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DIY Speaker Advice Sought!


Cornwalled

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Hey Guys,

I've got some raw drivers, some of which are pretty decent quality, and was hoping to make a speaker out of them. I'll tell you what I've got, and you guys can tell me what you think.

Here's the list, largest to smallest:

1. 15" Allen Bradley 8 ohm Alnico woofer. It's branded Lafayette, and was bought new in the box for $3 at an auction. Works perfectly. I tried it as a guitar speaker and it sounds pretty good, like a vintage Fender amp would have had back in the day. Don't know power handling, but it's probably not super high- around 50 watts, give or take. Has a big ol' Alnico magnet bell on it.

2. 12" 60's EV SRO Woofer- Alnico. 8 ohm. This thing is great. I used to use it in my '74 Fender Twin Reverb, along with a ceramic Jensen and it sounded awesome.

3. (2) JBL D-208 8 inch Alnico woofers. I rescued these from my Dad who was going to throw them out. They've been through a few moves and have been shuffled around a lot. Both have dings in the metal dustcaps, and one even has a puncture. At least one still works though, and seems to sound fine. Rugged little speakers!

4. University T-30 Horn Driver - 8 ohm, connected to a Klipsch K-700 horn. Bought at the same auction as the 15" woofer for $3. Works perfectly. Supposedly rated from 250-15000 Hz, but real world performance is likely less in each direction.

So, there it is, that's what I've got. I don't have a box or a crossover. I'm guessing that the T-30 isn't going to go all the way up, so I'll need a tweeter? Or will it be ok on it's own?

Given the odd crew I've got, what would you guys use? I'm thinking at a bare minimum, definitely the SRO and T-30, just not sure about the 15" and 8" drivers, and what kind of cabinet and crossover to use.

Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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Ryan,

Thanks for the offer of help. I just may take you up on it! First, I have to figure out what on earth to try to make..lol.

I just remembered, I also have a more modern Eminence 8" speaker. I forget the model, but it has a good size ceramic magnet on it.

-Jon

EDIT: Anyone have an empty Heresy cab? I'm thinking that could work perfectly. In time, I could find a T35 to fill in the HF. Then, I'd just need a crossover. Or, a cab for a 15" would allow me some more bottom end.

-Jon

Edited by Cornwalled
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The University HF-206 was mated with the University T-30. I found this: http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/university-altec-t60-hf-206-horn-82440917 It says

Horn Specs:

3500-22000 Hz
50 Watts
8 ohms
6" x 3 3/8" x 6 3/8" deep

There are pictures of the T-60 and HF-206 around the web, but specs seem to be a bit hard to find.

As for the woofer and network, I'm not sure what I would do there. Having horns on top, you need something pretty capable. You will need either a very large enclosure or a folded horn. Do you have access to the ts parameters of any of those woofers?

It might be fun to just build a bass bin and throw all those woofers in it. It would be crazy and probably just sound ridiculous but it would be a hoot. Throw the T-30 on top of everything, and don't even have a tweeter. Just make NUTTY-A$$ speakers and play them LOUD! Tell the kids they were state of the art back in the day.

:D

Edited by mustang guy
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Mustang Guy,

I like your way of thinking! I'm kind of at that point myself. I just want to do something with these drivers. I just acquired more stuff yesterday and had to play with it. My Dad gave me some components from a defunct set of Marantz HD-77 speakers he used to have, and I mated them up with one of my Sansui SP-1500 speakers. This was the result. Ugly as it may look, when powered by an Altec 1568A, it actually sounds surprisingly good. Just goes to show, you never know what will happen when you throw things together.

-Jon

post-4770-0-18600000-1389932799_thumb.jp

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