That's part of my problem...
Floor space is limited here.
Alright, I stand corrected and will have to build one some day.... whenever I find some space, or for a friend who has the space.
Thanks for the feedback, the second one is done now and i've listened a bit to them in a largeish living room. They sound great and have generally impressed all around - it is hard to imagine so much and such full sound coming from such a diminutive pair of speakers. At least until you hear it! The top end is a tad fatigueing, but i put that down to having to play them quite loud to fill the large room properly, up close they are full and very pleasant sounding. This is coming from an old Marantz PM64 amp, so nothing particularly special, i am sure they would sound even better at home with some firstwatt love (and a smaller room). As with the faitals in the 0.4x karlsonator they have tons of detail, you hear things that were not easily audible before, and the texture of some bowed instrument sounds are just magnificent.
Thanks Perceval for fixing the photos, it was giving me errors when i tried to upload yesterday which is why i opted for linking from dropbox instead.
My dad showed a particular interest in them for use in their mountain cabin, as they are so light and easy to carry
So they may find they way onto a mountain together with some efficient class D amp that can be powered off solar panels...
As for the 10mm foam core i think it is quite cool to work with, the ends are quite wide so gluing gives a pretty solid join and some pressure can be applied with the clamps while drying. I think it is usually used for posters or for mounting pictuers on and not so much for model building (which i guess the 5mm gets used for a lot). If you can get it, i would recommend the FH lite, its a very nice sounding speaker. Considering such results from pretty modest components and extremely cheap parts (Approx €30 in foam core + €45 for drivers + €10-15 for stuffing, glue and terminals) i would definitely recommend it. I am sure it sounds even better with the drivers the construction was actually intended for, or built in wood. I am definitely looking forward to building the XL once i get my hands on Enhanced alpairs from planet10!
Thanks Perceval for fixing the photos, it was giving me errors when i tried to upload yesterday which is why i opted for linking from dropbox instead.
My dad showed a particular interest in them for use in their mountain cabin, as they are so light and easy to carry
So they may find they way onto a mountain together with some efficient class D amp that can be powered off solar panels... As for the 10mm foam core i think it is quite cool to work with, the ends are quite wide so gluing gives a pretty solid join and some pressure can be applied with the clamps while drying. I think it is usually used for posters or for mounting pictuers on and not so much for model building (which i guess the 5mm gets used for a lot). If you can get it, i would recommend the FH lite, its a very nice sounding speaker. Considering such results from pretty modest components and extremely cheap parts (Approx €30 in foam core + €45 for drivers + €10-15 for stuffing, glue and terminals) i would definitely recommend it. I am sure it sounds even better with the drivers the construction was actually intended for, or built in wood. I am definitely looking forward to building the XL once i get my hands on Enhanced alpairs from planet10!
I have a pair of the Hiwave 2inch BMR's and I was thinking of building a enclosure out of some type of foam core board since I am familiar with foam core materials as I have perfected my DML panels to my satisfaction.
Food for thought, foam core vibrates like the reed of a instrument...I even recall a speaker utilizing this vibrating reed technology to increase bass response...I wonder if the vibrations of the foam core contribute to increased bass response?...The more foam/surface area used the more vibrations to increase bass response like in the Cornu's?
Food for thought, foam core vibrates like the reed of a instrument...I even recall a speaker utilizing this vibrating reed technology to increase bass response...I wonder if the vibrations of the foam core contribute to increased bass response?...The more foam/surface area used the more vibrations to increase bass response like in the Cornu's?
There is a lot of truth here, and the foam core vibrates more like a guitar or violin body rather than a reed (which is what excites the air column in a woodwind instrument). The Karlsonator speakers when built of conventional plywood, lack the beautiful sound that so many people rave about when making them out of foamcore. Perceval experienced this firsthand (and was the third person to note that the mini 0.40x scale Karsonator was unimpressive and boxy sounding when he heard it made in wood. Then he tried it with foam (XPS insulation panels I think), it was good.
Digging through my stuff I found a pair of TC9FD that I ordered and never got around to building up into anything. I had settled on a pair of either .40x karlsonator, or Cornu, or maybe the flat wall mount ones earlier. For music, general TV,and gaming too. Which would be the best to build with if it will be used without a subwoofer or EQ (at least for now) and can be built with basic 20x30 foamcore sheets?
Thank you ! I have not started building my cornu speakers yet, but I gathered all the materials needed. I am a little bit concerned about gluing the front panel to the spiral, which seems a real pain in the process of properly sealing it.I am thinking about a kind of really small 90 degree angle braces attched to the spiral.Precision is very important here.
As long as all your channels are same width within 1mm, using PVA glue in final panel works very well. Weigh it down with books and stuff to clamp for at least 4hrs to set glue. Cal had technique of adding thin paper strips along channel joints and adding more glue to it. Small braces are probably not necessary and would make channels less smooth.
foam core
Hi - some time ago you posted this......
I used a foam core with 3mm ply skin each side for a bass guitar cab (front panel solid ply). the idea being to make something stiff and as light as possible for transportation. The idea for this came from partly russ Andrews 'torlyte' which I believe is a skin and honeycomb or similar centre (equipment platforms), and partly from making model aircraft wings - very thin veneer and a foam core is amazingly strong and stiff compared to either material on its own, which will flop about (the veneer will break under its own weight). I believe there is a school of thought saying the lighter material is (with stiffness) the less sound-destructive energy it can hold and transfer.
