Speaker X Over need help

Can any body in the UK point me to some one who is good at making speaker X overs. I know Wilmslow audio do as that is what I have at the moment in my DIY speakers, but the speakers do not sound good.

Thanks

 

For best results the drive units will need measuring, Williams Hart can do this for you. I have not used them so can not comment what there service is like.

 

It looks like they do computer simulations to arrive at the crossover component values for the £10 charge. This is probably all you need if the drivers are common ones.

What did you do to arrive at the crossover you currently have and what are your drivers?

 

Thanks for your help. I have brought from Mr Hart before, but unfortunalty he now live's in Spain. It would be good to use some one nearer to home as I would need to send speakers out.

 

I brought the speakers as a kit from Wilmslow, so the X over came ready made as part of that. I then had the tweeters up graded to Scanspeck ring radiators(through their advice), and Wilmslow re-jigged the Cross overs. Before the up grade they sounded pretty good, they now seem like they are not crossing over properly, and sound thin bright and edgy. I was over at Croft as I am having some work done on my Amp and CD player, so I got Amar to have a listen. He reckons the drives are badly matched and that the cross over had been designed via software, which is not ideal. He's advised to get some one else to have a look at them. So here I am trying to find some one.

 

Trouble is published FR and impedance plots dont tell you how the drivers work in a particular box. How do you work out baffle step losses other than guesswork?

I need to find someone that can measure my psudo omnis before I can take the design any further, I cant justify buying the hard and software to do the job myself. Wont Wilmslow measure the drivers in the box?

Captain, which Wilmslow speakers are they?

 

If you are near me, drop them over one day and I'll give them a measurement. I'm in Gravesend, Kent, DA11 7LU. Otherwise I think you will have to try playing with them a bit. Maybe an L-Pad on the tweeter.

Lol, that was directed at Captain. Not sure I want to become a measurement service Sorry Paul.

Yes you would think Wilmslow have made measurements and actually tried the design. Is it all run in? Maybe you just don't like the driver as much.

 

Midas I needed a small speaker as room is 11Ft by 11Ft

Thanks for the offer. All is run in it's not about liking the tweeter they do not sound right. I think Wilmslow have given me bad advice in getting this tweeter. Just want to see if I can sort it through the crossover first. This would be the cheapest option as I would lose a couple of hundred pounds if I sold on.

 

don't be too quick to judge Wilmslow in 20years plus they have ...for me ...always been spot on.

There are a number of things you can do ......if you can supply the following info

Where are you ?
What gear are you using ?
What stands have you ?
how is the room furnished ?

 

Hi,
not really relevant but I wanted to tell someone.
I finally got around to it and soldered my speaker wires straight to the X-over.
Massive improvment for little effort.

ok now back to the main thread.

Don't Behringer do a X-over box that you can electronically adjust the frequencies to test before making you own?

You can probably rent one somewhere

 

Behringer do make some active crossovers. The DCX2496 is the best one but is somewhat a rarity as they have gone out of production for almost a year. Though they are working on a replacement, it wont be around for at least 6 months.

That leaves the other two active crossovers which allow you to set the point for a 24dB/Oct LR crossover, but if each driver needs a different slope (most do), that is not much help.

Ask Wilmslow for a refund and return the tweeter. Not fit for purpose intended

I had one dealing with them and it didn't go well. I ordered some drivers and they took the money from my card. Only after two weeks had gone by and I contacted them to find out what was going on did they tell me that they didn't have nay of the drivers and wouldn't do for another 4 months! That messed things up as I had already built the cabinet for the drivers and so was pretty restricted on other choices, which means I had to spend about £40 more than I had planned.

 

I've had two similar run in's with Wilmslow.

The first was on four Seas L22RNX4P drivers. I paid up via the website sat around for a week with nothing so decided to phone up and was told that the item was special order and was on request from Seas, estimated delivery was 3 weeks from when I originally placed the order. At the same time as I chased the order up I also check my online banking and saw my card had been charged the full amount, when I questioned this I was told that they wouldn't do a special order without the full amount paid upfront. Anyway the drivers turned up just under a month after placing the order... hardly impressive.

And again I find myself in the same situation. I've order a pair of the new Scanspeak AirCirc tweeters and have been waiting for 3 weeks and my bank account is nearly £300 down with nothing to show for it.

To be fair to Neil and Terry at Wilmslow, I've ordered a lot of stuff over the last few years and the above issues are the only problems I've had. All other orders came well within a week of ordering and usually the next day. Its not that often I've really asked but they also offer fairly decent advice but do seem a little quick to offer solutions that mean throwing money at the problem and that usually means 'buy the best we stock'.

I just don't like their website at all - no stock info, very amature looking and poor navigation. I also don't particularly agree with their policy on 'special orders' whereby the money is taken and you wait for around a month, I'd agree to a deposit but why the full amount?

Wilmslow isn't the worst offender I've dealt with by far. ATC is are pretty negligent with regards to DIY'ers who buy drivers and they certainly take their time with orders - I had to wait 2 months from some bass drivers, but they didn't charge me a penny until they were ready to ship.
The real let down with ATC has been their sloppy packing department and lack of customer service follow through. I bought ATC mids and 9"/15" bass drivers, and every one had the sealing gasket missing and in the case of the mid, the mini banana plugs. I followed up immediately after delivery of the drivers with a call to let them know and ended up waiting 4 months from these misc. parts. In this period I had to chase it up 4 seperate times with 2 'promised' delivery dates, both of which never happened and I strongly suspect were BS. In the end I had to get pretty firm as polite telephone calls and emails obviously weren't getting the job done and after a harsh email to Bob Polley I got the missing bits two days later but absolutely no appology or real explanation as to why it took 4 months. Crap experience with that one, a shame because I've got a lot of respect for their drivers.

I've got other storys of delays and naff customers services from others such as KEF and Mackie, it seems to be an epidemic these days. There are the exceptions though who are truly excellent.

BTW: The DCX2496 is back in stock at most places now. Try Blue Aran or Digital Village.

 

Their with Wilmslow at the moment. Terry is a pretty cool guy, had a long talk with him should have them back end of the week.

 

Wow your right! they must have actually met one of their deadlines! Is this the 'new and improved' one there were mentions of?

 

Behringer farms out its manufacturing to OEM producers in the East. I believe that there was a problem with the OEM that produces the DCX2496 and the fact that manufacture happens in one or two large batches each year.

Ally these facts with the large demand seen in the past year for the DCX2496 and you'll see why it disappeared from stores for nearly 6 months.

I haven't heard of a replacement so I'm unsure about anything regarding that.