Show us your DIY speaker projects!

[hybridfiat]

3" HiVi speaker project

Yayyyy Ive finished my first speakers. The Hi-Vi B3S single driver system. The speakers were sourced from Darcheraudio.com (thanks Daniel), the xover components from Jaycar and the timber is chestnut milled from a tree felled in a mates backyard.
The speakers sound sweet. They do need a sub-woofer so I jury-rigged a sub using my M&K amp and a Sony boom box nicked from my son's car.
Thes little speakers really sound mint.
My pics are too big to post directly so the links are below.


http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/...nt=DSC02412.jpg

http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/...nt=DSC02413.jpg

 

[dc270]

Little Acutex Rebuilds

Just finished rebuilding these, converted them into nice little 3 ways from a fair sounding 2 way. They sound good and look good as well. The drivers are a Phase Tech 8" and flat plane Technics mids and matching flat tweeters. Modified exsisting Infinity xovers and refinished the cabs. Nothing but fun, enjoy looking!
DC

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

Good work guys, keep your projects coming!

 

[jimfet]

For me it's either buy them assembled or loose fingers. All of you do great work.

 

[mgrabow]

Complete...

I have finally completed the latest prototype. I have yet to tabulate the hours but the finish alone took 24 days. 6 coats of a Poly-Oil finish with 3 coats of wax. More coats of wax to come. took 8 months an about 4 hours a week. Bubunga is a tad trickey as its grain is full of cracks. I will get more photos on the web site in a month or so....Gonna need to sponsor an add to keep grumpy happy...

I say finished but I think I am gonna scrap the crossover and start from scratch. hard to find enough info on the usher 8137A's. It is not in Xover-pro...

Sounds good but need to tweek the lower midrange a bit


Some of these speakers you all have created are great.

 

[mpdhrd]

Why is it that the vast majority of DIY speakers and vintage refurbish speakers are all done with wood veneer or real wood cabinets that show off the beautiful grain and color of the wood, yet mainstream manufacturers continue to put out horrible black and plastic cheap speakers? I just dont understand.

 

[ejfud]

One word.....cost.

 

[mpdhrd]

One word.....cost.

Sure, you are going to pay to get higher quality build and look, and there are obviously people who are willing to pay that cost. So why dont we find better options at BB and CC? If there is a market for quality beautiful products, why cant a smart businessman find a way to bring them to the people (even if they arent the majority of the buyers or people with wives who wont let them get anything besides tiny hidden black speakers).

 

[Zilch]

If there is a market for quality beautiful products, why cant a smart businessman find a way to bring them to the people (even if they arent the majority of the buyers or people with wives who wont let them get anything besides tiny hidden black speakers).

There isn't a mass market for them via BB and CC. Speakers should be heard and not seen.

You want quality cabinets, they're at the high-end speaker outlets, or sold direct.

[OR, DIY, as illustrated in this thread.... :yes:]

 

[dc270]

For Those Vintage AR 2ax Folks

Here are a couple of the rare natural pine finsh AR 2ax speakers for you curious & collector type folks out there. The cabs were refinished in tung oil as they were pretty dry and checking. The woofers refoamed in place and not removed. The rest of speakers were left as they were. Believe it or not the pots worked perfectly and they ended up sounding real good!
Enjoy the look these babies are fading from history.
DC

 

[shrinkboy]

super nice, dc. you always do a great job

 

[mgrabow]

I have always said the same thing about the major high end manufacturers. For them the most exotic you will get is a birds eye maple. the rest are always rosewood or walnut or black stained oak. I reject the cost argument. For Thiel to cover a set of 3.7 speakers in birds eye maple is far more expensive than if they were to cover it in pamelle sepele, or figured bubinga because finding large enough sheets is very rare. Rosewood is just as expensive.


I would have to say that they avoid it because highly figured woods are more unstable and will crack on the grain more and more every day. They probably see it as a warantee problem. I build raw unfinished cabinets for DIY'ers and I always let them know that the more exotic the wood the more it will expand and contract and give you fine cracks. With a hand rubed finished, it gives it character. When you have a flawless machine flat finish like on a pair of thiels the imperfections stand out...

 

[mgrabow]

Complete with Grills

Cranked out a set of grills. Finishes them off nicely... Too bad no one has any good off the shelf ways of attaching grills other than those little plastic heags and sockets at parts Express. Not exactly a precision item to work with...

 

[markus]

Cranked out a set of grills. Finishes them off nicely... Too bad no one has any good off the shelf ways of attaching grills other than those little plastic heags and sockets at parts Express. Not exactly a precision item to work with...

did you veneer those cabinets too ? they're beautiful . . . .

ya know . . . the speakers I helped botrytis with, which used pre-fab cabinets from PE, used magnets embedded UNDER the front baffle veneer to attach the grilles . . .

very slick, and pretty much invisible . . .

I'm sure you could use a set of those super strong 'rare earth' magnets to pull something like this off . . .

 

[mgrabow]

Yes I veneered those... I have three issues with the magnetic ones. 1st, the backs of the grills normally have the jaged edges of the cloth stuck to the board and bunched in the corners. Not sure how straight and flat the grills will sit.

2nd, as then get bumped and moved around, I would hate to have the finish get worn.

3rd, any seam inder the veneer will eventually telegraph through. Even with a lot of bondo, the expansion and contraction of the magnet as opposed to the wood will crack the bondo and eventually reveal that something lies beneath.

I can but 20 different feet but there are only two kinds of attaching do-hickeys available...

I guess i will need to try them

 

[dc270]

A few more shots of my "Econowaves" now with a finish getting applied to the Oak wood sides and baffles. These are converted JBL L-26 Decade cabs soon to have a real nice 94 db 10" woofer and 2414 JBL Eon drivers set in place.
I originally posted this over in the long "econowave" thread but got no responce- guess due to the plethora of other postings. I usually get a responce from here- so here they are so far! Should be a very exciting little 2 way.
Thanks for looking!
Later DC

 

[djnagle]

Good job DC. I see you are taking the port mouth right at the back of the woofer. Is there a reason for that. I was talking to Keg today about that. I aways thought the port mouth should be away from the back of the woof. Cheers.

 

[Zilch]

Hi, DC.

No slight intended; I'm sure E'Wavers would like to see them again when completed, and also know how you like their performance. :yes:

Adaptive reuse of vintage cabs is certainly a viable way of getting there for those of us lacking the requisite skills and equipment to build our own.... :thmbsp:

 

[dnewma04]

The location of the port isn't really too critical. It may be a little more prone to picking up some air noise from the basket or if there was a vented pole piece, but more than likely if there was a difference, it would be miniscule.

DC270,
Did it take a lot of filing around the edge of the waveguide to do what you did there? I definitely wouldn't want a ridge of any sort at the horns mouth.

 

[fourwheels0]

these were built for my brother by his brother in-law. neat little speakers.not built for rock but sound pretty darn good. not sure whats inside of them.