Recessed front panel for speaker?

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I was thinking if I wanted to push in the front panel and put a mesh in front
of the speaker by putting 4 tacks on the side panels, would that work? Would it be
acoustically incorrect?
Anyway, I saw the following thread...
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/200733-low-level-fullrange-3.html
and was wondering if the following design...
http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeakers/FAL/downloads/VarKalEL-191111.pdf
could be made smaller. I multiplied the numbers by .70 and came up with a size
I really like. It's 142x178x285mm (very roughly 5"x7"x11"). But, I also
found the homedepot.ca website had 11/16x4-1/2x8 feet and 11/16x7-1/4x8feet
wood boards so I figured maybe I could just cut some pieces the right length
like 285mm and wouldn't have to cut the other sides (hehe). I mean using
the 4-1/2" wood for the middle panels and the 7-1/4" for the side panel.
I also think the size might be more compatible with a 3 inch driver instead of 4 inch.
I was thinking of using the Fostex FE83En. What do you think? :) Will the banana
pulp cone do well in a humid environment? (It's only for a first speaker project.) :smash:

Also, do you think you could use aluminium foil to protect a CRT monitor if you choose un-shielded speakers? :scratch2:
 
Never assume that rescaling an enclosure would magically work for other drivers.
Rather make a dedicated design for the driver you have on hand.
In your case, I'd investigate the supposedly superb recent Fostex FF85WK and its simple bass reflex box as proposed by Fostex.
 
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Never assume that rescaling an enclosure would magically work for other drivers.
Rather make a dedicated design for the driver you have on hand.
In your case, I'd investigate the supposedly superb recent Fostex FF85WK and its simple bass reflex box as proposed by Fostex.



thanks for stepping up with that first line - it's come to be a bit of a sore point hereabouts


@fakeout:

a bit of chicken and egg situation here - i.e. deciding on the driver to fit a constrained enclosure size, or finding a design for a chosen driver

but it seems from your post that you're looking for a smaller enclosure size than that in which the CSSEL70 excels

talaert's suggestion of the the new FF85WK is an excellent one, as would the Fountek FR88EX - both can definitely work in boxes around your targeted size, but neither are shielded - this is getting to be a hard feature to find on new production drivers due to the dearth of CRT displays - in fact between 2 TVs at home, and 6 computers at home and work, I haven't had access to a CRT on which to test potential interference problems for at least 5 years.



exactly how humid is the environment? it that's a concern perhaps something like the Mark Audio CHR70.3 might be a better candidate


I'm quite familiar with all 4 drivers mentioned above, and all have their merits - but if I had to chose for a small enclosure, it'd be the Fostex - for me there's no 'sposing as to its performance .


as to recessing the front panel, I'd definitely try to avoid that, particularly on an enclosure this small -

if you want a grille for aesthetic reasons, then a 1/4" thick MDF frame attached by buried magnets or even velcro pads is one approach - if on the other hand you need more "structural protection", then I'd size the enclosure adequately to accommodate an appropriately sized metal grille
 
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frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Never assume that rescaling an enclosure would magically work for other drivers.

This bears emphasis.

rescaling should be defined as "start from scratch using another speaker as an aesthetic exemplar"

If "weather" is an issue then a metal or plastic cone would be suggested. One might also want to avoid any boxes with holes in them (ie bass reflex). In a BR it should be possibleto cover the vent with a thing plastic wrap with little change in performance (how lonf saran wrap would hold up os questionable.

The metal coned FR88ex and Alpair6.2M would be candidates for small boxes althout to get any bass they like to be vented. CHR70 might be the best candidate (you need 5-6 litre)

dave
 
OK, thanks for answering. I'm curious though, if I were to find something in a garage sale etc., and there are no markings on a driver whatsoever, are there ways to test the driver to find out the specs you need to know to design a cabinet?

And, in the case of the Foundtek, Fostex or Mark Audio, if you did know the specs but know you want maximum length of 285mm, then can you put in the numbers in one of those calculators to give you the rest of the dimensions? I know I'm still learning and also started reading at parts express.
 
OK, thanks for answering. I'm curious though, if I were to find something in a garage sale etc., and there are no markings on a driver whatsoever, are there ways to test the driver to find out the specs you need to know to design a cabinet?

