My first entry into the DIY loudspeakers.

[ibanezcollector]

well there done almost just have to decide on how to finish them..

heres my little review..

Source: Mid Level Kenwood Bookshelf ( Waiting on income tax for equipment to purchase Jolida integrated)
EQ set to FLAT no boost anywhere.

Speakers per enclosure
(2) Dayton Aluminum 7" Mid/Midbass (DA175-8)
(1) Dayton 1" Silk Soft Dome (DC28F-8)

Crossover
Dayton XO2W-2K (xover point 2k)

Enclosure Design
2.6 cubic feet after speaker, bracing, and port displacement
Tuned to 29hz
(1) 3" Aeroport per enclosure
1 1/4" Spiked feet

Room:
12' x 20' Nothing in it but a table lamp, couch and speakers

Test Music (Partial list I threw everything at them)
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (Telarc Cleveland Symphony)
Eric Clapton - Lonely Stranger (MTV Unplugged)
Korn - Another Brick In The Wall (Greatest Hits)
Jaco Pastorious - Continuum (Jaco Pastorious)
Dave Matthews Band - The Stone (Before These Crowded Streets)
Christina Aguilera - Beautiful (Have no clue what cd LOL)
311 - Flowing (Soundsystem)

The imaging is incredible and the soundstage is wide and spacious extends well past the walls. The low end is fantastic for two 7" mid/midbass. Kick drums are impactive, and forceful with out sounding boomy or fake. The low end blends in seamlessly.

Mids need a little tweaking in a couple spots but there very smooth never harsh or abrasive. Not fatiging(sp) at all.. Might be associated from the source unit. I have to wait to see.

Highs have a crisp and airyness to them can get a tad bright on extremely high freqs.

All in all im very happy and impressed. I really was worried this being my entry to home audio but like I said before either I did my homework, or I got lucky.

Thanks
Brett

Pics
http://www.ibanezcollectorboxes.com/Speakers

[ibanezcollector]

no one want to help a newbie buy suggestions on his first entry to DIY loudspeakers?

is it cause I used cheap speakers?

is it cause my temp. source unit sucks.

is it cause I gave a review based off what I know?

is it cause its not a odd design?

is it cause I used a store bought xover?

not a very good welcome to this board.. Im sure you were all impressed with your first entry as well..

Shame 69 hits and not a single reply..


Is there a less elite board for newcomers anyone might know? not trying to sound harsh or sensitive but if you built a high end or low end its still DIY..

Kinda feels like the one person in the family the rest is ashamed of LOL

[Cal Weldon]

You're worried that no one has anything to add after less than a day?

Relax, it's a brand new year and not everybody who has an answer is at the helm right now. A lot are like yourself and will only read the post to try and learn.

1. If you're happy with the sound, any other opinion is irrelevant. We're happy that you're happy.

2. Yes we would like to see you build your own crossover but if you're not at that stage yet, at least learn from the store bought.

3. If you don't feel welcome I wonder if it's just because you have some brand new speakers to share with the world and the world is just too slow to keep up to your enthusiasm. We've been there too.

4. This isn't an elite board, it's that some people are timid about answering as they feel they're not qualified. No one likes to look the fool in front of the world.

5. The only reason we will be ashamed of you is if you give up on something. We love DIY and are supportive of other likeminded persons.

Now quit your whining and tell us what ideas you have thought about the finish. Are you leaning toward a painted surface, textured or high gloss? How about a funky paint job that relates to some of your other interests? What about a really textured surface like truck bed liner. If you like wood, have you ever veneered? What's your favourite wood?

Come back with some ideas and see if we can help with it. We can't think for you.

Oh, and about the cheap drivers. You will get a lot more credit for getting the most out of what you have than throwing good money into drivers that you don't put your all into.

We're all in this same boat together so make yourself at home and don't worry about response time my friend.

Cal, fellow diy'er

[Paul Dimaline]

Hey, I'll talk to anyone!

I did see your post earlier today but was in a bit of a rush, sure looks like you did a good job. My only comment would be that painted finishes with MDF are very difficult to do right. I would try venering them if I were you. Can you get the ready glued iron on veneer over there? If so it is very easy to use and a better bet than more traditional methods for a beginer.
Good luck!

[BobEllis]

Welcome to the board and the DIY hobby - watch your wallet!

Two things:

1. be patient, nobody here owes you anything. the help you get is because someone wants to help someone else learn and share his or her passion. Getting insulting because nobody replies to your post in a day is an almost sure fire way to get yourself ignored.

