Before The Basics

[ounvme]

First I must start by saying that WOW this is an amazing sight packed full of information and beautiful work. I honestly dont even know where to start. I have been looking in the DIY forum and trying to go post by post. Wish there was a Build Log Forum for each person that has completed or in the process of building a custom unit. I am first going to start with a powered sub. The search function will be my friend. My ideas so far are 2 12inch unported in a push and pull configuration. (I saw a Sunfire Sub at the local audio store and decided to tackle that as my project.) I am not to familiar with speaker theory so I have my reading to do. Any veterans that might know so usefull posts off the top of their head please share. I am excelent with building circuits and woodwork so I believe this is not out of my skill level. I just need a better understanding of the science involved and some samples to research. Wish me luck. Thank You all for this great site.
~Wayne

[ounvme]

Here We Go

After looking at almost every thread in the DIY forum I decided that I need to build some speakers too. I really like the look of the seas drivers with the metal cones in the middle. I have seen 2 designs that impress me. I like the smaller linear arrays and the open designs as seen in dlneubec's avatar. I am under the impression that a LA with a sloped back side will give better sound. From the little that I know the open design is great for high and upper mids but lower frequencies cannot be reproduced? Is that correct? I am going for great sound as well as looks. This will be going in my basement theater room which is 12 x 30. Materials will either be 3/4 HD MDF or solid Birch. Please give me a little direction as which will better suit my needs.

[David Meek]

Welcome to The Guide. :welcome:

It sounds like you're ahead of the curve as far as audio knowledge goes, so I'll move this into the DIY forum where you'll definitely get more responses.

[ounvme]

Additional Info

I feel that I should give a background of what I currently have and what inspired me wanting to upgrade. Currently I have a set of Klipsch 4.1 computer speakers driven by a Yamaha Prologic II Reciever. They sound decent for a very budget setup. I frequently go to the local HT shop and checkout the latest and greatest. They had the movie King Arthur playing in the demo room which I happened to watch the previous day. The sound had me in awe when I heard the music playing. It was very warm and rich sounding. I noticed a nice balance between highs mids and lows. I did note that each set of speakers was powered by a tube amp and fed by a 6.1 processor. I have already looked into DIY tube amps and they would not be hard to build. Should I go with a new amps or keep the existing one I have? For speakers open front and back or a linear stack? If any of you know some good build threads please feel free to post. Thank you for the input and back to reading the DIY forums.
~Wayne

[ThomasW]

Perhaps we could narrow the focus a bit. You start out wanting a to build a sub, then start talking about speakers, next you're on to building amps.

If you look at the Missions Accomplished section you'll find several build threads. In the Gallery sections are projects with links to threads about those projects

[clearwaterms]

welcome aboard.

Let me first tell you welcome. I am right along side of you at this point. I have the home theatre room, although it's not complete with a very budget setup working currently and am looking to upgrade, sound first and then down the road, video.

I have a question for you, what kind of speakers were on display in that demo room? Tube amps are traditionally very low powered units, so while they have a very warm and rich sound, they do require a very efficient speaker to work properly.

[ounvme]

Speakers

They had Matin Logans and B&W the amp was 35wRMS. Im gonna start with speakers first then sub then amps. I'll start with the center channel. Im going to make a design in SolidWorks and hopefully someone can run some software on it and tell me of its gonna sound ok. The box is going to have to be shaped funny to fit in the window recess. my only other option is to make 2 and have a left and right center. I prefer to keep things off the floor. Design will be posted soon.

[clearwaterms]

They had Matin Logans and B&W the amp was 35wRMS. Im gonna start with speakers first then sub then amps. I'll start with the center channel. Im going to make a design in SolidWorks and hopefully someone can run some software on it and tell me of its gonna sound ok. The box is going to have to be shaped funny to fit in the window recess. my only other option is to make 2 and have a left and right center. I prefer to keep things off the floor. Design will be posted soon.

well I will wish you the best of luck in designing speakers, but I will warn you that (and I have never designed or built a set of speakers) people like ThomasW / Jon marsh / Zaph / etc. put alot of time, effort, and years of experience into designing there speakers. I would tend to think that there designs are going to give you every bit of clarity that you are looking for, and would tend to try to find an established design that uses an established cross over right out of the box. You will probably end up with a much more enjoyable speaker in the end... If you have a specific size requirement, you could probably adjust the size of the box so long as the front baffle is the same size and the internal volume remains unchanged.

Please remember, that i am new to this hobby, however I have been reading around on here and a few other sites and the general concensious is to start by building an established design first.

[clearwaterms]

They had Matin Logans and B&W the amp was 35wRMS. Im gonna start with speakers first then sub then amps. I'll start with the center channel. Im going to make a design in SolidWorks and hopefully someone can run some software on it and tell me of its gonna sound ok. The box is going to have to be shaped funny to fit in the window recess. my only other option is to make 2 and have a left and right center. I prefer to keep things off the floor. Design will be posted soon.

which speaker did you prefer? the martin logans are ESL dipole speakers, a similar speaker at a more bargin price would be a magnepan.

Also, B&W makes quite a wide range of speakers. having never heard them, I have heard an aweful lot of rave reviews

[ounvme]

Hmm

For the price tag.....niether.. The B&W's looked really cool tho.
Here is my preliminary design Im thinking about using the RS180's. I would really appreciate if someone could do a number crunch on this design.
I fergot 1 dimension the inside length is 22.5

[crackyflipside]

Speakers take alot more than just making a cool drawing.

TONS of research is needed in getting the right mix of drivers and getting the crossover right. It takes a long time to design a good speaker.

[ThomasW]

The basis of this forum isn't getting people to create designs per request.

So you have a few choices,

1)build one of the proven designs like this

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=11475

2)contact a commercial designer and pay them to create a design you invent.

3)learn loudspeaker design.

[ounvme]

Oh that I know. Those are just the size constraints I need to stick with to put the speaker where I want it. I have never designed a crossover nor tested an enclosure acoustically. I need help with that. Building the crossover wont be hard but knowing what frequencies to send to the speakers is a little out of my range of knowledge at the moment. Im going to opt for option 3. I know I have my reading cut out for me. I am pretty sure that there is a software that you can put the dimensions into and it will spit out some data on the shape and volume of the box. Im not askin for any freebies just trying to get my homework done on