This is the start of my blog documenting my (lack of) progress building a set of speakers from the ground up.
I am writing this here mostly for myself, and maybe other starters can learn from my (probably numerous) mistakes.
First: my background.
I am not completely new to speaker building.
I started a few years back, and I listened to the advice of the smart people in this game :
don't start off wanting to design your own 3-way speakers, start by building existing kits designed by people who *do* know what they're doing.
So for my first project, I built a pair of Needles:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/65061-range-speaker-photo-gallery-369.html#post4933327
Then I got the taste of it, and wanted to go bigger.
So I built a pair of
Heissmann Acoustics "Samuel HQ"'s.
And while I was at it, I built
my own class D amplifier based on the TPA3116D2, applying all mods mentioned in the diyaudio.com TPA3116D2 topic.
My audio family in one photo:
https://i.imgur.com/nglynTp.jpg
The Samuels were placed in my kitchen, which is 5x6m, and were placed in the corners because well, we have to be able to walk around in the kitchen, right?
This made them sound less than awesome.
Then by pure chance I was gifted a Umik1 by a friend.
I started doing measurements using REW, and found out that using PEQ I could get my Samuel HQ's to sound much better in my less than optimal listening space / kitchen.
(I use a Raspberry Pi with Hifiberry Dac DSP+ to perform the final PEQ)
So then - everything is fine and good...
But now I've been infected... and I want to *design* my own speakers!
So I've been reading on this forum and others, and the more I read, the more I realize I don't know about... well, *stuff*.
At every single point in time where I think "all right, now I know what's going on - I'm ready to start designing my own speaker", I read one more post just to realize "****, back to the drawing board".
This has been going on for a year or so, and I have now reached the point where I say : **** IT.
I'm not going to spend more years reading up on things while always being behind the times.,
I am going to put something together.
I am going to buy parts.
I will be told I've bought the wrong parts, I will be told I'm taking the wrong approach, I will be told it's not going to work..
..and that's fine with me
🙂
I will learn as I go along, but at least I have a starting point now
🙂
SO - my starting points are:
- I have decided I like the idea of full range drivers - no crossovers in the vocal range.
- I do like a little bit of bass
- DSP is awesome - I don't know **** about analog crossovers, DSP is my magic bullet for crossovers, room-correction and everything else
Thus I have now decided to just buy some drivers and make **** work. And if it doesn't work out, it's a learning experience.
The drivers I am going to work with are:
- HiVi RT1C-A tweeters
- Tectonic TEBM46C20N-4B (BMR) for full range
- Tang Band W6-1139SIF for (Sub) bass
My current idea is to use the Tectonics for the full vocal range - crossover for (sub)bass between 200 and 300Hz, crossover for the Tweeter between 4Khz and 8Khz, testing as I go along.
I will use class D amplifiers to actively power them (TPA3116 or better).
I will use a Sure / Wondom DSP board (ADAU1701) and SigmaStudio for crossovers and PEQ to match room measurements.
Once I get my first order from Parts Express this blog will continue.