(don't think i'll be going down this route for hifi though, where my latest is 15mm mdf 'skinned' with 6mm Baltic birch). I have however made a couple of platforms with foam/ply. Do they work? haven't done an A/B - certainly no disaster...
on a similar theme - I have injected metal equipment stands with expanding foam (good cheap fun) - certainly much less resonance if you ping them.
wonder if your foam speakers would be transformed with just a 3mm mdf skin?
Hi - some time ago you posted this......
I used a foam core with 3mm ply skin each side for a bass guitar cab (front panel solid ply). the idea being to make something stiff and as light as possible for transportation. The idea for this came from partly russ Andrews 'torlyte' which I believe is a skin and honeycomb or similar centre (equipment platforms), and partly from making model aircraft wings - very thin veneer and a foam core is amazingly strong and stiff compared to either material on its own, which will flop about (the veneer will break under its own weight). I believe there is a school of thought saying the lighter material is (with stiffness) the less sound-destructive energy it can hold and transfer.
(don't think i'll be going down this route for hifi though, where my latest is 15mm mdf 'skinned' with 6mm Baltic birch). I have however made a couple of platforms with foam/ply. Do they work? haven't done an A/B - certainly no disaster...
on a similar theme - I have injected metal equipment stands with expanding foam (good cheap fun) - certainly much less resonance if you ping them.
wonder if your foam speakers would be transformed with just a 3mm mdf skin?
As long as all your channels are same width within 1mm, using PVA glue in final panel works very well. Weigh it down with books and stuff to clamp for at least 4hrs to set glue. Cal had technique of adding thin paper strips along channel joints and adding more glue to it. Small braces are probably not necessary and would make channels less smooth.
Hi All,
Thinking about starting my first speaker build soon. Will be using XPS foam and hoping to do a laminated construction. Something about it just seems satisfying to me. And laminating vertically-oriented panels allows you to create chambers with two curved walls such as might be found in a TL design. It also allows you to easily create super-thick 1-2” walls, which I’d imagine has some advantages. Final construction would probably involve an outer skin of 1/8” white hardboard for structure, driver attachment, and aesthetics.
My plan is to do a floorstander using the tc9fd and borrowing from XRK’s Nautaloss concept of a “terminated TL” or really long, narrow sealed enclosure to better approximate a true infinite baffle.
I’ve noticed some designs using two or more tc9fd drivers run full range. My understanding is that if you crossover a 2nd full range driver low enough (I think this is called 1.5 way?), you avoid any comb filtering issues and improve bass response. And, although I may be getting this very wrong, could you bring in the 2nd driver where the baffle step happens to mitigate the need for BSC? Could you simply continue crossing over additional full range drivers lower and lower? Could you run a whole array of small drivers like the tc9fd below, say 120 hz for added bass in a sealed design? (I’m using the little minis so box so 2 or 4 drivers per speaker was where my mind was going.)
XRK, I noticed in an old post you commenting on the bass benefits of running additional tc9fd rear-firing in a dipole design—perhaps this has some bearing on my questions.
Thanks so much for your wisdom, everyone! And apologies for coming at this for a place of near total ignorance (but significant enthusiasm).
Thinking about starting my first speaker build soon. Will be using XPS foam and hoping to do a laminated construction. Something about it just seems satisfying to me. And laminating vertically-oriented panels allows you to create chambers with two curved walls such as might be found in a TL design. It also allows you to easily create super-thick 1-2” walls, which I’d imagine has some advantages. Final construction would probably involve an outer skin of 1/8” white hardboard for structure, driver attachment, and aesthetics.
My plan is to do a floorstander using the tc9fd and borrowing from XRK’s Nautaloss concept of a “terminated TL” or really long, narrow sealed enclosure to better approximate a true infinite baffle.
I’ve noticed some designs using two or more tc9fd drivers run full range. My understanding is that if you crossover a 2nd full range driver low enough (I think this is called 1.5 way?), you avoid any comb filtering issues and improve bass response. And, although I may be getting this very wrong, could you bring in the 2nd driver where the baffle step happens to mitigate the need for BSC? Could you simply continue crossing over additional full range drivers lower and lower? Could you run a whole array of small drivers like the tc9fd below, say 120 hz for added bass in a sealed design? (I’m using the little minis so box so 2 or 4 drivers per speaker was where my mind was going.)
XRK, I noticed in an old post you commenting on the bass benefits of running additional tc9fd rear-firing in a dipole design—perhaps this has some bearing on my questions.
Thanks so much for your wisdom, everyone! And apologies for coming at this for a place of near total ignorance (but significant enthusiasm).
Hi BluesHDYD,
Welcome to DIYA. You probably don’t need more than 1 layer of 1in XPS. It’s quite strong and two layers adds a lot of bulk. If making a tower, why not a MLTL? The bipolar with drivers facing forward and back helps negate need for baffle step correction. A 1.5way with XO at Bs frequency can indeed elinibate need for baffle step.
Welcome to DIYA. You probably don’t need more than 1 layer of 1in XPS. It’s quite strong and two layers adds a lot of bulk. If making a tower, why not a MLTL? The bipolar with drivers facing forward and back helps negate need for baffle step correction. A 1.5way with XO at Bs frequency can indeed elinibate need for baffle step.