Speaker Build Questions

[Blink]

Hi guys, I've been lurking around these forums for a couple months now trying to read everything I can about building my own speakers and I think I am ready to pull the trigger on building some! (tax return just came in and I finally have the extra funds for it!!)

I would love to get into designing my own and knowing the ends and outs of why things work the way they do, but for my first build I think its necessary to complete a proven design first.
My woodworking skills are mediocre, but I believe I do have all the tools necessary to do this.

Just from reading the builds in here, I have myself convinced that I have to have the Statements, but I am a little weary because I don't think I can position them 2 feet from the back wall and I am afraid that might be a deal breaker with the open back mids. So as an alternative I've been considering the Khanspires. (I think I saw these need to be 18" from the wall too though)

Throughout my build, I'm sure I will have lots of seemingly stupid questions I assume (like have I correctly wired this crossover, etc.).

I guess my first big question is, will either of these designs significantly decrease the sound quality from being too close to the back wall? Or is 2' from the wall just for optimal sound quality?? Or should I consider a different design? ($600-1000 is the range I want to stay in)

[---k---]

The Khans are 14" deep. If you put 6" behind them so the front is ~20" forward you will have them the same as I have. They sound great this way. They can probably be pushed back a little further. Pushing them against the wall will increase the bass. There are tricks that can be used to fix this, such as your receiver EQ or using a smaller gage inductor on the woofer. And some people don't even notice the difference.

I believe that the Statements need 12" to 20" behind them with 18" being the designed distance. This would make the front 26" to 36" from the wall.

There are lots of good designs out there.

[Evil Twin]

The Khans are 14" deep. If you put 6" behind them so the front is ~20" forward you will have them the same as I have. They sound great this way. They can probably be pushed back a little further. Pushing them against the wall will increase the bass. There are tricks that can be used to fix this, such as your receiver EQ or using a smaller gage inductor on the woofer. And some people don't even notice the difference.

I believe that the Statements need 12" to 20" behind them with 18" being the designed distance. This would make the front 26" to 36" from the wall.

There are lots of good designs out there.

The Force is strong in this one...

Room positioning is a critical factor in getting the best sound from any speaker set. Reconsider your positioning options if at all possible...

[numberoneoppa]

In before Ryan mentions the Khans.

Oh... wait.

Tons of good alternatives out there.

[---k---]

In before Ryan mentions the Khans.

Oh... wait.

Tons of good alternatives out there.

Hey, he brought the Khans up, not me! :wink:

There are lots of good designs out there. It is unfortunate that most designers don't clearly state what positioning they are intended for. I remember the first time I spent about 4 hours playing with room positioning of my old speaker. They sound good if you just put them in the room. But play with the forward and backward, maybe move right and left to adjust the side wall reflection and then play with the toe in a little for the tweeter response. When you get the room positioning, the speakers will change and become more coherent, clear, and perfect. It was that proverbial veil being lifted. Stunning ... Of course then I took them out into the garage to do something or other and they never got back into the same spot. I just let myself get distracted by pretty pictures on the screen.


The designs that CJD has done for me are all for more "wife friendly" positioning. They look right in a room. Not pushed up against the wall, but also not 2 - 3 feet out into the room. The Statements are a great design, but they have very strict positioning requirements because of the open back mid chamber.

The Force is strong in this one...

Room positioning is a critical factor in getting the best sound from any speaker set. Reconsider your positioning options if at all possible...

Wow. I've arrived! ;x(

Now I'm just going t have to show off the knowledge that I've acquired over the years here. :wink:

There are also negative things going on also positioning speakers nearer the wall. I choose to gloss over this because there is nothing I can do about it. It is one of the many inverse tradeoffs in speaker design - wife vs. perfection. Zaph has a good page somewhere on his website showing this, I think with one of his on wall designs. But, when the front wave wraps around the speaker and reflects off the back wall and comes forward and merges with the current front wave and can cause nulls in the response. The closer to the back wall the higher in frequency this is. Pull them out far enough (like the 3' you see with the audiophiles) and the frequency is low enough not to matter. The null, no matter where in frequency, is there and it is real, but the overall room response will tend to balance it out and your ears will somewhat adjust to it. So, it is a tradeoff I'm willing to make.

[Blink]

The designs that CJD has done for me are all for more "wife friendly" positioning. They look right in a room. Not pushed up against the wall, but also not 2 - 3 feet out into the room. The Statements are a great design, but they have very strict positioning requirements because of the open back mid chamber.

I suppose my biggest positioning requirement is the WAF (although I am not yet married yet..but probably will be soon). I don't want to have the speakers sitting out 2-3 feet into the room at all times.

I understand away from the wall is optimal, but I too will probably have them about 6" away from the back wall, and as long as that doesn't totally ruin the sound then I am ok with a slight decrease.