Probably a really dumb question

cstmar01

Is there ever a way to modify or change a speaker's efficiency?

And how is efficiency created in a speaker? for example if one is building their own how could someone change a speaker from say 95 to a 89 efficiency without maybe changing parts?

I guess I ask as I want to know more about this as I haven't done a lot of research on the topic. I would imagine it would be with the parts used in conjunction with how they are put together similar to how you get 4 ohm or 8, but then again I probably am wrong and I'm fine with that.

fishbones

You'll probably get better (more technical) answers than this, but here goes....

A loudspeaker is a combination of drivers. Each have thier own ohm rating. You can get an example of this by looking through a parts express catalog at the individual drivers.

TNRabbit

In addition to the above, to change the overall efficiency would require taking ALL the aspects the original designer had to consider into your plan. In other words, it wouldn't be feasible. More power/current/control is the cheapest answer.

What are you trying to do?

steveinaz

Efficiency is a function of how the cross-over is designed, drivers used, cabinet design (sealed or bass reflex), etc. There would be no practical way to change it.

TNRabbit

duplicate post

cstmar01

well I know how the ohm and changing that works but its the eff. that I'm really wondering about.

The question is coming up with when people do DIY speakers because from what I've seen when people build they often don't mention this, so if I wanted to build a speaker with ribbons and two woofer what would I have to do in order to configure it to have a 92 eff. rating.

Or would it be easier to just build said speaker, based upon what ohms I would want to have as a total and then once the thing is done and completed I get X for eff.

I guess I never knew what truly would all go into it if doing this.

kawizx9r

cstmar01 wrote: »

well I know how the ohm and changing that works but its the eff. that I'm really wondering about.

The question is coming up with when people do DIY speakers because from what I've seen when people build they often don't mention this, so if I wanted to build a speaker with ribbons and two woofer what would I have to do in order to configure it to have a 92 eff. rating.

Or would it be easier to just build said speaker, based upon what ohms I would want to have as a total and then once the thing is done and completed I get X for eff.

I guess I never knew what truly would all go into it if doing this.

Check out the specs of the drivers themselves.

There alot of DIY speakers that'll say said-speaker is intended for IE high efficient speakers for tube amp/etc.

I'd build a speaker myself if I were you, and IIRC someone could really help you out with the wood work. Follow a project that suites you and build it! I can't imagine even trying to build a crossover...don't have the know-how/tools/software/experience/etc

cstmar01

kawizx9r wrote: »

Check out the specs of the drivers themselves.

There alot of DIY speakers that'll say said-speaker is intended for IE high efficient speakers for tube amp/etc.

I'd build a speaker myself if I were you, and IIRC someone could really help you out with the wood work. Follow a project that suites you and build it! I can't imagine even trying to build a crossover...don't have the know-how/tools/software/experience/etc

But Freddy from what I've seen (at least so far) I have not seen how to add up and calculate what the final eff. will be of the speaker.

I mean if everything comes into play is there an easy way to do that, or is it more just kinda general once its together?

I guess if I tired to make a speaker myself. I wanted to do something with a ribbon and woofers or something similar to the legacy audio HD's.

However I was trying to gauge if doing so what kind of final product I would get and the eff etc of it.

http://www.legacyaudio.com/index.php?Itemid=300189&option=com_zoo&view=item&category_id=1&item_id=4

remains to be one of my favs. That and my carvers lol

kawizx9r

cstmar01 wrote: »

But Freddy from what I've seen (at least so far) I have not seen how to add up and calculate what the final eff. will be of the speaker.

I mean if everything comes into play is there an easy way to do that, or is it more just kinda general once its together?

I guess if I tired to make a speaker myself. I wanted to do something with a ribbon and woofers or something similar to the legacy audio HD's.

However I was trying to gauge if doing so what kind of final product I would get and the eff etc of it.

Yeah, I was thinking about the total efficiency myself as well. I haven't seen such a thing stated on DIY speaker projects, maybe it takes some tools+research if you really want to know once it's built.

I always toyed the idea of a DIY speaker project with ribbons, but I'll go with something that's already been researched and built for me

If you do go this route, I'd love to see a thread on it!

cstmar01

kawizx9r wrote: »

Yeah, I was thinking about the total efficiency myself as well. I haven't seen such a thing stated on DIY speaker projects, maybe it takes some tools+research if you really want to know once it's built.

I always toyed the idea of a DIY speaker project with ribbons, but I'll go with something that's already been researched and built for me

If you do go this route, I'd love to see a thread on it!

finding the time right now would be next to impossible, but maybe when work slows down a bit I can do some things like this.

TECHNOKID

As previously mentioned, the overall efficiency of a speaker is determined by the parts you are using. What is the rating of each drivers, what is the Xo rating (you could have a driver that is more capable than what the Xo allows it to), as mentioned even the cabinet is a big factor (you wouldn't use a tubine to drive a small vacume cleaner, speaker enclosure must match the driving efficiency of the speaker). This is why sellers like parts express will tell you exactly (or at least suggest) the drivers and Xo to use as they know what the cabinet was engineered for.

messiah

Efficiency is a measure of how many decibels a speaker produces fed 1 watt of power at a distance of 1 meter. All the components in question, including the enclosure's size, build, and tuning effect the efficiency of the speaker. You can't really do much of anything to improve efficiency without basically creating a new or different speaker. Your options are to buy a more efficient speaker, or a more powerful amp.

cstmar01

TECHNOKID wrote: »

As previously mentioned, the overall efficiency of a speaker is determined by the parts you are using. What is the rating of each drivers, what is the Xo rating (you could have a driver that is more capable than what the Xo allows it to), as mentioned even the cabinet is a big factor (you wouldn't use a tubine to drive a small vacume cleaner, speaker enclosure must match the driving efficiency of the speaker). This is why sellers like parts express will tell you exactly (or at least suggest) the drivers and Xo to use as they know what the cabinet was engineered for.

But if your doing this all as a DIY with a combo of drivers and parts and make your own cabinet is there any way to figure it out prior to the build or is it something that then you really measure after?

I mean if I could, I would like to have something with a medium to high eff rating say around a 91-95. So if I know how to plan this, that would be the best.