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Enclosures for Tannoy K3828 drivers

V

vrazji

pfm Member
Can't quite decide if this should be in DIY or classic section - but since I'm guessing most of the Tannoy experts are populating the classic room, I'm trying my luck here first.

So, here's the deal - I still have my Tannoy K3828 drivers stashed away doing nothing and would like to put them into use...

Can't quite decide what kind of cabinets to put them into though. The problem is I am a bit restricted size wise (SWMBO's orders...) - so am looking at compact(ish) options. The largest I could get away with are probably Berkeley sized, or perhaps taller Berkeley's if there would be such a thing (sized cca. 50cm W / 100cm H / 35 D). Panel thickness (thicker than original I'm thinking?), braces etc. taken into account that should add up to ~100-110 litre net cabinet I think.

So the question really is - is it worth doing something like that?

I've listened a couple of times to the smaller Devons and liked the sound a great deal - didn't feel like much was missing scale-wise (though I am used to listening to monitors for most of the time...).

One other thing - I was thinking on using the "Phil Short's improved" crossover for 38xx drivers. Anyone has any experience with those?

Any other tips on possible enclosures, ports dimensions, construction, etc. would be much appreciated!
 
I'd be tempted by something based on the Arden. Sure, it's a bit bigger than a Berkeley, but it's a lot better. It wouldn't cost much more to have made, and really wouldn't occupy much more space in the room.
 
You can be creative. Stick with the Berkley front profile if that helps. Just make the thing as deep as it is wide and that should give you some handy extra internal volume without appearing massive from the front. Additional bracing and damping should complete the package.
 
The Berkerley is pretty poor IMO.try for 160 to 180L ported at 24hz. Avoid equal or multiples when dimensioning hxwxd. Something like Arundel or York ideally.
The Dc6000 was 105L but used the 3808. You'd have to model it in winisd or on linearteam to sort out the porting.
 
I'll take that as a "don't bother" on the Berkeley sized cabs then...
Bigger cabinets perhaps wouldn't cost much more, but the SWMBO bribery might :)

I guess it really is the only sensible way though - do it once and do it right.

I was thinking though I'd rather have a taller cabinet (up to a point) than deeper. Would be nice to get the tweeter to ear level without using stands... Sounds sensible?

Thanks to everyone who responded!
 
I've wondered the same about building new cabinets for my Little Gold Monitors (12" drivers) so am watching this with interest. How well they fit into a domestic environment is equally relevant here...

Andrew
 
Another point - if you want to use a design with extended bass, you have to take room gain into account. This means you want something with a fairly gentle rolloff, like an EBS (Extended Bass Shelf) alignment.

This type of alignment trades bass flatness (in free space, before allowing for room gain) for extra extension. Typically, this is done by tuning the port slightly on the low side.
 
vrazji said:
I was thinking though I'd rather have a taller cabinet (up to a point) than deeper. Would be nice to get the tweeter to ear level without using stands... Sounds sensible?
Click to expand...

Arden / York sized cabs get the driver at about the correct height - certainly far more so than the Berkely / Lancaster size. I never notice any height issue with my York clones, and technically they are missing the little 'plinth' thing at the bottom.

Where about in the room are you planning to put them? If it's against a rear wall then the classic York / Arden form factor is ideal as, whilst substantial, it doesn't encroach into the room by much, it's only a foot or so deep. You could even consider corner cabs I guess, they are the best sounding Tannoy cabs and use the least amount of room of all speaker types.
 
Bonneville said:
Tony do corner cabs have the same internal capacity as the rectangular ones?
Click to expand...

I think so, i.e. a Lancaster or York each has about the same volume in their rectangular or corner forms. The horn-loaded GRF are a bit more complex though and probably better viewed as two entirely different speakers. In all cases the corner cabs are allegedly superior.

PS If / when I ever get round to getting better cabs made for mine I'm very tempted by corner Yorks.
 
The time compensated series from the 80's had some elegantly proportioned cabs for all sizes of DC- worth copying IMO.EBS alignment as well as exploiting room gain for ease of placement has the benefit of shifting the peak in group delay low enough in frequency to be insignificant/inaudible and where it may begin to matter can actually match or outperform a sealed box.
 
Tony Which would you prefer,your old well made corner Lancasters ,(now with Robin ) or the less than perfect Yorks you have now? Just curious .
 
Bonneville said:
Tony Which would you prefer,your old well made corner Lancasters ,(now with Robin ) or the less than perfect Yorks you have now? Just curious .
Click to expand...

They both have strengths and weaknesses. The Yorks (which are actually remarkably accurate copies using same material thickness etc as real ones) have an increased sense of ease and scale, though I'm pretty certain there was more mid-band clarity to the very heavy and over-engineered sealed corner cabs (not really a Lancaster, but close in basic dimension. I think I preferred the bass of the sealed cabs too, it seemed to dig deeper and tighter even though there was less of it. Both are very good IMO. As I said above if I was to commission new cabs I'm pretty sure I'd go for corner-Yorks, but with much, much thicker front baffles and better internal bracing (I suspect the front baffle is the main issue with my current Yorks). I'll probably do it one day as I think on balance I prefer the Tannoys to the La Scalas, but they are so different it's hard to be sure.
 
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