"Overnight Sensation(al) Speakers" - a real value in new gear

[Poultrygeist]

Most AK'ers like myself are not full fledged DIY'ers but it doesn't mean we wouldn't like to try our hand at assembling something new and something within our abilities.

Had I started this thread on the DIY forum you probably wouldn't have bothered to look there. Posted among all those technical and "over my head" threads it would be dead and buried within a day or so.

Those of you who assembled the TPA3116 and loved that small challenge can surely assemble the Overnight Sensations from Parts Express. I use the term assemble as that's what you do with a kit.

This is how the pint sized wonder looks when completed and the reward from hearing it sing will leave you grinning from ear to ear. If you're interested we can go further into a review and assembly.

I will say that the overwhelming positive hype on these speakers is spot on. They truly are amazing!

 

[Tharbamar]

Hi, Which kit did you get?
Please share more information with us, thank you.

 

[RamblinE]

Hi, Which kit did you get?
Please share more information with us, thank you.

The kit is from Parts Express and it is just called Overnight Sensations.

 

[Poultrygeist]

This youtube video is helpful but I did some things my way. Clamps are ideal but if you don't have them, tension straps used to tie down objects can work. Notice how blotchy the stained finish is. It's next to impossible to get an even stain on this inexpensive wood even if you use pre stain conditioner. The best advise is to use the lightest stain you can find i.e. natural or ipswich pine.

 

[prighello]

I built a pair many years ago and they are quite good.

 

[Poultrygeist]

This youtube video is helpful but I did some things my way. Clamps are ideal but if you don't have them, tension straps used to tie down objects can work. Notice how blotchy the stained finish is. It's next to impossible to get an even stain on this inexpensive wood even if you use pre stain conditioner. The best advise is to use the lightest stain you can find i.e. natural or ipswich pine.

 

[prighello]

Here's another Paul Carmody design I built as well...Swopes TM. They are the OS's bigger brother.

 

[Poultrygeist]

Great pictures!

This is where you don't want to use the OS speakers. I had hoped they would work in this bookcase but the rear port must have more room to breathe.

 

[prighello]

Yeah, that's why I built the Swopes too and left them sealed then added a sub. Since then I've gifted them away and kept the OSs for our bedroom. They are really quite a fun little speaker! Great bass. Just a little bit power hungry. That little SMSL t-amp you see in the first pic never really cut it. I now power them with a Nuforce DDA120. I did use a TPA3116 for a while but I gave that to the friend I gave the Swopes to.

Have you checked out DIYSOUNDGROUP? They have some really great kits. Even higher end monitors like Bagby's Continuum in addition to all the wave guide stuff. Erich that runs it is a great guy to work with.

 

[Lavane]

The OS' s do need a bit of room to breath. I had them hooked up to a Magnavox 175 amp pulled from a console. After updating and rebuilding the amp I was listening to it on my bench when my wife came in and after listening to the amp and speakers she claimed them for herself. Even running the OS' s on a 4 ohm tap at 10 wpc they sound very nice, not super loud but nice. Now I need another pair to use at my bench. They were a nice match with my Marantz 1060 integrated amp I listen to while working on gear.

 

[Poultrygeist]

The OS crossover assembly is not difficult if you become familiar with all the parts and follow the diagram in the manual below.

The video showing the crossover build is almost useless as the guy goes really fast.

You don't need the mess of hot glue as all the components can be fastened down to the board with zip ties.

I didn't attach the crossover to the bottom of the cabinet with hot glue. Instead I used small wooden blocks on each corned screwed to the board and then glued to the

floor of the cabinet. That way I could remove the entire assembly if necessary.

http://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/manuals/Overnight Sensations Speaker Kit Manual.pdf

 

[Poultrygeist]

This strip terminal from Lowes is a real life saver.

It means you can complete the crossover as a separate unit then wire to the woofers, tweeters and binding posts using the terminal screw downs.

Cuts the soldering in half and reduces the chance of a cold solder joint.

One 12 position strip is all you need as you can cut it in half and use half on each crossover. It has holes so it can also be zip tied to the board but I used small screws.

 

[Poultrygeist]

Using the strip terminals I labeled polarity and connection. WP = woofer positive, TN = tweeter negative etc.

 

[Poultrygeist]

The cabinet needs to be assembled, sanded and stained before the crossover goes in. The instructions say that the front baffle is the last to be glued down but I found it better to leave the back for last. It will fit very tight and you may not have to glue it in place. I still haven't and there's no air leakage.

I used rope caulk to seal the port tube and glued it in place at the proper length.

 

[Poultrygeist]

No blotchiness with a natural stain.

Here I'm giving it a trial run using a TPA3116 and modded SCPH-5501.

 

[SPL db]

 

[Poultrygeist]

This crossover diagram is the same as the one in the Parts Express manual.

The idea is to twist the wire ends together, then flow the solder into the joint and trim off the excess wire ends.

I thought about making the connections on the underside of the board which most pro's would do but I think it's easier with everything visible on top.

 

[JohnBooty]

The Overnight Sensations are a ton of fun and a fantastic value. The bass they put out for such a little speaker is just ridiculous and it's clear, too, we're not talking about "cheap Wal-Mart bass boost boombox" sound. My wife and I have built six (!) pairs now as gifts for friends and family using the PE and DIYSoundGroup kits. Never had any problems staining the baltic birch plywood as long as we used Minwax pre-stain. (I'm not doubting anybody who got tough-to-stain kits; I don't doubt that the wood quality varies a bit)

To anybody considering buying these, I want to suggest DIYSoundGroup's Overnight Sensation MTM version. A pair comes to about $200 as opposed to $137. But let me tell you, they are literally twice the speaker. You get some really serious bass down into the low 40s and the best part is.... twice the sensitivity, so more like 89db instead of 83db. They can really rock the room or even small outdoor spaces with even a modest dinky class D amp.

The big weakness of the OS is the tweeter. It doesn't suck, it's just not very detailed. Compared to our KEF Q100s or even our Pioneer BS22s the OS sounds like it has a bit of a stuffy nose or head cold in the upper frequencies.

http://www.diysoundgroup.com/speaker-kits/overnight-sensation/osmtm-flat-pack.html

That little SMSL t-amp you see in the first pic never really cut it. I now power them with a Nuforce DDA120.

Not sure which SMSL you're using there, I've had great results with the OS TM + SMSL SA-50 (rated as 50wpc, so probably ~20wpc at decent distortion levels). That's enough for a small room or desktop listening IMHO. For a larger room I saw a noticeable improvement with a Emotiva Mini-X A100 (50wpc, Class A) at higher volumes although it wasn't really a night-and-day kind of difference.

Now with the OS MTM, the increased efficiency means they're great with dinky amps *and* they shine even brighter when they get 50 or 100 clean watts per channel.

 

[prighello]

The SMSL t-amp I had was using a Tripath TA2020 so figure 7wpc. Everything else I have used on the OS's was night and day. The little t-amp just didn't have the juice. Now a TI TPA3116, that one did just fine. I always wanted to try the MTM version of the OS's but I'm past my DIY phase. I built plenty of kits and several of my own design; like the ones in my avatar. Most all are gone now; given away.

I like DIY but the resale just isn't there if you want to move on. Basically a near total loss of investment. I've been able to resell some high end drivers but the rest of the stuff is a loss. DIY is good if you want to tinker at the low end or invest in something end game that you'll keep.

 

[SPL db]

My wife and I have built six (!) pairs now as gifts for friends and family using the PE and DIYSoundGroup kits.

Hello friend!