Small speaker for 386 amp

[evirob]

Hi,

I've scoured the internet and failed to turn up the information I need so please forgive me if this has already been put to bed.

I've built a 386 amp (Runoffgroove Ruby), that's all working fine. I just can't seem to find a suitable small speaker. I'm looking for something in the 4-5" range, I've tried a few hi-fi speakers, but as you might imagine they produce nasty buzzing when you get into overdrive territory.

Just to kick off, here's what I've discovered already:

The Pignose 7-100 has a 5" driver that sounds great, so someone must make these things!

Frequency response is relatively easy to account for with low and high pass filters in the circuit.

Jensen do a 5" guitar speaker that looks like just what I want, but it's very hard to come by here in the UK. If anyone can tell me of a UK supplier that would be great. I have found shops in the states that will ship it to me, but the postage is more than the cost of the speaker!

In a previous post, member "phatt" stated that guitar speakers need to be "low compliance" (stiff), as opposed to hi fi speakers that are high compliance (wobbly). I have been unable to turn this information into a meaningful search term - googling "low compliance speaker/driver" doesn't bring up anything that looks suitable. How can I find a low compliance 4" speaker?

Any advice would be most appreciated.
Thanks!
Chris

[J M Fahey]

Hi chris, Celestion makes a 5" or 6" speaker which by the way, is used in the Trace Acoustic 30W amp.
Search their pages or some catalog, remembering that they won't be grouped with the classic heavyweights such as Greenbacks or V30s but somewhere else, even in the PA (not guitar or Hi Fi) section.
If you can fit an 8" there, you have the Celestion Super8, GBP13+5 postage all over the UK.http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=CELSUP8&browsemode=category
This one is perfect (and real cheap):
http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=EVNL020
As you can see, it's rated 4W and has paper cone and edge, plus 120Hz resonance.

This means it's an "old style" radio speaker made to be annoying with low power.
Somewhat similar to what Pignose uses.
If you need 4 ohms, use 2 of them in a "Mini Twin" configuration, you won't break the bank.
All other 5" sold by them, are thick cone, soft foam edge, heavy coil, rated 100W .... and need 100W (or at least over 30W) to be driven !!! Not for you.

[evirob]

Wow thanks for that, that's a great help and that 5" soundlab speaker looks perfect - and what a bargain price! I can't fit anything bigger into the enclosure unfortunately, I'm building the amp into a vintage radio box, otherwise I'd be all over that 8" celestion, but I might try one of their smaller speakers for comparison.

Thanks again,
Chris