Newly completed DIY 2-way Dayton Reference

[Feanor]

Yesterday I completed my DIY speakers -- took me 15+ years. Well, that's when I began the cabinets.

These speakers are based on Dayton Audio Reference drivers; these are regarded as high value and I can't disagree based on my own results. The box is just under under 1 cu.ft. and is vented. The woofer is Dayton's 7" 8 ohm paper coned Reference driver; the tweeter is their silk domed 4ohm Reference:

• Dayton Audio RS180P-8 7" Reference Paper Woofer 8 Ohm
• Dayton Audio RS28F-4 1-1/8" Silk Dome Tweeter

My design aids were Harris Technologies' X-Over 3 Pro and Bass Box 6 Pro programs. I choose a 2nd order crossover to minimized the number of components. The paper cone and silk dome options were choose to make minimize the risk of nasties, especially given the low-order crossover. I chose 1500 Hz for the crossover; this fairly low xover point is feasible because the tweeter has a low resonance frequency, extended lower response, and very good power handling.

I tested the each speaker using Dayton's OmniMic program and microphone. I don't exactly have an anechoic chamber for the a listening room but measured and 3 feet, the speakers measured reasonably flat and had no nasty peaks or troughs.

Measured with the speakers in their listening placement and from my actual listening position, the response was markedly different from close up which isn't too remarkable. I used a Foobar plug-in equalized to flatten the response -- this is what I have been doing with my Magneplanars too, so I am only leveling the playing field.

Equalized, the Dayton DIYs sounded tonally a lot like the Maggies. However, not surprising, the Maggies easily beat them for soundstage and air, though the Dayton's are pretty close in terms of resolution. The Daytons have only 4-5 hours of playing and will probably improve a bit with further break-in.

Ultimately the Dayton DIYs will end up in my HT set up, but I'll listen to them in my main stereo system of a few day.

Some pics ... note the speakers stand are far from ideal: they are too tall and too spindly.