64NOMIS

WARNING - WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ IS AS MUCH A CREATIVE OUTLET AS THE ACTUAL PROJECT IT DESCRIBES. ENJOY

Patient HTGuide readers, what began as an experimental re-build of speakers I first constructed 20 years ago grew into a year-long design and thought experiment. It is now complete. The time I was able to spend while wood working, putting together the fragments and years of work I have devoted to computing technology and the digital home, has grown into a vision. With design inspired by early 1900's and technology which will be from the cutting edge, my goal will now be to integrate a computing experience into a single solution, in a single location, to stretch that experience around the home, sharing and chronicling the story of how it can and ultimately will be done. Not using the artifacts and redundancies of the The Gordian Knot, but using one Digital Nexus. More photos will follow in the coming weeks of Console 2.0, with some of the cool technology some of my friends , partners and collaborators have sent to help build The Digital Nexus.









"The ultimate dilemma for entertainment will be the decision whether or not to directly implant the entertainment into the neuro-biological path. The step preceding will bring entertainment directly to the sensory interface, on the eyes, in the ears, and on our skin. The experience will be multi-layered. I will be able to modify my experiences by transposing synthetic images and sounds on top of real ones. I will be able to modify the world I see much like wearing rose-colored glasses. To counter-balance our desire to live in a modified dream-world, society will impose habits and rules which prevent over-indulgence. Until then, I suggest you enjoy your relatively benign speakers, home theaters and personal media players. They are only a whisper of what is to come."

- Inez Drew

Months ago, I began the construction of a project I had imagined and evolved over time. Like many of you, I enjoy the fact that this is a creative outlet I control, where no one tells me how to do it, or why I should do it. This project is interesting, to me at least, because I wanted to solve several problems at once.

In another life I collected vintage high-end 70’s analogue audio and video gear and placed it neatly in every room of my home. For the love of tactile controls, the aesthetic of metal and wood, simple connectivity, and high-function design. In yet another life, I have a wall upon which to stack the most modern audio components each a mastery of digital and audio technology, each crafted with the material precision of a jet engine. In a future life, I am a citizen in the future world of Inez, my technology so small it is nearly out of site and so powerful it transforms my most mundane daily sensory experiences.

Console 2.0 began with my desire to fuse the modern aesthetic forms of the 60’s and 70’s with the digital age. And my components were simply a mess. And my wife was starting to complain. Too much technology, and none of it effing worked, she complained.

So I designed a Console to house a small number of components integrating an entire home theater into one structure unifying high fidelity speakers, an AV receiver, a home theater PC, and a screen. And the entity needed to be movable – no home theater “installation” - this monolith needed to be on wheels. Console 2.0, as I have dubbed it, reached an important milestone last night - it's not really done, but its done enough and the subsequent work will be enjoyable and only take a couple weeks [EDIT: ] more. The console made good use of 2 bowed black walnut boards which form the curved top and bottom face frame of the cabinet.

The speakers themselves are a complete re-build of speakers I began 18 years ago in my senior year of high school. The 12DB/octave crossover was improved over time and I re-built them two weeks and completed wire up and assembly last night. A morrel MDT-37 replaced the original HF units several years ago and the unit is ~93db/SPL.

I sawed off the old front face of the MF/HF boxes, sanded down the white ash boxes - and I am about to make nicely curved black walnut faces from wood reclaimed from a 100 year old bed, coordinated with the lines of the curved lines of the main unit of the console. The unit is coincidentally reminiscent of the "Archimedes" from The Watchmen.

The PC integration portion of the project is something I have spent a lot of time thinking about and look forward to discussion.

In the meantime, here are some work in progress photos, with photos in the next day or so in its current state. Materials are black walnut for the face frame, maple plywood for the top, and white lacquered MDF for the panels. Base is oak plywood. There was no master plan, was able to solve problems as I went along, but I had the corner pieces, the bowed boards, and mounted the original speakers to the oak plywood base which together anchored the design. Let me know what you think!

Attached Thumbnails

       

TacoD

Looks very nice. It looks you are not alone:

64NOMIS

I'd love to see the build shots!

