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Thread: What midbass to go with a Fountek neo X2??

  1. #1
    Join Date: Jun 2012

    Location: Forster, NSW, Australia

    Posts: 278
    I'm Hal.

    Default What midbass to go with a Fountek neo X2??

    I have a pair of Neo X2s being delivered probably this week. Working out what to pair them with though is being a challenge. I was originally considering a Usher 7" driver, then the 5.5 or 7" SEAS paper/reed (there's a oddball combination I've never heard of before) but really, I'm still pretty undecided. AOS member Qwin suggested Quad 4" drivers as he's already used the Neo X1 in a Quad S1 with excellent results, and I'll examine this option as well. Just to throw it wide open for suggestions, what midbass would members here consider for a small bookshelf speaker to be primarily used in a 4 x 3.6M bedroom, but, if I get house sitting jobs for any length of time, they may well come with me for the duration of the job and would no doubt be used in the homes main living area.
    I'm after a smooth, fatigue free, "clarity with warmth" type of sound suited to vocals, strings , piano, acoustic stuff and light pop/rock. I HATE excess bass and sibilence. Being over sixty, I'm happy to give musical enjoyment and fun the priority over clarity and insight. I still adore my Heybrook 3s, which have just come back from surgery to repair rotted midrange surrounds. In fact that's where I'm off to after dinner, a light listening session while the new surrounds bed in.
    All suggestions much appreciated.
    Without music, powerboat racing, photography and a whole stack of other stuff that floats my boat, life is just a non stop procession of deadlines and bills.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Carlisle - UK

    Posts: 1,956
    I'm Ken.

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    Hal - I used the 4" Quad mid/bass purely as a midrange, backed up by a 12" Scanspeak bass driver in a 55L sealed enclosure plus Ribbon Tweeter as a 3-way.
    The combination of Fountek Ribbon and 4" Carbon mid/bass in the Quad S1 worked well as a small bookshelf speaker and is great at acoustic instruments and voices in particular (Check Reviews).
    But being a 4" it has limited bass output on its own, so I cut it at 310Hz and used it in a small sealed chamber to optimise its midrange potential and let the big Scanspeak take over from there.
    I went looking for a 2-way bookshelf that was good at voices, knowing it was to be changed into a 3-way and auditioned many, including the larger S2 which went a bit deeper, but in my opinion lacked the ability to engage you the way the smaller model does. This is the trait I have tried to hang on to.

    The Fountek Ribbons go down quite deep so lend themselves well to a 2-way.
    Sorry I can't recommend a larger matching mid/bass as I've been using 3-ways for quite some time, the SB Acoustics range could be worth checking as they have a rep for being good in the price v performance stakes. Maybe check out 2-way Ribbon projects by Troels Grevensen or Zaph and there are a couple on Founteks own site. I cant see any of them using the Neo X 2.0 though. Starting with drivers and designing a crossover to suit can be a complex affair, hence my suggestion of a kit and has a lot to do with why I started with a successful off the shelf speaker to form part of my 3-way.

    I don't know what your building experience is so sorry if I'm talking down.
    Look at the response curve and impedance curve of the Tweeter.
    Ideally you need a crossover frequency that both drivers exceeds (overlaps) by at least an octave each side, one and a half is better.
    Again, ideally they should have the same impedance and sensitivity at the crossover frequency, if they don't the crossover needs to be more complex in having to deal with these issues as well as being a basic filter. So use the data from the Tweeter when shopping for a matching mid/bass, the closer the match the simpler the crossover is likely to be.
    Last edited by Qwin; 19-10-2017 at 08:52.

  3. #3
    Join Date: Apr 2011

    Location: cheltenham

    Posts: 746
    I'm matt.

    Default

    The most Important question Is - How are you going to design the crossover? I only ask because you are asking quite a basic question.

    I'm on my third speaker build (I started In 2012 IIRC). I have measuring gear coming out of my ears and boxes and boxes of crossover components. Even though I've measured hundreds of times before I always seem to make a mistake or something goes wrong . This time I accidentally deleted my microphone calibration files and also some how managed to mess up my relative acoustic centre measurements. It's not the end of the world but I built about 20 odd different crossovers before I realised I made these mistakes. I will have to take another half a day measuring and god knows how many hours prototyping, until I'm happy with the results.

    If you're thinking about using an online calculator for your crossover - Don't bother, It's a waste of time. The only way to stand half a chance, Is to take real measurements, or at least trace the the graphs from the manufacturers data sheets.

  4. #4
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    Speak to Wilmslow Audio. They sell these units and will probably have mid/bass drivers to suit. Their stocks are huge. They may be able to offer suitable crossovers too.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

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