pics of first build plus initial observations

[chazdrumzalot]

I just finished my first build: a 25L dual chamber bass reflex for the W5-1611. After playing around with Jeff Bagby's baffle/room simulator, and using the flat 5 design as a starting point, I eventually built a cabinet with a 20" wide baffle. I hoped to push the baffle step down to where boundary effects boost the sound anyway.

My carpenter friend advised me as I left, "don't plug them in until you've applied the finish, or it will never get done!" Oh well. Naturally I couldn't wait to go through that trouble so I threw some damping in and ran the wires through the port. This is the first time I've gotten to hear the W5s running full range without a sub. So far the sound is as I'd hoped. To me the sound appears quite balanced, although I can hear some resonances which show through on piano recordings most. Bass and dynamics are sufficient for most music, but I'm still planning to add some 1 ohm resistors and see if I can't get them down to 40hz as was recommended by Hobby Hi-Fi. As of now they cannot produce the lowest notes on some of the electronica i tested them with, nor do they even seem inclined to try. But overall I expect these speakers to sound their best on small ensemble acoustic music and jazz where big dynamics and deep bass are not all-important.

I learned a lot about good cabinet making with this project, most notably that making a good cabinet is time consuming! Also, apple ply is expensive stuff.

[ultrakaz]

Congratulations. Great build! Now that is a purist "full range" speaker. No sub, no added tweet and no correction filter. Wide baffle to address the baffle step loss and double reflex to extend the bass. Tweek slowly and enjoy the process and more importantly the music.

[Godzilla]

>>> although I can hear some resonances which show through on piano recordings most.

They look very nice. I think other's have commented on resonances with different drivers in double reflex designs. If your intention is to use a sub one day perhaps a simpler, smaller ported box might work better and without the resonances you currently hear. Enjoy them! Btw, i have tried many boxes with the same driver over the years. It's part of getting a better understanding how different cabinets contribute to the overall sound... dbr, bh, ob, ported, sealed... tqwt... the list goes on!
Zilla

[norman bates]

nice, i like the baffle is wider than the enclosure.

[chazdrumzalot]

Thanks Ultrakaz, that was the point entirely!

Zilla, the resonances I refer to are rather high up the audio spectrum so I doubt they are attributable to the ports; but are they a result of the cabinet walls or the driver? I'm not yet sure. (The cabinet is not at all large and it has two horizontal braces.)

At this point I've lined the walls with a combination of egg crate foam and 5/8" foam from madisound, and even added a bit of acousta-stuf. After completing the damping and starting up one speaker by itself, I get the impression that the bass has deepened somewhat. I honestly doubt that I'll experiment much with the damping at this point.

[picowallspeaker]

Hi ,
I'm not sure if the (eggcrate) foam needs to be in place on the front baffle ( behind ..of course !!)

[grindstone]

congrats and nice work. not sure but i'm thinking your drivers are still floating? that will change the bottom (and maybe the resonance character) a bit, too, after you get done

[chazdrumzalot]

Yes, they're still floating (merely taped), and the back is still unsealed! So I suppose the sound I'm getting now is still quite compromised. I intend to buy some blu tack to seal the driver and the back to the cabinet and make it air-tight. But before I glue down the damping, seal the cab, and install the binding posts, I gotta finish the damn thing! Oof...I hate waiting.

[zman01]

Congrats on your build!

So Chaz, when are you going to say "Speaker hoye geche"?

-Zia

[GM]

Any leaks in vented cabs, especially multiple resonant chamber alignments, pretty much totally ruins the tuning [raises Fb], so adjusting damping is generally a waste of time and will tend to be over-damped once the cab is sealed up. Also, just taping in a driver adds a major extra loss of acoustic efficiency, further over-damping the system, so little wonder there's no bass to speak of.

GM