Hello! I need a little help, currently, I have the LG Xboom CJ45, which is great for what I need but looks awful in my front room.
I want to mount my speakers to the wall and decided a bookshelf design is the best option for this along with the sub, the sub isn't an issue as its well hidden but the speakers need to look a bit better and smaller for the look to go so I decided that just rebuilding it is the best option!
I could use the internals of the LG Xboom as it does what I need it to and it means I have Bluetooth and can remove the cd drive which I've never used anyway so that's an idea.
But the speakers are the part where I am stuck, the LG Xboom has large speakers, too large and I wondered if putting the drivers into a smaller box may impede it in a way that may sound awful, it might just be easier to buy some new drivers and build the new box so I guess I'm looking for advice on this!
So, in a nutshell - what should I be looking at when building a new speaker box that is a bookshelf design that doesn't need to have any sub duties 😀
Thank you!
I want to mount my speakers to the wall and decided a bookshelf design is the best option for this along with the sub, the sub isn't an issue as its well hidden but the speakers need to look a bit better and smaller for the look to go so I decided that just rebuilding it is the best option!
I could use the internals of the LG Xboom as it does what I need it to and it means I have Bluetooth and can remove the cd drive which I've never used anyway so that's an idea.
But the speakers are the part where I am stuck, the LG Xboom has large speakers, too large and I wondered if putting the drivers into a smaller box may impede it in a way that may sound awful, it might just be easier to buy some new drivers and build the new box so I guess I'm looking for advice on this!
So, in a nutshell - what should I be looking at when building a new speaker box that is a bookshelf design that doesn't need to have any sub duties 😀
Thank you!
Hi, you still have to keep an eye on the thermal dissipation of the new creature. Those LG Xboom are claimed to be high power, and are a sort of heavy duty party speakers.
If you are going to replicate those, I guess about 200€ per speaker are going to be spent: 100€ for a 8" pro woofer and 100€ for compression driver+ horn. Add wood, crossover components, paint, glue...
If you are going to replicate those, I guess about 200€ per speaker are going to be spent: 100€ for a 8" pro woofer and 100€ for compression driver+ horn. Add wood, crossover components, paint, glue...
Wood, glue, etc isn't an issue, chances are I will reuse what I can from the LG XBoom, what I want is a small bookshelf-style speaker that I can mount to the wall - That's the issue with the LG XBoom on the left and right speakers are massive, way too big to look "normal" mounted on my wall.
Plus I want the speaker box itself to be white with an oak front (again I do a lot of woodworking)
The main cost for me here is going to be new drivers, again though I'm happy to spend some money on them, I did years ago own a pretty good set years ago with my 5.1 surround system, a set of Scotts if memory serves me right!
I don't know if I can post links here so I don't want to post it but I did find a guy who made almost exactly what I want to make - I just need a better understanding of building the speaker box for the best acoustic sound, plus I don't need them to do any sort of massive bass as the sub will deal with that 😀
Plus I want the speaker box itself to be white with an oak front (again I do a lot of woodworking)
The main cost for me here is going to be new drivers, again though I'm happy to spend some money on them, I did years ago own a pretty good set years ago with my 5.1 surround system, a set of Scotts if memory serves me right!
I don't know if I can post links here so I don't want to post it but I did find a guy who made almost exactly what I want to make - I just need a better understanding of building the speaker box for the best acoustic sound, plus I don't need them to do any sort of massive bass as the sub will deal with that 😀
Is it this one?
https://www.lg.com/us/home-audio/lg-CJ45-mini-shelf
I don't know what they're referring to when they say "main speaker," but front speaker says 10.5" x 12.4" x 9.2" with 6.5 inch woofers. that's not that big by hi-fi standards, but obviously there are much smaller satellite speakers out there. You can certainly rearrange the parts you have to make something more attractive. You could probably lose the ports on the left and right speakers also. You can stuff the ports temporarily with some socks, a piece of squishy foam, whatever, to see if that makes much difference to the sound.
How small are you wanting to go for the left and right speakers?
You can hide quite a bit in something like an entertainment center and make it match your decor since it sounds like you have woodworking experience. This one is by @cowanaudio
www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/choices-for-a-speaker-with-reasonable-waf.422541/post-7904717
https://www.lg.com/us/home-audio/lg-CJ45-mini-shelf
I don't know what they're referring to when they say "main speaker," but front speaker says 10.5" x 12.4" x 9.2" with 6.5 inch woofers. that's not that big by hi-fi standards, but obviously there are much smaller satellite speakers out there. You can certainly rearrange the parts you have to make something more attractive. You could probably lose the ports on the left and right speakers also. You can stuff the ports temporarily with some socks, a piece of squishy foam, whatever, to see if that makes much difference to the sound.
