DIY 3 way active crossover: as Christmas Holiday Project

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Okay Sudhir.
Though the amp setup is not aesthetically pleasing yet, but as per your request and with the excuse of my being a DIY noob, here are some photos. :)
I added 3 potentiometers, instead of the preset variable resistors, to the front panel of the preamp section in a separate cabinet. This is mainly because I have no audio oscillator and a good multimeter to check the signal level as suggested in the site. So I am doing it with constant trial and error method and trying to guess what is optimal for me. But I can say that now I have a way better control over the individual BASS, MID and TREBLE range.

Earlier I said that the Car Speakers are good in a near field listening environment. They offer very good clarity for sure but, to my utter surprise I've found that normal speakers are better in my enclosure as far as the creation of sound stage is concerned. I used two full range speakers for the mid-range from an old and obsolete music system. Please note that this is my purely subjective opinion after a lot of listening from DIY standpoint without having access to any measurement tools.

Thank you.
Thats a good start from a diy newcomer. I also use the same type of enclosure for amps. For front of the amps and xover you can use mica sheets used in electrical switch board. You can get it cut and drilled according to your need from local electrical shop guys. You should use volume control on the amps also because if you want to connect them directly to some other source,they will create problem .That full range speakers are very suitable for mid range.Tell us some thing more about your floorstanders...it diy or what ?
Happy listening
thanks
sudhir.
 
Some examples of my work
regards
sudhir.
 

Attachments

  • 100 watt complete (Copy).JPG
    100 watt complete (Copy).JPG
    490.5 KB · Views: 216
  • 100wattamp (Copy).JPG
    100wattamp (Copy).JPG
    495.5 KB · Views: 199
  • diypcb (Copy).JPG
    diypcb (Copy).JPG
    510 KB · Views: 179
  • quasi for begineers amp (Copy).JPG
    quasi for begineers amp (Copy).JPG
    490 KB · Views: 164
Amidst our several conversations in IMs, a dear fellow junior member and newcomer to the DIY world expressed his dissatisfaction with the toner transfer method while making a PCB with ICs.
So I am posting these photos of the PCBs that I designed with the freeware version of Eagle and drilled and etched at home, just to show him my results and as an encouragement to him and other newcomers who need to see.

1. First I use toner transfer method, then minutely examine for the missing/broken traces if any.
2. Then I drill it with a very cheap hand drill using 0.5mm tiny drill bits.
3. Then with a permanent marker I fix them if I find any problem.
4. I etched them at the last stage.

The main advantage of following this procedure is that you get all your drill holes perfectly centred with properly fixed pads.

Thank you. :)
 

Attachments

  • home made pcbs .jpg
    home made pcbs .jpg
    173 KB · Views: 111
Last edited:
... For front of the amps and xover you can use mica sheets used in electrical switch board. ............

Tell us some thing more about your floorstanders...it diy or what ?

sudhir.

Thank you for the suggestion Sudir. That's a great idea indeed. I will try and report you back.

Regarding the Floorstanders, It's all DIY as usual. :)

Here how it all started ......

I got some extra ply wood pieces after a long pending wood work in the house. Earlier I had a plan to put them to some other use.

Meanwhile I was reading about many freely available speaker plans on the net. So I started making a DIY floor stander pair reading so many good things about them. :)

I took resort to the 3d sandbox of the local standalone Opensimulator Installation which provided me ample scope and flexibility to do unlimited and effortless experiments to my heart's content with various speaker designs visually. And I did a mix and match of some free designs.

Still I'm learning a lot from my several mistakes while making this.

Although the touch-up has been deferred due to my recurrent serious health issues and the successive bed ridden conditions, these gems sound awesome by providing a crystal clear reproduction. They can even produce roof shattering, thundering Bass too when the amp is cranked up.

Thank you. :)
 

Attachments

  • Speaker plan in opensim.jpg
    Speaker plan in opensim.jpg
    219.9 KB · Views: 99
  • FLOOR STANDERS MAKING.jpg
    FLOOR STANDERS MAKING.jpg
    478.6 KB · Views: 102
Last edited:
Hello CSOM, which speakers are you using in your floor standers ?

Sudhir,
For the Woofers two Panasonic 8 Ohm 6.5 inches Mid bass ones.

For the tweeters, Panasonic 4 Ohm 2.5 Inches

Recently I also added two Robertson 8 Ohm 3 inches Tweeters.

And for the midrange I discarded the car speakers as mentioned in that post and using the full range speakers from an obsolete Philips 3 in one that I bought long ago.
 
Sudhir,
I personally think that it's the best to use the speakers from the same brand in your setup to obtain better overall balance especially when you are an Indian DIY enthusiast and world famous Drivers are either extremely costly for the average hobbyist or simply unavailable here.

Earlier I helped a friend repair his 2 way system made with local brand Sweton. The passive network coil used in that system had a really good price/performance ratio.
 
