SLA Pro Questions....

[Grant Bunter]

Seeing how he's a speaker expert that I bought stuff from, yes I did expect something other than "you're on your own." Are modifications discouraged or something?
Whatever, I'll figure it out using some other resource. Bring on the BFM fanboy hate.

Fanboy hate? Nah.

What you paid for was a set of plans, that have been built, tried and tested, by the designer, as well as others.
Sometimes input from those others may help the designer alter his designs through end result feedback.

Building to those plans gives some guarantee of performance.
So, in a sense, yes modifications are discouraged, because the consequent results can't be guaranteed.
However, it's also DIY and some people do do what they want and bitch about it if it doesn't work out. Like it's somebody else's fault.
IMO the general ethos of the designs is to DIY, but with bang for buck in mind.
In your case, you want to use ribbons, which aren't cheap. That blows out bang for buck for one thing. The next part of the equation is that the designer simply cannot cover every possibility for every cab, no need, great results are obtained following the plans, cheaper than you can buy commercial offerings.

I'm sure Bill would be more than happy to model out his design with your planned planars and charge you appropriately

[CoronaOperator]

Seeing how he's a speaker expert that I bought stuff from, yes I did expect something other than "you're on your own." Are modifications discouraged or something?
Whatever, I'll figure it out using some other resource. Bring on the BFM fanboy hate.

You may not realize it but Bill gave you the best advice your ever going to get. Building speakers isn't like slapping performance parts on a car, if it was we'd all be experts. If you want the desired performance, follow the plans. No different than following a route on a map. If you deviate from the route and take a shortcut through the desert no one can answer how the results will turn out for you. I'm not sure why you think you can do any better than Bill's plans. For instance, you want to use an off the shelf crossover designed for 8 ohm speakers. The alpha 6a @ 3500hz has an impedance of 17.5 ohms and those planars, an impedance of 7ohms at 3500 hz. That system will end up sounding like crap. Speaker design is ALL about the crossover design. Feel free to deviate and design speakers yourself but don't expect everyone to buy the parts, build a prototype and fine tune them for you when Bill has already done just that for you!

[SeisTres]

Whoa, looks like i came lat to the party

But on a serious note, to the OP, if you're thinking about going into the DIY scene, getting the proper measuring tools will save you ALOT of effort, time and money.

I recommend either the behringer or dayton measuring mics as they have the same capsule as the more the $100 range measuring mics. Besides, for our goals, they do more than fine. As for measuring software, REW is a great tool that will allow you to everything you will need to do and more. These two things combined are a must for such things.

Of course, it's best to model a speaker before actually buying anything. However, i would still recommend getting the minidsp or something similar for proper eq'ing of any system.

[DJ Nada]

See, now finally we get some useful information. On page one someone asked about ribbon tweeters, someone else used them, and said they worked great. I thought I'd try it out, asked some questions here and heard nothing but crickets. Nobody wants to question the plans of the speaker jedi master. I'm building my own speakers because I like to DIY. Most people here like to DIY, that's why we're building our own stuff. I like to modify things to make them better, I thought I could do better than $1.50 tweeters. Maybe that was wrong, as I'm finding out now. If this was AVS or DIY speaker forum, I'm sure many people would be interested or have something to say. This is a speaker forum and we're all interested in speaker design, right?

[ncgrove]

I'm sure the guys who sell $50 tweeters think you could do better than $1.50 tweeters too.

[Grant Bunter]

I like to modify things to make them better, I thought I could do better than $1.50 tweeters. Maybe that was wrong, as I'm finding out now. If this was AVS or DIY speaker forum, I'm sure many people would be interested or have something to say. This is a speaker forum and we're all interested in speaker design, right?

Down to tin tacks at last.
You thought you could do it "better".
Compared to what? Have you built anything to the plans yet?
If not, you have nothing to compare against, yet you're already thinking you can make it better.
It's not the price of the components, it's how those components are used in the build.

Interested in speaker design? Personaly, the design as a consideration when I came here was the last thing on my mind. I was looking for high power, efficient live sound PA that was cheaper than commercial offerings. I now have that.
Because I have built that PA, some aspects of design have come to light for me, and it's generated some interest for me. Don't assume that design as a consideration is the reason lots of people come here though.

Yes people have built with ribbons and they work great from all acounts. They did the legwork themselves if that was a modification from the plans.
They did so with some humility.

So why not build as per plans and see what the result is. You may be surprised, even amazed.
And if it's still not to your satisfaction, since you like to DIY, you can start over again.
Since you've brought up the crickets, you've been chirping away yourself...

[ncgrove]

http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewt ... f=10&t=592


"That pretty much says it all."

[DJ Nada]

You're really helpful too, thanks. Anyone want to actually talk about how to incorporate ribbons into a SLA build? Is bi-amping with an active crossover the only way to go?


Speaking of ribbon tweeters, how awesome is this?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

You're really helpful too, thanks. Anyone want to actually talk about how to incorporate ribbons into a SLA build? Is bi-amping with an active crossover the only way to go?

It is, and that question you should have asked before going off on your own course. Now lose the attitude or you'll end up out of here.

[BrentEvans]

We used two ribbons in these... it worked just fine, but it's a low volume church install, and the added vertical dispersion was desired in this case. For cabs on sticks, you'd want all four. With this configuration, you can get the 4 ohm dayton woofers, series wire them, then series wire the 2 ribbons for a 16 ohm configuration, or for 4 ribbons, get the 8 ohm dayton woofers, series-parallel wire both the woofers and tweeters, and you'd have 8 ohm sections.