How cheap can you go when you design an array? If you read the literature it would seem that you can’t go cheaper than about 3000 to 5000 dollars.

But this is not really true.

Lets first look at the electronics. You need a pre-amp, three power amps, a 3 way electronic crossover, a sound level meter, and possibly a constant Q minimum stereo 2/3 octave equalizer.

On eBay you can fine a Kenwood c-1 pre-amp for about $30, three Kenwood KM-106 150 watt/ch amps for $60 each, a Rane crossover for about $130, and sound level meter for about $40. If you want to throw in the equalizer, about $130.

So……the hardware will cost you about $360 without the equalizer, and about $500 with it.

Now….the speakers. We’re not going to include the cost of the cabinets. That’s up to you and could cost from less than $300 to way way more.

But speaker wise there are two basic directions to go:

1. 24 6.5 inch Dayton 160b’s at $13 each for $312 total
(or choose another speaker in the same price range)

2. 12 Dayton Planars at $27.75 each for $333.

3. two sub woofers: MADISOUND NHT10 10" 12 ohm Subwoofer= $55 each X 2 = $110

The total cost minus the cabinets on this system would be: about $1200 + cabinets.

Or

1. 64 Dayton ND20FA-6’s at about $3.50 each = $224

2. 34 - ALL Electronic CORP SK-480’s at 5.50 EACH= $187

3. two sub woofers: MADISON NHT10 10" 12 ohm Subwoofer= $55 each X 2 = $110

This total cost would be $881 + cabinets.

Of course labor could be extensive. When you are talking about cutting 34 holes in the baffle for the midrange, and lots more for the tweeters, you are really talking about building.

Marlboro

• ART Array plans in the ART Projects folder

And if you use Dayton Neo's then you can't set the crossover below 2600hz, which means that you can't use midranges any bigger than about 4.5 inches to avoid horizontal comb filter distortion, which means that you will need maybe 30 of the mid ranges.

It all links together. Its not for nothing that most people use planars or ribbons for the tweeter line. In doing so they can use larger midranges, and cross lower.

Marlboro