The personal planars

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cowanrg said:
well, i just bought the plans, gonna go out and get the supplies... looks like building them will be a bit more difficult than i expected, but nothing TOO hard... will let everyone know how it goes :)
Good luck finding the skilled woodworker from the material list :D LOL

For $10 this is great fun. For the foil I will use 20 mill thick mylar foil that is coated with a heat sensitive glue. It is intended for model aeroplanes. Just a tip ;)

This will gonna be a long thread on the best sounding film.


:cool:
 
the plans could be a bit better... you need to kind of guess a lot, and add in your own experience. not really 100% beginner material.

and im already having a problem getting the drivers necessary. i got ALL the other parts at a hardware store for $35. (i dont have ANYTHING sitting around, i live in an apartment, i only get whats needed for each project.)

i just need the drivers now, so i would call it a $50 project for the pair.
 
The biggest cost will probably be the drivers. You need ones with a vented pole piece. I got some JBL car speakers that were more expensive than needed. I think almost anything would do.

Outer diameter has to fit inside a 4" plastic drain coupling.

For me, the hardest part to find was a tweeter diaphragm to seal the pole piece hole.

The other stuff you need is cheap. Plastic drain coupling, aluminium rod, bondo (I used wood instead), some wood scraps (I laminated tongue depressors), plastic heat shrink storm window plastic file, double sided tape, some sealant and glue.

The only tools I used were a drill and a dremel to rout the wood piece. Steve's bondo method would be easier.
 

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i got all my parts minus the drivers from the hardware store (not thrift shopping either...) for around $30. not too bad, considering i even got mahogany wood pieces, and some other nice stuff. could have done it for $20 probably. the drivers will be a little hard to find though. i have the tweeters, but not the bass drivers.

DrDave said:
The biggest cost will probably be the drivers. You need ones with a vented pole piece. I got some JBL car speakers that were more expensive than needed. I think almost anything would do.

Outer diameter has to fit inside a 4" plastic drain coupling.

For me, the hardest part to find was a tweeter diaphragm to seal the pole piece hole.

The other stuff you need is cheap. Plastic drain coupling, aluminium rod, bondo (I used wood instead), some wood scraps (I laminated tongue depressors), plastic heat shrink storm window plastic file, double sided tape, some sealant and glue.

The only tools I used were a drill and a dremel to rout the wood piece. Steve's bondo method would be easier.
 
For me, the hardest part to find was a tweeter diaphragm to seal the pole piece hole.
Sealing the hole in the pole piece ??? I don’t think so. I am looking for a nice 3” to 4” wide-band type. Problem is that those with an aluminium/mylar dustcap all have a too high resonant frequency. (I found some no-names in a surplus store). For the tweeter diaphragm would be a Ping-Pong ball a solution?

I am a bit puzzled if a high resonant frequency is of much concern because the air in the foil cavity acts as a kind of impedance transformer, loading the speaker pretty high acoustically.

Also thinking of coupling the speaker by means of a small exponential horn construction to the foil cavity. This will eliminate standing waves in the pole piece “tunnel” IMHO.

Till later

:cool:
 
"For me, the hardest part to find was a tweeter diaphragm to seal the pole piece hole."

These speakers work by using the back of the driver cone to make pressure pulsations in the planar membrane. So you need to seal the centre of the speaker cone not the pole piece itself. i.e. above the pole piece. Should have been more clear.
 
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