I need a summer project, and since I've wanted to try my hand at a DIY speaker I've been looking through old threads here and elsewhere on the interweb looking for a suitable project. I've always wanted to make a single driver speaker, but haven't heard one I really like. I don't think a Fostex driver based solution is for me based on what the ones that I've heard.
One design that looks very interesting is the late John Wyckoff's Hammer Dynamic speaker. His wife Colleen is still shipping the kits. They are $650, and the cabinets are pretty staightforward to build. I'm speculating that I'd would prefer this type of design, where the main driver goes deep enough to remove the requirement for a subwoofer, and the xover to the supertweeter occurs at quite a high frequency.
Does anyone have any knowledge of, our experience with, this speaker ? Are there any other similar speaker projects that you'd recommend ? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I tried emailing the Merrill Zigmahornet designer, but never got a reply. I don't think I want to try that design with a Fostex driver but perhaps there are better options.
It is a different design to be sure. I only know what I've read, which is almost entirely positive. Kinda hoping someone may have some insights on them, or first hand experience to share.
The tweeter in front of the woofer isn't that novel of a concept. A lot of speaker companies have played around with this in the past. Linn currently makes their upper end speakers in a similar fashion.
From what I understand, and what I've heard from speakers like this is that music has more cohesiveness to it. The closer the tweeters and woofers are to each other, the better the imaging and overall cohesiveness.
This is a big reason why the Totem Arro images and soundstages like it does. The tweeter is directly over the woofer, but its closer than it appears. If you look close enough, you'll see how Totem cut the bottom of the tweeter baffle to bring the center of the tweeter closer to the woofer.
Another example of the tweeter in front of the woofer is with coaxial speakers. Remember how much people loved the Insignia speakers? They do some things that speakers costing 10-20 times their price can't do. A bit of a one trick pony if you ask me, but if someone who actually cared about speaker design played with it, I'm sure they could be outstanding.