can i just make a square box out of MDF and fit the drivers into the front and make sure its air tight and it will work? does the exact size matter? do i need to build baffles into it? does it need holes in it?
any advice, or links to sites with information about designing loudspeaker cabinets would be apreceated.
any advice, or links to sites with information about designing loudspeaker cabinets would be apreceated.
You *can* just do as you listed above but may not be happy with the results. There are a ton of free resources available on the net (google search speaker building, subwoofer etc) that even include tutorials and optimum box design suggestions depending on the driver selection.
What are your design goals? Home/Car? Slam/Audiophile? What drivers are you using?
http://www.carstereo.com/help/Articles.cfm
http://www.loudspeakers101.com/Sound.htm
http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/caraudio.htm
Try some of these resources. Despite the fact that some refer to car audio many of the principles covered apply to both car and home audio applications.
What are your design goals? Home/Car? Slam/Audiophile? What drivers are you using?
http://www.carstereo.com/help/Articles.cfm
http://www.loudspeakers101.com/Sound.htm
http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/caraudio.htm
Try some of these resources. Despite the fact that some refer to car audio many of the principles covered apply to both car and home audio applications.
i want to find out how simple/hard and cheap/expensive it is to make my own speakers. i dont have any specific drivers in mind, but i want a 10" or 12" bass driver, mid and high drivers, and possibly a horn. i want to use MDF as i can et hold of it cheaply and can work with it easily. i can make crossovers and wiring etc.
Hey Matt,
It's as simple as you want it to be, or as hard as you want it to be....
There are lots of kits available where you get all the bits and just build a box, or you can choose your own drivers and build your own crossover...
My main questions would be:
How big is the room you want to put them in?
What amp do you want to use with them?
How loud do you want to go?
How much do you want to spend?
What music do you listen to?
and,
Why do you fancy a horn?
Cheers
Rob
It's as simple as you want it to be, or as hard as you want it to be....
There are lots of kits available where you get all the bits and just build a box, or you can choose your own drivers and build your own crossover...
My main questions would be:
How big is the room you want to put them in?
What amp do you want to use with them?
How loud do you want to go?
How much do you want to spend?
What music do you listen to?
and,
Why do you fancy a horn?
Cheers
Rob
How big is the room you want to put them in?
about 12' square
What amp do you want to use with them?
the gainclone im building
How loud do you want to go?
comfortably loud, not for partys, just normal listning
How much do you want to spend?
as little as possible
What music do you listen to?
heavy metal, rock industrial etc.
i dont know if i want a horn, ive seen them but i dont know anything about them.
about 12' square
What amp do you want to use with them?
the gainclone im building
How loud do you want to go?
comfortably loud, not for partys, just normal listning
How much do you want to spend?
as little as possible
What music do you listen to?
heavy metal, rock industrial etc.
i dont know if i want a horn, ive seen them but i dont know anything about them.
Matt,
Like Rob said, it is as simple as you want it to be.
I have an idea for you, that you may or may not like:
go for a two way the first time out. If you need more bass, build a subwoofer later using one of the plate amps with the built in adjustable crossover. That way, you can easily tune it to your system. Look on the net for an already designed project, and copy it.
I will tell you straight up... a well done cheap two way will walk all over a cheap 3 way because:
1. you're only dealing with one crossover point- it's not easy to get the crossover right on a 3 way, let alone using cheap drivers with uneven response.
2. you can dedicate more money to each driver- better quality drivers.
If you would go for a 2 way with something like a 6-1/2" or 7" midwoofer, and a decent tweeter, in a medium sized cabinet, you will end up with a good all-around speaker,most likey.
Another option would be to find a good fullrange, and possibly supplement it with a tweeter using just a cap on the tweeter (first order). Some people here have had good results that way. Just a few suggestions... hope this helps.
Steve
Like Rob said, it is as simple as you want it to be.
I have an idea for you, that you may or may not like:
go for a two way the first time out. If you need more bass, build a subwoofer later using one of the plate amps with the built in adjustable crossover. That way, you can easily tune it to your system. Look on the net for an already designed project, and copy it.
I will tell you straight up... a well done cheap two way will walk all over a cheap 3 way because:
1. you're only dealing with one crossover point- it's not easy to get the crossover right on a 3 way, let alone using cheap drivers with uneven response.
2. you can dedicate more money to each driver- better quality drivers.
If you would go for a 2 way with something like a 6-1/2" or 7" midwoofer, and a decent tweeter, in a medium sized cabinet, you will end up with a good all-around speaker,most likey.
Another option would be to find a good fullrange, and possibly supplement it with a tweeter using just a cap on the tweeter (first order). Some people here have had good results that way. Just a few suggestions... hope this helps.
Steve
Hi:
Hi:
1) What is the purpose of building this speaker? Do you want to a) listen or b) use it as a first learning project and have a diy hobby?
If you want primarily to listen use a kit or something that is designed by someone with experience. And for first attempts simpler is better. There are plenty of tried and tested configurations out there.
2) If your room is 12x12 spend a little time on that too.
3) How much exactly do you want to spend?
Cheers
Craig Ryder
Hi:
1) What is the purpose of building this speaker? Do you want to a) listen or b) use it as a first learning project and have a diy hobby?
