I will echo what wesayso has offered. Like you, my first speaker build was ambitious. They are nearly floor to ceiling line arrays and are the best speakers I've ever heard.
Two caveats. I had some very knowledgeable people here give great advice, and I use an ACTIVE CROSSOVER. Specifically a miniDSP.
I'm about to start my second build of a basic 2-way with a sub and so far I'm finding it to be at least as daunting a task, if not more because I'll be making a passive crossover this time.
IMO, a novice with a limited understanding of what they are doing can achieve surprisingly good results if they employ active/dsp technology.
View attachment 658880
How do you cope with phase difference from fron-bottom to middle ?
I think I will go for an alternative product
DAP DCP-26 MKII digitale crossover
Advantage
- cheaper 😛 😛
- Distributor close to where I live
- rack mountable
- balanced connection available
- I prefer to have a solution that doesn't require a Windows of Apple computer to configure (I'm a die hard Linux user and minidsp isn't doing much efforts in making an open api or Linux support).
Nice - I also prefer Linux and I understand your choice 😉
Great build - looking forward to see the finished project and read about your impressions 🙂
More foam arrived today, Precision cut tweeter foams and more internal foam ... no progress made ... one has to work sometimes and had some other stuff to do ... also waiting on parts.
Today 2 mono high pass filters came in (pure for testing every build module before piling them up and in order to avoid re-piling them multiple times. It's a simple 5.5 khz 18db slope filter by Monacor (DNH-185) the final tower will be with digital crossover as recommended by everyone here off course!
As promised ... some updates.
The woofers/mids arrived and are looking quit good. Descent magnet, well build, nice varnished cone, and descent foam surroundings ... I'm aware of the fact that they are foam butt my living room is very stable, there is no direct sunlight to them so they should remain quit some time.
First of all ... these high pass filters came in, I will use them to test every separate block to make sure everything works and in order to protect my tweeter while testing. They are 12bd at 5500 hz. Good enough for testing after building
These came in 🙂
Test fit ... will be making front panels next weekend. Magnets just fit in the damping ... nice to see everything come togethet nicely You can also see that the space between all modules will be as short as possible while having 2 layers of MDF between them.
Detailed view ...
Things will go a bit slower for the next steps as it's quit busy at work currently 🙂 hope to find some spare time this week in order to continue. I will keep everybody posted here.
For the finishing ... well I will fill all the screw holes, sand, sand, sand, then primer, soft sanding again and finishing will be done with wheel paint in order to get a champagne like color, finished with one or 2 layers clear paint.
The woofers/mids arrived and are looking quit good. Descent magnet, well build, nice varnished cone, and descent foam surroundings ... I'm aware of the fact that they are foam butt my living room is very stable, there is no direct sunlight to them so they should remain quit some time.

First of all ... these high pass filters came in, I will use them to test every separate block to make sure everything works and in order to protect my tweeter while testing. They are 12bd at 5500 hz. Good enough for testing after building

These came in 🙂

Test fit ... will be making front panels next weekend. Magnets just fit in the damping ... nice to see everything come togethet nicely You can also see that the space between all modules will be as short as possible while having 2 layers of MDF between them.

Detailed view ...
Things will go a bit slower for the next steps as it's quit busy at work currently 🙂 hope to find some spare time this week in order to continue. I will keep everybody posted here.
For the finishing ... well I will fill all the screw holes, sand, sand, sand, then primer, soft sanding again and finishing will be done with wheel paint in order to get a champagne like color, finished with one or 2 layers clear paint.
Just got a mail that the tweeters will have some kind of a delay ... oh well it's not blocking will continue in the weekend hopefully 😉
Weekend update
Added a small part of wood with two clamps with marks in order to make the drilling process faster ... here drilling the banana clamps for the tweeters and woorfers + bass port
Drilling can be done in house it doesn't generate lots of dust, vacuum permanent on 🙂
How it will look like ... all 32 rear plates are drilled
scary ... pretty high 😛
31 of 32 modules ... the last module will be featuring a little movie as we make it.
Lots of work has been done
- nearly all foam is in
- all rear ports are drilled
- all bana holes are drilled
- sanded rear panels after drilling
- all top plates glued plus screwed
- all woofer cabling is in
Also had a test run for the finish ... this will be the color. Warm Inox
Tweeters are coming in in the next days then I can start drilling the front panels ... then it will be finishing the cabinets, filler, sanding, primer, 5 to 7 thin layers of paint ... still a lot of work to do 🙂 I try to keep high standards and make sure every step is done well on all 32 pieces.