2. Your post did not ask a question, it just seems to announce an almost complete success first time out of the box. Been there, done that. Pride of ownership/manufacture is a powerful thing. Were you looking for cabinet finishing suggestions, hints to tame the midrange or something else?

As for the midrange tweaking, what you are likely hearing is the breakup modes of the woofers. You'll probably want to roll them off faster or notch the breakups out. Since your tweeter response, impedance and sensitivity look a lot like the Vifa in the PE kit using those woofers, you might want to use that crossover design. It is in the manual here if you don't feel up to doing your own yet. Another issue is that you do not have any baffle step correction. Read up on it on planet10's website, http://www.t-linespeakers.org/ Lack of BSC can cause the sound to seem a little bass shy or mids too far forward.

EDIT: Finishing - a decent source of veneer is http://www.tapeease.com/ you can get preglued or backed veneers and use the PVA glue/iron on method. www.joewoodworker.com has a good selection of raw veneer - more work, but also more interesting grains (usually). Some folks like laminated finishes like Formica and Wilsonart. Painting is all about sealing the MDF and surface preparation. textured paints such as truck bed liner are more forgiving of surface problems than glossy, but you still need to seal the MDF first. How about a paint job that mirrors your favorite guitar?

That ought to give you a bit of a start.

[ibanezcollector]

Thanks guys.

as for the finish work I have two ideas.

A.) A friend of mine shoots paint for a living and owes me a favor. So I was thinking of prepping them for paint. Probably a piano gloss black and then make a couple of pieces of exotic hardwood design on the side to break it up and add a touch of class.

or

B.) Since I am very familiar with guitar building, I was thinking of maybe finishing them in exotic wood. More work lol alot more work but if done correctly can be stunning.

But im almost ready to go with plan A.

Less work for me


I will be trying the 4" Fostex full range horn next. That will be to replace the Kenwoods stock speakers when it goes back in the bedroom where it belongs.

Right now im researching the heck out of integrated amps. So finish work on these might not get done for a while. I did however build some platforms today so the spikes done sink into the carpet.

http://www.ibanezcollectorboxes.com/Spikes

[BobEllis]

Prepping for paint is 75% of the work. If you're going for piano gloss black, make that 85%. Unless your friend owes you a REALLY big favor, you need to make those boxes dead flat and fill/seal the rough edges. Unsealed MDF soaks up paint like you would not believe.

You can use bondo on the screw holes - just let it cure for several days in a warm spot before sanding flat our it may shrink and show through.

Your friend's idea of shooting the boxes for you probably won't include the wet sanding needed to get a really good piano gloss. Any imperfections you leave on the prepped surface are likely to result in sand throughs or obvious low spots.

The quickest way I have found to fill and seal MDF is wiht Pianolac 's creme pore filler. It is part of a water based high solids system that I find works very well for a very black super high gloss finish. Your friend will have to do a special cleaning of his gun before shooting it, but he should get very good results if I was able to my first time spraying anything. (customer only, no interest in the business)

[69stingray]

Great looking speakers. I am glad to hear you got that good of positive results with a stock crossover. I am about 80% complete a design using that driver and a Tang band 2" driver with an aluminum phase plug. It allows me to roll-over the 7" sooner. I am sure I will not have the detailed highs as the 1-1/8" tweeter, but my hearing cuts out at 14 kHz anyways.

Black would be nice....I persoanlly would go with a dark veener to allow that aluminum cone to really standout.

The spikes are great!

P.S.- Another option would be to use a real wood base for those spikes to rest on. Check out Woodcraft, you can but individual pieces of wood.

P.P.S- Brett, any reason why you did not go with a MTM arrangment like the kit that Parts Express offers?
Parts Express Kit

[ibanezcollector]

I didnt go with the kit because I wont be using a subwoofer and I wanted better bass response.

I have been into car audio for 16 years so I knew a couple of things.

to be honest 2 people came over to audition them today. and both were looking for the sub



I love the bass output its authorative but never boomy or overbearing. Its drops pretty low given the speakers im using.

Im pretty happy with them.



And I think im going to give veneer a shot. What do I got to waste besides money and time... wait a minute LOL..

[Heiney9]

Wow that's quite a 2nd post you wrote. Enthusiasm isn't always pretty, eh Oh well, no biggie. Nice looking speakers. Wait until you actually have some electronics to make those things really sing. No offense, but a Kenwood tri-mode system really isn't doing those speakers any justice. I'm not trying to slam the system as we all have to have a starting point. I think you will be even more amazed when you get some "real" electronics hooked-up.

Have fun, nice job

H9