Driver Design - opinions and experiences

[TC]

Hi there,

Thought I'd start a thread on driver design.

Anyone here have some expertise on the matter, or have designed their own
driver?

These can be woofers, subwoofers or tweeters.

Lets examine what makes an ideal driver for a given frequency range.

[Michael McKelvy]

"TC" > wrote in message
...
> Hi there,
>
> Thought I'd start a thread on driver design.
>
> Anyone here have some expertise on the matter, or have designed their own
> driver?
>
> These can be woofers, subwoofers or tweeters.
>
> Lets examine what makes an ideal driver for a given frequency range.
>
>
I believe you'd get much better info from rec.audio.tech

[Sander deWaal]

"TC" > said:

>Hi there,
>
>Thought I'd start a thread on driver design.
>
>Anyone here have some expertise on the matter, or have designed their own
>driver?
>
>These can be woofers, subwoofers or tweeters.
>
>Lets examine what makes an ideal driver for a given frequency range.

I doubt you'll find anyone who actually designed their own drivers.
DIY-ers work with given drivers (well, bought actually *grin*).
There's no use in actually designing your own drivers if you can't
also manufacture them I think........

--
Sander de Waal
" SOA of a KT88? Sufficient. "

[Lionel]

TC a écrit :
> Hi there,
>
> Thought I'd start a thread on driver design.
>
> Anyone here have some expertise on the matter, or have designed their own
> driver?
>
> These can be woofers, subwoofers or tweeters.
>
> Lets examine what makes an ideal driver for a given frequency range.

From time to time I use to participate to discussion on :

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=22

Join us here it's a better place than RAO to exchange serenely.

[MINe 109]

In article >,
Sander deWaal > wrote:

> "TC" > said:
>
> >Hi there,
> >
> >Thought I'd start a thread on driver design.
> >
> >Anyone here have some expertise on the matter, or have designed their own
> >driver?
> >
> >These can be woofers, subwoofers or tweeters.
> >
> >Lets examine what makes an ideal driver for a given frequency range.
>
> I doubt you'll find anyone who actually designed their own drivers.
> DIY-ers work with given drivers (well, bought actually *grin*).
> There's no use in actually designing your own drivers if you can't
> also manufacture them I think........

Watkins is gone.

Stephen

[Arny Krueger]

"Sander deWaal" > wrote in message


> There's no use in actually designing your own drivers if you can't
> also manufacture them I think........

Manufacturing unique speaker drivers is not mission impossible.

The basic process is similar to speaker reconing.

Some speaker manufacturers can be coaxed into selling individual speaker
components like cones, voice coils, surrounds, baskets and magnets. You can
mix and match... If you get very far into this you'll want to have your own
magnetic charger, so you can put the pieces together without struggling with
large magnetic forces. That will cost you some bucks!

[Sander deWaal]

"Arny Krueger" > said:

>> There's no use in actually designing your own drivers if you can't
>> also manufacture them I think........

>Manufacturing unique speaker drivers is not mission impossible.

For a hobbyist?

>The basic process is similar to speaker reconing.

With reconing, one orders the replacement cone.
The OP suggested designing and building units.
IMHO quite a different thing.

>Some speaker manufacturers can be coaxed into selling individual speaker
>components like cones, voice coils, surrounds, baskets and magnets. You can
>mix and match... If you get very far into this you'll want to have your own
>magnetic charger, so you can put the pieces together without struggling with
>large magnetic forces. That will cost you some bucks!

I think they'll only pick up the phone when ordering 1000+ units....

--
Sander de Waal
" SOA of a KT88? Sufficient. "

[Arny Krueger]

"Sander deWaal" > wrote in message

> "Arny Krueger" > said:
>
>>> There's no use in actually designing your own drivers if you can't
>>> also manufacture them I think........
>
>> Manufacturing unique speaker drivers is not mission impossible.
>
> For a hobbyist?
>
>> The basic process is similar to speaker reconing.
>
> With reconing, one orders the replacement cone.

Right, hence "similar to".

> The OP suggested designing and building units.

Agreed, but what does that mean?

> IMHO quite a different thing.

To a degree, but not so much. For example, if you change the mass of the
cone, you've got something that is technically a different woofer.

You can wind your own voice coils, you can form your own cones. You can add
or remove or replace parts of the cone with other materials. You can treat
the cone with stiffners or dampers. In the early stages you've merely
modified the speaker, but at some point you are pretty much building a
different speaker.

>> Some speaker manufacturers can be coaxed into selling individual
>> speaker components like cones, voice coils, surrounds, baskets and
>> magnets. You can mix and match... If you get very far into this
>> you'll want to have your own magnetic charger, so you can put the
>> pieces together without struggling with large magnetic forces. That
>> will cost you some bucks!

> I think they'll only pick up the phone when ordering 1000+ units...

Nope. Its partially a matter of who you know and how persuasive you are over
the phone. Some fabrication may be required.

What's magic about a voice coil? Its usually ordinary magnet wire wound on a
mandrel over a paper tube. The paper tube can be layers of Kraft or other
kinds of paper. What's a cone? When you see a cone with a seam, it started
out as a flat piece of paper. What's a surround? You can buy ready-made
surrounds in various sizes as speaker refoaming kits.

[Michael McKelvy]

"Sander deWaal" > wrote in message
...
> "Arny Krueger" > said:
>
>>> There's no use in actually designing your own drivers if you can't
>>> also manufacture them I think........
>
>>Manufacturing unique speaker drivers is not mission impossible.
>
> For a hobbyist?
>
>>The basic process is similar to speaker reconing.
>
> With reconing, one orders the replacement cone.
> The OP suggested designing and building units.
> IMHO quite a different thing.
>
>>Some speaker manufacturers can be coaxed into selling individual speaker
>>components like cones, voice coils, surrounds, baskets and magnets. You
>>can
>>mix and match... If you get very far into this you'll want to have your
>>own
>>magnetic charger, so you can put the pieces together without struggling
>>with
>>large magnetic forces. That will cost you some bucks!
>
> I think they'll only pick up the phone when ordering 1000+ units....
>
> --
There are some things that can be done with panel type speakers, such as
electrostats. audioXpress or Speaker Builder (don't remember which) have
some articles on this process.