64NOMIS

Crossovers. Yes, those are giant air-gap toroids. Decision made 18 years ago in an electronics surplus shop. Staying with it. PCB from parts express - bought these a few years ago, just did the work...

As you may have noticed the MF/HF unit is external and its crossover components are located within the LF unit of the Console. Hence I run 4 wires out (only need 3, +MF, +HF, -) but I run two grounds. The backplate is the Dayton 2 hole, smaller than the 4 hole, which I am modding to support 4 plugs. This and the faceplate are next orders of business.

The nice cable is a Dayton from Parts Express too. I was able to get a 6' speaker cable pair, cut it in half, giving me the 4 x 4 lines out I needed to run from the crossovers to the two MF/HF units.

The caps were re-tested, work great.

64NOMIS

Closeup.

Components were just what I managed to toss in yesterday morning. Again, Home Theater PC integration is the objective state. And for that, I have received a very special, and critical, extra component.

64NOMIS

More info.

The HTPC is not going in the front bay. It could, but it's not.

I am also being aggressive with my remote control...we are going to get a chance to see how Windows 7, Media Center, K-Lite, VLC, Remote Desktop, and a Tablet PC play together...this is Console 2.0, after all. Notes on prior experience appreciated, I am going in cold to see if I can make it all work.

I am about to cut the front faces for the MF/HF units - here is the starting material...something old, something new. Reclaimed lumber, bed side board, circa 1890, 6' x 8" x 15/16". The other sideboard turned into shelves about a year ago...

mazurek

If your TV is a flat screen and your computer is a tower, the computer can fit neatly behind the TV on that type of a console. That's what I am doing now, and I'd say its quite aesthetically pleasing. I hope your equipment area has good ventilation (it looks like it is not too tightly packed), I get quite upset by furniture manufacturers that all but ensure the premature death of electronics due to overheating.

About my experience with HTPC's, I have had many iterations since up to maybe 10 years ago. I am finally satisfied with the current iteration because I stopped trying to make it work as some kind of fancy custom consumer electronics component. IMO the key to satisfactory HTPC experience is a high resolution display (1080p for TVs) that is big enough so you can just use it as you would normally use a computer. I've gone through a couple of mice/keyboards, and found success with the higher end 2.4ghz logitech offerings. I've sort of given up on fancy remotes and all that, I just mapped computer volume, and web zoom to my mouse, and I'm set.

64NOMIS

Mazurek,

Yes, placing the HTPC behind a screen is an option - however I was not bluffing when I said "integrated" - I just need a few more days before I can show how.

I concur, the 2.4GHz gear from MS & Logitech is great.

What I am going to try to do is to set up a tablet PC as a control center for the console - such that I can control content fully with the tablet PC as if I were manipulating it on the host PC. Win7 has better multi-monitor support and it is possible that this would permit me to map a display which I can control using remote desktop with the tablet. We'll see how it works.

Current display is a large flat tube HDTV. Great image quality, but that's about it. I simply haven't been able to decide on the right upgrade path and have been glad to watch prices plummet. Many good options right now...

Dennis H

I'd look for closeout deals (haven't heard of any yet) on the Pioneer Kuro plasmas. They're arguably the best performing flat panels but Pioneer is getting out of the plasma business sometime soon.

64NOMIS

While normally decisive I am simply not with respect to the screen. Not an issue this moment.


I tend to rant madly when talking about today's display technology. Yes, the fleeing Kuro plasma would be great. Bright with kid-proof screen but not super PC friendly. DLP rear projection @65" also nice but we all know the issues. LCD continues to improve but backlighting is still evolving and the screens are so delicate - can't survive a single game of wii sports! I don't like the image artifacts with any of them - again, watching HD video on my HD tube is a reminder of the catch up game LCD and plasma still play. If only it (the tube) weighed half as much, was one tenth the depth, twice the width, and simply played better with digital sources. Wasn't Toshiba supposed to make that happen (listen for the silence)? And nothing better to see the artifacting in the orignal source than my tube either - everything other than a good blu-ray or rip is really compressed - broadcaster downgrading HD content to get it to fit on their pipes - why can't conservative talk-radio hosts talk about that conspiracy!

