Brian Gt's new Focal/Raven speakers

[BrianGT]

Originally posted by Variac
OK in their favor, they are pretty tall, and the tweeter dome is recessed, but they are waaaay to shiny with the golden color.

To have any chance, You should look into planar or ribbon tweets. They are so fragile that they usually have a mesh grille in front- plus they don't have the pokable dome sticking out...

Try the Aurum Cantus

I actually took a break today and decided to cut wood for a new speaker project, for a 2-way with the Focal 7W4411 and the Raven R2 (had the R2s sitting in my closet for almost a year). I ended up cutting out 3 pairs of these cabinets with a friend, as I have 2 other friends that are also using the Focal 7W4411 along with the Focal TC120TD5 tweeter, The cabinet is made of 3/4" mdf, with 1.5" front, back and top (double thickness, since I am using a 1.5" roundover on all sides except for the base.)

I found out today that MDF comes in 4 different grades. I bought the top grade, Pan Fiber Excel Plus, and it only costed a few dollars more a sheet than the regular MDF. I would highly recommend using this stuff, as it is much, much better than the mdf the I previously have bought from Home Depot. The thickness is precise unlike the HD stock, and it seems much more rigid and solid. I bought some good baltic birch for the braces.

Here is a picture of the cabinet that I modeled using MJK's sheets in mathcad. The enclosure models great as a TL, and also a ported box, with a slight change in the port length. I will try it both ways.

My goal with these speakers is to surpass my Thor TL speakers.

--
Brian

[BrianGT]

I just brought in the wood from my car... This is wood for 4 speakers, and my friend took home the rest of the wood for his pair.

My fiance is gone for the weekend, so I decided to work on speakers today, and start putting together kits for the group order tommorrow (boards will come in on Friday).

--
Brian

[grataku]

That's alot of wood!

What group order are you talking about?

[BrianGT]

Originally posted by grataku
That's alot of wood!

What group order are you talking about?

Talking about the non-inverted gainclone pcb/kit group order that I started organizing last week.

I got bored, and hold it together with clamps to see how it looked.

ribbon at 36", woofer below as seen in drawing above.

wood in bottom is braces, with 5 per cabinet, 13-layer baltic birch.

(double thickness front baffle not shown)

--
Brian

[Bricolo]

Originally posted by BrianGT



My goal with these speakers is to surpass my Thor TL speakers.

Aren't you satisfied with the peerless pipes?

[BrianGT]

Originally posted by Bricolo
Aren't you satisfied with the peerless pipes?

I built the Peerless Pipes for my uncle, and while they are decent speakers, they don't even compare to the Thor TL speakers. But, if you consider that the drivers cost 1/5 of the cost of the Thor drivers, then it is a great speaker.

--
Brian

[Peter Daniel]

What crossover are type (freq and slope) are you plnning on Raven?

[BrianGT]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel
What crossover are type (freq and slope) are you plnning on Raven?

I am going to initially try the one that Orca designed for it:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attac...&postid=342962

I talked to the guy on the phone who designed it, and he said that of all their Raven R2 2-way systems, he liked this combination the best. I considered a MTM, which they also had a crossover for, but decided to try the 2way instead, since I already have an MTM.

I attached a gif of the crossover. Inductors are labeled wrong for dcr, and should all be 14ga air core. The series resistor on the woofer should be a high wattage value also.

--
Brian

[BrianGT]

cabinet fits together quite well, considering I am only using 3 clamps to hold it all together currently.

This shows how it fits together with the double thick front baffle.

I might start biscuiting it this afternoon, so that I can start gluing it together tonight.

As for the crossover, I will try different slopes and frequencies with an active crossover in the future, but for now, I will try the Orca designed crossover.

For cutting the mdf, I used a Freud thin-kerf blade. It makes amazingly little sawdust compared to a regular blade, and cuts mdf like butter.

--
Brian

[planet10]

With all those amps, you should just start active. That is the kind of XO that, to quote a friend, "sucks the life out". Given the number of components active will probably be cheaper anyway.

Looks like the bass driver has some response shaping, you'd have to figure what.

Build the amps and XO on a plate and just bolt it onto the back of the speaker when you decide it is ime to flog them.

dave