Newbie of the Group

[form109]

Hello All my name is devonte im 15 and i live in Tyler,Texas,i've always enjoyed music,so eventually i developed an audio hobby...starting somewhere in 2005 i started taking intrest in the workings of an audio system,particulary the Drivers (Woofers,Tweeters,Midrange,ect....)i would frequently browse sites that sold these drivers (Parts Express being the most visited so far)...just browsing for hours at a time,and being awed by the large selection.

i would also go to flea markets and buy Random Drivers that just happened to Floating around i've run across everything from 3" Full Ranges to 10" Woofers...most units from flea markets still work well (Currently my only unit is a 10" 6 Ohm Woofer made by JVC,most likely out of a Sub Enclosure) ive come across many good units (Most of which i no longer have) but i still browse the store for drivers...especially nice if you find more than one identical units

i would also create my own speaker drivers...most often the voice coil was made of Enameled Copper wire sold in a 3-Spool Pack at Radio Shack for 4.99
the Voice coil former was often made of Rolled Craft Paper,glued to form the cylindrical shape...or some Cylindrical Plastic Object (like a Glue Stick Cap),the cone was usually also made of craft paper,(cutting a circle out of a square piece),or plastic sheeting...(any Piece of plastic that could be cut into a cone form) i would form a cone shape and glue it together,or staple it together,in most cases i didnt have a Spider,if i did i was a Sonic Cup Plastic Top,Held the Cone Centered Fairly Well,but the Plastic Resonated Strongly coloring the sound greatly,i didnt care for the most part,i was just happy to see it work

The Surround was often made of Toliet paper (Yup...you heard it right)
the Paper would be layered,Formed in a Half Roll shape and stapled to hold together,often the surround would turn out thicker on one side,so the cone visibilly moved more on one side than the other,most of the Makeshift drivers i made had a Limited Excursion (Without Noise) but could make low notes fairly well,midrange was Muddy,but tolerable (At least to me) some produced decent tremble but most had no high end what so ever,the voice coils also had a fairly low impedence,throwing the protection on a 6 Ohm Rated Shelf Stereo's Amp if the volume was cranked a little too much,(5 Ohm Handeled it abit better)...most often the effiency of my homemade drivers was very low....the voice coil would either be hanging over the Gap,or have small hobby magnets inserted inside,either way...you could definetly tell it wasnt efficent at all (I'd Place an Estimate at 76 DB) and thats being Optimistic

the Frame or Basket was usually from a Disected Driver....as was the motor structure (usually)...sometimes being made of hobby magnets.

hope ya'll enjoyed my little story,i think ill be right at home here,and hope you all enjoy my presence,i would like to try and be as Tolerable as possible.

[planet10]

Welcome to the forum.

Cool that at your age you are making your own drivers

dave

[Pano]

Very cool! You are certainly a real DIYer!

[Glowbug]

Welcome to the board

We need more of the younger-than-25 crowd here, we offset all the old guys

[form109]

Thanks for the Welcomes Guys!