Projection is great but my wife would never forgive me (more effing technology she can't figure out how to use).

So there you have it. I delay. For now, I wait until I finish the project completely. Which will take a bit more time.

I realize now that this project is really about the woodworking element and the design concept around integating entertainment components. Working with hardwood is just a lot different than MDF and the results you can achieve are different, though not so much acoustically. And organizing components into a single unit solves some problems, creates others. More on this, I hope soon.

mazurek

A lot of projectors can have 12v trigger input turn on or home automation port.

evilskillit

Yeah Toshiba was supposed to have a technology called SED TV and it was effectively a CRT except flat with one electron emitter per pixel so it would be thin and light but have all the advantages of a CRT. Then they dropped the ball, and sony picked it up and called it FED and it was basically the same thing but better with tens or hundreds of microscopic emitters per pixel for better color and brightness control with the added benefit of the fact that if a few burned out they it would not be noticeable. Then they dropped it due to lack of funding and their failure to buy a plant in which to build such an item. With plasma slowly dying out and both of those technologies having fallen through the cracks it appears that we're stuck with LED and DLP for a while. I can only hope that the DLP chips come down in price so that we can see 3 chip DLP sets for a 2-3 thousand instead of 20-30 thousand.

64NOMIS

I have spent weeks looking for the perfect curve and today I found it right under my nose.

My thought was to bevel the faces for the MF/HF units but I needed a curve template and was too lazy to make one. And I don’t have a band saw (one day my shop will come…) with which to easily whip one up. But there it was, I had just disassembled an old table while cleaning my work area and the support for the tabletops were shaped exactly right. Appearing at exactly the moment I needed it.

I decided the curve was great but needed to be a bit longer – no problem, just cut a piece at the right angle to get the slope of the curve right and glued it to the first. That was my curve template.

From there it was easy. I took that nice old side board, edged and surfaced it, cut it to size, and drew up the design on the first of the two pieces using the curve template and the hole spacing from the original faces. Since the holes for the drivers are waste I used those points to temporarily screw my new curve guide into place. I checked to make sure that the pattern I had drawn was equidistant to the drawn curve and that the depth of the router bit would put the bevel edge in the right spot. The bit could not extend to the full desired length (the bevel was broader than the radius of the bit), but that was not a problem – I just stopped short as you can see below and cut the edge with my Japanese flush cut saw and smoothed it out with my orbital sander. Here it is…

64NOMIS

I did not know that SED was mostly dead. "I am waiting for SED" is no longer a tennable excuse for not upgrading

LCD is clearly here to stay and fancy active backlights are going to get fancier. With DLP, they are just so darn fast, I think we will continue to see multiple, solid state light sources and complex color wheels (also with solid state light sources) as the inovation vector.

Plasma appears to be dying slowly. There can be only one, it seems.

64NOMIS

Since this is my one and only thread on htguide, I am taking the liberty of going off topic for an entry. Writing this brought me great satisfaction and I thought to share it. For context, I work for AMD...
_____________________________

I was once like you.

On the one hand, I had life as I knew it. Steady job at a defense contractor. A nice girl friend. I paid too much and I cared too little. You know how it is.

And on the other hand, I had the truth.

I hold in this thread a BLUE PILL and below it a RED PILL. It’s an important choice, you should choose only one.

You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.

The BLUE PILL http://links.amd.com/BLUEPILL

You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. No one can describe to you the Proving Grounds, you have to see it for yourself.

The RED PILL http://links.amd.com/PROVINGGROUNDS

64NOMIS

OK, I solved half a problem.

I needed a small rear plate with four holes for four connectors. The crossover is in the unit base and for no good reason I am running two ground lines up (well, I guess the cable is paired...). So I bought the Parts Express Dayton 2 hole unit and their nice banana plugs. They are square and the holes are aligned to the center, so I was able to lay one on top of the other horizontally opposed as a template, draw my circles for the holes, secure them to a board, clamp, and then bore out the holes on my drill press getting a perfect match to the .43 inch hole.

Problem - how do I notch the hole to match the notch in the banana plug which secures the plug as it being screwed in and over time & vibration? No idea has come to me. Suggestions?

