The Kairos and Continuum Three-Way Loudspeakers

[Jeff B.]

I have been asked many times about making a three way version of the Kairos and the Continuum. I know several have done so with powered woofers, however, there’s a lot that can be said for a properly designed three-way when it comes to smoothness, low distortion, and proper tonal balance, as well as having the simplicity of a passive design driven by your own amplifier.

Not only have I developed an "official" woofer module (actually two) that can be used to convert the Kairos and Continuum into three-way loudspeakers, I have made it so that it can be used to the do the same for a large number of other similar stand mounted two-ways.

How this works is all explained in this paper that you can download in pdf format:
https://app.box.com/s/a4bqr447s7ox7v9kt7r9tjui0h7yqkrv

Since Meniscus will be the supplier of these parts and soon to be kits, I will try to maintain this forum and thread for discussion and questions regarding the design.

Enjoy,
Jeff B.

[woodsart]

YAY Jeff....thank you!!!!!!

[mikebarney]

Jeff-
Great, thanks very much!
I'm building your "sorta universal crossover" now for a pair of North Creek speakers and a woofer/stand (10" Vifa) that I built some time ago. It measures flatter as a passive 3 way with your crossover than with the plate amps I had been using.
I hope to build the 3 way Kairos soon.
Mike

[vnowinski]

Jeff,

Interested in what makes this a "universal" circuit... how well will it work in application to other bass drivers and monitors?

-v

[Jeff B.]

Jeff,

Interested in what makes this a "universal" circuit... how well will it work in application to other bass drivers and monitors?

-v

What makes it universal (or close) is the fact that most woofers are operating in a flat, pistonic range below 500 Hz or so, and the damping resistor helps to normalize the load across many drivers, as a result a lot of woofers will tend to roll-off in very close the same way using this circuit. For the high pass section on the monitor, as long as the monitor is sealed and has a nominal 8 ohm impedance, and extends to at least 100 Hz before rolling off, then most of them will work about the same way too. Actually, the double impedance peak of a vented monitor won't upset things very much either. In the end, this circuit could work with a lot of combinations.

[mikebarney]

Jeff-
I'm interested in using your woofer design (with the SB Acoustics driver) and your universal crossover with a 4 ohm satellite. I would use your low pass crossover as designed for the woofer, and a modified version of your high pass for the lower impedance satellites. Any suggestions on cap and resistor values to start experimenting with? Or is a 4 ohm speaker just not feasible with this design?
Thanks very much.
Mike