Speaker Build Threads?

[Barton Isaac]

Hey y'all,

I have a good friend who has gotten into this hobby recently. He purchased a used set-up that has 12 inch and small tweeter for L and R. He is going to donate to me. I want to build a L and R enclosure. I'm good with wood but need to know if there are threads on this previously that will help me ensure I've got the volume behind the speakers correct as well as do I need to put foam or wool inside....all that stuff.

Thanks for any build thread information as I suk at searching these forums

Bart

 

[rothwellaudio]

I'm good with wood but need to know if there are threads on this previously that will help me ensure I've got the volume behind the speakers correct as well as do I need to put foam or wool inside....all that stuff.

Enclosure design is a huge topic - you need to do some reading to get a basic understanding of the subject. There's loads and loads of stuff online. Maybe start here: http://www.mh-audio.nl/
Reading forum posts won't help much.

 

[toxcrusadr]

It's not clear in your post, are you getting raw drivers or do they have cabinets? If you have to design a cabinet it will be critical to know the driver parameters. That will tell you the required volume and whether it should be ported or sealed based on the characteristics of the woofer. If you have brand and model it might be possible to look up the specs.

Let us know that and we can go from there.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Here's another site that I like for basic info and calculators.

https://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/

 

[Barton Isaac]

Got it. It is 4 drivers. Two 12 inch and 2 tweeters. Crossover is stock and 4 ohms combined. They were originally just set open in the cabinet of the early 60's amp. I'll have more specifics when I can get the speakers and have the codes from the speakers.

Thanks for the response!

 

[Barton Isaac]

Thanks! These site are really what I'm looking for. I knew it was quite involved and this should be a big help!

 

[toxcrusadr]

Come back when you have the drivers and post pics and numbers off the backs, and we'll see what can be done.

One potential issue is that if the tweeter is 'small' it may not go very low into the midrange, and a 12" woofer is often too big to go very high into the midrange, which can leave a hole in response that may require a different tweeter, different woofer, or a midrange driver. But let's see what you got first. Can't beat free drivers so let's see if they can work.

 

[toxcrusadr]

Are they original drivers from the console? I thought at first they were newer ones but now that I read it again, maybe they are vintage? In which case, they might be good in an open baffle arrangement, which is very simple to do. Especially if the cabinet had an open back, that's a sign.

 

[Barton Isaac]

Yes...vintage original driver's that were all open in the cabinet. I didn't do a great job describing what I was looking for. My biggest concern was to put them in a box and that be the worst thing for them. I was leaning towards building an enclosure but having the back open....

 

[swechsler]

Yes...vintage original driver's that were all open in the cabinet. I didn't do a great job describing what I was looking for. My biggest concern was to put them in a box and that be the worst thing for them. I was leaning towards building an enclosure but having the back open....

That's one way of doing it, but depending on the drivers, you may be able to get better performance out of them with a properly designed enclosure. But not all console drivers were good, so the driver specifics may determine whether this project is worth your time.