I just acquired a Tivoli Model 2 radio in broken condition, fixed it and liked the concept, although looking at Tivoli's build quality and reading the web about their famous lack of service and a price list that makes your eyes water, thought 'I can do better'.
So, I want to make some small, ported bookshelf speakers to take a 2"-2.5" driver.
I have already sorted the music source and amp, but rather than have it as a third box, I would like to integrate everything in one cabinet, with a satellite speaker.
My available wattage is about 25.
I would like to make the cabinets out of solid hardwood, with some sort of garolite/phenolic/impregnated fibreglass as front/rear panels.
And being at the ***-end of the world, speakers are either unavailable or bloody expensive, so something cheap as a driver is the best solution
The Tivoli has a very simple design and very rudimentary speaker, from the looks, so I am sure something, even something very simple, will improve on their design.
The Tivoli cabinets are 210mm x 110 x 135 with a small rear-facing port of around 25mm dia and 70mm deep.
The existing speaker is 2" dia.
Any tips or links gratefully received.
So, I want to make some small, ported bookshelf speakers to take a 2"-2.5" driver.
I have already sorted the music source and amp, but rather than have it as a third box, I would like to integrate everything in one cabinet, with a satellite speaker.
My available wattage is about 25.
I would like to make the cabinets out of solid hardwood, with some sort of garolite/phenolic/impregnated fibreglass as front/rear panels.
And being at the ***-end of the world, speakers are either unavailable or bloody expensive, so something cheap as a driver is the best solution
The Tivoli has a very simple design and very rudimentary speaker, from the looks, so I am sure something, even something very simple, will improve on their design.
The Tivoli cabinets are 210mm x 110 x 135 with a small rear-facing port of around 25mm dia and 70mm deep.
The existing speaker is 2" dia.
Any tips or links gratefully received.
I would move up to 3.5in drivers. Are you fixed on using same box size as Tivoli or is there room for a bigger box. Bigger is always better for bass. Tell use what brand of drivers you can get readily. Peerless, Tang Band, Faital Pro, Fountek, Dayton?
If you can get Faital Pro 3FE22 that is ideal for a smaller volume bass reflex with great sensitivity.
Alternatively if you can get Dayton RS100 or RS100P those are great too for a small table radio. They look nice too.
If you can get Faital Pro 3FE22 that is ideal for a smaller volume bass reflex with great sensitivity.
Alternatively if you can get Dayton RS100 or RS100P those are great too for a small table radio. They look nice too.
So my wife was right!
Yes, cabinet size isn't fixed, but I do want to make a counter radio, not a pair of bookshelf speakers and an amp.
LOL. Pretty much anything I want would be cheaper to import than to buy from the wholesalers here. So, I can probably get anything you can get online.
Cool, thanks. More than I (initially) wanted to spend, but not so much more.
Frankly I'm just barely keeping my Tivoli tabletop radio. It sounds like ***. I've heard worse but if you look at the price tag and the guy who supposedly designed it it should sound so much better. The bass is way too bloaty even with a stuffed port, there's a tonne of net noise, and the resolution of the sound is not a lot better than some of the cheap clones.
So yeah, it wouldn't take much to improve.
I'd stick with the 2.5 or 2 driver. In a kitchen environment you are going to move much more around the speaker than in a typical livingroom so the driver needs to have good off axis characteristics. Also you are not going to coax a lot of bottom out of a cabinet the size of which you are contemplating anyway, no matter the driver.
Off the top of my head maybe something like this https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-2-fullrange/vifa-ne85w-2.5-fullrange-driver-4-ohm/
Edit: Wait, the Faital might not be bad either. It's off axis plot looks pretty good too, though it shouldn't be as good as the Vifa. The Qts is lower however, which is a good thing in a small BR cab.
So yeah, it wouldn't take much to improve.
I'd stick with the 2.5 or 2 driver. In a kitchen environment you are going to move much more around the speaker than in a typical livingroom so the driver needs to have good off axis characteristics. Also you are not going to coax a lot of bottom out of a cabinet the size of which you are contemplating anyway, no matter the driver.
Off the top of my head maybe something like this https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-2-fullrange/vifa-ne85w-2.5-fullrange-driver-4-ohm/
Edit: Wait, the Faital might not be bad either. It's off axis plot looks pretty good too, though it shouldn't be as good as the Vifa. The Qts is lower however, which is a good thing in a small BR cab.
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I'm in the middle of building something loosely similar, and as others have mentioned, without EQ you simply can't expect much bass out of a small box, without some other trickery. I'm trying to build a Bluetooth speaker with small enough size to go on a table/window sill etc, but with some bass at least. All the commercial offerings are so overblown in the mids and lows they are unlistenable. The only one I would recommend is the UE Roll.
I previously built a onebox active speaker using Monacor SP-60's with Dayton ND16 tweets that was OK, but the box still too big, so I gave it as a gift. I then had an idea to try a 2.1 amp with a small woofer to provide low's and smaller FR for everything above about 150hz.
So I found a 2.1 class-d amp (TPA3116 w/integrated BT), decided to use the HiVi B4N for woofer duties (I had one on hand) and then found some old KEF eggs in the parts bin for the 'mains'. I'm midway through the build but in testing this killed any other options I had in the enclosure vol I was targeting.
