Hi,
I have this nice sounding pair of Aiwa bookshelf speakers and I want to make them into something better. I know that they can sound better by adding some insulation (at the moment they don't have any). But I want to make it into real diy project by converting this bookshelf set into a floorstanding set and use a decent 3 way crossover.
Is this possible or just stupid?
That's sort of what I want to do. I thought isolating the woofer mid, and tweeter would yield the best sound.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
I have this nice sounding pair of Aiwa bookshelf speakers and I want to make them into something better. I know that they can sound better by adding some insulation (at the moment they don't have any). But I want to make it into real diy project by converting this bookshelf set into a floorstanding set and use a decent 3 way crossover.
Is this possible or just stupid?
That's sort of what I want to do. I thought isolating the woofer mid, and tweeter would yield the best sound.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
zillions of these all over the planet-
http://list3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/2084041570-category-leaf.html
go for it
http://list3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/2084041570-category-leaf.html
go for it
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450 said:Hi,
I have this nice sounding pair of Aiwa bookshelf speakers and I want to make them into something better. I know that they can sound better by adding some insulation (at the moment they don't have any). But I want to make it into real diy project by converting this bookshelf set into a floorstanding set and use a decent 3 way crossover.
Is this possible or just stupid?
That's sort of what I want to do. I thought isolating the woofer mid, and tweeter would yield the best sound.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
I really can't tell from the drawing, but it may work depending on..........a lot of factors.
However, Cal Weldon had a somewhat similar sort of speaker at one of Al Wooly's RAW Fest meets a couple of years back. It was pretty unusual, to say the least. It prompted Kevin Haskins of DIYcable/Exodus Audio to grant them "The Terry Olson Award".
Depending on your personal take, that might be good...........or bad:^)
I'd say that you owe it to yourself get some cardboard boxes for a mockup and try it out. Not much to lose, just don't turn up the volume very high. It "will" give you a rough idea of what to expect and would allow you to experiment (juggle) the placement/distances, etc., of your separate driver enclosures.
"When in doubt, try it out!"
Best Regards,
TerryO
Hi,
If they sound decent now you will very likely make them worse.
You have no way of designing a decent 3-way crossover, and it
is not possible to buy one, all off the shelf c/o's don't work well.
Adding a supertweeter (or is it adding a 2" mid ?), not a good idea.
If you want to build a pair of speakers, given the time involved,
starting with cheap unknown quantities is not a good idea.
Build the floorstanding version of this (28Hz port tuning) :
http://www.zaphaudio.com/BAMTM.html
/sreten.
If they sound decent now you will very likely make them worse.
You have no way of designing a decent 3-way crossover, and it
is not possible to buy one, all off the shelf c/o's don't work well.
Adding a supertweeter (or is it adding a 2" mid ?), not a good idea.
If you want to build a pair of speakers, given the time involved,
starting with cheap unknown quantities is not a good idea.
Build the floorstanding version of this (28Hz port tuning) :
http://www.zaphaudio.com/BAMTM.html
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
/sreten.
Hi 450,
It sounds like fun and might be a good learning experience. The thing that will hold you back is getting the XO right. That's a pretty tricky thing and if you are still learning about Qt and Vas are then you might want to pull the reigns in a bit and consider what others have said.
Rather than try and improve the Aiwa's you might be better off to think about a kit speaker. They are reasonably priced, allow you to get your hands dirty and most of the ground work has been looked after. You still get a tremendous sense of satisfaction and leave behind the heartache of a failed DIY.
How are your woodworking skills?
It sounds like fun and might be a good learning experience. The thing that will hold you back is getting the XO right. That's a pretty tricky thing and if you are still learning about Qt and Vas are then you might want to pull the reigns in a bit and consider what others have said.
Rather than try and improve the Aiwa's you might be better off to think about a kit speaker. They are reasonably priced, allow you to get your hands dirty and most of the ground work has been looked after. You still get a tremendous sense of satisfaction and leave behind the heartache of a failed DIY.
How are your woodworking skills?
