New 2-way project: the Vaagens

[Undefinition]

(Norwegian) Pronounced "VO-gan"

This is definitely a one-off project (due to driver choice), but I was pretty pleased with the results, so I thought I'd post it anyway. This is a set of speakers I designed for my father in law for his 60th birthday. Originally, it was actually going to be a rectangular box, but the idea of these two relatively small drivers in a 17 Liter bookshelf just didn't appeal to me; so I made things more interesting. Everything's 13-ply BB ply, either biscuited or just plain clamped.

The drivers I got on two steals. The Woofer is an Audax AP170G2, which Parts Express had on DOTD for $11 one day. The magnet is awfully small, and the bass certainly won't rattle the rafters, but it has a pleasing overall sound. Therefore, I thought it would mate well with the Vifa D25ASG, which I bought from someone off the board for $25 for the pair. The Vifa D25 is definitely one of my favorite tweeters. It goes down easy and I could listen to it for hours. Unfortunately, this shielded version has a catch--the Fs is MUCH higher; it is not your standard D25AG. Nonetheless, the higher operating range wasn't too big an issue, since the Audax had no problems playing higher.

I kept the slopes as shallow as possible, and they end up being something like 3BW, summing around 2500 Hz. (I also thought the Butterworth alignment would work well because my father in law cannot sit still, and so I figured the majority of his listening would be off-axis). I have learned that I find the "Power Response" button in PCD to be the most useful tool--far more useful than the FR summation. Since these were optimized for off-axis, I aimed for a power response that was relatively flat, but tilted down toward the high end. There is a slight dip around 3K that seems inherent to the driver/XO combination (and no, I don't want steeper slopes), but I'm okay with that! They actually have a really fun sound, and image much better than I'd ever expect them to. The soundstage is surprisingly tall (?), and seem to have a pretty big sweet spot.

So that's that. My first original 2-way. Not quite as tough to design as I originally thought (I had a mental block about designing 2-ways, since the midwoofer handles so much of the responsibility). 'Course, the driver choices helped, and I would recommend them to beginner designers. Sadly, Audax is making their exit, and the name Vifa no longer means what it used to. On the other hand, my father in law is definitely getting a one-of-a-kind speaker.

-Paul

[jdbrocious]

looks great!

do you have any pics of the build?

[Undefinition]

Originally posted by jdbrocious
looks great!

do you have any pics of the build?

<Chuckles to self> No, just this clamping nightmare.

If you want to know how I figured out how to cut/fit the pieces for a trapezoidal enclosure, let's just say I learned a lot by building Wayne W's Cinderellas
http://www.geocities.com/cc00541/Cinderella.html

I'm no master cabinet maker. The fact that I used biscuits to do this is like a quantum leap for me. Up until now, everything has been screw n' glue. I'm tired of covering up screw heads, though!

(If you're wondering how I did biscuits in the angled parts, well, I didn't. Only perpendicular joints are biscuited. I couldn't get my brain to figure out how to line up the fence on my cheapo biscuit joiner in order to line up angled joints. Maybe it's time to save up for a brad nailer.)

[y8s]

something vaguely familiar about your design.




(vifa metal dome, peerless hds mid, csx woofer, ribbon sapeli veneer)

Matt

[Cal Weldon]

Originally posted by Undefinition
Maybe it's time to save up for a brad nailer.)

Yup,

That's what I did and found that with full inside corner blocking (cleats), the assembly is so fast and no exposed fasteners.

[Undefinition]

y8s... what a strange feeling it was to see that speaker. At first I just saw the top cab and thought I had maybe entered an alternate universe. Even stranger is that you used a "stepped baffle" to align the mid and tweeter, which is something I was going to do in my next project (though not a trapezoid. phew!)

Anyway, great job. I really like it. I imagine they must sound VERY nice.

[Undefinition]

Originally posted by Cal Weldon


Yup,

That's what I did and found that with full inside corner blocking (cleats), the assembly is so fast and no exposed fasteners.

How do you do cleats to fasten the inside corners? If it is what I think you're talking about, I've seen a few guys do it, but can't figure out how they get things to "stick."

[y8s]

Originally posted by Undefinition
y8s... what a strange feeling it was to see that speaker. At first I just saw the top cab and thought I had maybe entered an alternate universe. Even stranger is that you used a "stepped baffle" to align the mid and tweeter, which is something I was going to do in my next project (though not a trapezoid. phew!)

Anyway, great job. I really like it. I imagine they must sound VERY nice.

it was weird for me too.

I did the stepped baffle as multiple pieces. You can put the chamfered step in and then trim the trapezoid shape after the fact to save you doing it twice and hoping it matches.

anyway, they did sound pretty good but it was an early project that lives in a friend's living room... and I haven't talked to that guy in years!

[Cal Weldon]

You can see them if you look inside. You have to first attach them to one panel with glue and nails and you do this using a spacer block the same thickness as the plywood to gauge where to put the cleat. Easy really. In this case I used strips of cabinet material, 3/4 (19mm) plywood

[Cal Weldon]

Forgot to mention, you still need bar clamps to hold it while you nail. Sorry for the OT.