How small are you wanting to go for the left and right speakers?
You can hide quite a bit in something like an entertainment center and make it match your decor since it sounds like you have woodworking experience. This one is by @cowanaudio
www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/choices-for-a-speaker-with-reasonable-waf.422541/post-7904717
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So the main part will probably be hidden inside the media center setup I have yes, along with the sub.
For the bookshelf speakers, I'm probably looking at going with some 4inch mids with a tweeter so a 2-way design - will be building the speaker casing from MDF with a curved look and oak front, that's the easy part, selecting the drivers is the part I will struggle with, I will rarely have it loud and it's more for my games and music, films, Netflix, etc isn't something done often maybe once a month at a push.
So to break it down I need advice on the drivers, they don't need to produce much bass but I want them to sound nice enough to be suitable but looks are more important in this case, size wise I would guess around 7inch wide by 10-12inch height and depth I guess around 7inch also?
I already have the design in my head I'm just struggling with the drivers, I have found a fairly nice mid-range driver but again no idea what it will sound like.
Cheers
For the bookshelf speakers, I'm probably looking at going with some 4inch mids with a tweeter so a 2-way design - will be building the speaker casing from MDF with a curved look and oak front, that's the easy part, selecting the drivers is the part I will struggle with, I will rarely have it loud and it's more for my games and music, films, Netflix, etc isn't something done often maybe once a month at a push.
So to break it down I need advice on the drivers, they don't need to produce much bass but I want them to sound nice enough to be suitable but looks are more important in this case, size wise I would guess around 7inch wide by 10-12inch height and depth I guess around 7inch also?
I already have the design in my head I'm just struggling with the drivers, I have found a fairly nice mid-range driver but again no idea what it will sound like.
Cheers
I like coaxials for background music and TV, since you can typically go way off axis in any direction and still have decent frequency balance.
Lately I've been messing around with the 4 inch co-ax from SB Acoustics (SB12PFCR25-4). It's pretty good. My tests were done in a tri-amp configuration, so I wasn't using their suggested crossover and can't comment on that.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/coaxial/sb-acoustics-sb12pfcr25-4-coax-4-coaxial-4-ohms-round/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/pdf/SBAcoustic_PFC_Coaxial_Crossover_Designs.pdf
I also have Dayton's CX120-8 co-ax that's about the same size. I haven't tested it yet though.
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...iver-with-3-4-Silk-Dome-Tweeter-8-Ohm-295-384
At the end of this kit's assembly manual, there's a schematic for a crossover
https://www.parts-express.com/Executive-Portable-Bluetooth-Speaker-Kit-300-7164
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/manuals/300-7164--executive-speaker-assembly-manual-3.pdf
Lately I've been messing around with the 4 inch co-ax from SB Acoustics (SB12PFCR25-4). It's pretty good. My tests were done in a tri-amp configuration, so I wasn't using their suggested crossover and can't comment on that.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/coaxial/sb-acoustics-sb12pfcr25-4-coax-4-coaxial-4-ohms-round/
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/pdf/SBAcoustic_PFC_Coaxial_Crossover_Designs.pdf
I also have Dayton's CX120-8 co-ax that's about the same size. I haven't tested it yet though.
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...iver-with-3-4-Silk-Dome-Tweeter-8-Ohm-295-384
At the end of this kit's assembly manual, there's a schematic for a crossover
https://www.parts-express.com/Executive-Portable-Bluetooth-Speaker-Kit-300-7164
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/manuals/300-7164--executive-speaker-assembly-manual-3.pdf
A more conventional kit that's pretty well reviewed for the price is the C-Note. It's a little larger than what you want, but not by much.
https://www.parts-express.com/C-Note-MT-Bookshelf-Speaker-Kit-Pair-with-Knock-Down-Cabinets-300-7140
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...arts-express-diy-c-note-speaker-review.12693/
https://www.parts-express.com/C-Note-MT-Bookshelf-Speaker-Kit-Pair-with-Knock-Down-Cabinets-300-7140
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...arts-express-diy-c-note-speaker-review.12693/
I do like the second kit you linked me too, im about to read the review, only concern is that these will be mounted to a wall so i would need to move the port, think that would be an issue if say i moved the port to the side? I also may just base my design off them and make the box myself 😀
i disapprove of this project.
it's like an old woman asking for an AI filter to make her look 20 years younger so she can hit on younger men on the internet.
it is wrong.
sell the X-Boom and buy Bose.
or anything else that looks fancy enough for you.
or build a DIY speaker that isn't some other speaker in disguise.
the X-Boom looks horrible for a reason.
because it IS horrible.
don't do it.
it's like an old woman asking for an AI filter to make her look 20 years younger so she can hit on younger men on the internet.
it is wrong.
sell the X-Boom and buy Bose.
or anything else that looks fancy enough for you.
or build a DIY speaker that isn't some other speaker in disguise.
the X-Boom looks horrible for a reason.
because it IS horrible.
don't do it.
