Uber cheap, yet amazingly good.

[JoeBob]

I don't know why I started this project, I must have been bored. But what started out as boredom ended up what will probably replace the speakers I have now. Total cost of drivers, about $50 usd, price of xover, well probably not much, I just used parts from my junk drawer (one of them). These really sound nice, I get alot more bass than I was expecting (good down to 45Hz), and the highs go all the way up (I don't feel the need for a super tweeter). There's a $12 TB W3-871S and a $10 Stryke SA-071, both in an open baffle. Total time of construction, an afternoon (although I haven't finished them yet as you may notice). I just think these sound great, and with the low price if anyone's looking for a dirt cheap quick and easy project to build, you can't be disapointed with these.

[JoeBob]

There are panels at the bottom next to the woofer acting like sides (folded baffle, and they also let the speakers stand up on their own). The SA-071 has a 6dB xover at 100Hz, while the W3-871S is run fullrange (drops off naturally around 100Hz). The oxver consists of a resistor and cap for the woofer, and two resistors to bring down the FR due to losses in the woofer xover. I haven't countersinked the driver yet, and I haven't finished the "cabinets" yet, so they're not quite done (I might fool a bit with the xover as well), but as they are they're better than my Vifa MTMs (P17WJs and D25AG) that you can see parts of in the pic.

[halojoy]

JoeBob

This is something anyone could build.
Simple but good.
Open baffle with stands as well.

The main sound is given by the interesting Tangband W3-871S.
You made a great choice there!
I know from my own experience,
that with even a 4" middriver (Focal)
you don't miss the upper freq much.
The Tangbands 3" probably goes even higher.

This is such a project we REALLY
could call DIY - when it is at its BEST

/halo enjoys

[pinkmouse]

Hi JoeBob

They look great, how are you going to finish them?

[JoeBob]

As for finishing, that's what I've been thinking about. I was thinking of instead of countersinking the driver I'd add a layer a black felt over the whole front baffle, paint the sides and then cover the back with that material you usually use in the front of drivers (I'd use it to hide the back of the drivers). The only thing I'm not sure what to do with are the connectors (right now I have wire directly soldered to the drivers).

The more I listen to them the more I like these, much much tighter bass than I've ever heard. Midranges are outstanding. It doesn't sound like the sound is coming from the speaker, but instead it just sounds like the sound is "in the air" and I'm hearing it. I'm not good a describing the sound of stuff, but these sound better than my $1000 cnd BR pair I spent a month building (kind of annoying, why didn't I build these first?).

[Ilianh]

Hi, can you tell us where did you get those drivers?
looks like an interesting project.

[JoeBob]

The TB W3-871S I got from creative sound solutions ( http://www.creativesound.ca ) and the Stryke SA071 I got from Stryke ( http://www.stryke.com ). If you want to build some like mine I can post a shematic (pretty simple, four parts) of the xover that worked best for me.

[BAM]

Did your computer still work after being so close to those uber-powerful magnets? I always thought they hosed the drives and stuff if they got too close to them, because the drives are magnetic storage.

[saletel]

in my experience, speaker magnets dont do much damage (noticable) to hard drives

i had my subwoofer next to my computer for a semester (no problems) driver was a 12" shiva MKIII in a 5 cubic foot enclosure.

have also had other speakers next to cases without any problems

-eric

[JoeBob]

you can't see in the pic. but the computer box is empty, just a mobo in it