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This system uses the Dayton 12" side firing along with the Dayton 8", Dayton 2" dome, and Dayton tweeter. A 120 watt plate amp mounted in the rear powers the 12" driver while what ever receiver is used powers the rest. The idea is to use an AV receiver using the "small speaker" feature to cross-over about 100 Hz into the Dayton 8. I built these just because the drivers were laying around and I thought it would be interesting to see what could be done with them. The system doesn't sound too bad for what it is but for only a little more in driver cost it could probably sound a lot better.
The Dayton 8 isn't quite as good as the 6 1/2 but it does ok. The main problem with all these cheap Dayton drivers is the frame. It's so thin that even over tightening a screw a little bit can tear right through the metal. If you're going to put a lot of effort into the cabinets I wouldn't recommend using these. It's worth it to go ahead and spend a little more on drivers if you really want to make something nice. Now if your just going to throw together some unfinished MDF boxes for the garage then the Dayton's are ok. Otherwise I would use something else like the Peerless or maybe the Vifa MG line. Think about it, with all the work involved etc even an extra $100 in drivers really isn't all that much and it's definitely worth it.
1/19/04: Now that these are done and I've done some listening my opinion of the Dayton drivers has dropped. They have no dynamics at all compared with better drivers plus they are noisy. On some tracks with drums etc you can hear something along with each drum beat. It's almost like a knocking sound as though the driver is just starting to bottom. It does this at all levels however so that's not what it is. The more I do this tinkering around with low cost drivers the more I convince myself it's just not worth it. The little Dayton 6 is ok but for about $45/ea more you can get the Peerless 850467 (PE# 297-640) which is a night and day improvement. Given the hours you spend making a nice set of cabinets this increase in actual total cost is insignificant. This Peerless driver has a phase plug, a raised spider, and a well designed cast frame. It's stored energy performance exceeds many higher cost drivers. It just doesn't make sense to spend time building cabinets, designing and building a cross-over, etc etc etc... and then load them with cheap stamped frame low performance drivers. Not when a $100 investment would make such a night and day difference. If finances are an issue then sell something on E-bay or anything to avoid wasting your time building a bad system with cheap drivers.