Luthierguy,
Scott has already provided his guidance on surface mounting the Alpair 11MS on the baffle.
Just to add, you will need to chamfer the inside of the driver cutout - please refer to the attached pic as an example.
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Hello Luthierguy:
Here are a few pictures of my build.
It may help answer some of your questions.
I used solid Maple and inserted Pacific Yew as accent stripes. Driver is recessed flush to the front baffle. Upper rear part of horn mouth is smooth and flush to the top panel. I used cheap plastic cups for the cable connection. I like the 3/4 inch spacing on the cup plugs as it allows me to use a 2 wire banana plug for easy speaker exchange. I put felt pads on the bottom to protect the living room floors.
I hope this helps
Here are a few pictures of my build.
It may help answer some of your questions.
I used solid Maple and inserted Pacific Yew as accent stripes. Driver is recessed flush to the front baffle. Upper rear part of horn mouth is smooth and flush to the top panel. I used cheap plastic cups for the cable connection. I like the 3/4 inch spacing on the cup plugs as it allows me to use a 2 wire banana plug for easy speaker exchange. I put felt pads on the bottom to protect the living room floors.
I hope this helps
Wow SCD! Those are beautiful! Were those posted before? If so, I must have missed a page or two. I thought I hit them all. Nice work. When you use solid wood, what do you do for the internal pieces? I hadn't thought about solid wood, but you're making me reconsider. We'll start with some plywood and test the WAF factor.
I am aware of of chamfering the driver cutouts, but thanks for the reminder. Once you get going on something it's easy to get overly eager and forget the simple stuff.
I am aware of of chamfering the driver cutouts, but thanks for the reminder. Once you get going on something it's easy to get overly eager and forget the simple stuff.
Hello again:
I am sure I posted them somewhere, not sure where perhaps the photo thread. Working with solid wood needs a bit of thought and attention. It moves differently than plywoods and can cause you grief if you make a mistake. The internal brace is the same wood yet I made it a bit thinner and used dowel pins to keep it in line during assembly.
My wife really likes them, they look good and sound great.
One of her early comments "I can understand the words with these speakers".
I hope this helps
I am sure I posted them somewhere, not sure where perhaps the photo thread. Working with solid wood needs a bit of thought and attention. It moves differently than plywoods and can cause you grief if you make a mistake. The internal brace is the same wood yet I made it a bit thinner and used dowel pins to keep it in line during assembly.
My wife really likes them, they look good and sound great.
One of her early comments "I can understand the words with these speakers".
I hope this helps
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Yeah the speakers are nice, but check out that sweet stone work.
And the Scott made arbutus floors.
And a pic of one of the mosaics out front. Be nice to see pics of the others/
The whole house is spectacular and Scott’s work.
dave
Hello everybody:
Thanks for nice comments, but..... this thread is about speakers. Okay a bit of a distraction for you.
Here is a bit more info:
The Granite Terrace is one of two made from waste material from a few different Vancouver Island countertop companies. I picked up a reasonably large amount of stone to make them. I took the various odd shapes and sizes and cut them into a pattern of 1 unit, square, 1/2 unit rectangular, and 1/4 unit square. This made a three tile pattern that was then laid on a bed of crushed rock topped with coarse sand. For accent focal features I put a three point Celtic knot in one of the terraces (as per the photos) and a compass rose in the other.
Nuff said about that. You have to come over to see more.
Back to Audio.
My Frugel-Horns are feed by a 6v6 pp Baby Huey. DIY member Daniel (Duo) helped me put the final touches on the amp at one of the last audio festivals at Dave Dlugos' place on the mtn in Victoria where it was auditioned for the first time to positive reviews by most that heard it. I have since added pair of small (8inch) 100W bass units to fill in the bottom octave or so, crossed over at about 100htz.
My wife and I spend a fair bit of time listening to music while enjoying the view out the windows.
Life is good on the 50th parallel.
Thanks again for the nice comments
Thanks for nice comments, but..... this thread is about speakers. Okay a bit of a distraction for you.
Here is a bit more info:
The Granite Terrace is one of two made from waste material from a few different Vancouver Island countertop companies. I picked up a reasonably large amount of stone to make them. I took the various odd shapes and sizes and cut them into a pattern of 1 unit, square, 1/2 unit rectangular, and 1/4 unit square. This made a three tile pattern that was then laid on a bed of crushed rock topped with coarse sand. For accent focal features I put a three point Celtic knot in one of the terraces (as per the photos) and a compass rose in the other.
