff won't turn into a pretzel when you put it into the cabinet.

Ok, so thats a even better idea listen to him ^ for sure, I'm just a cheap bastard, so I tend to just cut pieces off the nearest box. :rofl:

[Marzen]

My question is can i use the P.E. 260-140 2000hz crossover to finish my speakers?

Yes.

I want to know if i can use the woofers i have Dayton DC 180-8 (295-305) or do i need to have the 4 ohm version DC 160S-4 (295-308).

P/N 295-305 = OK. Quote from PE crossover page: "...A unique design feature of the low pass section allows use of 4 or 8 ohm woofers..."
So wire yours in parallel as shown on the Dayton III schematic page.

Can I use 2 speaker wires soldered together at one end to for a Y for the pos/neg.

Yes, but no need to solder with the PE crossover. They have little screw clamps.

Will the crossover still work correctley or do i need the 4 ohm versions and wire them for the 8 ohm load?

Both the PE version & the Dayton III crossover can use (2) 8 ohm woofers wired in parallel for a 4 ohm load. You're fine with the 295-305 drivers you have.
--Some thoughts: I would just order the parts list from the Dayton III schematic as they will ship in the same time as the prebuilt one. Assembly time for the crossovers is around an hour for both speakers.
If you go for the prebuilt one I would order some resistors to pad down the tweeter level if it should it be too harsh or bright.
-Ward

[dawg1161]

Thank You all for your help. First i am sorry that i haven't replied until now I work at a prison and put in some overtime yesterday and didn't have the chance to get on the computer. I am going to try and use the P.E. crossover. My friend at work said that if i ordered the parts "WE" could do the crossovers. So I will also go that route to get some experiance. I will also build another set of these as i think that the WAF was right on here as opposed to the 5.5cft Quatro was not (but it sure blows people away during the movies). Again thank you all for the help in pushing me to get better at this.

[engr_dave]

Dawg,
For the Dayton IIIs I built for my dad, I bought the raw parts from PE and assembled the crossovers per Wayne J's schematic. 'Worked perfectly. The finished speakers are, as Marzen suggested, a touch on the bright side, but otherwise well-balanced. Imaging is not spectacular, and I found them a bit fatiguing, but it's really not fair to compare $300 speakers to a $5000 pair of custom Dynaudio's. For the money it's a solid design. My dad is thrilled.

Dave

[dawg1161]

Thank You engr dave, I am so close to finishing these its killing me to to hear them. The crossovers are done, A friend helped me put them together. All i really have left is some routering and the finish....I used carpet padding i hope that was not a mistake.
I am going to finish them with Black Ash vinyl laminate purchased from P.E.......Today i was finishing up my 5.5 cft Quatro enclosure painting it glossy black . It looks pretty good. Heading back outside to finish up a little 8" P.E. DVC powered sub using an Infinity plate amp. Its 68* in Anamosa Iowa right now so have to utilize the weather when i can this time of the year. Again thank you for the support.

[dawaro]

You might want to talk to this guy.
DIII Xovers on PE Board

He has a set of completed / tested xovers for sale.

[dawg1161]

Thank You dawaro, I am interested as i have cabinets ready for 2 sets of these speakers. 1 set MDF( Baltic Birch ) and the other Oak( in a tower 43" tall) Hope i contacted him in time as there were already interest shown in the items that i need for a second pair. If not thats okay as i may be ready to try the next crossover on my own(?). Again Thank You for the information.

[JustinSC]

This might help you. I used this for reference when I made my crossovers for the DIII. And yes these are the crossovers for the DIII (Generation 1 and Generation 3 tweeters). Hope that helps!

[dawg1161]

well hello to all again. I have finally gotten around to finishing one of the dayton III's. I have it hooked up and listening to it right now. It sounds great to me(only one , should sound even better in stereo) Its taken so long due to building me and one of my friends sonosubs(mine is a 12" Assassin and his is a TC Sounds 2000svc.) Well its time to start to finish the othe not much left to do a brace for the port and line the inside of the cabinet and it will be ready to listen to as well.
I wanted to thank you all for your input and encouragement to get these done could't have done it without the help of this forum. Kudo's to all.