Beginning of some DIY speakers

[cyberspyder]

For my wood shop summative, I've decided to make some DIY bookshelf speakers. Normally, MDF would be use, but to cut that during class time would require having respirators and goggles for all 24 guys. So no MDF. BUT I have scrounged up some 3/4" Baltic Birch/Russian Plywood as a substitute, which will get here on Monday. I plan to duplicate a set of Zaph's Bargain Mini's, although with a few tweaks of my own.

1) Recess the baffle into the 4 sides
2) Do a 3/4" roundover on the front of the sides
3) Have a recessed back

Preliminary side sketch:



Front drawing (from Zaph's page):



Baffle detail (also from Zaph's page):



Dimensions are 9 1/4" deep, 10" tall, and 6 1/4" wide

Crossover Components:
-2x Bennic wirewound 4ohm resistors
-2x Bennic wirewound 5ohm resistors
-2x 10uF Solen/SCR/Bennic/Clarity Caps Poly capacitors
-2x 2.7uF Solen/SCR/Bennic/Clarity Caps Poly capacitors
-2x 3.3uF Solen/SCR/Bennic/Clarity Caps Poly capacitors
-2x 1.5mH Solen/other brand 18-20ga inductors
-2x 0.25mH (or close to) Solen/other brand 18-20ga inductors
-2x 0.1mH Solen/other brand 18-20ga inductors
-Speaker wire as ICs between the Xover & woofers/tweeters/binding posts
-63/37 0.20-0.32" dia. solder

Vendors: Solen, Madisound, PartsExpress, any other reliable DIY place

Cabinet Parts:
-5' x 5' 3/4" Baltic Birch/Russian Plywood (this is the size it comes in, you only need half of that for a pair, with lots to spare)
-1" dia. x 4" Port tube (I couldn't find any 1" dia. PVC tubing at Home Depot or Rona, so I had to buy special port tubes)
-2x MCM 4'' Shielded Aluminum Cone Woofer (Part #: 55-1853)
***Remember to get the source code on the flyer (here), as it'll get you a discount (only if the woofer is on sale)***
-2x Aurasound NT1-204-8D 3/4" Titanium Dome Tweeter
***DO NOT TOUCH THE DOME***
It is out of stock with a lead time of at least 4 weeks, a substitute (same size & mounting method), BUT IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED, is below
-2x Dayton ND20FB-4 Rear-Mount 3/4" Neodymium Dome Tweeter
-1/2" Sonic Barrier Dampening
-1 1/4" Sonic Barrier Dampening
OR
-1/2" Chopped foam carpet padding doubled (or tripled) up
***To judge whether chopped foam is good or not, hold it up to the light. There shouldn't be many pinpricks of light shining through. This type of material is pretty much the only cost-effective damping material for speakers. It's really not that bad.***
-5/16" OR 1/4", 1 1/2" long socket cap screws (black)
-5/16" OR 1/4" Tee nuts
-4x Binding posts
-Various sizes of heatshrink

LOG

March 10, 2008
-Ordered parts

March 15, 2008
-Some parts arrived :rock::





March 17, 2008
-My plywood arrived, except it was the wrong thickness...

March 18, 2008
-Some crappy pics of my workspace:





Brendan

[cyberspyder]

March 19, 2008
-PE order arrived, along with my wood!


Hmmm, whats in the PE box?...


Some books and...


MY TWEETERS...


Close-up of the protective cap & tweeter


Along with my 18mm (sigh...they don't make it exactly 3/4") Baltic Birch


Dramatic angle shot showing all 13 plies



March 26, 2008
-My Mini-RCA IC parts arrived (Canare Star-Quad, Switchcraft connectors)







Brendan

[cyberspyder]

March 27, 2008
-IC done (Canare StarQuad, Switchcraft connectors), Mini-RCA:









Brendan

[cyberspyder]

March 28, 2008
-My woofers arrived and I began cutting the wood to width:







Brendan

[badman]

Looks good so far

But that I had a proper woodshop! I'm working with battery powered (augh) Ryobi at the moment.

[cyberspyder]

Ouch...

[ttan98]

Looks like you are pretty handy with the woodwork and will produce an outstanding cabinet. I can't

If I were you I will spend more money on buying better drivers that way you will produce a pair of outstanding speakers better than any commercial pair at certain price point specified by the price of the drivers the company uses, ie the better the drivers the better the sound quality.

There are so many designs to pick(so very high quality ones as well) from on the net, just take your pick.

cheers, happy building.

[cyberspyder]

The last of my parts arrived, some perfect lay inductors and wirewound resistors from Solen, and I did all the soldering to the speakers, which will make it easier in the long run when it comes time to assemble it.


OOOH A BOX! What's inside it????


Parts


More parts...


More parts....




Speaker and tweeter tabs are a b!tch to solder and thread stranded wire through...I HATE THEM ALL.

Some pics of my home workshop (ie, the dining room table and kitchen counter):





Brendan

BTW, someone hinted to me that I should be careful when soldering tweeters, something to do with the voice coils. Are they easily damaged?

[MJL21193]

Just like Christmas morning! I love getting new things, especially when it's delivered to the door.

The order from PE, don't they ship UPS? Get dinged with the "customs brokerage fee"?

Nice project.

[TheMG]

You don't normally solder to speaker connector tabs (well, I never do, and most speakers I've looked at don't either).

They are made to accept Faston connectors, you know, these guys:



Of course, they are also available in the gold plated variety.

What's this about respirators to cut MDF? Never have I seen anyone wear a respirator when working with MDF. I didn't either...