Nuff said about that. You have to come over to see more.
Back to Audio.
My Frugel-Horns are feed by a 6v6 pp Baby Huey. DIY member Daniel (Duo) helped me put the final touches on the amp at one of the last audio festivals at Dave Dlugos' place on the mtn in Victoria where it was auditioned for the first time to positive reviews by most that heard it. I have since added pair of small (8inch) 100W bass units to fill in the bottom octave or so, crossed over at about 100htz.
My wife and I spend a fair bit of time listening to music while enjoying the view out the windows.
Life is good on the 50th parallel.
Thanks again for the nice comments
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it's time to start experimenting with 2 fxl's and maop's on each side, will compare side by side with no filters and than go from low pass 100Hz to 800Hz by steps of 100Hz by using different caps, the night is gonna be long...My only concern is that they are not 100 identical, I made the 2nd one with 11ms for my dad, but next to mine with maop's they where really far behind, so we decided to upgrade the set with maop's too but the hole was too large so front baffle was needed...It's hard to tell if there is any difference as the 2 set's have not played the same amount of hours, mine is over 800 hours, my dad's one is maybe only 150...damping is not the same as his room creates more bass than mine too...anyway I can try what I have in my mind before I start building a double fhxl...
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Does it need to be kept this close to back wall? will it reduce the depth in soundstage?
first impression after 8 hours of listening...vertical mounting works indeed WAY better, side by side, whatever the low pass filter, or both FR, low pass on the inside or on the outside, I'm allways loosing definition, the image is more blurry in fact I can clearly hear the speakers...not good
Once I place them vertically on each others a bit like in the plan set, it's a total different story, imaging get's even better that with a single driver, and low end is richer but also faster, even mid bass is improved, drum impacts are more detailled...even with the 2 speakers tilted 10° toward each others.
Question for the experts, will it be even better without the tilt like on the 1 piece vertical dual speaker plan, I could try it but I will need to tilt the lower speaker 5° forward and mount the second one on top tilted back 15° and the total stability scares me a bit...but if it's worth testing, why not? Now the speaker distance from each other will not be the same as on the plan set, which I guess will also have an influence on the final result...
Once I place them vertically on each others a bit like in the plan set, it's a total different story, imaging get's even better that with a single driver, and low end is richer but also faster, even mid bass is improved, drum impacts are more detailled...even with the 2 speakers tilted 10° toward each others.
Question for the experts, will it be even better without the tilt like on the 1 piece vertical dual speaker plan, I could try it but I will need to tilt the lower speaker 5° forward and mount the second one on top tilted back 15° and the total stability scares me a bit...but if it's worth testing, why not? Now the speaker distance from each other will not be the same as on the plan set, which I guess will also have an influence on the final result...
Welcome to the world of physics. Human hearing, due quite literally to the configuration of our head, with the ears on the sides, is inherently more sensitive to output lobing on the horizontal rather than the vertical axis. If you've still got them handy, here's an exercise. Put them side by side again, and turn your head 90 degrees (so your ears are vertical). It's not precise as other factors will kick in, but some of that blurring will go.
See my post above: one alternative is to separate them further (on the horizontal) & power the outer speakers independently, at a lower amplitude. Especially when combined with a high pass, that can clean things up somewhat, and in some (some) conditions provide a wider stereo effect. Of course, it depends on your ability to spread them laterally as well!
I can look at a custom box with twin units if you like. I've had a configuration in mind for a little while that might suit. Question: how tall an enclosure is your good lady willing to accept, especially if she is given the choice of finish?
Human hearing, due quite literally to the configuration of our head, with the ears on the sides, is inherently more sensitive to output lobing on the horizontal rather than the vertical axis. If you've still got them handy, here's an exercise. Put them side by side again, and turn your head 90 degrees (so your ears are vertical). It's not precise as other factors will kick in, but some of that blurring will go.See my post above: one alternative is to separate them further (on the horizontal) & power the outer speakers independently, at a lower amplitude. Especially when combined with a high pass, that can clean things up somewhat, and in some (some) conditions provide a wider stereo effect. Of course, it depends on your ability to spread them laterally as well!
I can look at a custom box with twin units if you like. I've had a configuration in mind for a little while that might suit. Question: how tall an enclosure is your good lady willing to accept, especially if she is given the choice of finish?