Initially, I was focused on keeping the budget for this design as low as possible. However, after beginning to look further into the specs and quality of most typical pro-sound monitors, I quickly realized that even a modest investment in drivers could yield results that would rival some of the best products on the market. Not to mention that the associated costs of amplifi cation, hardware, construction time, and the need for long-term reliability do not jive with an ultra-budget design. Not to say that I totally disregarded price- instead I fi rst looked at which drivers would meet my requirements, and then chose the ones that did so for the least amount of money.

The horn driver that I selected is the Eminence PSD2002- 8, which I liked because of its smooth frequency response, and because it has excellent reliability in the fi eld. While the top end extension isn't quite as good as what can be found on some more esoteric drivers, it met the needs of this project and did so at a very reasonable price. This was mated to the Eminence LT250 horn lens, which is very rugged in construction, has a shallow mounting depth, and a wide but well-controlled dispersion.

Looking at the low-frequency drivers that offered high power handling, robust construction, and modest cost, I was immediately drawn to the Selenium WPU1209-SLF. This driver has a lot of features for the money, including a 4" voice coil, dual spiders, water-resistant treated paper cone, huge vented pole piece, and bumped back plate. Add to this a healthy XMAX and a breakup-free top end, and this driver is an excellent value in high-performance woofers.