Added a small part of wood with two clamps with marks in order to make the drilling process faster ... here drilling the banana clamps for the tweeters and woorfers + bass port

Drilling can be done in house it doesn't generate lots of dust, vacuum permanent on 🙂

How it will look like ... all 32 rear plates are drilled

scary ... pretty high 😛

31 of 32 modules ... the last module will be featuring a little movie as we make it.
Lots of work has been done
- nearly all foam is in
- all rear ports are drilled
- all bana holes are drilled
- sanded rear panels after drilling
- all top plates glued plus screwed
- all woofer cabling is in
Also had a test run for the finish ... this will be the color. Warm Inox

Tweeters are coming in in the next days then I can start drilling the front panels ... then it will be finishing the cabinets, filler, sanding, primer, 5 to 7 thin layers of paint ... still a lot of work to do 🙂 I try to keep high standards and make sure every step is done well on all 32 pieces.
Allright ... check what came to my mailbox today !!! SUPEREXCITED
They look pretty descent build, big terminals, some weight, nice finish ... will test a set this evening. Currently 16 arrived and another 16 will be ordered if they are OK!




They look pretty descent build, big terminals, some weight, nice finish ... will test a set this evening. Currently 16 arrived and another 16 will be ordered if they are OK!
Another update on my build ... small one this time
Preparing the front panel
Overview. Will be drilling one all others will be done with my table router and with a bearing equiped mill
A friend of mine has cut these damping foams, they will be glued to the tweeter. It seals up the tweeter perfectly with the housing. Have a roll of regular version of this for gluing around my midbass speakers to! It's all in the details.
Perfect sizes on aliexpress site 🙂 it fits
little test to make sure size is correct
First view on things comming together. Didn't use the router as it was already 22h in the evening. It's also very cold (to Belgian standards) currently (-9 degrees celsius ...) not comfy for precision routing outside.

Preparing the front panel

Overview. Will be drilling one all others will be done with my table router and with a bearing equiped mill

A friend of mine has cut these damping foams, they will be glued to the tweeter. It seals up the tweeter perfectly with the housing. Have a roll of regular version of this for gluing around my midbass speakers to! It's all in the details.

Perfect sizes on aliexpress site 🙂 it fits

little test to make sure size is correct

First view on things comming together. Didn't use the router as it was already 22h in the evening. It's also very cold (to Belgian standards) currently (-9 degrees celsius ...) not comfy for precision routing outside.

Nearly all elements came in 🙂 impresive pile of speakerboxes

New tool for my router. Will be used to finish the cabinets and copy the front panels

20 mm for copy cutting 18 mm frontplates

Template done by hand and very very very gentle routing on the routing table

2 copy's done ... my brother will do the other 29 on wednesday

Testfit

Now you get an idea on the distance between the elements. Love the look of it and as they will become an eyecatcher in my livingroom ... I start to be a happy man 😉
More updates will follow 😉 as I update more forums I will also update here.
Any updates on this project?
Hello thanks for asking 🙂 yes there is still some progress however I have a very busy times at work currently so progress is rather slow.
What is completed?
I pressed all the wirelooms with connectors + soldered them (just to be sure 😛)
Lot's of sanding ... filling ... sanding. My house looks like a loudspeaker factory. Here some pictures:

hundreds of holes to fill and sand. As it will be spray painted later on it needs to be spot on.

My living room ... currently (I will call these speakers the divorce reference series 😛 )

Tweeter cables with connector ... all 2.5 pure copper hifi cable. Nothing extreme just descent cables (please please please no discussion on cables)

So ... I have temporary placed elements in 2 modules in order to do a first test. See how they play as a single stereo speaker set, how the response is, how the bass is, how the tweeters sound.
I have had about 20 people who had the chance to listen. Going from my son, to my mom, friends and a few audio lovers. ALL of them are impressed by the performance of the little module. Even the bass is quit ok considering the space and little drivers.
I have no studio or measure stuff so it's pure listening. I currently have set up a passive filter at around 5 khz so way to high 🙂 I will now continue building and finishing the modules ... once that is done I have some money again to buy the dsp 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
All together it is a hell of a work to get all 32 modules done. It's not just building a pair of speakers, it's building 16 pairs. I don't want to rush so it takes some time.
I also get quit a lot of bad reactions, hate etc on various forums, facebookpages, etc
What is it about
- distance between the tweeters is too high in oder to form an array at frequences above 15 khz
- riple effect due to MTM setup of the drivers
- shading
- lobing
I tried to listen to everybody, also read a lot about these things and ... how commercial products cope with these things. Time will tell ... will keep posting updates on the project.
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