UPGRADE YOUR OLD SPEAKERS - CHURCH SOUND ON A BUDGET: PART TRES

So you are in the position that you really need to upgrade your speakers, but have very little money.  Buying something brand new is out of the question, but you have to do something because your speakers are blown, or perhaps they sound really awful.  There is an inexpensive way to handle this situation and will greatly improve the sound of your system!

About 6 months ago I was working with a smaller church in Louisiana. Their youth department had a pair of Peavey speakers that were over 30 years old. Not all 30 year old speakers sound terrible, but these REALLY did. They were beyond terrible. My task was to upgrade their mains in their youth room for an insanely low budget. I know their situation. Their budget isn't going to increase anytime soon. So, I took what they had, and let them borrow some old JBL's in the mean time.

1. The speaker cabinet had a model number on it. I called Peavey just for curiosity sake, and they told me that it was so old, that they didn't even have any information on that model anymore!

2. The cabinet featured a 12" speaker with a tiny magnet, and a super cheap piezo tweeter. No crossover of course. Just an old capacitor.

3. I did some measurements on the cabinet to see the internal dimensions to get a close number on the volume of the cabinet, and the internal clearance to see what I could do in way of a new woofer & tweeter.

4. From there, I contacted a company called Parts Express. These guys offer great replacement speakers for very fair prices. They can be found at www.parts-express.com - And no, I am not affiliated with them. They just have really good customer service, and I have been a satisfied customer of theirs for years.

5. Their youth department at that church runs an all-in-one mixer-amplifier, and I knew that their particular model didn't support under 4 ohms on each output channel. So from there, I knew the total ohm load I would have to work with in re-building their speakers. Remember, if you combine two 8 ohm speakers on one output, the combined ohm load is 4 ohms! That's right, not 16, but 4! If you combine two 16 ohm speakers on one output, the amplifier will then see 8 ohms! Keep this in mind when building or rebuilding new speakers.

6. I then chose a decently priced crossover (also available at parts express). A crossover separates treble from bass so that bass doesn't go to the tweeter, and treble doesn't go to the woofer. With that said, tweeters and woofers have what they call a frequency response. So, you have to match the woofer and tweeter to where they will work together with the crossover. You want to try and choose a woofer that extends up to (frequency wise), where the tweeter picks up at. Also, make sure you get a crossover that can handle the amount of wattage your amplifier provides.  Needs are diverse, so don't go out and buy this exact one, but this is just an example of the type of components to look for:

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 4

11. Figure 2: Try to find a woofer that will fit in the box you are trying to put it in. Make sure the mounting depth of the speaker will fit the cabinet, and that it wont "bottom out." Make sure you look at the woofer's frequency response. Figure 3: For the chosen crossover, you'd select a woofer that would extend up to 3500 Hz.  Because of their extremely limited budget, we chose a woofer that would fit the bill budget wise, and it was a huge improvement compared to what they had.  Granted it's on the lower end of the spectrum, but it actually sounds surprisingly good in their room & with their equipment.

12. Figure 4: If you are not going to (or can't) re-use the tweeter horn, try to find a tweeter that will fit in the original hole, because if not, you'll need to cut the old hole in your speaker box to fit the new tweeter. Make sure the tweeter will extend down to the crossover point (3500 Hz in this example).  Note: This is the particular tweeter I used for their box (figure 4), but check to see what type of tweeter you will need for your situation.  Selenium makes really great drivers for a fair price if that's what your box calls for. An example of this would be the Selenium D250-X.  Most tweeters have two different sections.  A driver and a horn.  The tweeter driver will either unscrew from the back of the horn or unbolt.

13. One all of the speaker components are mounted in the box,  connect them to the crossover.

14. Test it.

So How Did It Turn Out?  So back to the church I helped: Now, when you walk into their youth room, it sounds great - and we did it under budget!  What's really fun, is that you see these small old speakers, but when you crank them, they are surprisingly huge sounding.

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7. Figure 1: If the cabinet you are rebuilding has 2 speakers - a woofer and a tweeter, then you need to get a 2 way crossover. Or if your box has 3 speakers - A woofer, mid-range driver, & a tweeter, then you would purchase a 3 way crossover.

8. Look at the crossover point(s). Make sure you can find speakers that will work for this (these) crossover frequency(ies).

9. Make sure that the crossover can handle the amount of wattage the amplifier will potentially feed it.

10.  Lastly, look at the reviews. Make sure people have had good experiences with this crossover, and that it has done a satisfactory job for them.

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Selenium Tweeter Driver

Make sure the driver's size and threads match the horn you want to attach it to (if not the bolt-on type).

Side Note about the above: When selecting a tweeter driver, make sure the driver's O.D. size and threads match the horn you want to attach it to (if it's not the bolt on type).