Certainly the drivers won't sound their best unless I put them in a properly sized cabinet; I'm not blaming the drivers for the bass bloat as that is from the undersized box. Obviously I was working within certain constraints on this project (size, weight, volume output, battery life, etc) and one of the key ones was I wanted to use the Zenith case for the style points.
Well I can certainly understand that, 'cause the Zenith case is kind of cool looking!
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
A really old DIY effort
Great thread with some beautiful examples. I discovered it while looking for ones built with Hemp FR8. I have a pair of Hemp FR8c which I have yet to build an enclosure for, I am intending to build an Apra Grande (nice one earlier in this thread). I have a history of building things just to find out what they’re like. This picture might intrigue some of you. Sorry about the quality - it is an old photo scanned in.
It is a corner horn. In 1974 Jack Dinsdale published a series of articles in Wireless World on horn loading. I built this corner horn just to see what a horn did. It was a lot of effort for a cheap driver. It used an Eagle 6.5inch FR. It produced a huge room filling sound for very little input power. I can’t really say much about the sound quality –it was a bit shouty I think. I made a plaster of Paris horn to Dinsdale’s data and there was a small rear chamber which coupled the folded horn. A picture of this speaker appeared with reprint of Dinsdale’s articles in the Wireless World annual collection in ’74 or ’75. (I had a copy but someone "borrowed it".) Dinsdale did tell me that it would be better with Lowther PM6 units, which I never followed up. They were much too expensive for me.
I later added a Decca London ribbon tweeter shown in the photo. I used it for a few years then built something else. (A Deccavolt reflex cab with 10inch Volt unit crossing over to the ribbon)
Great thread with some beautiful examples. I discovered it while looking for ones built with Hemp FR8. I have a pair of Hemp FR8c which I have yet to build an enclosure for, I am intending to build an Apra Grande (nice one earlier in this thread). I have a history of building things just to find out what they’re like. This picture might intrigue some of you. Sorry about the quality - it is an old photo scanned in.
It is a corner horn. In 1974 Jack Dinsdale published a series of articles in Wireless World on horn loading. I built this corner horn just to see what a horn did. It was a lot of effort for a cheap driver. It used an Eagle 6.5inch FR. It produced a huge room filling sound for very little input power. I can’t really say much about the sound quality –it was a bit shouty I think. I made a plaster of Paris horn to Dinsdale’s data and there was a small rear chamber which coupled the folded horn. A picture of this speaker appeared with reprint of Dinsdale’s articles in the Wireless World annual collection in ’74 or ’75. (I had a copy but someone "borrowed it".) Dinsdale did tell me that it would be better with Lowther PM6 units, which I never followed up. They were much too expensive for me.
I later added a Decca London ribbon tweeter shown in the photo. I used it for a few years then built something else. (A Deccavolt reflex cab with 10inch Volt unit crossing over to the ribbon)
Attachments
As posting my old DIY horn got me thinking about this I searched for Jack Dinsdale's Wireless World articles. I found them. Here is a link to the third part which I followed to build the corner horn all those years ago.
http://www.volvotreter.de/downloads/Dinsdale_Horns_3.pdf
http://www.volvotreter.de/downloads/Dinsdale_Horns_3.pdf
Hello Guys, lemme throw my 10 cents into this.
My name is Mikko, I've been working as audio designer for mobile phone industry for 6 years now. As a hobby, I've been building few speakers, usually with some special themes or ideas - it does not make sense to copy others.
My first one was done when we lived in Malmö, Sweden back in 2009 - I did not have any woodworking tools with me (except drilling machine) but had this normal buzz of building something - it comes every summer.
So armed with drilling machine, cheap soldering iron and screwdriver, I was determined I could make cool speakers nevertheless. As a starting point, I decided to use anything I could find from IKEA. Speaker element was chosen with criteria, that it's mounting hole did happen to match the tool I had
This is 3 liter bass reflex, port tuned to 80Hz if I recall correctly. Each box was made from 3 22cm IKEA Blanda Matt fruit bowls + one 12cm bown at the back. Speaker is Vifa TG9FSD10/04, which I can recommend for the price. There is no electrical corrections.
What I wanted to do was to make something which allows me better sound quality for my computer. Idea for the speaker is, that you can point the speakers towards the ear, as the stand is loose from rest of the box. As these speakers are pretty directive, that allows you to fine tune the amount of high frequencies.
Measurements were done in large anechoic from on axis, 50cm. Messy one is from back, nicer is from front. Shelving shape of frequency response was identical to original datasheet, there is similar speaker available with more flat response.
