DIY Pro Audio Tower Speakers

I've been lurking for a while and have read with great interest some old threads here about building a Pro Audio type tower speakers with horn loaded compression drivers coupled with some midbass speakers. I am thinking about building a fiberglass enclosure setup to mount on the crossbar of my illusion tower on my Malibu VRide.The problem is i am on a fairly low budget and want to keep costs down (thus eliminating Wetsounds, etc). I have been looking at some pro audio midbass speakers in the 6.5 to 8 range. I know Eminence and Selenium have been discussed before. In my research, I have come across some American Bass (SQ-6B 6.5inch) at only around $35 each. The specs claim 102.5db sensitivity! I will couple four of these (or similar) with two horn loaded compression drivers or horn supertweeters and plan on driving them with a four-channel amp (2 to the midbass and two the tweets)at around 150 watts RMS each and use the built in electronic cross overs in the amp. I am looking for any comments or suggestions as I am definitely not a stereo guru! Also i have come across some Kicker 8" midbass woofers (04ssmb8) at around $100 pair, they seem to have good specs as well, I think these might work well as they have around 89db sens. Do either of these look like a good setup for a tower setup that can put out some volume? overall sound quality is not a high priority as long as it sounds clean and loud at 80'! Thanks for any input or criticisms!

do a search, you are going down a well traveled path here. It's waay more work than you think, been there.

Kicker also makes a 6.5 woofer, but I don't think a true woofer sound would travel far enough. I think your best bet would be to do mids and tweets.

Also, I believe bullet makes 6.5- 8 HLC speakers you could put in any box and you could save some money on a pro setup. I have the kicker speakers KTM6 speakers and they do sound great, but nothing compared to the wetsounds I have heard.

check out partexpress.com .They have some very nice units in their closeout list that you may find a use for at a price that would make them a throw away if you were not happy. An electronically crossed two way should be pretty simple to put together if good sound is more important than impressing you ex car audio friends.

89 db sensitivity isnt enough for a mid-bass/woofer. Would suggest 93 db or higher.

i have really incredible sound from my modded skylon deafon iv's. if you want LOUD at 80' plan on some serious amps and if you can go with 10" mid-bass/woofer - you will be ahead of the game.

i went with the following selection and it
is a great sounding setup and highly reccomended.:

Beyma 8" 8g40 @ $150
Selenium 210 Ti @ $35 (there is a new version out)
Selenium 2V2K/350 @ $45
(the crossover is specific for the hcld).

I have to confess, I am NOT a big Eminence fan. There are much better European drivers available (B&C, Beyma, Selenium)

If you can go B&C woofers - they are reasonable priced and BLOW away anything out there and will be comparable to the NVS signature set-up. They will only be limited by amp and overall setup.

This setup isnt cheap but they are STUPID LOUD AND CLEAR at 80' back ( the 2 zapco's 1100 running balanced symbilink from a eclipse 8053 16v balanced head unit may have something to do with it).

Btw, a great budget setup is 4-6x9's (high quality) in a glass enclosure with a big high quality amp.

hope that helps...

(Message edited by clubmyke on May 11, 2009)

You should post some pictures of your modified speakers!

+1 on the 6x9s. Amazing what you can get for the money when you pick a size that fits in 20 million cars.

Thanks for all the input guys. After a bit more research, going the pro audio route is probably a little more work than I am willing to do right now. I have since started building 4 bullet style fiberglass cans and will put 4 quality 6.5 coaxials in them with a good 2 channel amp.I realize I probably won't hear them well at 80, but should be good for surfing and hanging out. Any suggestions on some 6.5s that will sound good and not break the bank? I'm looking at some Infinity Kappas and Polks, but there are a million others out there and I want to get the most bang for the buck as possible. Keep the input coming! BTW I can detail the build of the cans that will fit in the factory speaker locations on an Illusion tower (as long as they don't look like a** when I'm done )

Define break the bank.

Polk Momo's would be a nice choice for cheap and WS 650's would be a great choice for a little more dough.

Polk Momo MMC650

WS 650

I just put 4 WS XS650's in my cans and they sound pretty amazing without the engine running (still waiting to get the boat out on the water).

Thanks again for the input. I would like to keep at around $100 per pair. The Polks look great. How do they compare to the Infinity Kappa 6.5? The WS look great, but a bit out of the ol' budget.