The DR250 is the flagship of the DR line. At about 22 inches cubed, and weighing as little as 40 pounds, it is small enough to be easily transported, while its 106dB average sensitivity makes it one of the most powerful loudspeakers available. This high average sensitivity means hauling around half the number of cabinets you used to need, and half the number of amps to power them.
Note the dual cross-firing vertical tweeter arrays. They deliver unsurpassed high frequency performance, with off-axis response that no commercial speaker can touch. Check out this 1m/1W SPL chart:
Why is off-axis response important? In the high frequencies crucial for intelligibility most speakers have output at 45 degrees off-axis at least 9dB lower than on-axis. The DR250 is no more than 6dB lower, even at the highest frequencies. For your audience wide dispersion means that there isn't a bad seat in the house. Here's what builder Marko Ursin thinks about his DR250:
I built the DR250 in the 4 piezo tweeter version. This cabinet works great as a bass cabinet. The sound is clear and sharp, very punchy and has nice, growling lows for this size. I can't see a need for Tuba at least in rehearsal use. This cabinet makes the floor shake with very low volume setting on my 130W amp. I don't even want to try how loud it can be! Thousand thanks to Bill for a great design and even better customer service on the Forum. The way this cabinet works made me build 2 DR200's for our band as vocal/keyboard cabinet.
The DR250 is suitable for electric bass, keyboards or main PA. It may be built with tweeters for full range operation, or without, for a more traditional electric bass sound. The cabinet side profile is trapezoidal, allowing vertical splaying of multiple cabinets in a line-array PA configuration. The cabinet may be built with a sealed or vented driver chamber, frequency tuned for use with or without separate sub-woofers.
Energized by a single 250mm woofer, the DR250 can be built for less than $150, depending on driver, hardware and finish choices, yet it offers performance superior to commercial pro-sound loudspeakers costing hundreds, if not thousands, more.
Construction Degree of Difficulty: 8
Performance Quotient: 10
Suggested Audience Size in PA Applications:
Two cabs to 200; four cabs 150-400; six cabs 300-600; eight cabs 500-1,000
Equivalent Retail Value: $ 1299
Recommended Sub-Woofer: Tuba 24, Tuba 30, Titan 39, Titan 48
34 Pages, 69 photos, 14 diagrams.
Plans are $14.95, delivered within 24 hours as email attachment in MS Word format. PDF available on request. Also includes an active 3D program so that you can view the cabinet in any orientation with X-Ray vision!
