Construction for my Natalie P

[Ecir38]

Can I get someone to check this for me please. I already started soldering and am second guessing myself being this is my first crossover.



The pic is basically the same way everything will be laid out on my board.

Thanks

[Hdale85]

You have a lot of time on your hands :B

[ThomasW]

Posting these so I can look at them in comparison to yours

[Inu_Yasha]

Only thing that I would suggest is changing the direction of the L3 and L4 because the way it looks now is that the hole of L3 and the hole of L4 are facing the same direction.

[Ecir38]

L4 was swapped before i posted the pick sorry.

edit: L4 has been changed in OP.

[Ecir38]

This pick from the Natalie p thread post 75 is the reason i put L4 and C11 like I have it.

[---k---]

Just an off-topic note for everyone, my office uses Websense to filter and monitor traffic. They just upgraded to the newest version, and it now appears that pictures from Photo-bucket are getting blocked. I don't know if this is by my companies choosing (they don't block much) or Websense.

So, posts like these appear pretty odd, because there isn't a broken link icon or anything, it just looks like the person forgot to attach the pic.

Me personally, I'm trying to limit my pics so that they can be attached and permanent.

[JonMarsh]

Yeah, pics are a "problem"- I use a web site hosting company yearly subcription just to pay for hosting pics here and not dealing with the 100K limit. But it doesn't take a lot- I have 5 GB of storage, and a 10GB/month bandwidth; usually it doesn't run over 7-8 GB.

[Ecir38]

Reloaded pics as attachments, hope this helps. I'll keep this in mind in the future thanks.

[fjhuerta]

Just an off-topic note for everyone, my office uses Websense to filter and monitor traffic. They just upgraded to the newest version, and it now appears that pictures from Photo-bucket are getting blocked. I don't know if this is by my companies choosing (they don't block much) or Websense.

So, posts like these appear pretty odd, because there isn't a broken link icon or anything, it just looks like the person forgot to attach the pic.

Me personally, I'm trying to limit my pics so that they can be attached and permanent.

You are lucky. Our Websense won't even allow us to look at htguide.com. 8O

[---k---]

I guess I better just be careful then and make sure that HTguide continues to fly under the radar and never breaks the top10 in hits or bandwidth.

[Ecir38]

Finished crossover pic, hope all is good.

[jdybnis]

Pretty. :T

[Gir]

Looks nice Ecir, good work.

[Ecir38]

Working on the second xo and thought I would post some pics of the pre-assembled parts before the glue down.

[JonMarsh]

Nice job- good workmanship counts, if only becuase you'll sleep better at night, and have more pride of construction. :T

~Jon

[clearwaterms]

do you have pictures of the enclosures? Did you build your own or go with ready made?

[fjhuerta]

That looks awesome!

[Ecir38]

LOL i will definatly sleep better once everything is done hopefully tomorrow. I have the upmost respect for you guys that put your life into designing and building these speakers ;x(

Thanks for all the kind remarks. I couldn't have done this if it wasn't for all of the info on this great forum, Thank You All.

Pics of the cabinets i built will come soon

Thanks again.

[Ecir38]

Finished the speakers friday and had a good part of the afternoon and evening to demo. I don't have the necessary testing equipment to do any real test other than my ears. I know there are allot here that are critical to how people describe how speakers sound so be easy on me here. The best way i a can describe them are they are very clear with allot of detail. By this i mean the musical instruments in the material i played is more noticable(phil collins, eric johnson, eagles, metalica, pink floyd just to name a few). I'll keep to that until i acquire the proper equipment to do some real testing.

This was my first speaker build so i probably would have done some things differant being I wasn't really ready to build these yet, but the pe sale and free shipping made me go for it a little sooner before i had more knowledge to make some better decisions. A coulple of examples of what i am talking about is i built them to sit on the floor, i know now that i would have recieved better results if they were made to be mounted on stands for the proper boundary placement. Also i had no clue that a slopped or slanted baffle would require some modes to the crossover. Both of these can be easily enough fixed in the future by making some new cabinets that retain the existing base plate and crossover. The recess part of the base plate is the same dimensions as the recommended pe enclosures.

All in all my virgin ears are very happy with the way they are now but i am sure the with the proper equipment to test them would probably show results to make changes as i mentioned above.

Anyway here are a few pics:

[digital desire]

You have some pretty awesome skills.

[wkhanna]

Nice BR!
V Nice!

Did you mention what the rest of system is that your powering these with?

Like you, I also have made cabinets that have a 15 deg slope to the baffle, and like you, I latter became aware that this will effect the time/phase continuum of supreme performance, thus not taking full advantage of the ‘Dark One’s’ efforts to maximize the power of the Force within his xo. Hopefully he will forgive our impetuous enthusiasm, and maybe offer some clues as to how to correct our folly.

Regardless, I think they look great, and their performance will suffer at a minimum due to the slight angle. You still have break-in to look forward to also, and SQ should improve slightly again.

Did you use 3/4 or 1" MDF?
Have you considered making stands rather than remaking the cabinet?

Great effort, great looking, hope you get many hours of enjoyment, and many congradulations.

