I've been getting the itch to do a 5.1 setup with a pair of nice front speakers. I've always wanted to use some Peerless drivers and I've read a lot of good things about their components. Zaph thinks highly of them so I figure I'll give them a shot.

I'm looking at the 810921 tweeter, 830872 midrange, and a pair of the 830883 woofers for the 3-way fronts and just using a single tweeter and woofer for each of the surrounds. I'm undecided on what drivers to use on the center, but maybe WTW.

810921 Peerless 1" textile dome HDS tweeter

Nomex 830872 - 4" Nomex cone woofer Shielded

Exclusive 830883 - 7" woofer

I've been wanting to test out Madisounds crossover design service as well, so this will give me a chance to do that. I'm still debating on whether to port the woofers or go sealed since I only need them to play down to 80Hz.

Any thoughts from you guys on the driver selection?

I have never used the 4" (I think there's one in the Exclusive line you might want to step up to?) but I have used the 810921 and the 830883 before. I was really surprised by the tweeter because I hadn't heard something that good from Peerless in the tweeter area ever before and it was the best non-planar/non-ribbon top end I had heard at that price. The 830883 is wonderful to listen to as well, although for midbass output, there are a few that give it a run for it's money (like XLS if you can find them; perhaps a Poly, as I am intending).

I think porting would be a great idea; remember that filters don't slam shut and you'll still have a fair bit of output from the midbass a full octave lower and the benefits of the port are usually seen a full octave above Fb. I once thought that porting midbass in a 3 way design when crossing over to a substage wasn't very useful, but I totally disagree now that I've tried it in a few variations. Consider side-firing?

I agree with Neil, I'd up the ante on the mid to the Exclusive and package it with something that can dig deeper for the midbass. The HDS tweet is impressive and is right up there to me for bang for the buck with about anything else. The dangerous thing for me is I will be in Madison on Friday and have a tendency to bring home drivers everytime I go. The HDS has almost followed me back on the last three stops.

Thanks for the help guys.

Would side-firing make that much of a difference? My subwoofer is sealed so that is why I was leaning towards sealing the woofers in the mains.

Okay, so the 810921 HDS tweeter is a go.

There is a 4" Exclusive midwoofer (830881) that looks good for the midrange.

Madisound doesn't carry it, but I'm sure they can order it.

http://www.tymphany.com/datasheet/printview.php?id=1

What about the 8" Exclusive 830884 for the midbass?

http://www.tymphany.com/datasheet/appview.php?id=4

The 10" XLS woofers are twice the price of the 8" Exclusive's.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_i...products_id=686

The 8" Poly is about the same price.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_i...roducts_id=1610

Why doesn't Tymphany/Peerless list any power recommendations for their drivers? I'm trying to power each 3-way main with about 425watts at 2ohms from my Adcom GFA-555 II, so that is something to keep in mind as well.

With such little power, I like the 10" XLS sol'n since sensitivity won't really matter in your case. The 8" Exclusive would look better. I haven't heard either of those drivers though. IMO Exclusive > Poly, but again the last three drivers on your list I haven't heard.