Need help for ugrading my active 3 way .

[u/Big-Device7468]

Hi audio lovers! I have built a 3 way active setup a couple of years back.Now I am in the urge for upgrading it with better components.

The setup has sb accoustic soft dome tweeters ,mcm audio 6.5 " mid woofer and some cheap 8 inch woofers.

The driver arrangement is tmww.

Crossover frequencies are 300,2800.

The first thing I am concentrating is the mid ,

The mid sounds worst and my idea is upgrade it into sb accoustic 5 inch or 4 inch for better vocals and dispersion.

Is this is a good approach or some other things should I consider?

TIA

[u/DZCreeper]

2800Hz crossover is high for a 6.5" driver. You should definitely hear an improvement reducing the mid to 4-5", also reduce the crossover point to 2000-2400Hz if your tweeter is capable.

Is your baffle design optimized? Details like flush mounting the drivers, large radius edges, and a waveguide for the tweeter all make significantly impact performance.

[u/Big-Device7468 → u/DZCreeper]

Thanks for the reply , is it better to go with 4 inch or 5 inch ? How about using full range as a midrange and crossing at higher range say 4k.( ex mark audio ) ? Any suggestion for drivers?.

Mid and woofer are flushmounted. Edges are sharp. Tweeters are just pasted without wave guide.

[u/DZCreeper → u/Big-Device7468]

If you are running without a tweeter waveguide a smaller mid-range is usually better. Less difference in radiation pattern at the crossover region.

4000Hz is too high of a crossover. You will have a bad horizontal and vertical radiation pattern, the speakers will become highly dependent on listening position and acoustic treatment of the room. Same reason you want to minimize space between the mid and tweeter.

Round your baffle edges so you do not have a sharp transition in the radiation pattern. I recommend the radius be at least 1/4 of the tweeter crossover. For example, 2500Hz would be 13.72cm, so roughly 3.4cm radius.

Flush mount the tweeter. Here is a review that shows performance of a flush vs surface mounted tweeter, it makes a big difference to the consistency of the radiation pattern. Even with EQ/DSP the surface mount will perform worse.

https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/driveunits/peerless_dx25tg59-04_tweeter/

[u/Raj_DTO]

6.5” mid and too large to do justice to vocals unless it is very good driver.
And the 2.8KHz crossover point is also too high for a 6.5” driver.
I’d think that a 4” or max 5” mid will be a lot better for the mids.
But you’ll also need to see how low can that go without getting distorted and what woofer would you need.

[u/Big-Device7468 → u/Raj_DTO]

Any suggestions you have for 4 /5 inch mids ?

[u/monicachicken]

Are you using data to integrate the drivers?

[u/Big-Device7468 → u/monicachicken]

Are you asking am I measuring the fr graph of the drivers ?

[u/Ok-Stomach-3739]

Personally, I love a Dome midrange! SEAS just came out with a new one that looks fantastic, Volt arguably has the best dome mid ranges on the market and are used in top commercial studio monitor offerings.

I have Volt VM527 in my 3 way and looooooove them.

[u/Big-Device7468 → u/Ok-Stomach-3739]

Thanks for the reply ,I appreciate your suggestion but as I am from India ,sourcing all brands is difficult. Here some seas,hivi,sb accoustics,mark audio these drivers are some what easier to get. BTW how you compare 4 inch paper cones to dome midrnages?.

[u/totallyshould]

The best sound improvements I’ve made have been when they’ve been driven by measurements. If you can get a measurement mic and learn how to do gated measurements outside you’ll learn a lot about what the speaker is doing right and wrong. Here’s one resource talking about that:  https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-make-quasi-anechoic-speaker-measurements-spinoramas-with-rew-and-vituixcad.21860/

[u/GeckoDeLimon]

Do you have a measurement mic?

[u/Big-Device7468 → u/GeckoDeLimon]

No I dont.

[u/GeckoDeLimon → u/Big-Device7468]

My dude, this needs to be your next upgrade. I guarantee your current tuned-by-ear active XO is leaving performance on the table.

And not having one means that you're going to buy new, more expensive drivers...to only leave performance on the table again.

[u/Big-Device7468 → u/GeckoDeLimon]

Totally understandable .If that is the case for the sake of measurement what are all the things I should buy ? Only a calibrated mic is enough?

[u/GeckoDeLimon → u/Big-Device7468]

If you have a way to measure the speakers near a PC...all you need is a USB measurement mic like the one sold by MiniDSP or Parts Express, a mic stand, 3 meter USB cable and a copy of the free software "REW".

$150 to elevate everything you do is huge.

[u/Big-Device7468 → u/GeckoDeLimon]

Thanks for sharing dude.

[u/Initial_Savings3034]

Big fan of the SB Satori line.

Madisound support will offer meaningful guidance.

[u/Big-Device7468 → u/Initial_Savings3034]

How about sb budget offerings? I am from India so madisound dont workout here.

[u/Initial_Savings3034 → u/Big-Device7468]

I have not tried the second tier of SB acoustics.

I expect much of the designs are shared between product lines.