As I mentioned I'd do, I went bowl shopping at Target. I'd never been in one before, and it was like shopping in Carlsbad Caverns. They had the black rubberwood bowl (11" diameter) for ~$20. They also have a larger, very attractive bowl on sale for $17 (but not for long). I got two of each. There were a bunch of attractive smaller bowls (good for the 3" driver) for ~$10 each. The flat on the black rubberwood bowl is definitely large enough as is to fit a 4" driver and one of my dome tweeters, so I'm set there. I'll check the larger bowl later, as its flat is smaller. I think it'll handle the 4" driver, but I'd have to mount the tweeter in some sort of "eye" protuberance. Next step is to figure out how to plane down the bowl edges - more on that later. What I also need to do now is fill the bowls with sand or water to get a good estimate of internal volume, so I can go back and tweak my ported enclosure spreadsheets. Fun stuff...
I went to Target but did not see as many bowls as you did. You must have a better store. One thing I did notice was that the smaller bowls were slightly different sizes. I tried comparing a couple and could not find two that would match up close enough. The store I bought mine at also had a bamboo bowl but only one. I need to see if they could get more so I could try one out. A bamboo bowl for a bamboo speaker. 
p.s. I think it would be cool to see a 15" bowl speaker.
John
p.s. I think it would be cool to see a 15" bowl speaker.
John
The thing you need to do if only one item is on display is grab an employee and ask for a stock check. They can tell you if there are more in stock and get it for you if there are.... That's what I diid for the 15" bowls. I'm going back tomorrow and collar two more while they're still on sale.
Ok, I did some volume measurements of the two Target bowls I have using water. The 15" bowl is ~11.5 liters volume, and the 11" bowl is 5.5 liters. The volume is of course doubled for two bowls put together. The little 4" Tang Band drivers are a much better match for the smaller bowls. The larger bowls are too peaky at the low end. They will need a driver with much higher Vas and lower resonant frequency. I will proceed accordingly.
If I eventually use the 15" bowls for a project, I was thinking of pairing them up with the Silver Flute 6.5" wool fiber mid-woofers (W17RC-38-08). The curves look good. The driver would take up almost all of the flat portion of the bowl, so the tweeter would need to be mounted on an "evebrow" piece. The Hi-Vi bullet dome tweeters available at P.E. would be easy to use in this regard, but have been described as a bit harsh and spitty. Another alternative would be to use one of the Apex Jr. ribbons mounted on a little outrigger. Can anyone who has used either of these tweeters comment on their sound?
SDX7 is best put into context by considering it to be the new & improved Extremis 6.8.
I love that it works sealed in 7-21 litres... the large end with careful room placement should balance very well with room gain, to get you into the 20s with minimum group delay & critical Q.
We are just now working up the 1st box -- a 14 litre sealed with a 2.1 plate amp to be mated up with µFonkens.
And a whole host of designs in the queue.
The full data sheet should be done later today and off to Bob for final approval.
dave
I love that it works sealed in 7-21 litres... the large end with careful room placement should balance very well with room gain, to get you into the 20s with minimum group delay & critical Q.
We are just now working up the 1st box -- a 14 litre sealed with a 2.1 plate amp to be mated up with µFonkens.
And a whole host of designs in the queue.
The full data sheet should be done later today and off to Bob for final approval.
dave
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Back from the dead - the first bowl speaker I'm trying is made with the Tang Band W4-654SE drivers. Parts Express doesn't have these any more, but they are still listed at the Tang Band Web site, and an Ebay seller is offering them at an attractive price. I'll be pairing them with an SB Acoustics tweeter I found at Madisound, using a single pole crossover. The bowls I'm using were found at Target. I didn't see any of them my last trip, but they are still available online at Target 's web site. Search at Target.com for "rubberwood bowl", and you'll find suitable candidates. The bowl I'm using is about 12" in diameter, and measured (using water) at 5.5 liters volume. The wood is very substantial in thickness, and sholdn't ake too much damping to quiet it down.
The bowls as received have a sloping/chamfered edge. A belt sander works very nicely to flatten out the edge. I'll use some coarse sandpaper stapled to a piece of plywood to work the bowl rims to a better semblance of flatness after the initial shaping with the belt sander. The bowls are somewhat inconsistent in size - not surprising, as they are built up by hand from rubberwood scrap. The edges cann be fairly well matched with a little bit of extra work in the initial sanding of the bowl rims. I'll be using a transition piece with some brass trim to hide the join, so exact matching is not essential for me. Color is also not consistent from bowl to bowl, so some sanding/refinishing will be necessary. Still, a plain black stain with the brass trim piece should look pretty classy.
The bowls as received have a sloping/chamfered edge. A belt sander works very nicely to flatten out the edge. I'll use some coarse sandpaper stapled to a piece of plywood to work the bowl rims to a better semblance of flatness after the initial shaping with the belt sander. The bowls are somewhat inconsistent in size - not surprising, as they are built up by hand from rubberwood scrap. The edges cann be fairly well matched with a little bit of extra work in the initial sanding of the bowl rims. I'll be using a transition piece with some brass trim to hide the join, so exact matching is not essential for me. Color is also not consistent from bowl to bowl, so some sanding/refinishing will be necessary. Still, a plain black stain with the brass trim piece should look pretty classy.
Next up is a design using the 15" bowls I copped at Target the end of last year. They are way too big for the 4" Tang Bands at 11.5 liters apiece, but just right for the Tang Band W6-789S 6.5" woofer, recently (and maybe still) on sale at PE (have at it, I got mine...). The high frequency performance of this woofer looks remarkably smooth, making crossover pretty easy. The woofer will take up all the room on the flat face of the bowl, making it necessary to place the tweeter in an "eyebrow" or on an outrigger. I was thinking of using the largest of the little round Dayton tweeters, as the large one may have enough low frequency extension to make a simple crossover possible. Any thoughts about this (especially regarding optimal tweeter placement)?
hi there hear are my bowl speakers yet to have the cone fitted I am lisening to them as I type this and I think thay sound great i'm using the 4" tang bang
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=124245
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=124245
Here's mine (W3-871SC). I used a bass module with aluminum Parts Express 7" drivers in their finished cabinets. I am using a DC2496 to cross them over around 200 Hz. I love the way they sound and mounting them to the wall helped fill in the lower end of the bowls.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I might as well join the party. Here are my bowls, I didn't go with the completely round look though. I used the RS100-4. I'll probably put something around the seem and I need to trim up a little of the foamy oozing out. They sound pretty good, but I think they'd sing better if I weren't running them off the stock sound card on my laptop.
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