PE Peerless Sealed Surround
Apr 2002 by Lou Coraggio Home

To complete the Onyx based home theater, we took a look around at the installation area and decided we would need a surround that could be wall or shelf mounted. With the rear port design of the Onyx, I felt a sealed design would be more appropriate. The little Vifa just didn't look good. I found the PE 299-702 clearance driver, a 5.25" stamped frame unit. I modeled the box, and found a 3.5 liter sealed box (heavily stuffed) could get an F3 of 95 hz. I matched this up with the Peerless 840277 Ring Dome tweeter I used in my Peerless Pop. (I like the small footprint, and dispersion).

In designing the crossover, I tried to use components I had on hand. The two coils are the same used in my Onyx. Two Nicichon 8.2's for the zobel, two Panasonic 3.33 mfd and a 1 mfd for the tweeter side. The box (outside measurement) is 10.75 x 7 x 5.75 and uses 5/8 mdf. I stuffed with foam blocks and Dacron. Box Q should be about 0.8.

So how does it sound? Better than I expected. Images very nicely, actually has a respectable low end. Not as articulate as the Onyx, just a bit brighter, a bit less clarity in the mids. I designed less baffle step into this speaker (about 2 db) so it sounds much better against the wall (where it was intended to go). It might be a good little satellite for a bedroom system -- if you can run the low end off to a sub. It will do nicely as a surround.