My recently built system

[elfranche]

Three-way DIY speakers. :B

http://www.stormpages.com/elfranche/index.html

[ThomasW]

Wow that's an amazing amount of work to make those curve enclosures..... 8O

Looking good ..... :T

[Kyle]

Very nice craftsmanship!

[oneoldude]

Beautifully shown on your URL and beautifully done as well.

Kudos!

ab

[elfranche]

Thank you all for your compliments. :W

[maximumshow]

Wow! The final product appears to be well worth the insane amount of work. The cost on sanding belts alone must be impressive.

Love it!

[elfranche]

I'm glad you mentioned that, because believe it or not, I used a single sanding belt.

!!

And to top it off, it's still 80% as rough as new, despite sanding some 50 pounds of MDF!!! I found that amazing.
I had initially purchased three belts, thinking: 'I'll be back for more', and ended up returning two of them.
Industrial grade baby!! Total cost was $6.93. :B

But as I've discovered a bit too late, a suitable planer was best. :
Mine was a straight cutter Makita, with a typical 120db-for-the-entire-neighborhood noise level, but there are also those bigger models with bigger HP and spiral cutters, such as this:

http://us.st11.yimg.com/store1.yimg.com/I/savtoolhouse_1876_4829078

which I ended up trying in the peak of discouragement.

They make surprizingly modest noise, whilst easily chewing 1/8" of MDF on each pass. So the tool can shave a whole inch (4" x 20") in about 40 seconds, making a MASSIVE dust-shower on the side.
Using the belt sander, it took about 120 minutes to chew that same amount. :Z
Ah, the joys of learning. :B

[SteveCallas]

They look GREAT! How do they sound?

[elfranche]

Very good. undoubtedly my best pair so far, all the while remaining a good bang for the buck. The most striking results are the sound definition, and of course, the bass. Some very low tones, such as this ambient sound from a video game (see attached file) offer a whole new experience. The F3 truly is around 20hz. So for the lowest tones encountered in music, this implies an effortless rendering.
As for the definition, I'm discovering new details in all my music. Every instrument has become so discernable. I'd say the overall sound has lots of presence and warmth.
That being said, I'd be very curious to hear other DIY systems. It seems others builders have also married the 2 Vifas I used, successfully in 2-way systems.

[SteveCallas]

That's good to hear. Any pics of them in place in your listening room? (don't get me wrong, I like the washing machine background :B )

[Paul H]

...
Mine was a straight cutter Makita, with a typical 120db-for-the-entire-neighborhood noise level, but there are also those bigger models with bigger HP and spiral cutters, such as this: http://store1.yimg.com/I/toolsplus_1875_30668358
which I ended up trying in the peak of discouragement.

They make surprizingly modest noise, whilst easily chewing 1/8" of MDF on each pass. So the tool can shave a whole inch (4" x 20") in about 40 seconds, making a MASSIVE dust-shower on the side.
Using the belt sander, it took about 120 minutes to chew that same amount. :Z
Ah, the joys of learning. :B

A two word suggestion for your future projects - "hand plane" - that would be one without a motor
Seriously, while they're not quite as fast, they have way more control and virtually no mess.

Nice work on the cabinets incidentally. :T

Paul

[elfranche]

SteveCallas,

I'm currently starting on the finishing work, so the background is still the same!! :
And, er, lol, this IS more or less the listening room, they are due for duty in my basement!
In the end however, the speakers stand 10 feet apart, 1 foot against concrete walls, and I will sit 6 feet from each.

Paul H,

The sanding was a great physical strain even with an effective motorized tool, so I wouldnt think of using a slower, hand tool for this... And I think speed IS of the essence, when you consider that it took 9 hours of CONSTANT sanding for about half the job (belt), and then 20 minutes for the second half (planer)!!

[Paul H]

It probably would have taken you an hour with a hand plane. While we're definitely veering off topic, I can't help but ask how long the cleanup took after using the power planer ?

Anyway, just a personal preference thing, and I don't want to take anything away from the great job you did.


Paul

[SteveCallas]

And, er, lol, this IS more or less the listening room, they are due for duty in my basement!

That's dedication :T

[Marzen]

Nicely done, can't wait to see the finished product! Two questions though: I gotta ask, this being your smallest speaker yet - do you have pictures of the larger ones? :W and how do you go about selecting a passive radiator for a driver when there is not one made by the same manufacturer?
Thanks,
Ward

[ThomasW]

and how do you go about selecting a passive radiator for a driver when there is not one made by the same manufacturer?