There are plenty of options for woofers below 4" (essentially anything that can operate in a small vol box) and then a pair of 2" FR drivers (you could even source some 2nd hand KEF eggs for relatively cheap I'm sure). NB The Kefs aren't FR strictly speaking but co-axial drivers - pedantry alert.
It might be overkill for what you're thinking, but it was the best way I could think of to attempt some basic EQ in a DIY setting!
I previously built a onebox active speaker using Monacor SP-60's with Dayton ND16 tweets that was OK, but the box still too big, so I gave it as a gift. I then had an idea to try a 2.1 amp with a small woofer to provide low's and smaller FR for everything above about 150hz.
So I found a 2.1 class-d amp (TPA3116 w/integrated BT), decided to use the HiVi B4N for woofer duties (I had one on hand) and then found some old KEF eggs in the parts bin for the 'mains'. I'm midway through the build but in testing this killed any other options I had in the enclosure vol I was targeting.
There are plenty of options for woofers below 4" (essentially anything that can operate in a small vol box) and then a pair of 2" FR drivers (you could even source some 2nd hand KEF eggs for relatively cheap I'm sure). NB The Kefs aren't FR strictly speaking but co-axial drivers - pedantry alert.
It might be overkill for what you're thinking, but it was the best way I could think of to attempt some basic EQ in a DIY setting!
How about BMR driver which claims wide dispersion. The new one (http://www.tectonicelements.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/TEL-DS-TEBM35C10-4.pdf) looks interesting.
I agree. I got it for NZ$90 as a 'spares or repair', the only thing wrong was that all his pots were completely gummed up. 10 minutes with a can of contact cleaner and it was working fine.
But... it certainly doesn't justify its nearly NZ$600 price tag or the moniker 'the finest radio ever made' - adding sealed, maintenance-free pots would have helped...
You can't buy spares - they tell you to buy a new one.
I only got it because it had an AUX port and I wanted something for my bedroom to plug my Moode player into
Which is where I started thinking - 'I can make something better than this'.
About 3kms
But their speakers are shite, from what I've seen. If it's a $19 speaker, they will have paid $3 for it, if it's like the rest of their mark-up.
You're right - it's a B3S.
Talking before engaging mental gears is not uncommon
I hate Jaycar, though.Stlll, I might have just found my driver, for R&D at least. Thanks.
Any place local that has and/or recycles old TVs, radios, etc..? My early DIY audio projects were nothing but from the local repair shop or the neighborhood curb.
GM
Zootlaws, I didn't look closely enough at the flag and thought you were in oz
It is a HiVi B3/M3, thats why I also posted the Zaph link
I think what GM is getting at is that you can find some decent drivers in old gear for cheap/free.
I imagine the fullrangers in an old top of the range crt/rear projection are useful enough for some fun especially seeing how people are putting these things on the side of the road these days.
Interested to see how you go
It is a HiVi B3/M3, thats why I also posted the Zaph link
I think what GM is getting at is that you can find some decent drivers in old gear for cheap/free.
I imagine the fullrangers in an old top of the range crt/rear projection are useful enough for some fun especially seeing how people are putting these things on the side of the road these days.
Interested to see how you go
And being at the ***-end of the world, speakers are either unavailable or bloody expensive, so something cheap as a driver is the best solution
I responded to this in your first post, so how am I not following 'the gist of this, chap'?
GM
Zootlaws, I didn't look closely enough at the flag and thought you were in oz
It is a HiVi B3/M3, thats why I also posted the Zaph link
I think what GM is getting at is that you can find some decent drivers in old gear for cheap/free.
I want to use speakers I know the specs of, to make something better than the Tivoli. I have made streaming/internet radios before, this is the next stage.
And it's no worries about the Jaycar link - appreciated. They are only $20 if I buy ten, so right on the money. According to the pic, they are S3D's but there's a wholesaler in Sydney that will arrange any other HiVi drivers I need. Hasn't given me any prices, but.
I'm always on the lookout for old consoles, etc. to repurpose with more modern functions.
I think what GM is getting at is that you can find some decent drivers in old gear for cheap/free.
I imagine the fullrangers in an old top of the range crt/rear projection are useful enough for some fun especially seeing how people are putting these things on the side of the road these days.
Interested to see how you go
Yes, thought it was obvious, but apparently not.
Well, yes and no based on a Toshiba 65" RPTV. It's audio performance is better than many DIY and consumer speaker systems I've auditioned and a major reason I chose it over the class leading Pioneer Elite, so many years later I finally got around to cleaning its insides and seeing what the drivers were and was rather stunned to see some of the cheapest junk 6.5" and 1" paper tweeters imaginable! About the only positive thing I could say about them is that they had incredibly light diaphragms based on how much they flexed while having only a single roll paper hinge for a surround. Shades of early RCA etc., table radios, TVs!
The replacements only retailed for $6.25, $2.19 in 2012 and sound about like what one would expect when not hooked up to the TV's electronics, though probably wouldn't be too bad if tube SET driven, so for me this was the day I realized that DSP was the future of consumer speaker design and had to begrudgingly accept that B0$3 had it right after all even if their various implementations don't sound good to me.
GM
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