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@bamfukrazer , as I understand you want to keep the sound of your system, but do not like the looks of it, right?
Option RECOMMENDED: cover them in some kind of fake box, or something like #4 post. Screen of thin cloth will not ruin your sound. No, it will not save you space, as the "external" box will be bigger than your system.
Option two: measure internal volume (not sound volume, but volume in cubic meters or cubic feet) of all three boxes, measure the diameter AND length of ports in all three boxes, remake the boxes of smaller size, but with the same or similar port tuning. In that way you can "save" up to 20-30% of volume, but not more, and some more space with clever dimension picking, like make it shallow with the additional width and height etc. And you have to keep or re-make waveguide for tweeter, but remaking will not be easy. Also you need to understand how bassreflex works and re-calculate for the new box. This task is not for novice cabinet builder, but still nothing out of extraordinary. I suggest do not touch the head of the system.
Option three: keep the head of the system and build 1 subwoofer and 2 satellite speakers from scratch with new drivers. That is risky, because we don't know if the new speakers will match the current head of the system as this is a system designed to be used as one and probably the signal coming out of the head is DSP/EQ corrected to the exact speakers and we (you) have no idea how it is corrected. It may NOT be DSP/EQ corrected - this option is worth to consider.
Option four: change the system to the one that fits you better
Option RECOMMENDED: cover them in some kind of fake box, or something like #4 post. Screen of thin cloth will not ruin your sound. No, it will not save you space, as the "external" box will be bigger than your system.
Option two: measure internal volume (not sound volume, but volume in cubic meters or cubic feet) of all three boxes, measure the diameter AND length of ports in all three boxes, remake the boxes of smaller size, but with the same or similar port tuning. In that way you can "save" up to 20-30% of volume, but not more, and some more space with clever dimension picking, like make it shallow with the additional width and height etc. And you have to keep or re-make waveguide for tweeter, but remaking will not be easy. Also you need to understand how bassreflex works and re-calculate for the new box. This task is not for novice cabinet builder, but still nothing out of extraordinary. I suggest do not touch the head of the system.
Option three: keep the head of the system and build 1 subwoofer and 2 satellite speakers from scratch with new drivers. That is risky, because we don't know if the new speakers will match the current head of the system as this is a system designed to be used as one and probably the signal coming out of the head is DSP/EQ corrected to the exact speakers and we (you) have no idea how it is corrected. It may NOT be DSP/EQ corrected - this option is worth to consider.
Option four: change the system to the one that fits you better
I would change only the tweeter. Dunno much about the original.
Midwoofer's basket and all the midbass speaker can be removed, probably it's a keeper.
I'd tear out the plastic flange, probably the vynil sheet ( which has the function to keep humidity out of the MDF/any wood) for making a custom colour, then see what's inside ( what? only a caaaap?!) , make a new baffle, make double layer inside of lead sheet or any soundproofing element, then the acoustic damping, new tweeter, crossover, cables, tube amp, etc. etc.
Midwoofer's basket and all the midbass speaker can be removed, probably it's a keeper.
I'd tear out the plastic flange, probably the vynil sheet ( which has the function to keep humidity out of the MDF/any wood) for making a custom colour, then see what's inside ( what? only a caaaap?!) , make a new baffle, make double layer inside of lead sheet or any soundproofing element, then the acoustic damping, new tweeter, crossover, cables, tube amp, etc. etc.
Pico, it's not a bad idea, not at all, to remove the front baffle/plastic and proceed from there.
I have done that with this Aiwa. Kept the drivers though because it made no sense to buy new.
Crossover was added in place of a single cap. Mesh was salvaged from another high quality trash.
I have done that with this Aiwa. Kept the drivers though because it made no sense to buy new.
Crossover was added in place of a single cap. Mesh was salvaged from another high quality trash.
Should be fine. Basic port function for low frequency reinforcement will be the same as long as you don't do anything like cram it right up against a corner of the box. Though even that may be of limited import since your source unit may have a high-pass crossover on the left and right outputs anyway.