Ah! Beadboard! I go through a lot of this stuff used as packing material. Two 1" layers of beadboard has proven bulletproof for shipping speakers through FedEx. I have often considers using 1" beadboard clad with 5mm plywood. Maybe I'll actually do it.
Bob
Bob
XPS is expanded polystyrene and is different than beadboard - stronger and more resilient. Breadboard would require a stiff facer like thin ply.
Time for a cutsheet. I apologize for any errors but I think it is accurate. I'm starting mine this weekend! Only 15 pieces per side. It will be a really quick build and should be fun! The wood is 4'x8' 3/4" Cabinet Birch. Enjoy!
Tom
Tom
Last edited:
Bob, I love beadboard! SUPER cheap and I can build crates for my artwork to be shipped. Same use as you!
Tom
Tom
Right. Blue Dow (even when it's pink). One who uses 1/4 foam core for speaker cabinets suggests that 1" beadboard + 5mm plywood is not stiff enough? 😉
I started out using 3/4" MDF + 1/4" cement board. Reasonably stiff, quite dead. For most of my builds now, I am using 12mm BB with longitudinal stiffeners. Given power under 30w and SPL under 100dB, I find this stiff enough. I just build a pair of subs - 400w, 112dB. For those I used 24mm BB with braces.
I am not sure 1" beadboard + 5mm ply wouldn't be stiff enough. I need to try it to make any real comment. Perhaps 5mm ply + 1/2" beadboard + 5mm ply might be better.
Bob
I started out using 3/4" MDF + 1/4" cement board. Reasonably stiff, quite dead. For most of my builds now, I am using 12mm BB with longitudinal stiffeners. Given power under 30w and SPL under 100dB, I find this stiff enough. I just build a pair of subs - 400w, 112dB. For those I used 24mm BB with braces.
I am not sure 1" beadboard + 5mm ply wouldn't be stiff enough. I need to try it to make any real comment. Perhaps 5mm ply + 1/2" beadboard + 5mm ply might be better.
Bob
Last edited:
I meant beadboard by itself is not resilient enough - chips and flakes compared to XPS. Faced with thin ply beadboard is awesome stuff I am sure.
Haha, FC is actually only 3/16 in less than 1/4 even. 🙂
Haha, FC is actually only 3/16 in less than 1/4 even. 🙂
Last edited:
I will side with Bob. BB is the way to go for final builds. Expensive but as far as I know can't be beat.
Tom
Tom
Oh, it can easily be 'beaten' with metal, Spauldite or similar high voltage dialectric or composite of these plus some other high density woods, clay, stones, but the cost difference isn't worth it IME unless one can easily afford it.
GM
GM
GM! You are getting me interested in experimenting with materials of differing densities combined to fight vibrations. Hmm, I may have to try the concrete encased BB covered in lead and hard rubber. 🙂
Tom
Tom
Managed to get the wood cut this weekend and started the assembly last night. I'm going to finish assembly today and hopefully get the cutout routed. As I am going to recess the driver, the Jasper jig will come in awfully handy. I've designed a TL sub that should work well with my eminence 10" driver. One per side but with how low these speakers will potentially go, I may build a single sub to start with anyway.
Tom
Tom
You're welcome! Don't have even a cellphone, so no clue about that. Did it not allow you to click on the image and copy the link to paste into the reply?
GM
GM
Nope, it doesn't allow right clicking so I was super frustrated and tried copying the address but as you saw it was fubar.
I finished the speakers. I need to play with damping but I don't believe I was ready for what I heard. No baffle step issues I can hear. No forward peaks like the paper drivers, just smooth sound down to what sounds like around 60 Hz, maybe lower. I am astounded. My understanding of the intricacies are finally advancing to the point where I can decide what I want in an enclosure and then design it. I wish there was more power handling. One of the things I enjoy immensely is listening to live jazz in a jazz club. The DB level of that is quite high and hard to reproduce in my listening room. Granted, what I am achieving as far as volume, is quite high. I am working to get this sub design sorted so that i can build that to go with these wonderful speakers. Now I just wish that I had others to build these to work out the damping etc. I am also interested in playing with a dual driver setup in these. I am going to sim it this weekend and see if it looks like a possibility.
Tom
I finished the speakers. I need to play with damping but I don't believe I was ready for what I heard. No baffle step issues I can hear. No forward peaks like the paper drivers, just smooth sound down to what sounds like around 60 Hz, maybe lower. I am astounded. My understanding of the intricacies are finally advancing to the point where I can decide what I want in an enclosure and then design it. I wish there was more power handling. One of the things I enjoy immensely is listening to live jazz in a jazz club. The DB level of that is quite high and hard to reproduce in my listening room. Granted, what I am achieving as far as volume, is quite high. I am working to get this sub design sorted so that i can build that to go with these wonderful speakers. Now I just wish that I had others to build these to work out the damping etc. I am also interested in playing with a dual driver setup in these. I am going to sim it this weekend and see if it looks like a possibility.
Tom
Congrats on first sound! 
Live jazz clubs is also one of my favorites.
A first order guess is to double the width for dual drivers and fine tune from there. Are you using any stuffing in main driver chamber?
Live jazz clubs is also one of my favorites.
A first order guess is to double the width for dual drivers and fine tune from there. Are you using any stuffing in main driver chamber?
Last edited:
