I have 4 TG9s looking for a project. I guess this is it. My sub is almost ready and I will be using FreeDSP as a crossover.
After spending time with both I think the TG is the better driver on it's own. How it would work in that configuration I don't know. You would figure they would have used the better driver in the original based on price alone, but it's not always possible to know how something's going to work until you've tried it. I'm going to do it.
Yeah, these little guys are quite surprising, especially when you consider the cost. Including the subwoofer and subwoofer amp, I have somewhere around $100-$150 and consider this to be one of the best bang for the buck systems I have, and I have more than a couple speaker systems/pairs.
Fun stuff!
Mike
Fun stuff!
Mike
I am currently building a pair of these. Have all the wood cut and drivers and caps on hand. I could have had them done already but my OCD insisted on rabbeted corners and can't really run the router outdoors by the time I get home at night. Home depot here used to have the birch ply with more plies but the stuff they get now is crap. De-lams easy, splinters like crazy and has voids on the interior plies. I'll be using Doug-fir marine ply from here on out unless I can find better at a dedicated lumber yard.
I ended up going with a 15 degree angle on the top because it just looked better to my eye from where I sit. Ended up cutting the holes in the sides with the band saw and patched the blade entries back with epoxy/cabosil. Wasn't worth making a router pattern for. I'll sand and round over those holes before assembly. Also used a solid run of ply for the entire back so that it has the same reveals as the sides.
May change the enclosures once I figure out if I like them and what makes them tick, since I am not sure how I feel about "cloning" things.
I ended up going with a 15 degree angle on the top because it just looked better to my eye from where I sit. Ended up cutting the holes in the sides with the band saw and patched the blade entries back with epoxy/cabosil. Wasn't worth making a router pattern for. I'll sand and round over those holes before assembly. Also used a solid run of ply for the entire back so that it has the same reveals as the sides.
May change the enclosures once I figure out if I like them and what makes them tick, since I am not sure how I feel about "cloning" things.
The boxes I made have been donated to another member for experimenting with. But before they left here I tried using the capacitor as above, both drivers in series, with the 20uF cap across the lower driver (yes, the ported one). I didn't do any measurements and only listened to one speaker on mono, but I was left with the impression of much better sound compared to drivers in parallel and the upper one with cap in series. Still needed EQ (from JRiver), but the balance was better.
One downside I observed was that the upper driver was moving more than the lower (ported) one, but I was not high passing and had no sub. With a sub and high passing the TC9s, the cone movement would be better managed.
Graham
Hello all,
I made these and have enjoyed the sound they make. I have the bottom driver in a 5.5 x 5.5" internal (.096 cu ft), ported box. Medium fill, with a port (1") length of 2.6". Front baffle is 12" tall. I used 1/2" bb ply for top sides and back, 3/4" for the front baffle. I chose to use a 20uf. I cross them over to the sub (8") at 120hz. Currently I am building two voxel subs to run one per side. I will cross them higher (dayton 70 plate amp).
There is some magic here, however I find them lacking in the very top and the very bottom of their intended range. I will make new cabinets for these, increasing the volume to 2? liters sealed. Any suggestions for ideal sealed volume would be appreciated! So, to wrap... these sound good enough to keep experimenting with! I recieved some good advice and direction here, so please ask me any questions during your build.
Xduo x3, schiit passive preamp, nad 2100pe
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I have so far made the open section 'somewhat' smaller, relative to the sealed section. I also put a 45 deg bevel on the back side of the drivers being I used the crap 17 something mm 'birch' plywood. Home Depot's broke me from buying anymore plywood from them. I knew better. It was convenient and on the way home from work so I took a chance. Had to repair large voids on some of the edges with cedar shims and glue before I could even proceed. The face veneers are ridiculously thin as well. I am used to thin face veneers on marine ply, but this is borderline paper. I just left enough space in the top with a little more than enough room for the wire connections. Have no idea if this will make a difference.
Also didn't center the drivers in their spaces. Favored the slanted ceiling of the box with lower driver with the flat edge of the driver frame about .75" below it. Top driver is more centered in it's space.
Also didn't center the drivers in their spaces. Favored the slanted ceiling of the box with lower driver with the flat edge of the driver frame about .75" below it. Top driver is more centered in it's space.
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finally made a decent looking speaker!
I finally got around to making a reasonably good looking speaker. Three cans of fancy, sparkly paint, three cans of clear and black stands. It is the aforementioned Tang Band/Galaxy Audio combo and it sounds just perfect even without a capacitor which I do intend to try. There is no shortage of bass either because I have two infinite baffle subs in the wall. My wife is awesome! And the living room entertainment center backs to a bedroom closet so I went for it.
I'm very very happy. The sound is wonderful. Am I satisfied? No, probably always be searching for ways to make better sound, but happy nonetheless.
I finally got around to making a reasonably good looking speaker. Three cans of fancy, sparkly paint, three cans of clear and black stands. It is the aforementioned Tang Band/Galaxy Audio combo and it sounds just perfect even without a capacitor which I do intend to try. There is no shortage of bass either because I have two infinite baffle subs in the wall. My wife is awesome! And the living room entertainment center backs to a bedroom closet so I went for it.
I'm very very happy. The sound is wonderful. Am I satisfied? No, probably always be searching for ways to make better sound, but happy nonetheless.
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I too managed to assemble and fire these up tonight. Held back on any finish treatments until I could hear them. Had some 1" ID fiberglass tubing I had forgotten about from a ham radio antenna I helped someone build some years ago so I used a piece of it for the ports, which are 2" long. I did install the 20uf cap between the drivers. A reasonable amount of polyfil in the lower section.
I am actually kind of shocked on how decent these things sound. I have them crossed over at 120hz with a single UM12-22 12" sub. I use the EQ for my soundcard but it doesn't take much to tune these things where they need it. I can definitely hear the potential for near field use but they are actually doing a pretty decent job in my room. The mids are tight on these things and the upper range is not too shabby either. Definitely worth more than the sum of their parts.
Listening to Tom Scott & The L.A. Express's album "Smoking Section," which can run a little hot on the midrange and these things are coping with it rather well. Horns and vocals are actually pretty accurately translated.
Thanks to the MikeJennings (sp?) guy for suggesting these. Fun build with a nice per cost result. I honestly expected not to like them.
They could 'kind of' use a tweeter but it's right at that nit pick line with such things and on some music those highs come across just fine so it's really hard to say.
I am actually kind of shocked on how decent these things sound. I have them crossed over at 120hz with a single UM12-22 12" sub. I use the EQ for my soundcard but it doesn't take much to tune these things where they need it. I can definitely hear the potential for near field use but they are actually doing a pretty decent job in my room. The mids are tight on these things and the upper range is not too shabby either. Definitely worth more than the sum of their parts.
Listening to Tom Scott & The L.A. Express's album "Smoking Section," which can run a little hot on the midrange and these things are coping with it rather well. Horns and vocals are actually pretty accurately translated.
Thanks to the MikeJennings (sp?) guy for suggesting these. Fun build with a nice per cost result. I honestly expected not to like them.
They could 'kind of' use a tweeter but it's right at that nit pick line with such things and on some music those highs come across just fine so it's really hard to say.
That's where I was with mine so I tried substituting the top TC9 with a TG9. It helped in the top end, but it lost that incredible imaging and midrange clarity and I wasn't able to get it back.
After about 4 hrs of continuous listening to them, user break-in being what it is, I decided I liked them as they are. They are great little speakers. They are surprisingly difficult to locate in the room and are a treat near field as well. I had just come off of a session with the Fusion Tempests too, so there was an adjustment period in play with my initial assessment.
I plan on giving them a workout tonight as well.
I'm gathering bits for some Nola Brio clones using the great info in this thread. My listening space is small and I thought it would be fun to build a small sub. I love the low cost of the TC9 ans I'm now looking to find an equally good 'bangs for bucks' driver for the sub. Any suggestions?