PR's are fundamentally generic. All you need is the proper amount of displacement (usually 2-3 times that of the woofer) and the right amount of mass.

[TacoD]

Wow, great project. I did a Vifa 2-way with PLW14 (smaller version of your mid) and a xt25 tweeter. At the time I had no money to make it a 3-way .

[elfranche]

how do you go about selecting a passive radiator for a driver when there is not one made by the same manufacturer?

I agree with ThomasW's reply.

I did follow the '2-3 times displacement' rule. The big passive hardly ever moves to the naked eye. Nowadays, I would not choose a passive without first simulating its response on a reliable piece of software. I tried about 10 passives before choosing mine. I'm glad I did because there were significant variations in the resulting response curves.

Do you have pictures of the larger ones?

If you look at the first diapo on my webpage, there they are!

The first pair, well that was such a long time ago that I dont remember most of the specs, only that they were simply made to be 'a better bass box' for the drivers of some generic particle-board speakers. The new boxes I made improved the bass significantly, had double-MDF thickness all over (1.5"-1.75") and so were very heavy.

The second pair from the left were 245-pound monsters with two-inch baffles all over. Knocking on the speaker with your finger produced nearly the same 'deaf' sound as knocking on a concrete floor. They used a Peerless tweeter, Max Pentivent midrange, preassembled maddison crossover, and Peerless 831857 woofer. The sound was much better than common speakers, but by no means hi-fi. The bass was quite rich though. I cared not for aesthetics. They held by 750 3-inch floor screws! I still dig the grille shape. Dimensions were 48" x 18" x 22". Internal volume was 5.5 cuft and the midrange had only .1 cuft for itself.

The third pair (following photos) featured the first crossovers assembled by me. They were 6db at 200 and 3800hz. The sound quality was quite good. They used the following drivers: Vifa D27TG, Peerless 850119 mid, Peerless 850146x2 (8 ohm in parallel for a nice db boost at 4ohms). The bass was nice and rich (although not as much as the last pair) but the internal volume (4.5 cuft) was a bit low and so the F3 was above 30hz. Back then I did not use any software. I later realized I got more SPL at the expense of low frequencies. The weight was 195 pounds each and the external baffles had 38mm all over. The finish was.. wallpaper. I did not have enough money left for a better finish. But the result was good looking. Many were fooled by the polished wood pattern.

My latest design undoubtedly ends my quest for bass.

[Marzen]

Thanks for the heads up guys. I was looking at using the Dayton RS line for a sub/speaker stand for my modula mtm's and recently plugged some pr's into bassbox & soundeasy, but i was unsure if there was a rule of thumb to start with as i've had some wild looking group delay spikes >25msec. It blows my mind that a spider, surround & hardboard costs $200! I'll keep trying different models 'till something fits. I really do like the 'pope's hat' look of your new cabs, i may try that myself although the weight is daunting. Perhaps bending the sides vs. layering; that's one on to mull over in the shop. Oh yeah, how did you manage to cut the reveal between the cabs AFTER they were shaped? (ref: 85-Finish preview.jpg)
Cheers,
Ward

[elfranche]

I intend to use the same tool which did the straight on the inset (with a guide).
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Of course, a router could do even better.

Passives do have more delay, but I was aware of that from the start and I know I like it (a matter of personal taste). I am not a fan of punchy bass. Passives are known for a special kind of 'extra trembling' which seems to boost low output even further. I recommend that you listen to a few passives before committing to your design.

[Marzen]

...I recommend that you listen to a few passives before committing to your design.

Thanks, but I don't have anywhere around here to listen to the various types of enclosures & alignments. On the up side - my sound system & basement rec room was the pits; so anything I build will sound better than what I had before. And somewhere along the way I'll figure out what I prefer.

[---k---]

I was fooled by your "wallpaper" in that last photo. I think that I would be happy to have my DIY speakers turn out that good someday.
Very nice work.

[ThomasW]

It blows my mind that a spider, surround & hardboard costs $200!

They don't....

http://yellow.mynethost.com/~bv126368/shop/catalog/index.php?cPath=24&osCsid=2dfa5eaca60477919e973f52acad7f61

[Marzen]

They don't....
http://yellow.mynethost.com/~bv12636...973f52acad7f61

True, but I was looking here diy price list, occasionally I'm shocked by the price of some things. The older I get, the more often it occurs. :W