Julian's Speaker Build Diary....

Build the crossover on a piece of MDF and lean it against the wall.

Or with your newly found woodworking skills build an MDF box.

Paul

 

paul,
i'm a single dad with a curious 7 year old so exposed bits wouldn't be a good idea - just in case. my woodworking skills are confined to sticking bits of pre cut wood together but i may give it a go in the future.
as i'm hoping to upgrade the internal wiring at some point in the future i guess that would be the ideal point to 'offboard' the crossovers.
cheers


julian

 

how about a large sandwich box\food container,nice and easy material to work with,comes in loads of diffrent sizes.i use them all the time for prototype work
And wall paper will stick to it.

 

great idea hippy, you could even use those large biscuit tins you find around at xmas, and even spray them to match your speakers.

The only downside for you Ju is having to give away the biscuits.

 

i'm planning a cheat week over xmas so giving away biccys won't be a problem - the tin idea is intriguing i'll have to see if there are any apropriate ones about the place....
cheers


julian

 

Hi Julian

Just wanted to say 'nice one'. Been off work for the last week and hadn't seen this thread - I wish you all the best for the final stages of your speaker build, and much enjoyment from the finished (for the time being...) article. I can only imagine how much satisfaction you'll get when you first hear those babies sing.

All the best with it,

Chris.

 

How are you intending to fix the drive units to the cabinet?

I don't see any holes near the cut outs so I assume it's going to be wood screws or similar?

I wouldn't use self tapping screws personally. If you need to take the drive units out more than a couple of times the screws are going to get less and less secure even in MDF. Personally I would use Hex key headed bolts (M6 or so) for the bass unit. You can get nuts that have spikes on them which the bolt draws in to the MDF to have a captured nut inside the speaker. Probably best to do the holes and fit these before you put the last side on so that you know the drive unit will just screw smoothly in to place. Self tapping screws will probably be ok for the tweeter unit however.



GTM

 

Spooge went a bit awry....

well i've tried to seal the cabinets as best i could - only around the edges that are to the outside - if ye see what i mean. i used soem crack sealant i got from focus but being the diy duffer that i am it just went mental coming out of the can. i've tidied it up as best i can but it's a bit on the messy side however you won;t see it and it should do the job.
i've also added the bracing between the front / tl / back parts - there is an additional brace between the top / tl but that goes in once everything is lined and i think is more to hold the long hair wool in place behing the bass driver. the bracing i suspect is just a bonus.

some pics...


and...



to answer your question gtm. there are some t-nuts and bolts supplied to hold the drivers in place with. these are the ones that grip into the mdf. i believe you drill a hole first (marked up from the drivers) and then just bolt the things together after gently tapping them into place - iguess i'll be doing that before the final side is glued on too. the instructions are a bit light on info for that bit though so i guess i'll just have to wing it.
goomer - thanks for the encouragement - any and all is gratefully recieved.
tomorrow is tl lining day i guess once more unto the breach dear friends.....
cheers


julian

 

Looking good

Hi Julian - the next bit is easy lining the line - no matter what you cock up here no one will ever know!

Now I have mine up and running with the grills on - I have not got a clue which is which if u follow. Keep going - not that afte splashing out all that money you have much choice!

Gideon

 

gideon,
don't worry i have no intention of stopping. i'm not really to bothered about the looks inside - just that the things sound good. exterior finish is another matter and i may wait until i can afford to have the cabinets professionally finished - again i'll probably experiment with the stands and see how they go and judge my abilities with a spray can from there.

another question for everyone. 4 spikes is the norm and is probably more 'stable' than 3 however 3 spikes will eliminate micro rocking and make leveling the speakers much easier. any opinions?

also the stand / floor interface is a spiked one however the speaker / stand interface is just 4 washers glued to the bottom of the speaker- i'm wondering about trying some other types of isolation - rdc cones seem to be a decent place to start - any other ideas for cones or other things of that ilk that would do a job and not break the bank?
cheers


julian

 

Clear silicone? Kinda lossy gasket.

Ju are you not going to paint the inside? this may help prevent the MDf from absorbing moisture from the air.

PS I know three spikes looks better on paper and is easier to level, with young children around, I always go for 4, 3 way are prety unstable if you push from one of the apexes. Maybe silicone would be a good idea as it would lower the centre of gravity, as your box looks top heavy.

 

I don't like spikes at all. An alternative is to just sit the speaker 'flat' on the floor, or better, on a solid base. I find that the improvement in sound, and more importantly musical performance is significant. I've gone for granite bases myself - they are very reasonably priced when bought unpolished from wholesalers.

 

there is a small 110mm high 'stand' that i'm going to have to spike to the floor (solid concrete) as i'm old fasioned and have carpets. these stands are effectively mdf boxes filled with sand.
the speaker / stand interface is the one i'm going to play with - at first i'll just do as ivan says and glue some washers to the bottom but any other suggestions would be much aprieciated.
cheers


julian.

 

Julian,

why not drill six mounting points for the spikes to allow for experimentation? My Merlins had that and I found four spikes sounded quite different to three.

 

2 reasons why your room sounds so good!

my next house will have a concrete floor and carpets, whatever else it has

NB
I like spikes because they go through the carpet to the concrete beneath.

 

merlin,
nice one - guess i couldn't see the wood for the trees.

chris,
yeah, one of the things i looked for when finding a house was a decent sized living room with concrete floors. i'd have prefered a more regular shaped room but as it is it's worked out really well.
cheers


julian

 

Perhaps it's counterintuitive, but 3 spikes will be much more stable than 4, the same way that a 3 legged stool is more stable than a 4 legged one, the same reason that camera tripods are tripods and not quadripods.

Michael.

 

Agree with you michael, but three spikes can be easier to push over at the apex, you don't have children yet do you? I have tried 3 in the past and when pushing at the apex of the triangle it always seemed to be easier to push then when pushing at the side between 2 spikes in a 4 spike arrangemnet, especially if your speakers are top heavy like Ju's

 

You might be right. In any case, my speaker stands have 4 spikes. I was just saying that "in theory" 3 is better than 4 for stability. TBH I don't know of any 3 spike speakers/stands.

No, no kids yet but we do have two cats...and the tops of my speakers frequently form part of their race around the living room obstacle course . A 5Kg cat landing on top of a speaker after a 5ft leap imparts a fair amount of sideways force I can tell you. That's the main reason my speakers are blu-tak'd to the stands otherwise they'd just be knocked clean off each time :inferno:

Michael.

 

I am currently trying some spikes which make a very nice improvement. I would say they are well worth a try!

LesW will have more details...