Zaph Audio SB12.3 Build Thread

[renyrc]

The veneer has been purchased for the speakers. Myrtle veneer has been chosen , I have bought it from Kristopher Murray.The veneer is good and the packaging , delivery & response prompt & topnotch. Highly recommended.

veneer1.jpg veneer2.jpg veneer3.jpg

Plan to learn veneering on the little wooden base I built for the amp.

veneer practice.jpg veneer practice1.jpg

[AlexanderTD]

Hi there. I built Zaph SB12.3 not long ago and still tuning it (as i made some mistakes).

A few advises:

Pay attention to how well you flush mount the tweeter and round cabinet corners with the largest radius you can (. With large baffles like this they are VERY sensitive to any diffraction related issues. I'm still trying to figure out the whole diffraction/baffle step thing though and battle some of the issues due to not ideally countersunk tweeter and mids...

19mm mdf is not all that much for such a big enclosure so i added a few braces along walls (especially in upper chamber) and only regret i didn't add even more.

[renyrc]

Did not have much time lately and did not want the kit sitting for ages , so I contacted Edward from Adelaide speakers for the cabinet construction , and bought a centre , surround and subwoofer to match from his own designs. I will post the photos shortly...

[farl]

Originally Posted by AlexanderTD

Hi there. I built Zaph SB12.3 not long ago and still tuning it (as i made some mistakes).

How does it sound compared to some expensive speakers? Co'z i am interested to build one.

Farl

[renyrc]

A word of warning from people buying from HASAUDIO , please be careful when purchasing from them as I have bought stuff for around $160 from them , did not receive them still ( 5 months ) and since they do not accept paypal I am stuck with the slow credit recovery process from my bank. I would suggest distributors like essential audio & soundlabs who are reliable & trustworthy,learnt from experience!!

[renyrc]

SB 12.3 finished with a few modifications including narrower baffle, deeper cabinet, dual scan-speak aperiodic vents , centered mid-range and tweeter.

Upgraded Clarity PX caps for the midrange, rest of the crossover with default SA caps for tweeter & Solen caps for woofer.

[_henry_]

cabinet looks like a fine craft furnitures, very unique.
how does it sound?

usually changing baffle size and mtm position should change the response, especially soundstage.

[renyrc]

Have been using these speakers for the past couple of weeks - and the audio is getting better and better.
Iam used to to good sound from the SB dimple dome tweeter ,it is even better sounding in this speaker. Bass is improved ( louder & seems more natural ) due to the aperiodic vents in the cabinet . It seems that the midrange is getting better from when I started using it.

Very clean sound ...the volume can be turned up without any audible distortion...honestly to properly evaluate this I would have to wait a couple of months I guess, especially considering the crossover with the huge caps.

And I have bi-amped these speakers , the tweeter & midrange on an amp channel and the big woofers on a seperate channel.....

As per Zaph's website it is ok for the MTM's to be centred, and baffle width has been reduced only slightly so hopefully should not affect the sound much...

[_henry_]

i like sb acoustics also, made some sb17 2way and sb15 mtm before. they perform way better than their costs.

what kind of damping that u used? any build pictures?

henry

[pski]

Originally Posted by renyrc

SB 12.3 finished with a few modifications including narrower baffle, deeper cabinet, dual scan-speak aperiodic vents , centered mid-range and tweeter.

Upgraded Clarity PX caps for the midrange, rest of the crossover with default SA caps for tweeter & Solen caps for woofer.

I look forward to your before and after measurements on the "modifications."