Help with speaker building

[Danielklut]

Hi!

I´m a amature at speaker building so I just ask here to see if anyone can help me.

I´m not gonna use a lot of money on this project, but I wanna try building some speakers instead of buying them.

I´m planning on using:

2x Dayton Audio RS180-8 7" Reference Woofer 8ohm
2x Dayton Audio RS100-8 4" Reference Full-Range Driver 8ohm
1x Dayton Audio DC28F-8 1-1/8" Silk Dome Tweeter 8ohm

But my problem is how i´m gonna figure out what components I need in my crossover and how I can calculate the frequencies? I know there´s calculators on the web, but I don´t know how to use them..

What is the best crossover frequency, if that is a valid question!?

And how should I connect all the components together?

I think I have manage to calculate the size of the enclosure, but I´m not sure.
I´m going to try and fail with the enclosure, but I don´t wanna try and possibly FAIL with the crossover.

Hope I have given most of the information you need to figure this out!

Can anybody help me with this?

[Hdale85]

Generally if you don't know what you're doing it's better to just go with a proven design that's already been done here and build that. There are some incredible designs here that will fit anybodies preference and budget. In fact there are some that use pretty close to the same drivers you mention.

[baniels]

You might be putting the cart before the horse. Typically one starts with the design goals, and works up to the driver selection.

Designing a crossover that will yield a product you can be happy with/proud of/worth your time and effort is a LOT more difficult than plugging driver parameters into a calculator. I don't want to be a wet blanket, but the general recommendation for a first speaker build is to pick a proven design created by someone who knows what they are doing.

Build it to their specs, reap the benefits of their knowledge, and be no less proud of the end-result because you did it all yourself.

Believe me, building proven designs has plenty of glory, and you can be sure from the start that you will have something good at the end.

So, here are some questions to get you started.

• What is your budget?
• Is this for music and movies, just music, just movies?
• Do/Will you have a subwoofer in use with this pair?
• How big is your room?
• How far away do you plan to sit from the speakers?
• How loud do you like to listen?
• Any size constraints?
• Do they need to be positioned right up against a wall?

edit: hdale beat me to it.

[Mark_1042]

If you're not dead set on designing the crossover yourself and you haven't bought the drivers you listed yet, here are a couple web pages with some popular diy designs:

Paul Carmody DIY Audio

Curt's Speaker Design Works

Zaph Audio

There's a lot of proven designs on those sites and speakers which range from relatively simple to more complex. If you point out exactly what it is you are looking for and what the application/listening environment is like (room size, ect.), I'm sure that some of the people here will be able to give you some suggestions.

Crossover design is something that can be fairly complex. I'd like to try it myself someday but would rather wait until I feel I have enough background knowledge to create a good design. Building a proven design just seems like a better place to start.

[cjd]

divine-audio.com has my stuff, plus more scattered here

That tweeter is under-selling the other drivers.

The rest could work out pretty well but you'd definitely want to find that specific combination for best results.

Lots more to be said, but the good starter questions have already been asked.

C