I'm new here and have a special project

[Douglas Ingram]

Hi everyone. My Name is Doug Ingram in Lorette, Manitoba, Canada. I'm happy to have found this forum and think that its a great pace to pose this query.

I have a special project that I am at the early stages of planning. I am quite take with the early 1960's Claritone Project G. They are very beautiful examples of mid century modern design. My son and I would like to each build one for ourselves, two sot that we don't have to fight to the death when he eventually moves out...

The electronics are yet to be decided, the cabinet work will be the easy part as I am a full time woodworker. I feel that the speaker will be the most immediately challenging part.

This is what I have to work with. The speakers are built into 18" globes, mounted on arms situating them on either side of the cabinet. The globes are two hemispheres, the back is solid and hold all the guts, the front is basically a decorative grill. Originally the front hemisphere consists of two perforated, spun aluminum pieces, an inner "silver" one and an outer anodized black one. The original speaker driver was a Warfdale Super 10. I don't have any info on how it was utilized.

I don't feel any great loyalty to the original speaker design or electronics. The only requirement from me is that the whole thing needs to fit within the 18" diameter of the globe.

If anyone is not familiar with the Clairtone you can find out more here:

Welcome to Clairtone

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[planet10]

Welcome to the forum from the Left Coast.

Are you recreating this or building a modern "replica" from scratch?

What i'm fishing for is the internal volume of the sphere.

dave

[barackuda]

Hi Douglas,

I think this is absolutely great idea it keeps the creative juices flowing.

Dave, I don't think the enclosure is sphere, more like a half sphere, and the front grill is creating the other half.

Douglas, if you plan on having sphere enclosures like this

then I think the best way is to get hold of styrofoam balls in the needed diameter, and fiberglass it.Well the best way for me
I'm doing the same, just going home from business trip to get hold of some sheets
If its only half sphere enclosure, there are other methods, and I'm sure as a woodworker you know your way around the saw

Best of luck, looking forward to see pictures

Danny

P.S.: internal volume of sphere = 3,1415 X 1.3333333333333 X r3
internal diameter of 18" gives 28,7L volume

[planet10]

Originally Posted by barackuda

P.S.: internal volume of sphere = 3,1415 X 1.3333333333333 X r3
internal diameter of 18" gives 28,7L volume

Nanko,

The walls need some thickness, and if it is a half or partial sphere that will shrink it even more -- i was waiting for some of that info before doing the math

dave

[barackuda]

Dave I know you know your way around the volumes
that was meant to be just a help to others

[planet10]

Originally Posted by barackuda

that was meant to be just a help to others

[Douglas Ingram]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies and not thinking that this is crazy!

I am not being slavish to the original, but I do want to be faithful to the spirit and the "look" of the design. The cabinet, stand, and globes, will have the same look. I am flexible with the internals and the speaker construction.

I can adjust the actual globe dimensions at this point, whether the internal or external dimension is 18" doesn't matter. Right now its just a theoretical line. I can make the structure anyway that I want, let the imaginations run wild here.

I can push the speaker enclosure to the front of the, or not. The front of the globe is the limit. I've been toying with the idea of putting a driver close to the front and using a folded concentric cone using the outer surface of the back globe as the final turn.

Something like this sketch. Its nothing serious just putting down an idea I had while laying in bed the other night. The bottom right circle, seen in profile.

[barackuda]

Doug, I don;t think that will be necessary.There are many drivers that work well in closed boxes/enclosures. Just ask the right person for opinion
I personally will go probably with the Fostex 168E Sigma in closed 14L, 30cm diameter sphere-ish enclosure. I have to figure out hot to construct the last shaped part

Will be monitoring this, looks interesting

danny

[Studio Au]

The "Voodoo" of Vibration in Loudspeakers

TNT's Ikea metal bowls would look really nice perched on a shiny stainless steel frame , i think there only 36cms in diameter though. With a good 8" full range driver, matched with some good woodwork for the cabinet could look spectacular.

Unless your using valve amps or subwoofers in the cabinet, won't it be a large empty box? Looks just right for some vinyl storage?

[Douglas Ingram]

Thanks for the replies and the advice.

"Just ask the right person for the opinion"! That's it right there, gotta know the right person to ask. I thought that I'd start here.

I read through the IKEA bowl speaker thread, interesting and cool looking. From what I gather those are being used as a subwoofer, no? The IKEA bowls look great, but are too small.

I expect that I'll be making my bowls for the speaker globes.

Don't anybody hold there breath on this project, its going to be a long term build, and I've got a TON of other obligations on the go. I do believe in getting an early start, and that's what I'm doing now.