First Full Range Build... Any Last Minute Insight?

Hi all,

I've been wanting to try a full range tower speaker for a while. I'm used to building big cabinets and simple designs. But I've never had a full range speaker to work with. Figured I would start with that. I went through a few of the threads and one of the builds I saw struck my fancy, so figured I would start with something already known to work well and looks nice and uses affordable parts and isn't too complicated to build. I forget who's plan it was, but thank you to that person for sharing it, I shall try it I think!

Any last minute thoughts?

I picked up two Visaton BG20-8's for cheap and figured I'd start with this (I have these now).

Here's the plan I found in the other threads that was shared that I liked (thank you to the person that shared this, sorry I couldn't find a name I had saved this from a while ago, but want to be clear that I'm borrowing someone else's design here).

Is the voigt pipe more of a tapped horn or a type of transmission line? I'm confused with all the different types there are it seems.

I can't tell from the diagram, but is that 3/4th inch thick material or thinner? I'd like to use thicker 3/4th inch unless its not advised?

DDVP-20-01.jpg


Ultimately I will do a 2nd build, but it will be entirely from scratch using a smaller full range driver and a larger woofer for a WAF/FAST that I got interested in. However, I've yet to build crossovers yet, so again I wanted to start somewhere with full range without getting into that. I really like the idea of the simplicity of a single full range driver and a tower cabinet. So my first build will probably be the above drive and cabinet. It's not too complex for me to build and I like how it looks.

Goal for these full range towers will be classic 70's rock mostly.

Very best,
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: hmj
Is the voigt pipe more of a tapped horn or a type of transmission line?

Given that they are all quarter-wave designs, ie “TLs”.

Nandape’s ML-Voigts tend to be 15mm material.

The design works well if designed for the driver being used.

What the ply is made of is less important than void free and lots of plies.

dave
 
  • Like
Reactions: MalVeauX
Is the voigt pipe more of a tapped horn or a type of transmission line? I'm confused with all the different types there are it seems.
As Dave implies above, I wouldn't get too hung up over names -so long as other people know what it is if you have a question, for now, that's the important bit. There isn't really any universally fixed naming structure, so there are always some variations. Those type of enclosures are often described under a bunch of different terms, of varying accuracy 😉 A few are Mass-loaded tapered quarter-wave tube (ML TQWT), mass-loaded Voigt (ML-Voigt), mass-loaded horn (ML-horn) etc. If you want an out-and-out description based on functionality, it would be a mass-loaded truncated single-tapped parabolic horn. But to call that 'clumsy' is a chronic understatement.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MalVeauX
It's far more likely to have a better than expected result when someone else has done the "dirty work"...the seemingly endless hours of expirimental types, tweeking, improving.
Along those lines, may I make yet another "improvement "? As we know, in virtually all drivers we have the phenomenon of high frequency "beaming"....by radically changing the esthetics by adding the JBL variant of the "slant plate" acoustic lens to your creation. The effect is to diffract high frequencies...so one doesn't have to sit in such an exacting location to get the "top end" of frequencies.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick...
 

Attachments

  • lenses1.jpg
    lenses1.jpg
    224.2 KB · Views: 67
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: MalVeauX
the response is a bit scary, especially the +10db spike near 3khz (usually a spike at 3khz on 8" full range drivers anyway).

Perhaps, cut off the dustcap and install a phase plug (a dowel cut down with screws in the bottom so it stays on).
Maybe some cotton balls tweezed out to put between whizzer and cone ?
That may add some detail that was not there before.

How about baffle step ?
You may be 3-6db down at 450hz...................
 
  • Like
Reactions: MalVeauX
np, remember, just our opinions......................

to me, that is a lot of sound coming out of the port.
I'd imagine there will be audible standing vertical waves.

Again, I have never built something like that.

But I would fill it with fiberglass or acousta-stuf, not cheap with a box this big.

But I sit in the "over stuff" camp, too much is better than not enough.

Otherwise, I am interested in how this will turn out.

Don't be afraid to use a 10 band eq to flavor it to how you want before using passive parts.

Remember, it is an 8" full range, dispersion, expect 1 pair of ears at 7', and 2 people shoulder to shoulder at 12'.

Good luck !!!!!!!!!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: MalVeauX
Remember the vent measurement is nearfield (i.e. the microphone is right in the terminus) so in practice I'd expect to see some of that upper end vent output fall away. Being a quarter-wave, if you kill the fundamental longitudinal move you'll kill box output: it's specifically designed to generate and use them as a functional part of the alignment, so I'd go easy on additional damping, although F3 appears to be a little under-suppressed as-is; I've seen a whole lot worse though. 😉
 
  • Like
Reactions: MalVeauX
Hi all,

I've been wanting to try a full range tower speaker for a while. I'm used to building big cabinets and simple designs. But I've never had a full range speaker to work with. Figured I would start with that. I went through a few of the threads and one of the builds I saw struck my fancy, so figured I would start with something already known to work well and looks nice and uses affordable parts and isn't too complicated to build. I forget who's plan it was, but thank you to that person for sharing it, I shall try it I think!

Any last minute thoughts?

I picked up two Visaton BG20-8's for cheap and figured I'd start with this (I have these now).

Here's the plan I found in the other threads that was shared that I liked (thank you to the person that shared this, sorry I couldn't find a name I had saved this from a while ago, but want to be clear that I'm borrowing someone else's design here).

Is the voigt pipe more of a tapped horn or a type of transmission line? I'm confused with all the different types there are it seems.

I can't tell from the diagram, but is that 3/4th inch thick material or thinner? I'd like to use thicker 3/4th inch unless its not advised?

View attachment 1115168

Ultimately I will do a 2nd build, but it will be entirely from scratch using a smaller full range driver and a larger woofer for a WAF/FAST that I got interested in. However, I've yet to build crossovers yet, so again I wanted to start somewhere with full range without getting into that. I really like the idea of the simplicity of a single full range driver and a tower cabinet. So my first build will probably be the above drive and cabinet. It's not too complex for me to build and I like how it looks.

Goal for these full range towers will be classic 70's rock mostly.

Very best,
Should sound great! I had a pair of BG20s in Lowther BLH cabinets, and they sounded fab! Sadly not waf friendly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MalVeauX
Remember, while these are all just our opinions, they are an informed, perhaps technical , based on experience, or on any one particular theory. One could consider this "fine tuning.".& who knows, you'll probably come up with your own "discovery" for improvements.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick...
 
Last edited by a moderator: