Show us your DIY speaker projects!
- Thread starter Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
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Elfasto
Super Member
It sure looks nice, in any case.
Thanks! Appreciate the kudo's!
I have learned a few things building these things:
1) Don't build the speaker chamber so the chamber ends in a point. A few too many irregularities in the upper bass response (around 300 hz for mine). I got around it by stuffing the pointy area with lots of fiberglass.
2) Watch the throat area. This can really make or break your bass response and your power handling. Too small and the bass will be weaker and the cone is too restricted. Too large, your bass will be fine, but the woofer unloads too quick at higher wattages.
3) Keep the taper even. I didn't, and eventho' it didn't do anything major, I'm pretty sure I lost a couple of dB of efficiency.
4) Folds in the horn should be as smooth as possible. Gain's a few points in the efficiency department. Also less noises generated by sharp corners I think.
5) I used floor adhesive to seal things up ( the thick black tar stuff used for laminated flooring). I recommend, since it seals very well, and it remains soft and pliable for a very long time. Also slowly oozes into cracks and gaps.
markus
Master Procrastinator
thanks for kudos Elfasto
I'm all about fuzzy logic . . Zilch on the other hand is the king number crunching and JBL science. I REALLY gotta get some software so I can actually test what the hell I build :scratch2:AND I MUST BUILD SOME T-LINES :yes: Elfasto - what drivers did you use ?
Once I have a spare $200 for nice plywood, I'm building some BIB's :thmbsp:
Elfasto
Super Member
Okay, the mids and tweets were "New" old stock from JBL (date stamped june 1991) with 4" mids and 1" titanium tweets. Bass speakers are a bit of a mystery (Picked them up at Princess Auto) but I'm 90% sure they are OEM Pioneer. I was thinking about a pair of 8" Aurum Cantus woofers ( http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=296-420 ) would be a better choice than the one's I purchased. Have to do some quick number crunching to see if they would work.
The entire project was built from Laminated Pine shelving boards, handpicked from hundreds of boards that were not warped, the inner tunnel was lined with 3/32 birch board from a packing crate to smooth out the tunnel and round out the bends, and the exterior was iron-on Red Oak Veneer, with 3 coats of Red Cabernet stain and 3 coats of Gloss Varathane finish. Light sanding between coats, just enough to get off any fuzz or minor defects. The cork in the horn mouth was simply for looks, and it did not have any noticeable effect on the sound of the TL.
Tunnel length was 365 cm long including the speaker chamber, throat was 2.5cm x 21cm and it apex's about 90 cm from the beginning of the chamber.
The entire project was built from Laminated Pine shelving boards, handpicked from hundreds of boards that were not warped, the inner tunnel was lined with 3/32 birch board from a packing crate to smooth out the tunnel and round out the bends, and the exterior was iron-on Red Oak Veneer, with 3 coats of Red Cabernet stain and 3 coats of Gloss Varathane finish. Light sanding between coats, just enough to get off any fuzz or minor defects. The cork in the horn mouth was simply for looks, and it did not have any noticeable effect on the sound of the TL.
Tunnel length was 365 cm long including the speaker chamber, throat was 2.5cm x 21cm and it apex's about 90 cm from the beginning of the chamber.
Funky, but oh SOOOO good:
Upside-down and retuned JBL L55 w/JBL LE14 H-3 woofer, 2352H-SL HF driver on Unobtanium H9800 horn. Clones available privately from Sweden, I believe.... :thmbsp:
http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=17779
http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=17779
Attachments
loron91423
New Member
You Wanted To See A Speaker Project?
Well here is one my friend did many years ago. This is his home theater system which he designed and built using all vintage audio equipment.
Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25048891@N03/2364453018/
Enjoy
Well here is one my friend did many years ago. This is his home theater system which he designed and built using all vintage audio equipment.
Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25048891@N03/2364453018/
Enjoy
ShaneC
Super Member
Here's my contribution. I used to make speakers and sub boxes for friends in high school & college. The design that people seemed to like the best was based off of a "time-alignment" theory. I angled the front baffle and placed the tweeter as close to the woofer as possible. I also tried to reduce the width of the baffle so as to reduce reflectance along its surface at high freq's.
There are 2 designs that I use almost daily. I call them the "AudiSound" 6.1 and 6.2. "AudiSound" because of the Audax and Madisound drivers. Cabinets are 3/4" MDF, caulked and sealed. Internal wiring is 12 ga. twisted copper. X-Overs are Madisound-made to my specifications.