And, in the case of the Foundtek, Fostex or Mark Audio, if you did know the specs but know you want maximum length of 285mm, then can you put in the numbers in one of those calculators to give you the rest of the dimensions? I know I'm still learning and also started reading at parts express.


there are members of this forum that do little else but this, and have dozens of enclosure designs for any of the above named current drivers squirreled away in their 'puters, that have either been modeled or proven by successful builds

since you've posted this inquiry at the Full Range section of this forum (as well as elsewhere perhaps), you could do worse than use one of these designs

but whatever you do, don't expect to find consensus on much amongst the various members here and elsewhere, other than to the joy of "DIY" - sooner or later you'll learn what you like, sonically and aesthetically - just try to filter out the rest of the noise
 
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OK, thanks for answering. I'm curious though, if I were to find something in a garage sale etc., and there are no markings on a driver whatsoever, are there ways to test the driver to find out the specs you need to know to design a cabinet?

And, in the case of the Foundtek, Fostex or Mark Audio, if you did know the specs but know you want maximum length of 285mm, then can you put in the numbers in one of those calculators to give you the rest of the dimensions? I know I'm still learning and also started reading at parts express.

Yes there are ways to find out the specs, but it's not something you'll want to do at this stage. You need specific testing setups etc.

A good calculator for simple closed and bass reflex boxes is the freeware winisd. In essence it will need the volume in litres and can then calculate the response.

After that is is still possible that you may want to experiment with correction filters, this leads us too far at this moent.

I do second the recommendation to use one of the many proven designs instead for a first box.
 
Does anyone know the name for the style of the cabinet of the VarKarEl in the second link of my first post? I really like the look and simplicity of that style.

I finally saw another plan for a small cabinet but it's not clear to me which driver it's made for. I'm talking about the uFonken (FF85K uFonken OV9). Was that designed for the CSS FR125SR? I only found one site where it was listed and it was sold out. Haha.
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
The VarKarEl is a variation of one of my miniOnken. I took a CGR (Classic Golden Ratio) and warped the dimensions to suit.

uFonken is for the discontinued FF85k. The current FF85wk fits into the uFonkenWK which differs only in that the vent slot is 12mm high vrs the original's 13mm and the spacer is 1mm wider (17mm). The drawing for the new one will be released when i get the p10-hifi site revised.

Reshaping this requires consideration of the L-shaped vent.

dave
 
I hope I don't annoy with my questions but out of sheer curiosity, would it be possible to test the sound of various drivers on a desk with no cabinet and be able to get an idea of the sound before building a cabinet?

Also, what is the name of this type of cabinet so I can google them?
 

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I hope I don't annoy with my questions but out of sheer curiosity, would it be possible to test the sound of various drivers on a desk with no cabinet and be able to get an idea of the sound before building a cabinet?

totally "nude" won't tell you much at all about performance when fully dressed up (sorta the reverse of other pursuits) - most smaller drivers heard this way will sound like tweeters

Also, what is the name of this type of cabinet so I can google them?
Those are likely of a variety of small back loaded horns that are fabricated with a stacked lamination technique (usually machined by CNC) - the same technique can be scaled to very large cabinets if you like. I've never heard any enclosure fabricated with this method, but regardless of sonic merits a particular example might have, as a genus I consider them to be almost criminally wasteful of material.
 
For the original poster: Tang Band has a speaker kit with enclosure and all, it might be exactly what you want to start:

TmpSWF

In general: for a first build, I recommend to use a proven design with guaranteed happy outcome, and start experimenting afterwards when you begin to understand the complexities better.
 
For the original poster: Tang Band has a speaker kit with enclosure and all, it might be exactly what you want to start:

TmpSWF

In general: for a first build, I recommend to use a proven design with guaranteed happy outcome, and start experimenting afterwards when you begin to understand the complexities better.



I couldn't agree more with the second part - but with all respect , regarding the MDF stacked lamination kit, see my earlier post
 
loudspeaker reviews are in my opinion always subjective. Yes, a frequency plot is useful, but does not necessarily always mean that you'll like the speaker. Perhaps a waterfall diagram would be more useful for object feedback.
I say, as I did before, if you find a proven design with the Fountek or Fostex (or also check out Markaudio and Tang Band based designs) that appeals more than the others for whatever reason, just go for it.
 
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