Hi, sharing here my new pyramid boombox project equipped with:
The project finalized:
Project summary:
The objective was to get strong bass and original design with a pyramid (base:25cm, height:70 cm) AND with a small size.
Getting good bass despite such a small volume (around 5 litters) is clearly a challenge. The small 5 inch Tang Band sub, plus the 2 passive speakers on the sides generate a impressive bass for such a small volume.
The 2 passive speakers represent around twice the sub size and increase the volume of air moved globally.
With passive speakers usage, it is absolutely key to avoid air leak; which is not that easy specifically at the level of the speakers, with cables crossing the box.
At the end, I'm very happy by the resulting sound and the clean bass from the Arylic amp 2.1 even at high volume.
I used the Arylic 2.1 board which is very powerful, flexible (you can configure it with a specific tool), and a sound without distortion even at high level.
The sub channel supports 100W in 2 Ohm, and I used a 4 Ohm speaker, resulting into 50 W. It ensures clean sound with no distortion by the Arylic amplifier, even with a massive excursion of the speaker.
Front side, with the controls integrated into te Arylic board (input leds, standby, Bass, Trebble & volume):
Back side, with the switches to select the equalization preset, Ethernet, power, line input, usb, and ... 3 holes for the air
With the ADC input key of the Arylic board, I have configured 3 different equalisations selected with buttons on the back.
Very helpful capability! as I use the speakers for TV, connecting the Arylic Amp 2.1 board in Bluetooth to an Apple TV, with a equalizer preset for crystal voices, and I also use it to listen music, with another specific equalizer preset.
I regret that there is not yet the possibility to control the preset from the 4Stream app.
The settings for each speaker is easy to adjust from the Arylic workbench:
I used the Arylic ACP Workbench, a powerful tools to configure the DSP, in order to set filters, with the medium on the right channel and tweeter on the left one, with a cut frequency at 3k5.
The result of this setup is obviously mono, but on such boombox, the left and right speakers are so close that you don’t get a good stereo effect anyhow.
Note that with ACP Workbench I have set the sub output as the Left+Right input.
And the active filter is far more flexible than a passive filter for the tuning to the speakers tone.
On top of the workbench, you can also change the Bass & trebbles without moving from your sofa, with the Arylic 4Stream App:
Last, some picture of the build:
The "special" tweeter: a ribbon tweeter, and the passive speakers on the right.
Note that I created an isolated volume for the medium speaker using PVC tube of 10 cm.
The Arylic 2.1 board under the box:
Why a capacity as there is an active filter: the ribbon tweeter doesnt support DC and it is mandatory to protect it with a cap.
Next project with Arylic board? May be a child Pyramid, without sub speaker, to get a full stereo effect, putting it at the other side of the room. The board supports indeed multi-"rooms" capabilities in Wifi
- 1 Arylic Amp 2.1 amplifier (2x50W + 1x100W sub), supporting WiFi, Airplay, Spotify Connect & Bluetooth 5.0
- 1 Sub TANG BAND W5-1138SMF
- 2 passive speakers DAYTON AUDIO DSA115-PR
- 1 medium Monacor MSH-116
- 1 ribbon tweeter FOUNTEK NEO CD 3.5H
The project finalized:
Project summary:
The objective was to get strong bass and original design with a pyramid (base:25cm, height:70 cm) AND with a small size.
Getting good bass despite such a small volume (around 5 litters) is clearly a challenge. The small 5 inch Tang Band sub, plus the 2 passive speakers on the sides generate a impressive bass for such a small volume.
The 2 passive speakers represent around twice the sub size and increase the volume of air moved globally.
With passive speakers usage, it is absolutely key to avoid air leak; which is not that easy specifically at the level of the speakers, with cables crossing the box.
At the end, I'm very happy by the resulting sound and the clean bass from the Arylic amp 2.1 even at high volume.
I used the Arylic 2.1 board which is very powerful, flexible (you can configure it with a specific tool), and a sound without distortion even at high level.
The sub channel supports 100W in 2 Ohm, and I used a 4 Ohm speaker, resulting into 50 W. It ensures clean sound with no distortion by the Arylic amplifier, even with a massive excursion of the speaker.
Front side, with the controls integrated into te Arylic board (input leds, standby, Bass, Trebble & volume):
Back side, with the switches to select the equalization preset, Ethernet, power, line input, usb, and ... 3 holes for the air
With the ADC input key of the Arylic board, I have configured 3 different equalisations selected with buttons on the back.
Very helpful capability! as I use the speakers for TV, connecting the Arylic Amp 2.1 board in Bluetooth to an Apple TV, with a equalizer preset for crystal voices, and I also use it to listen music, with another specific equalizer preset.
I regret that there is not yet the possibility to control the preset from the 4Stream app.
The settings for each speaker is easy to adjust from the Arylic workbench:
I used the Arylic ACP Workbench, a powerful tools to configure the DSP, in order to set filters, with the medium on the right channel and tweeter on the left one, with a cut frequency at 3k5.
The result of this setup is obviously mono, but on such boombox, the left and right speakers are so close that you don’t get a good stereo effect anyhow.