TacoD

Wow, looks very expensive those loudspeaker connectors. BTW are you not afraid that the real "wood" baffle shapes/ dimensions isn't as steady as MDF (under humidity/ temperature)?

64NOMIS

Yeah, I thought the looked expensive too :-)

I won't use the link - folks should use the banner. But here is what they are.

Dayton SCP-6 Speaker Cable Pair w/Bananas 6 ft $31.46 which I was able to cut in half yielding 8 banana terminated cables of 3' lenght in four pairs! I thought that was a bargain.

Dayton BPP-G Premium Binding Post Pair Gold which were $15.81 per pair. Needed 4 pairs. A bit pricey.

Dayton SBPP-BK Binding Post Plate Black Anodized needed $9 needed two. Second pair is for the surrounds (next project!)

So that's about $112 total in connectors for the console. TGFPartsExpress!

mazurek

I've installed connectors like that. I think the best way to do a notch is to use an appropriately sized metal file. It goes quite fast (hopefully that plate is aluminum, steel is a pain to machine with hand tools). I've installed RCA connectors that have no such keys and they often loosen over time, I like split ring washers to keep circular connectors snug.

So do you have the best computer ever? AMD is uniquely positioned to excel in the htpc market, unfortunately that market's existence has only ever really been an illusion.

Mark Hayenga

Hey! I used to work for AMD too. Building 3. You know Doug Ray, Spencer Petersen or Drew Shaffer?

Nice project btw. Definitely a change from the norm around here. I dig your inductors. What's the core material?

64NOMIS

Mazurek,

So the thing I am really excited about is the HTPC integration portion of the project. That's coming after the MF/HF units are done. The unit is ready, just have to do a few more things to make it console friendly...one will be interesting, and the other should be very original. More soon!

Yes, the HTPC is a puzzling phenominon. Connected media devices
have poor codec support and generally lack flexibility. HTPC's suffer in usability - taking the already painful task of doing normal things and injecting all of the additional problems of modern media formats and data sizes. They are also expensive. I don't have a solution, but aesthetically I am going to make it work nicely and I am looking forward to Windows 7 for some improvements in usability and display handling. HTPC's are something to lust after but likely fail to live up to expectations because it takes too much effort to use them and too much time to actually make all the software and media work right in most people's entertainment areas. And the non-technical spouse simply will not touch them.

But for me, being very extremely oriented toward the PC, it seems important to have a completely digital entertainment experience with the flexibility of the PC behind it. And so it will be, in a few weeks.

64NOMIS

Hi Mark,

So the inductors are air-gap ferrite. Really large pieces of ferrite. As an 18 year-old it seemed like a good idea. No resistance problem! And who knows if they saturate - likely no. Perhaps I should do some math...I just did some checking - these are probably fine to 500W-700W. And a ferrite inductor goes for about $35-$50 in this range! So perhaps not a bad choice to DIY -but winding heavy guage painted wire around a ferrite torroid is a pain. I used insulated wire as a compromise. Measures fine.

I was in 312. So different crowd :-)

64NOMIS

For larger projects hardwood has cost, stability, and potential material resonance concerns. However, people have been building boxes out of hardwood for a long time, and for a small box like this the stability issues are less of an issue. The front face is about an inch thick and sports two large holes and attached metal drivers handling frequencies mostly above 1KHz. So really, these things are like a wood brick and cabinet material resonance is the least of my worries. Expansion is less of a concern given the size and large holes in the front face but nevertheless to be considered. The front face is very stable, having been air dried for the past 100 years or so.

I believe one can build with hardwood and reinforce inner walls as well with different wood supports or MDF. Then you get the best of both worlds. By gluing MDF to interior hardwood you can dampen any material resonances - but the primary resonance of this material is pretty low frequency, certainly below the frequency achieved by the drivers.

MDF is a fave of the speaker industry because it is cheap and has good acoustic properties. But for interesting shapes, bevels, and beautiful finishes, its really nice to work with hardwood.

64NOMIS

Here's the modified binding post.