Unfortunately my son (2 years back then) destroyed these pretty quickly by placing a pen through the cone. My wife says these look like Kenny from Southpark, so she just shout "Oh No! They killed the Loudspeakers! Bastards!"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spintonik/5845709119/in/set-72157626991188930/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spintonik/5845709027/in/set-72157626991188930/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spintonik/5845708909/in/set-72157626991188930/
All the best,
Mikko
My name is Mikko, I've been working as audio designer for mobile phone industry for 6 years now. As a hobby, I've been building few speakers, usually with some special themes or ideas - it does not make sense to copy others.
My first one was done when we lived in Malmö, Sweden back in 2009 - I did not have any woodworking tools with me (except drilling machine) but had this normal buzz of building something - it comes every summer.
So armed with drilling machine, cheap soldering iron and screwdriver, I was determined I could make cool speakers nevertheless. As a starting point, I decided to use anything I could find from IKEA. Speaker element was chosen with criteria, that it's mounting hole did happen to match the tool I had
This is 3 liter bass reflex, port tuned to 80Hz if I recall correctly. Each box was made from 3 22cm IKEA Blanda Matt fruit bowls + one 12cm bown at the back. Speaker is Vifa TG9FSD10/04, which I can recommend for the price. There is no electrical corrections.
What I wanted to do was to make something which allows me better sound quality for my computer. Idea for the speaker is, that you can point the speakers towards the ear, as the stand is loose from rest of the box. As these speakers are pretty directive, that allows you to fine tune the amount of high frequencies.
Measurements were done in large anechoic from on axis, 50cm. Messy one is from back, nicer is from front. Shelving shape of frequency response was identical to original datasheet, there is similar speaker available with more flat response.
Unfortunately my son (2 years back then) destroyed these pretty quickly by placing a pen through the cone. My wife says these look like Kenny from Southpark, so she just shout "Oh No! They killed the Loudspeakers! Bastards!"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spintonik/5845709119/in/set-72157626991188930/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spintonik/5845709027/in/set-72157626991188930/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spintonik/5845708909/in/set-72157626991188930/
All the best,
Mikko
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Hi,
type seems to be different, altough looks are similar. I found Picolino 2's T/S parameters from here:
hifisound eShop - VIFA 9 BG 119/8 - FIBRE GLAS N
And one I used is here:
http://www.tymphany.com/files/TG9FD-10-04 Rev1_0.pdf
-Mikko
I've been a fan of full range/wideband speakers for a relatively short period of time; probably less then 2 years at this point. While exploring what's available I've been silently reading a number of forums, including those dedicated to the DIY individual, trying to enhance my knowledge. Not that I'm capable of building anything mind you, but more for my own curiosity (I find this stuff fascinating, to be completely honest).
Over the course of the past week I've gone through this entire thread, and I have to say that I am completely amazed by what you folks are capable of. The designs, craftsmanship and ingenuity I've encountered in these 160 pages is absolutely stunning. I envy your skill and abilities. Some of you are truly gifted in that regard. IMHO, there are a couple of people here who should consider building speakers for a living (assuming you aren't already, of course).
I really have nothing of value to contribute -- just my 2 cents, which is not terribly significant or germane -- so I'll refrain from saying anything else. But I did want you to know that there are reticent neophytes lurking about, some of which are in awe of what you've been able to conceive and produce.
Over the course of the past week I've gone through this entire thread, and I have to say that I am completely amazed by what you folks are capable of. The designs, craftsmanship and ingenuity I've encountered in these 160 pages is absolutely stunning. I envy your skill and abilities. Some of you are truly gifted in that regard. IMHO, there are a couple of people here who should consider building speakers for a living (assuming you aren't already, of course).
I really have nothing of value to contribute -- just my 2 cents, which is not terribly significant or germane -- so I'll refrain from saying anything else. But I did want you to know that there are reticent neophytes lurking about, some of which are in awe of what you've been able to conceive and produce.
It's presumptuous to speak for the group, but may I say that a little opening flattery will go a long way - but as anyone who's actually tried it can attest, turning a hobby like this into a viable commercial enterprise is much harder than it looks.
Rest assured that I wasn't kissing tushie with that post - no brownie points for me!
Seriously... I really am impressed by the expertise I see here. There are some skilled individuals, for sure.I'm not dismissing the complexity or effort associated to opening your own business; I know, I tried it myself. What I see though are a few people who have unique designs and ideas, ones that no one else does. Often that results in success, but a startup is certainly a tremendous undertaking.
Now see, this is exactly what I was talking about. Just look at those pic's, I mean really look at them. Study the details and craftsmanship. Incredible.
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I agree with you 100% Jman. Malibujeff's Martellos are indeed an incredible work of art, making then visually as wonderful to look at as I suspect they are aurally to listen to!
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)