I know the positioning isn't perfect, but my current office/listening room is only 6x10. So, there's not much I can do until I move to a bigger house!
Comments are welcome!
AudiSound 6.1 2-way ported tower
AudiSound 6.2 2-way sealed mini-tower
There are 2 designs that I use almost daily. I call them the "AudiSound" 6.1 and 6.2. "AudiSound" because of the Audax and Madisound drivers. Cabinets are 3/4" MDF, caulked and sealed. Internal wiring is 12 ga. twisted copper. X-Overs are Madisound-made to my specifications.
I know the positioning isn't perfect, but my current office/listening room is only 6x10. So, there's not much I can do until I move to a bigger house!
Comments are welcome!
AudiSound 6.1 2-way ported tower
AudiSound 6.2 2-way sealed mini-tower
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thanks. they need to be resurfaced. the paint is chipping from years of getting moved around the house.
i filled all the voids in the MDF with wood filler and sanded the boxes with 1000 grit. i finished them with a spray like a car: 1 coat primer/sealer, 2 coats gloss black, sand in between each, then 1 final spray of clearcoat gloss to give it the piano black look.
Jim Shearer
Active Member
After hearing Bob T’s Half Chang (designed by Scottmoose) w/ Fostex FE206e drivers, I decided I would have to build a pair for our daughter and son-in-law. I started early last Nov. w/ intention of having them ready for Christmas. Well.... Just yesterday I popped in the FE206e drivers and achieved ‘first sound’. (I did break-in the drivers back in Dec. running them on open baffles for 250 hrs.) I didn’t really stand a chance of finishing them by Christmas, but had hoped to get them done in Jan. What with vacation, holidays, and some actual work, it took me longer than I had expected.
I built the box as drawn by Dave (of Planet-10 HiFi,) except that I made the front baffle double thick. This makes a front piece that sticks out more than the wave guide (vestigial horn?) below and makes the panel full-width on the front face. Since Kate wanted it all in wood finish, I wanted to adjust the look slightly w/o changing the interior dimensions of the box. Frankly, I like Bob’s two tone black & wood finish better.
On the inside, I covered the top, back and one side w/ egg-crate acoustic foam from Parts Express. Since the kids won’t be changing the BSC, I’ll put it inside on the vertical driver brace. At the moment I’m using a 1 mH inductor and 5 ohm resistor. I haven’t gotten to any driver mods yet, like filling the gap around the driver magnets--need to get down to the store for some duct seal.
Picture below shows the driver bare, but since the grand kids are young, a grill is necessary. The next picture shows how the grill will be. It’s a metal cooling rack which will be covered w/ black grill cloth. I have to get my wife to do the sewing part. The grill is held on w/ magnets which are embedded in the baffle underneath veneer.
The finish needs some work yet, as I had some runs in the clear coat--a result of trying to work on it in the basement under poor lighting. When I am done w/ sound tests and ready to install the BSC on the interior, I will pull the drivers, sand, and then try again w/ the semigloss finish.
The sound is quite good. Everything is crisp & clear, the sound stage is broad & deep, and imaging is good--I think, but I have never been able to localize things the way some people do, so I can’t be certain about that. Bass extends to the low 30’s, but it tapers off starting at about 50 Hz. This is in contrast to the way my Metronomes work. The Mets w/ FE108e Sigma are pretty much flat to 40 Hz, then the response drops like a rock. The tapering bass is what I see in the theoretical response models, so I assume the cabinet is OK. The only thing that might be wrong is that I had a dimensional problem w/ the vent, causing it to be almost 1/16” too wide. I did ask about that, and Scottmoose said that room effects would be more significant than that. Also, Scott reminded me that the box was designed for the FE207e, which has a bit more low end grunt, so what I am getting is ‘as expected.’ (Actually, Kate & Peter may thank me for that feature when their kids get a little older!) If they want more bass, then a small sub will fill in nicely. I have tried the HCs w/ my little Polk PSW-10, and it blends well enough for me.
In summary, the HCs have more bass extension than the Mets (w/ FE108Esig) and HCs can play much louder. Sound stage is about the same as the Mets, but the Mets have something in the midrange that I like better. It could just be the cabinet and BSC tuning, or, it may be that the folks who argue for the 4-5” drivers as the sweet spot for single driver speakers are right. At this point, if I had to choose between the HCs and the Mets w/ a sub, I’d stick w/ the Mets for my listening rooms (approx. 14x16 ft.) The kids’ family room is about 16x20’, so for them the Mets would have been too small, and the HCs are just right.:thmbsp:
Next up: a little sub to match the Mets. Then I’ll have to decide between a pair of FE126 bipole Mets and MJK’s small OB.
