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Definitely the fanciest thing I've done yet, however I've only built part of it. I've cheated a little bit on this one by purchasing the cabinets and stands second hand from another DIYer, toddw . The cabinets are beautiful curly cherry, with a very nice polished polyurethane finish. Some ceramic tiles and stuck to the inside, making a nice constrained layer and a nice dead cabinet. The stands are an interesting design, some kerf cuts and thin strips of ash are pinched against a centre support. Of course I took some inspiration to complete a new baffle.
Recently I have found and joined the local Men's Shed, which has a little hobby CNC. It's been a fun process to learn the CNC and engage with a bunch of other local woodworkers, they're a great bunch and have been very encouraging.
Having the cabinets already completed, enabled me to focus all of my efforts on creating a nice new baffle to complement them. For this project, I had always wanted to mill a waveguide right into the baffle, and that's exactly what I did here. The CNC also came in handy to cut precise curves to create the lamination pattern. I used American Cherry, and the accent is some African Mahogany left over from a previous project. The finish is Osmo Top Oil which apart from the price is fantastic finish, thanks DaveFred for the recommendation.
This cabinet was specifically designed for the Satori MW16P, and from my previous driver testing, I had wanted to use the Melodavid Be28 with it. You heard me. The Melodavid Be28 shown to be very well capable of waveguide loading without being problematic in the top octave. The tweeter has a nice flat mounting surface with the faceplate removed, so installation is simply to clamp it from behind. I squished it in place with a layer of auto sound damping goo and a few layers of craft foam.
Woodwork
The baffle was built as two halves in a mirror image, the curved cut on CNC with a 1/8" bit, and then small 1/8" strips of mahogany were cut on the table saw, and clamped together. The two halved were then glued and clamped with the vertical strip down the middle to bring it together, then planed flat.
The holes were then cut on the CNC, a 1/4" end mill used for the woofer and to remove the bulk of the material for the waveguide. A 1/4" round nose end mill was used to cut the waveguide profile, with 10% step over so that minimal sanding was needed to clean it up. I cut the throat of the waveguide just barely undersized so that I could sand it to the final diameter.
Only 220 grit was used for sanding to clean it up.
The baffle was then stuck to the cabinet with carpet tape and trimmed down to exact size.
The chamfers / facets were then cut. A simple table saw jig was used for the facets on the sides. Sanded again with 220 to roll over the sharp edges.
The cabinet had an inset frame, about 5/8". A simple frame was cut from MDF scraps that will be used for attachment with a weather stripping seal. Awkwardly screwed in from behind in the corners. The extra plywood blocks are for mounting the tweeter.
Getting some finish applied. Osmo Top Oil.
My tweeter installation method. Sandwich clamped with a layer of auto damping goo and a few layers of craft foam. Famous last words "that's not going anywhere".
The downside here is that it is a hard dome tweeter with no protective grill, so keep your curious fingers out of there. I don't have kids...
One speaker fully assembled and ready for measurements.
Next up, measurements and crossover design.
Recently I have found and joined the local Men's Shed, which has a little hobby CNC. It's been a fun process to learn the CNC and engage with a bunch of other local woodworkers, they're a great bunch and have been very encouraging.
Having the cabinets already completed, enabled me to focus all of my efforts on creating a nice new baffle to complement them. For this project, I had always wanted to mill a waveguide right into the baffle, and that's exactly what I did here. The CNC also came in handy to cut precise curves to create the lamination pattern. I used American Cherry, and the accent is some African Mahogany left over from a previous project. The finish is Osmo Top Oil which apart from the price is fantastic finish, thanks DaveFred for the recommendation.
This cabinet was specifically designed for the Satori MW16P, and from my previous driver testing, I had wanted to use the Melodavid Be28 with it. You heard me. The Melodavid Be28 shown to be very well capable of waveguide loading without being problematic in the top octave. The tweeter has a nice flat mounting surface with the faceplate removed, so installation is simply to clamp it from behind. I squished it in place with a layer of auto sound damping goo and a few layers of craft foam.
Woodwork
The baffle was built as two halves in a mirror image, the curved cut on CNC with a 1/8" bit, and then small 1/8" strips of mahogany were cut on the table saw, and clamped together. The two halved were then glued and clamped with the vertical strip down the middle to bring it together, then planed flat.
The holes were then cut on the CNC, a 1/4" end mill used for the woofer and to remove the bulk of the material for the waveguide. A 1/4" round nose end mill was used to cut the waveguide profile, with 10% step over so that minimal sanding was needed to clean it up. I cut the throat of the waveguide just barely undersized so that I could sand it to the final diameter.
Only 220 grit was used for sanding to clean it up.
The baffle was then stuck to the cabinet with carpet tape and trimmed down to exact size.
The chamfers / facets were then cut. A simple table saw jig was used for the facets on the sides. Sanded again with 220 to roll over the sharp edges.
The cabinet had an inset frame, about 5/8". A simple frame was cut from MDF scraps that will be used for attachment with a weather stripping seal. Awkwardly screwed in from behind in the corners. The extra plywood blocks are for mounting the tweeter.
Getting some finish applied. Osmo Top Oil.
My tweeter installation method. Sandwich clamped with a layer of auto damping goo and a few layers of craft foam. Famous last words "that's not going anywhere".
The downside here is that it is a hard dome tweeter with no protective grill, so keep your curious fingers out of there. I don't have kids...
One speaker fully assembled and ready for measurements.
Next up, measurements and crossover design.
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