Note that with ACP Workbench I have set the sub output as the Left+Right input.
And the active filter is far more flexible than a passive filter for the tuning to the speakers tone.
On top of the workbench, you can also change the Bass & trebbles without moving from your sofa, with the Arylic 4Stream App:
Last, some picture of the build:
The "special" tweeter: a ribbon tweeter, and the passive speakers on the right.
Note that I created an isolated volume for the medium speaker using PVC tube of 10 cm.
The Arylic 2.1 board under the box:
Why a capacity as there is an active filter: the ribbon tweeter doesnt support DC and it is mandatory to protect it with a cap.
Next project with Arylic board? May be a child Pyramid, without sub speaker, to get a full stereo effect, putting it at the other side of the room. The board supports indeed multi-"rooms" capabilities in Wifi
Indeed, many Arylic boards integrate a DSP. In the board I used (Amp 2.1) there are 3 channels. Others have 2 or 1 channel. There is a global Equaliser, and also separate filters per channel (mandatory to build active 2 or 3 ways speakers. You can set up to 10 filters per channel. See the global section screenshot.
On top, there are other effects thanks to the DSP, such as 3D, virtual bass, stereo widen and harmonic exciter:
On top, there are other effects thanks to the DSP, such as 3D, virtual bass, stereo widen and harmonic exciter:
Looks amazing.
Are you able to set what are usually left and right channels to mono and use them for the tweeter and woofer with managed DSP, then use the .1 for the sub?
or are you doing something totally different? Looking to build a Boombox with the same sub and was looking at the Arylic 2.1 board.
Are you able to set what are usually left and right channels to mono and use them for the tweeter and woofer with managed DSP, then use the .1 for the sub?
or are you doing something totally different? Looking to build a Boombox with the same sub and was looking at the Arylic 2.1 board.
Wow. I guess in theory you could use the Arylic to make a poor man’s version of a 3 way like the Dutch & Dutch 8c… https://dutchdutch.com/8c/
Now to get my current project finished before I move onto the next 😂 Cheers for the inspiration.
Now to get my current project finished before I move onto the next 😂 Cheers for the inspiration.
The 8C of Dutch & Dutch look really exceptional! But would be a challenge for a DIY project: first the wood construction looks super complex + the speakers costs would be huge.
The electronic would be less a challenge, as with an Arylic receiver board or equivalent + a set of class D Power Amps, you could reach a correct copy.
Now, with a total of 2 x 1KW RMS, this looks far too much for an indoor standard usage.
And I would prefer a smaller system with a hidden sub instead of the sub inside each active speaker. Just my personnal view 🙂
The electronic would be less a challenge, as with an Arylic receiver board or equivalent + a set of class D Power Amps, you could reach a correct copy.
Now, with a total of 2 x 1KW RMS, this looks far too much for an indoor standard usage.
And I would prefer a smaller system with a hidden sub instead of the sub inside each active speaker. Just my personnal view 🙂
Great project, ffelix!
How would one use two of these arylic 2.1 boards to make stereo 3-way speakers? Is it possible to sync the DACs between two of them and determine one board is all left channel and the other is all right channel?
How would one use two of these arylic 2.1 boards to make stereo 3-way speakers? Is it possible to sync the DACs between two of them and determine one board is all left channel and the other is all right channel?
Looks pretty cool I like the concept 👍 Those D&D would cost a bomb
I might give a fully active boombox a go myself after I finish my car stereo project.
I might give a fully active boombox a go myself after I finish my car stereo project.
I analyzed a possible STEREO design of active filters based on 2 boards:
The outcome of the experimentations is not successful:
1) Signal delays: the signal processing/conversions along the chain (through the Spdif connection) is introducing a small delay between the left & right speakers that is translating into a strange micro-reverb / phase effect, poluting the sound. I like it when its a “flanger” pedal on my guitar, but not for music!
So, it seems irrelevant to try cascading several boards, with each of them playing sound.
2) Filters: The SPDIF OUT of the AMP V4 is affected by the speakers filters that I have configured to drive the Left speakers. The goal being to build active speakers, I have set a high path filter for the tweeter channel (left channel of AMP v4) and low path for the boomer. So, in fact, the AMP 2.1 board used for the right speakers, receive only the filtered sound of the music left channel
Conclusion: l’m stuck, and such design cannot work. Whatever the board used certainly, due to the blocking point of signal processing time introduced between the 2 boards.
Any idea is welcome!
Hi ffelix!
Very interesting!
But why using spdif ? Arylic board are mutiroom isn't it ?
Is it possible to send left channel to one module and right to another one then filter mid/bass on right/left channel on each board ?
Very interesting!
But why using spdif ? Arylic board are mutiroom isn't it ?
Is it possible to send left channel to one module and right to another one then filter mid/bass on right/left channel on each board ?
Each one of the amps gets only one chanel on the input. Mono left and mono right from a single stereo source
I bought a pair with this exact idea in mind, but unfortunately the time alignment is not close enough for a stable stereo image. They also have quite a high noise floor that is very noticeable when listening at a low level. Reducing the DAC gain in the pc software helps to an extent, but not completely.