If you want primarily to listen use a kit or something that is designed by someone with experience. And for first attempts simpler is better. There are plenty of tried and tested configurations out there.
2) If your room is 12x12 spend a little time on that too.
3) How much exactly do you want to spend?
Cheers
Craig Ryder
Hey Matt
A good link for you is this:
http://www.snippets.org/ldsg/intro.php3
Also have a look at these 2 UK suppliers for an idea of how cheap (or expensive
) drivers are......This may also help you get a rough idea of budget...
http://www.falcon-acoustics.co.uk/
http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/
Your room, being square, will likely have some problems with standing waves in the bass dept....
Happy reading
Cheers
Rob
A good link for you is this:
http://www.snippets.org/ldsg/intro.php3
Also have a look at these 2 UK suppliers for an idea of how cheap (or expensive
) drivers are......This may also help you get a rough idea of budget...http://www.falcon-acoustics.co.uk/
http://www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/
Your room, being square, will likely have some problems with standing waves in the bass dept....
Happy reading
Cheers
Rob
You can stick it anywhere in the room that you want, since it won't be producing frequencies that the ear detects as directional. I have mine in a closet right now! A couple benefits to having a seperate sub:
1. only 1 bass driver means that you aren't exciting room modes from two different points, which could lead to some funky cancellation.
2. You can position the sub where you have the most even bass response in your room. As others have pointed out, you are going to have problems in a room that is square.
There isn't a whole lot you can do for a square room on a budget... the problem is that bass sound waves don't respond to damping materials like higher frequencies do. You actually have to build what is called a bass trap to modify the room response at low frequencies. These can be huge, depending on the frequencies involved. Your only option, realistically, is going to be experimentation with speaker placement. I don't know what furniture you have in this room, or what the listening position will be, but it may take a lot of listening and moving furniture around to get everything optimized. You might want to pick up a book called "the master handbook of acoustics" by Everest (If I remember right). It goes into simple explanations of how room acoustics work, and what can be done to fix some of the problems.
I still recommend using a subwoofer and seperate smaller speakers. This will give you maximum flexibility in getting good bass response, and still allow you to place your midbass/tweeters in a convenient listening position. But, hey- do what you want! It's your system! Hope it all works out well for you.
Steve
I still recommend using a subwoofer and seperate smaller speakers. This will give you maximum flexibility in getting good bass response, and still allow you to place your midbass/tweeters in a convenient listening position. But, hey- do what you want! It's your system! Hope it all works out well for you.
Steve
HI all....
Hi:
This is a bit of an issue too. Mounting to a wall usually infers a close distance from the wall. You might get a speaker that is great on paper but is not particularly good close to a wall.
There are lots of helpful equations like this ( and lots of folks at this site who understand them better than I do!) but understand that they are the starting point. You just do not plug numbers in and come up with a great x-over. (drivers, for example, have there own inique reactance and contribute to the passive crossover. Formulas do not generally take this into account and assume an ideal(resistive) load of some sort) This is why I suggested a kit or a tried design.
The suggestion to use a sub I think is almost always good because placement of speakers is important and the best place to place woofers as opposed to mids/tweeters is almost always different.
Cheers
Craig Ryder
Hi:
This is a bit of an issue too. Mounting to a wall usually infers a close distance from the wall. You might get a speaker that is great on paper but is not particularly good close to a wall.
There are lots of helpful equations like this ( and lots of folks at this site who understand them better than I do!) but understand that they are the starting point. You just do not plug numbers in and come up with a great x-over. (drivers, for example, have there own inique reactance and contribute to the passive crossover. Formulas do not generally take this into account and assume an ideal(resistive) load of some sort) This is why I suggested a kit or a tried design.
The suggestion to use a sub I think is almost always good because placement of speakers is important and the best place to place woofers as opposed to mids/tweeters is almost always different.
Cheers
Craig Ryder
Why don't you tell us what you're looking for, and then maybe we could recomend something.
Remember cost, size, music preferences, how much amp power, etc. Just a general idea will help.
Have you looked into building some of the tangband W3-871 1.5ways (two 3" drivers, one crossed over fairly low to boost the low end, the other full range)? People are saying good things about them. With a subwoofer you could have a very nice system for fairly cheap.
Altering the plans will depend on what they are first... There may be some room for alteration, maybe not. I'll help where I can, but I don't know what is sold in your country or what you want to spend. Hopefully someone else can help you out who is from your neck of the woods.
If it were me, I would go the tangband route, and build a little subwoofer with a single 10" ported enclosure with one of the subwoofer amps available all over (has low/high level inputs, crossover frequency control, and hopefully phase control (which may really come in handy with your room).
If you're not into tangbands, there are a billion two-way bookshelf systems on the 'net. Vifa P17WJ's work really well with a simple network because they have a fairly nice natural roll-off. You will find a lot of info about them if you look around (search google). You have a lot of options. Now start listing what you want out of them so we can narrow it down for you.
Steve
how can i tell if i have a blown tweeter? when i put the balance control on my amp to one side, there is no treble. the speakers are goodmans mezzo SL, or thats what i says on the label on the back. is there any hope of fixing them? could a wire have broken off inside?
the a shouldnt be there infront of the pound sign on the previous post by the way.
the a shouldnt be there infront of the pound sign on the previous post by the way.
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