So far I listened to more or less some 9 brands( mostly Indian ) in different DIY and commercial systems since I got into DIY.
My personal observation is that in India, costlier speakers do not necessarily mean that they are better sounding. As you yourself are very well aware that it depends on the enclosure design, preamp, proper corrective enhancement of the Equalizer, listening field etc. and a cheap brand can display an outstanding performance in many cases.

I just wanted to share my personal experience as a well-wisher before you spend a fortune on the speakers again in your next DIY project.

So happy building :)
 
Amidst our several conversations in IMs, a dear fellow junior member and newcomer to the DIY world expressed his dissatisfaction with the toner transfer method while making a PCB with ICs.
So I am posting these photos of the PCBs that I designed with the freeware version of Eagle and drilled and etched at home, just to show him my results and as an encouragement to him and other newcomers who need to see.

1. First I use toner transfer method, then minutely examine for the missing/broken traces if any.
2. Then I drill it with a very cheap hand drill using 0.5mm tiny drill bits.
3. Then with a permanent marker I fix them if I find any problem.
4. I etched them at the last stage.

The main advantage of following this procedure is that you get all your drill holes perfectly centred with properly fixed pads.

Thank you. :)

boards prepared by toner transfer look very decent mr som :)
 
Please share some more info, plans etc for these floor standers...

Sudhir,

Here is the second part in the attachment. I used opensim 3d sandbox to make things clear with my level best effort.
Post your feedback please.

This design is working very nicely in my listening environment. But it may not be an ideal one, I'm afraid. I am learning so that I can optimize it later on.

All the very best. :)
 

Attachments

  • DIY SPEAKER PLANNED IN OPENSIM.jpg
    DIY SPEAKER PLANNED IN OPENSIM.jpg
    913 KB · Views: 239
Last edited:
Sudhir,

Here is the second part in the attachment. I used opensim 3d sandbox to make things clear with my level best effort.
Post your feedback please.

This design is working very nicely in my listening environment. But it may not be an ideal one, I'm afraid. I am learning so that I can optimize it later on.

All the very best. :)
These speakers are original panasonic ? from where you sourced it ? and about the design of florstanders there is no partition between mid and woofer...I suspect that's why your mids were not sounding great ?
regards
sudhir
 
These speakers are original panasonic ? from where you sourced it ? and about the design of florstanders there is no partition between mid and woofer...I suspect that's why your mids were not sounding great ?
regards
sudhir

Hi Sudhir,
I have not used photos of my speakers in the mid and tweeter in this 3d model posted earlier. They are just one photo with different texture offsets. This is just a quick and dirty 3d representation to give you a rough idea of the plan, size and the inner side of the floor standers as per your earlier request.

But you know even if there is no partition between mid and woofer, the midrange is really very detailed and great sounding, at least to my ears after I experimented with different speakers. Each instrument or vocal is so unprecedentedly distinct now! And now I can control them on-the-fly more with the X-over.

I have no camera to post good photos and the phone is causing problem right at this moment. I will post photos of the each type of speakers very soon. Just give me some time. I couldn't go to purchase the speakers as I am not very good health wise. I sent a friend to buy some speakers from Chandni Chawk. They are very very cheap.... some 65 to 235 INR max (i.e. 1.18 USD to 4.25 USD approximately ).. hence probably refurbished but perfectly suitable for my budget and experiment. I will buy some good speakers when I can save some money in the future.

Please do share your plans and ideas so that I can improve myself.

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Dear csom,

Its a bit OT, but, i want to know, you are using 4xtda 2050 in stereo configuration,
each tda 2050 for 35w output should be put up @ 18-0-18 V transformer @2A?
but in your circuit, i see it being driven by 12-0-12 transformer which looks like a puny sized(pardon me) max 2A?

Dont you think to put up your amp @ full potential you really need a bigger transformer?

12-0-12 @2a is barely sufficient for one tda 2050 and here it is used to run 4?

i can understand if you have very high 88w/db/m sensitive speakers.

but im confused how is mere 2A serving your purpose? do you use it to draw out just a few watts(<<30w)in stereophonic 4 channel combined outs before they clip?
 
1. I don't play loud. So I don't need the monstrous power of the amps to the fullest extent.
2. My floor-stander speakers are placed very close to my listening position.

First I tested the 4 TDA2050 with a 15-0-15, 2 amp transformer as that was at hand at that moment.
And then I tried with 6 TDA2050 amps ( all following the datasheet pcb layout ).
This is inadequate as per datasheet reference. But infact, only 2 amp for all 6 TDA2050 is serving my own purpose very well with high fidelity and also the sound is pretty loud enough for me. And with the use of this 3 way active crossover network, the average power consumption varies, since 2 amplifiers are used to drive the tweeters , 2 for midrange speakers and 2 other for mid-bass .
So I've decided not to upgrade until things break.

You can try with a spare 2 amp transformer and check out the result too.
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.