As suggested, I used a small file and it went quick. File was triangular (updated with the nicer slot made by the rectangular needle file - absolutely the right way to go) and I just worked each edge to make it nearly square. Post presses in tightly for a firm fit.

Next task, complete HF/MF faces.

64NOMIS

Major milestone today.

Hank

Hi 64NOMIS - nice baffle - interesting form

Face

I agree, very nice.

TacoD

Great result!!!

peter_m

Your baffle has me baffled... in a good way!

Nice work!

64NOMIS

Bottom detail below.

Thanks for the complements, here is the encore. Now to figure out to attach it to the box? Originally I had thought to screw it in four corners where I have 4 inner supports within the box. But at this point I am completely unwilling to to have four screws showing on the front face. I am going to glue it on, the question is, what else will secure it? A nice dowling jig made good use for the face frame, that may be the path forward.

Steps
1. Side curves routed as shown above & finished off with japanese flush saw & sander. Final touches and evening with hand block sanding.
2. Bottom routed by running the router along a circular curve template (the MDF circular 14" round remains from the 15" woofer hole)
3. Bottom edge beveled about 1/4" with the same bit I used for the curves
4. Top corners curved just a touch with the same 14" circle template and hand block sanded to round them a bit, so the curve is from the edge to about 1.1" in where it intersects the front bevel curve.

64NOMIS

After a hiatus I finally have an update.

Tonight I finished the woodwork for the MF/HF units. The first I glued up earlier with some help from my little friends (8 clamps on that little box!) and finished the woodwork including the doweling for the second and took a beauty shot.

Looks like the results were repeatable. This is the second completed baffle dry-fitted to the second box using dowels, the technique I detail below...



What you will see in the images below is the doweling technique to secure the front baffle to the box for the first speaker. Same technique for the second and I had another perfect fit. Simply drill the dowel holes in the box, insert the dowel centering pins, align, press down hard, drill the holes in the back of the baffle, insert dowels into box,, trim pins with a hand saw (yeah, if they are too long you just trim them down) and fit together. Very gratifying work.

So that means by late tomorrow I will have have two glued boxes and I'll be ready for final sanding and wood finish. I will use waterlox as my finish, but I am considering using the same combination I employed in the main Console unit, wipe-on poly on the ligher wood (ash in this case) and waterlox (which yellows a bit more) on the walnut. I will make that decision in the morning...

TacoD

It begins to look very nice. Keep up the good work

eyekode

Very nice curves!

Just a few Q's: why not flush mount the drivers? You obviously have the wood working skills.

Also I would be a little worried about the dowels. Won't the baffle expand seasonally? Maybe it won't be too big of a deal because of how narrow the baffle is...

Another thought for attaching a solid wood baffle: Leave off the back of the box. Glue in 4 small squares at the corers of the front of the box (just as you have but only 3/4" thick). Each block should have one 3/8" hole drilled in the center before gluing in the blocks (to make sure the holes are vertical).

Line the edge of the box with closed cell foam tape. Use your technique of using dowel centering pins to mark the front baffles. Install threaded inserts where the centering pins indicate. Then use bolts like these: http://www.woodcraft.com/product.as...0&FamilyID=1045 to attach the baffle.

You should not need to clamp it down too tight. And this would leave 1/8" of an inch for wood movement.

64NOMIS

Great question, because I think it likely I replace the midrange at some point. Since I am married to the baffle, as you note, best not to create an inset I may one day regret.


It's a small thick cabinet. And a refurb of the original cabinet I built 18 years ago which never had an issue. So, net, I think this cabinet is too small to worry about. I could be wrong but I have 18 years of evidence on my side. Larger cabinet, this might be an issue. In another thread "ring" was brought up as another potential issue. The top to bottom features a support dowl with tight wrapped poly and I plan to use acousta-stuff. Considered edge felt too but I thought that overkill.


This would work and I am a fan of the knock-down style, threaded dowel inserts (alignment is a chore but it can be done). Unfortunately they would appear prominenty on my nice faces which must already suffer non-inset drivers! So there you have it...

Just a note, I am not a fan of this style of insert - the threaded brass insert - they do not work well with hardwood, they can easily strip the wood...

Thanks eyekode!