adding tweeter to 2x10 bass cabinet

[acorkos]

a friend wants to add a tweeter of some sort to his 2x10 bass cabinet (2 x 16 ohm drivers in parallel). can someone explain what happens to the power amp when a crossover + L-pad + tweeter is connected in parallel to a LF driver?? how much power do the LF drivers miss out on by connecting a 5khz HF network in parallel? i don't really understand this stuff, so any explanation will be appreciated. thx!

[Enzo]

Don't over-think it. Your 2x10 will still run full range, the crossover will only be used for the horn. What tiny amount of power the tweeter might siphon off won;t be missed by the woofers or affect the amp materially. If you cross over at 5kHz, then the woofers will have to share only that portion of the amp power that is over 5kHz. Not much.

[acorkos]

thanks

so something like this: 5 kHz High Pass 8 Ohm Crossover 266-474
in parallel to the main speaker connections, output to an L-pad to the HF driver...?

[Enzo]

Looks like it would work.

[olddawg]

I wouldn't go to that much trouble. Just parallel a tweeter/horn, whatever off of the jack and stick a non polarized 2.2uf cap on the positive terminal to it. Or you can use two polarized caps back to back. If you want you can try a 3.3uf or a 4.7uf. It depends how low the driver will go. This runs the speakers full range and is just a high pass filter to the tweeter/horn. It is very commonly done.

[Enzo]

He wants to use an L-pad.

[olddawg]

He wants to use an L-pad.

An L-Pad for the whole system or just to attenuate the HF driver? There isn't going to be much power going to the HF. You could attenuate it with a pot, a resistor, several switched in resistors, or a small L-Pad.

[Enzo]

No, just the HF. Not suggesting your simple cap won;t work, just that he wanted to drive the tweet through an L-pad. I agree, it wouldn;t need to be a big one.

[J M Fahey]

Well, the parts express X-over is only $6 and very easy to connect, so I wouldn't consider it "that much trouble"
And it does have the suggested Cap, plus a coil to make the crossover sharper, win win.
I would add a 12V 15W car lamp in series with the tweeter.
Slap happy bass players are sort of dangerous.
No offence meant, of course.

[imaradiostar]

Now why would you wanna add a tweeter and muck up a nice cabinet?

jamie

[olddawg]

Well, the parts express X-over is only $6 and very easy to connect, so I wouldn't consider it "that much trouble"
And it does have the suggested Cap, plus a coil to make the crossover sharper, win win.
I would add a 12V 15W car lamp in series with the tweeter.
Slap happy bass players are sort of dangerous.
No offence meant, of course.

Yeah.. I saw that. Just thought I would say how to do it quick , cheap, and dirty without having to order anything and get it going in 5 minutes.

[J M Fahey]

cheap, and dirty without having to order anything and get it going in 5 minutes.

Use a Piezo and if needed pad it down with a rotary switch (your choice or what you have in the junk box) and a few resistors which I'll calculate if you go on with this.
Actual design depends on what you have.
A center off toggle or rocker switch is also good for a Hi/Lo/OFF setup, better than nothing.