Munny Build - 2-1/2" Dayton ND65-8(4)

[guangui]

As promised, here is my son's build of speakers. He wanted these speakers since he saw the PE video a couple of months ago. Next month is his school scientific fair, and he had to do a project for it. Obviously, he picked building his own speakers. Though a fun project for a 10 yr old boy it is not a cheap one. These are the materials:

+ 7" Munny Dolls (he will paint them as a cyclops) $20.00 each (2x)
+ Dayton Audio ND65-8 2-1/2" FR Driver $20.00 each (2x)
+ 18 AWG 2-Wire Cable
+ Poly-Fill

2" Dia. holes need to be done in order to fit the drivers. Make sure you measure three times, draw the circles, measure once more, then cut. Munny's are $20.00 each so you don't want to make errors. The hole is supposed to be 2.05", but if you do it exactly 2" it works perfectly as it is a very tight fit. The plastic used for the dolls is high quality and retains memory, so it will seal very well against the driver. To feed the cables I just did a 1/4" hole in the bottom and used a piece of galvanized wire with the cable attached to it. No need to seal the hole, as it will "hug" the cable fine, again the plastic used retains memory.

Though PE recommends using a hot knife to cut thru the plastic, I found that it was a waste of time, and a way to sell you a hot knife (I already had one). IMO, the best method was to mark a cross pattern inside the circle and cut in quarters with an X-Acto knife; I have a cheap set from PE, that has different blades and work wonderfully for this. Others on You Tube use a hair blow dryer to soften the plastic and cut with X-Acto. My recommendation is to do 2 or 3 passes with X-Acto, one to mark, one to go deeper, and a third one for the final cut. BTW, I don't recommend a 10 yr old handling an X-Acto knife, so he marked and I cut.

Here are some pictures, I will post the finished speakers once my son paints them. I will solder terminals to the cable driver end, so he can attach himself to the driver.

[xrk971]

Nice looking speakers but I agree that it's a little pricey for those dolls. How do they sound?

[guangui]

Originally Posted by xrk971

Nice looking speakers but I agree that it's a little pricey for those dolls. How do they sound?

The dolls are for DIY painters and toy builders. Sincerely they are high quality plastic, very well made. And I looked and looked for another 2-1/2" driver, but none with the specs of the Dayton, very similar to Audience, but Audience are not available in 2-1/2".

Don't know how they sound yet, my son has to paint them prior to final assembly.