Without going the full monty (which is buying a good mic, measuring/ simulation software and an impedance measuring jig) I think the only fruitfull actions would be:
1) build a more sturdy cabinet with the same internal dimensions as the Aiwa design
2) use a sloped front panel to get better time alignment (the acoustical centre of the woofer is, when mounted on a vertical panel, a few inches behind the membrane of the tweeter = the sound reaches you a little later), take a look at thiel speakers and you'll see what I mean
3) Flush mount the tweeter and optionally the other drivers
4) Place the drivers closer together
6) Upgrade the XO components with better quality ones; this is easy and could yield very good results
7) Cut out or pierce the dustcaps of the woofer, mid and tweeter if it's a cone. Some speakers suffer from very audible distortion due to their dustcap (others don't)
8) Dampen the woofer basket with a sticky, heavy compound (words like putty, sealant and similar come to mind)
9) Stick a piece of speaker dampening material (matt with 'hills and valleys' against the back panel to absorb the woofers back-reflection)
Good luck
Simon
Cal Weldon: How are your woodworking skills? Non existant. I'm 16 and one reason I'm trying to get into DIY is that I'd honestly like to get better working with my hands instead of resorting to buy everything (sorta like my parents do 
).
I think I'll take all of your advice and start a good clean diy project. I'll do what Klimon said once I do a clean one first.
So now I'm gonna go for a new plan to have a cheap-ish 6.1 channel movie setup. I already have a 2 channel setup I like so I'm set on that front. I have the headphones I want so I'm okay there.
Without starting a new thread...
I thought of the following... (not at all diy obviously)
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=BOAVI770
And some random reciever. Possibly a Pioneer or something.
Also, I should note that in this case I do not want pure audiophile sound as it is something not feasible at this price point without some huge sacrifices (like time), also this is a very small room with a projector so it really doesn't need to be all out to satisfy. I mean the Aiwa's worked fine, it's just I'd like to try out 5.1 (6.1) for movies and games now.
I'm 16 and one reason I'm trying to get into DIY is that I'd honestly like to get better working with my hands instead of resorting to buy everything (sorta like my parents do ).I think I'll take all of your advice and start a good clean diy project. I'll do what Klimon said once I do a clean one first
.So now I'm gonna go for a new plan to have a cheap-ish 6.1 channel movie setup. I already have a 2 channel setup I like so I'm set on that front. I have the headphones I want so I'm okay there.
Without starting a new thread...
I thought of the following... (not at all diy obviously)
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=BOAVI770
And some random reciever. Possibly a Pioneer or something.
Also, I should note that in this case I do not want pure audiophile sound as it is something not feasible at this price point without some huge sacrifices (like time), also this is a very small room with a projector so it really doesn't need to be all out to satisfy. I mean the Aiwa's worked fine, it's just I'd like to try out 5.1 (6.1) for movies and games now.
Hmm.. I can't edit my post above for some reason...
Anyway, for my first DIY project I'm going to try out some easier two way bookshelf type speakers then move on to something else. partsexpress.com has some neat stuff.
Very first though, I'm gonna take apart some comp speakers and now experiment with cabinent designs and PSU's. Hopefully they will sound better in a insulated wood cabinet rather than an uninsulated plastic one.
Anyway, for my first DIY project I'm going to try out some easier two way bookshelf type speakers then move on to something else. partsexpress.com has some neat stuff.
Very first though, I'm gonna take apart some comp speakers and now experiment with cabinent designs and PSU's. Hopefully they will sound better in a insulated wood cabinet rather than an uninsulated plastic one.
450 said:The Aiwa speakers themselves have a 6.5" woofer and 2" mid and 1" super tweeter. I'm not adding anything. Its all there.
EDIT: Also, the Aiwa set still has the XO it came with.
So are you saying it is impossible to improve the design of speaker?
Hi,
Reworking the speaker would probably improve it, but you would
not be able to to apply any real method to what you are doing,
so you would not end up with optimum performance.
Its argueable with presumably cheap drivers the effort would not
be worth it, possibly the speakers already sound "decent" but
you will never get them to sound really good.
IMO you need to start with a known quantity.
/sreten.
its the American Way, to take nothing, (or something cheap), and turn it into something,
Great-
also the American Way, to pic through the trash, using rubbish, to make something Great!
Or at least to keep yourself amused
crossovers aren't that hard to tune, been doing so by ear, for a few years (27) now
Great-
also the American Way, to pic through the trash, using rubbish, to make something Great!
Or at least to keep yourself amused
crossovers aren't that hard to tune, been doing so by ear, for a few years (27) now
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