I built the box as drawn by Dave (of Planet-10 HiFi,) except that I made the front baffle double thick. This makes a front piece that sticks out more than the wave guide (vestigial horn?) below and makes the panel full-width on the front face. Since Kate wanted it all in wood finish, I wanted to adjust the look slightly w/o changing the interior dimensions of the box. Frankly, I like Bob’s two tone black & wood finish better.
On the inside, I covered the top, back and one side w/ egg-crate acoustic foam from Parts Express. Since the kids won’t be changing the BSC, I’ll put it inside on the vertical driver brace. At the moment I’m using a 1 mH inductor and 5 ohm resistor. I haven’t gotten to any driver mods yet, like filling the gap around the driver magnets--need to get down to the store for some duct seal.
Picture below shows the driver bare, but since the grand kids are young, a grill is necessary. The next picture shows how the grill will be. It’s a metal cooling rack which will be covered w/ black grill cloth. I have to get my wife to do the sewing part. The grill is held on w/ magnets which are embedded in the baffle underneath veneer.
The finish needs some work yet, as I had some runs in the clear coat--a result of trying to work on it in the basement under poor lighting. When I am done w/ sound tests and ready to install the BSC on the interior, I will pull the drivers, sand, and then try again w/ the semigloss finish.
The sound is quite good. Everything is crisp & clear, the sound stage is broad & deep, and imaging is good--I think, but I have never been able to localize things the way some people do, so I can’t be certain about that. Bass extends to the low 30’s, but it tapers off starting at about 50 Hz. This is in contrast to the way my Metronomes work. The Mets w/ FE108e Sigma are pretty much flat to 40 Hz, then the response drops like a rock. The tapering bass is what I see in the theoretical response models, so I assume the cabinet is OK. The only thing that might be wrong is that I had a dimensional problem w/ the vent, causing it to be almost 1/16” too wide. I did ask about that, and Scottmoose said that room effects would be more significant than that. Also, Scott reminded me that the box was designed for the FE207e, which has a bit more low end grunt, so what I am getting is ‘as expected.’ (Actually, Kate & Peter may thank me for that feature when their kids get a little older!) If they want more bass, then a small sub will fill in nicely. I have tried the HCs w/ my little Polk PSW-10, and it blends well enough for me.
In summary, the HCs have more bass extension than the Mets (w/ FE108Esig) and HCs can play much louder. Sound stage is about the same as the Mets, but the Mets have something in the midrange that I like better. It could just be the cabinet and BSC tuning, or, it may be that the folks who argue for the 4-5” drivers as the sweet spot for single driver speakers are right. At this point, if I had to choose between the HCs and the Mets w/ a sub, I’d stick w/ the Mets for my listening rooms (approx. 14x16 ft.) The kids’ family room is about 16x20’, so for them the Mets would have been too small, and the HCs are just right.:thmbsp:
Next up: a little sub to match the Mets. Then I’ll have to decide between a pair of FE126 bipole Mets and MJK’s small OB.
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specialidiot
Break Glass, Smoke Lucky
RayW, you should have taken a patent out on the cooling rack trick!
jhal
Titanium Bliss
I dug up this old picture from the early 90's. I had this system custom built by a friend who owned a sound and cabinet company (Schuck Audio). When the pic was taken, it had a Fane Colossus 18" woofer, a JBL E-120 midbass/low midrange, and Acoustician (JBL clones) mid and high horns. I later upgraded the horns when the money became available to JBL's for smoother sound. This was driven by two Crest amps for the lows and mids, and a Nikko amp for the horns, all partly in the picture, for 2200 RMS watts total power. The amps were later upgraded to a Carver PM1201, PM600, and PM300. This system could scare you. The sick thing was, it was in my living room.
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Here's some speakers I built. They are a two way design using modified Klipsch LaScala bass bins with Altec 511b horns with 902 drivers on top. the bass bin is made from 1'' MDF painted gloss piano black. The cabinet is trimed out with solid padauk hardwood.
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markus
Master Procrastinator
WHOA ! those look REALLY cool . . . they must be super efficient :yes:
what woofers did you use ?