Full range planar speaker using neo magnets

[JAMESBOS]

Esl's might be cheaper, but you can end up with lots of problems, after you have built them, from what other people have said. Ordinary box speakers cost a lot more than £650 pounds, for the same sound and if you have to replace the speakers this can cost a fortune . Burning out tweeters is quite common if the speakers are driven quite hard. A lot of people turn up the bass and trebble, which makes replacing individual speakers quite common. Whereas if you burn out a planar, which is nye on impssible, it will only cost a couple of pounds. 1 rubble sack and afew yards of cheap aluminium foil. The magnets will last indefinately !! So cost is not a problem. Anyway I have built smaller speakers for about £300. These compare very favourable with ordinary box speakers at the same price. P lus you get the satisfaction of building them yourself. You can also finish them to your own design colour etc. As for the plasma speakers the joy of building and getting them to work is almost priceless itself. The resulting sound is worth the effort in itself. Also just seeing them is worth the effort on its own, even before you hear the sound which is out of this world. Regards Anthony.

[WrineX]

yeah i would really like to hear those plasma's but the costs and the tube design put me off, i have never worked with tubes.
I do build my own esl's hybrids they where not that expensive. i shop for audio trafo's and stator material on second hand sites like ebay etc to keep costs down. and mylar is quite easy to get around here.

[Coffee]

jamesbos

how do you stick the alu foil on the refuse sack ?to keep it lightweight

[JAMESBOS]

Coffee
I use aluminium tape 7 hundreth of a mm thick including the adhesive, and 9mm wide on a 10 mtr roll, which is used for sticking on windows for burgular alarms. The rubish bag is 9 hundreths of a mm thick, which doesn't weight much at all with a surface area of about 400 square centimetres. Using 500 neo' magnets, very simple in concept. Place magnets in row after row with the tape positioned in between rows. This is quite a big surface area for driving air, equivalent to a few large cones. If you cannot afford neos you can use ferrites which are cheaper , but they are not so sensitive, so you will need more watts to drive them.Regards Anthony.

[WrineX]

i know magnepan just use ferriet, tried to get same sort of strips they use verry long magnets up to 1 meter. but never have found such magnets only neo they cost a fortune if you ask me.

[JAMESBOS]

Wrinex.

When I built my planars using ferrites , I used magnets 50mm x 19mm x 10mm, which was a common size. Although neos cost a lot of money (the ones I use were .85 euros each if you buy a thousand.) Size 50 x 12.7 x 3mm. the difference in the power is about 5 times more. To give some idea of the power difference, I built a ferrite full range planar 0ver 7ft x 2ft, then I built a neo full range planar speaker size 21" x 24" x 2.5" and the neo speaker was 3db louder !!! So they are not really expensive. The small neo speakers cost about £300 for a pair . You get more sensitivity and control,also you can hear every pin drop. And they sound so open and clear. The treble is so easy on the ears, and the bass so tight. Well worth the expense and trouble to build. Regards Anthony

[WrineX]

still allot of money imo, but neverthless m looking forward to the pictures and ur listening experience when there done. maybe you can keep posten while building ? with photo's etc

[JAMESBOS]

So , you think £300 is a lot of money for a marvellously sounding speaker?!! Quad esl 57's go for more than that on ebay, and they are not really a full range speaker! Owners are always talking about adding woofers to augment the the light bass!! More expense and the added trouble of incorporating the woofer electronically. So I don't think £300 is too dear for a marvellous sounding speaker, which is easy and cheap to maintain. The first full range planar speakers that I built are still going 20yrs later with the same membrane in position. You can't burn them out, only a lightning strike will, as happened to me! The membrane in question was rebuilt for about £2. A lot cheaper than buyig new coned speakers.If they are still being made. I will try to keep the pictures coming although I have not got a digital camera at the moment. Regards Anthony.

[WrineX]

your right ,maybe 300 aint that much.
But i, because the lack of money always hasitate to infest such amount in a project. i dont wanna calculate what i spended the last few months on my speaker i think. it goes bit by bit eventually. i for instance would like to create a hybride magnaplanar as well. thats gone be crossed at around 300hz, you have any idea of how many magnets i need of wich size ? because i still have allot of perforated steel plate and meter or 6 of mylar film of 3 micron. still have to find the conductive tape you mentioned.

[JAMESBOS]

Hi Wrinex, As for building a hybrid I wouldn't bother , why not build a planar speaker all in one? Don't bother about crossovers you are just wasting money and power on the caps and inductors. I f you use neos for a speaker of size 54 x 61 x 6.5 cm , with a cut out of 42 x 44 cm's, the smaller measurements being the width. Using neo magnets size 50 x 12.7 x 3mm. You will need about 500 magnets for the pair.
price per 200 1.52 each.
price per 500 1.02 each.
price per 1000 .85 each in euros. From cy-magnetics.com
The above measurements are for the square cut out so make it trapezoid in shape, but only place the magnets in the square portoin. as for the tape it is sold by CPC, which can be found on the internet using google, part no SR00001 security foil.
When you make the cut out leave a 25mm bar approximately in the middle, try and get it fully behind 1 of the vertically row of magnets. Regards Anthony.