Hi there, I hope you are all well and staying safe during these unprecedented times!
I want to build a set of full-range driver speakers for my desk.
I have narrowed my driver selection down to the Alpair-10M Gen 3, but any other suggestions are welcome. I have a wide range of musical tastes from the blues, 70's 80's & 90's rock, soundtracks to deep house/chilled EDM.
I respect that there are a ton of amazing plans here but I have chosen this specific driver due to the reviews as well as the cabinet plans found on the Madisound website. I have chosen the Alpair-10 Bass Reflex Design due to the limitations of desk space and the fact that it is front ported.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/pdf/markaudio-enclosure-plans/Alpair10-BR-nocover.pdf
I would like to construct the cabinet out of birch wood but will gladly use MDF if suggested and dress it up with wood on the outside.
The questions I have:
1) Would this driver be ideal for a desktop setting in this particular box or should I step down to the Alpair-7?
2) Would I line the box with dampening foam, stuff the beauties or both?
3) What would I require to hook the drivers up to the jacks? Do I need a crossover or filter? If so is there anything I can purchase that is premade or do I have to solder something myself? Would prefer to do less soldering as possible.
4) What amp would be preferable? Suggestions in the 100 to $200 range would be preferable. My current amp Maximum Output Power is 70W @ 8ohm.
I appreciate your time and look forward to your feedback!
Many thanks,
Neil.
I want to build a set of full-range driver speakers for my desk.
I have narrowed my driver selection down to the Alpair-10M Gen 3, but any other suggestions are welcome. I have a wide range of musical tastes from the blues, 70's 80's & 90's rock, soundtracks to deep house/chilled EDM.
I respect that there are a ton of amazing plans here but I have chosen this specific driver due to the reviews as well as the cabinet plans found on the Madisound website. I have chosen the Alpair-10 Bass Reflex Design due to the limitations of desk space and the fact that it is front ported.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/pdf/markaudio-enclosure-plans/Alpair10-BR-nocover.pdf
I would like to construct the cabinet out of birch wood but will gladly use MDF if suggested and dress it up with wood on the outside.
The questions I have:
1) Would this driver be ideal for a desktop setting in this particular box or should I step down to the Alpair-7?
2) Would I line the box with dampening foam, stuff the beauties or both?
3) What would I require to hook the drivers up to the jacks? Do I need a crossover or filter? If so is there anything I can purchase that is premade or do I have to solder something myself? Would prefer to do less soldering as possible.
4) What amp would be preferable? Suggestions in the 100 to $200 range would be preferable. My current amp Maximum Output Power is 70W @ 8ohm.
I appreciate your time and look forward to your feedback!
Many thanks,
Neil.
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that driver is too big for the desktop. my bass reflex boxes for the A10 are 17 litres, about the size of a PC.
Depends how big the desk is. I run a pair of early prototype Viotti Ones with a filter revised to my own requirements as my desktop monitors -they actually sit on stands on either side of the desk, but we're in the ballpark. 😉
I have a 4-foot desk but that's why I asked, had a feeling I was being a bit over-ambitious.
The cabinet dimensions for the Alpair-7 would be roughly 12.5 (h) x 7.5 (w) x 9 (d). More than enough space.
I’ve said this before - for a desk top computer application, something along the lines of the Alpair /Pluvia 7cm, Fostex FF105WK, etc should be more than adequate, and boxes needn’t be awkward.
IMO, a sealed box might be the way to do it. Nice compact box, gentle LF rolloff.
Fire up EQ APO on your computer (I'm assuming your source is a computer here), and you can EQ the low end back into shape while the signal's still in the digital domain.
It's not like SPL is a particular concern for desktop use, so sealed + EQ is the way I'd go.
Chris
Fire up EQ APO on your computer (I'm assuming your source is a computer here), and you can EQ the low end back into shape while the signal's still in the digital domain.
It's not like SPL is a particular concern for desktop use, so sealed + EQ is the way I'd go.
Chris
If you want a driver that big (i’d suggest a smaller one), then the A11ms/P11 fit into an optimum box that is the size of a small one for the A10.3
The A7.3 is my favorite Mark Audio driver and optimum is the same size box as the A11ms/P7 and fits into a smaller box as well.
For an even smaller box A6.2 (either) or A5.2/3 work well.
I would not build a Mark Audio designed box before checking it out/simming it. You would be better looking at one of Scott’s simple Reflex boxes or BabyLabs (bigger ones for A10x and A7 are on my plate to draw) or one of the free CGR Mar-Kens. The one for the A7.3 is smaller and more verstaile (as the driver can be placed on any face so you can choose the configuration that best suits your desk) than the A10.3.
Frugal-phile | Box Library / Mark Audio
And there are the expanded miniOnken plansets which include the option of having a custom design made.
dave
Aside: If you want to avoid having to order from Madisound in the US, i am, unfortuneatly having to move out of most of my hardware works and have A7.3, A7/11ms, A6.2m/p including some stock ones that need to move out. Also a set of demo P11eN that will be inexpensive. Maybe more than that. No more A10s here (but i know were there are some in ON in boxes that could be aquired (A10.3, A11ms, A10PeN IIRC, no GST on those).
The A7.3 is my favorite Mark Audio driver and optimum is the same size box as the A11ms/P7 and fits into a smaller box as well.
For an even smaller box A6.2 (either) or A5.2/3 work well.
I would not build a Mark Audio designed box before checking it out/simming it. You would be better looking at one of Scott’s simple Reflex boxes or BabyLabs (bigger ones for A10x and A7 are on my plate to draw) or one of the free CGR Mar-Kens. The one for the A7.3 is smaller and more verstaile (as the driver can be placed on any face so you can choose the configuration that best suits your desk) than the A10.3.
Frugal-phile | Box Library / Mark Audio
And there are the expanded miniOnken plansets which include the option of having a custom design made.
dave
Aside: If you want to avoid having to order from Madisound in the US, i am, unfortuneatly having to move out of most of my hardware works and have A7.3, A7/11ms, A6.2m/p including some stock ones that need to move out. Also a set of demo P11eN that will be inexpensive. Maybe more than that. No more A10s here (but i know were there are some in ON in boxes that could be aquired (A10.3, A11ms, A10PeN IIRC, no GST on those).
You can veneer over BB if you don't like the look of the layers. Use MDF only if you can't get good plywood.
A7.3 is probably overkill for many, but an excellent choice regardless. I have a pair of Mar-Ken7's on my desktop, designed by Dave & built by Chrisb out of fancy bamboo ply. Hard to imagine a better speaker for my current setup.
No foam. Most of Dave's designs use felt or cotton based ultratouch or similar. You line the interior walls of the enclosure.
No filters required. It's a good idea to solder your wire connections. Pre-made
terminal cups are available with universal connectors.
Most of the time you'll be using a watt or two. 20W/ch is probably overkill for the desktop. But you may want to crank things up occasionally.😀
jeff
MDF is really not a suitable material for boxes.It is only widely used becaus eit is cheap.
Foam is a poor material for damping.
We always recommend that the terminals be easily removable to make changing wire easier. It is impossible to get a soldering iron into some of our boxes. I have thou, had to buy the ones we like 200 at a time to get any.
If that. More likely mWatts. Quality over quantity in this situation.
dave
🙂
I am building the Baby Lab for the A5.3 right now. We will see how it goes, but I like the design. Looking forward to designs for larger drivers. What about the 7ms?