a very very unprofessional speaker build.

ok , you might have read in other threads that ive aquired a butchered pair of celestion ditton 15's.

im thinking about butchering them even more by building new cabs for them.
ive been in toutch with a local cabinate maker who is getting me a price for some 1/3" thick black walnut cut to the dimentions of the old cabs.

so its just a case of building/fixing all the peices together, sanding and spraying with clear laquer and instaling the hardware .

first question, how do i fix the beices together.

im thinking glue and some small blocks inside on all the corners, perhaps a few screws.

second question,

the abr's have been removed so i need to port them.
also because the abr's have been removed i have a lot more cab than i need , would it be a good idea to make them smaller?
so who can tell me about porting and cab size?

im thinking with cab size the original size might be best left alone.
what do you guys recon?

 

i may also want to replace the drivers (8") so if anyone know a supplier of celestion replacement drivers that would be great.


cheers,


Rob.

 

Can't help with the cabinets but you could try Kef directly for the replacement drivers, if they don't have new ones they will repair older ones (I had a tweeter for the Cantor II's reconed by them for £23).

Otherwise I think Wilmslow Audio would be next best

Andrew

 

thanks andrew,
ive sent them a mail asking for suitable replacements.
i would like celestion ones though.

cheers,

Rob.

 

Kef and Celestion are the same company so try emailing them, they are extremely helpful and very very fast (took them 1 day to recone and send out the tweeter)

 

Sell the tweeters, and the working Celestion driver. There are people who need these for repairs. If you dont want to E-bay then these people can post an ad:

http://www.falcon-acoustics.co.uk/hintstipsgeneral.htm

I don't think you should cut down hardwoods just for some 70's drivers. The HF1300 needed a superteeter in top systems of the day cos it rolls off quite low. Modern top quality drivers will whip their ass.

 

i just got an e mail this morning.
looks like ive sold the tweeters to a guy in tokyo.
thats good though cos with the money i get for them i can buy some unbutchered dittons.

 

As an aside to this what are the general rules for cabinet making? I was thinking of making some speeks out of proper 3cm thick ash just for the looks. What would the sound be likely to sound like out of such a design? Or to put it another way...which rule of cabinet making would this contravene?

 

I think the general concensus is still that "artificial" wood like a good grade of MDF is preferable to real wood. One of the factors being that MDF would be less susceptible to warping along the grain (obviously); it's also a known-to-be consistent entity and may have a more random resonant signature.

Of course, that argument would break down if you went along with the sort of fabrication which is typical of, for example, Sonus Faber.

So the results may depend on the amount of effort you want to put in.

 

hi,
real wood can be quite expencive as well.
american black walnut to build a set of reasonable sized cabs was going to cost me £125 pre cut , this is without mitring the edges and without speaker holes pre cut.
just the basic blank wood planed down to 1/2 inch thickness.

cheers,

Rob.

 

Hmmm...its got me thinking now, I can get hold of some raw wood reasonably cheaply and then make them with some basic butt joints rather than Mitres. Might be good fun for a little project.

Any sites on DIY speakers? I notice TNT have some interesting looking designs!

 

You might want to try asking over at PFM as well, I think there are a few people over there who make their own speakers.

Otherwise, here is a nice long list of sites for you:
http://w1.871.telia.com/~u87124019/diy.html

 

Cripes...thats a hell of a list. I'll have a trawl through that lot one rainy day. I might just transplant the innards from a set of pioneers speakers I found up the tip to get around the electronics lark!

 

Its October now, plenty of rainy days about!! I think quite a few of them don't exist any more but there is some good information on there.

I have seen a few sets on ebay with a bass, tweeter and crossover in one pack which might be worth a look.

 

Yeah...no excuse I suppose. Just seen the sticky at the top of the page aswell. Think I'll just trawl the designs for a few principles to employ rather than copying a design.

Thinking of making a solid wood floorstander....they look good in my head but I imagine they'd weigh a ton.

 

you could just buy some speakers and build a new cab for them using the old cab as a template , this way you dont have to delve to deeply into the designe side of things.