[Ecir38]

Did you mention what the rest of system is that your powering these with?

At the present i use a yamaha 5740 that i'm sure i will upgrade before the end of this year, recommendations are welcolmed.

Did you use 3/4 or 1" MDF?
Have you considered making stands rather than remaking the cabinet?

I am not in a hurry to change anything just yet, i would like to build a center and some surrounds so i have some time to think about it. Cabinets were made out of 3/4" MDF. BTW these are at 8 degrees.

Thanks for the kind remarks. I can't wait to see yours finished, so far i can tell they will be very nice..

[speedle]

Just use lower than normal stands, i.e. about 22", and everything will be back in "alignment" for your 3 drivers, if I take your photo correctly.

[clearwaterms]

wow, those look really good.

What did you use to get that finish? is that just painted MDF?

[Ecir38]

Just painted MDF, i used HD Behr paint. It is pure black interior/exterior hi gloss enamel which is 100% acrylic latex. I just use a semi smooth roller to apply. It is a very thick paint, i added about a cup of water to the gallon and let it stand after stirring overnight to allow the air bubble to escape. The good thing about this paint is it covers very well and dries fast. First coat was used as a primmer, after that dried i used scotch bright to smooth the rough cuts in the mdf. Doing it this way only required a total of two coats.

[JonMarsh]

Finished the speakers friday and had a good part of the afternoon and evening to demo. I don't have the necessary testing equipment to do any real test other than my ears. I know there are allot here that are critical to how people describe how speakers sound so be easy on me here. The best way i a can describe them are they are very clear with allot of detail. By this i mean the musical instruments in the material i played is more noticable(phil collins, eric johnson, eagles, metalica, pink floyd just to name a few). I'll keep to that until i acquire the proper equipment to do some real testing.

This was my first speaker build so i probably would have done some things differant being I wasn't really ready to build these yet, but the pe sale and free shipping made me go for it a little sooner before i had more knowledge to make some better decisions. A coulple of examples of what i am talking about is i built them to sit on the floor, i know now that i would have recieved better results if they were made to be mounted on stands for the proper boundary placement. Also i had no clue that a slopped or slanted baffle would require some modes to the crossover. Both of these can be easily enough fixed in the future by making some new cabinets that retain the existing base plate and crossover. The recess part of the base plate is the same dimensions as the recommended pe enclosures.

All in all my virgin ears are very happy with the way they are now but i am sure the with the proper equipment to test them would probably show results to make changes as i mentioned above.

Anyway here are a few pics:

Nice job on the construction! :T

And thanks for sharing the ideas you used with us.

~Jon

[Ecir38]

Thank you Jon, i am glad that i could contribute to this already great speaker design.

I can't wait to see how the Isiris plains out

[wkhanna]

Like you, I also have made cabinets that have a 15 deg slope to the baffle,

I was just reviewing my plans, the slope of baffle is 5 deg, not 15!

My current stands that I use for my mains are also designed with a 5 deg slope.
I understand now that this may actually be detrimental in regards to ultimate SQ, but until I get the equipment to make measurements (which I plan to do after I get my subs built) I will just enjoy the improved performance I know my Nats are going to have over my current mains.

[Exocer]

Woah, Those came out AWESOME! congrats!

[Exocer]

I like the idea of floor mounting the speakers. But, if you find that the sound isn't "right" you can totally change/ remove the spiked feet and set them atop of some sturdy stands. I don't see the harm in that myself

Can anyone give us a little bit more detail about what effect having the slant on the baffle will have on the overall sound dispersion characteristics of a speaker of this type?

[Ecir38]

Exocer, that is the way i am looking at it. I have to say though that they sound great the way they are now. Saying this i wouldn't be too worried about the 5 degrees right now, wkhanna.

[Ecir38]

Can anyone give us a little bit more detail about what effect having the slant on the baffle will have on the overall sound dispersion characteristics of a speaker of this type?

This is a good question that taking some measurments would surely reveal. If only i had the the proper equip :M . In due time.

[JonMarsh]

Mainly it will give a slight upward tilt to the primary lobe in the crossover region.

[Ecir38]

Can anyone give us a little bit more detail about what effect having the slant on the baffle will have on the overall sound dispersion characteristics of a speaker of this type?

Exocer, I don't know if you caught this but check out the thread JonW has going.

https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24441

[wkhanna]

Yes, I have been reading that one with great interest.
However, much of the discussion is beyond my current knowledge.

Sir Marsh, thanks for your response, I now know what to look up and study!

[cgr]

Just painted MDF, i used HD Behr paint. It is pure black interior/exterior hi gloss enamel which is 100% acrylic latex. I just use a semi smooth roller to apply. It is a very thick paint, i added about a cup of water to the gallon and let it stand after stirring overnight to allow the air bubble to escape. The good thing about this paint is it covers very well and dries fast. First coat was used as a primmer, after that dried i used scotch bright to smooth the rough cuts in the mdf. Doing it this way only required a total of two coats.

Do you happen to still have the paint codes from HD?

[Ecir38]

No paint code, it is on the shelf.