Hi!
Hoping some collective experience may help here. I've looked over every DIY Kit / Design I can find and haven't really found exactly what I'm after. Maybe my Google-Fu is becoming weak.
Essentially I'm after a bookshelf speaker that will work in my space, constraints being;
1. Depth. I'm hoping for 250mm max.
2. Sound good with a wall close behind. So I'm guessing Sealed or Front ported is best
3. Not too entry level. Want a fairly high end sound despite the spatial constraints
4. Be a Kit or pretty thorough plans, I have no speaker design knowledge, but can happily work timber, solder etc.
The closest I've found so far is the Purifi-6R (link #1) design from Troels, and the "Bijou" (link #2) one using Visaton drivers.
Purifi 6R - http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Purifi-6R.htm
Bijou - https://www.soundlabsgroup.com.au/p/V-5889-Bijou-170/Bijou+170+Speaker+Kit
I don't know about specific drivers etc, and a lot of builds its hard to find people who have done them or any real review on it. So its going in blind for most part.
Be in 4.5x4.5m room, sitting about 3m from them at a guess. Don't need crazy sub-bass, whatever comes out of a decent 5-6" would be fine. And in Australia, I think I can get most parts locally, if not happy to import.
Thanks for any help!
Ben
Hoping some collective experience may help here. I've looked over every DIY Kit / Design I can find and haven't really found exactly what I'm after. Maybe my Google-Fu is becoming weak.
Essentially I'm after a bookshelf speaker that will work in my space, constraints being;
1. Depth. I'm hoping for 250mm max.
2. Sound good with a wall close behind. So I'm guessing Sealed or Front ported is best
3. Not too entry level. Want a fairly high end sound despite the spatial constraints
4. Be a Kit or pretty thorough plans, I have no speaker design knowledge, but can happily work timber, solder etc.
The closest I've found so far is the Purifi-6R (link #1) design from Troels, and the "Bijou" (link #2) one using Visaton drivers.
Purifi 6R - http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Purifi-6R.htm
Bijou - https://www.soundlabsgroup.com.au/p/V-5889-Bijou-170/Bijou+170+Speaker+Kit
I don't know about specific drivers etc, and a lot of builds its hard to find people who have done them or any real review on it. So its going in blind for most part.
Be in 4.5x4.5m room, sitting about 3m from them at a guess. Don't need crazy sub-bass, whatever comes out of a decent 5-6" would be fine. And in Australia, I think I can get most parts locally, if not happy to import.
Thanks for any help!
Ben
Did you see Troels 3WC Corner? Designed for wall placement.
I'm not sure there are many sealed published designs, though any design can be made sealed, then you'd be best off with a sub to fill out the low end.
Two designs I like the look of are Goran's Classic and Pida's recently introduced ClassIllu -- you could write him on cabinet design and cost for the plans.
I'm not sure there are many sealed published designs, though any design can be made sealed, then you'd be best off with a sub to fill out the low end.
Two designs I like the look of are Goran's Classic and Pida's recently introduced ClassIllu -- you could write him on cabinet design and cost for the plans.
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I did yeah. Too big unfortunately. I think if there was a 6" version with sort of 20% smaller cabinet I would be ideal.
May I suggest something unusual, a kind of bookshelf transmission line of 6-14L total volume, for both fullrange driver and 2-way. Low-end clean, deep, and impactful compared to more standard designs. The internal bracing surely helps, but even folded hard cardboard can be quite effective in such small enclosures. Here in Beijing (!) I have made a 7L 5.5" fiberglass honeycomb + AMT a la Eve Audio SC205 (but passive; Series-1st-order XO), then 6L 4.5" and 10L 5.5" using "English drum paper" fullrange drivers variously labelled Michael's Audio or Hifi-Bird (with notch filter taming 5-8khz if needed). To my own ears listening to familiar music and frequency sweeps at least on-par with my Monitor Audio Studio classic bookshelves and Lowther PM2A Fidelio biggies.
Like any other speaker a TL needs to be designed for the driver used. A DT size TL is very hard to do, but possible (Woden Baby Labs). They need to be properly modeled. His onw looks like a guess.
Also, a TL tuned such that it can dit on a wall needs to be different than a desktop TL/
We have done some wall TLs (Poplar/Aspen) but they are too large.
Finding a FR that is happy in a small sealed box (target is Q ~0.5) is a difficult task.
Given the seemingly low demand for smallish sealed boxes for wall placement, finding a flat-oak will be difficult, but it should be an easy encloure to cut.
dave
I highly recommend Jeff Bagby's Piccolos. They are exactly the size you are looking for and I think the SBA tweeter in that design is exceptional, particularly at its cost level. You can look long and hard at other designs, but I seriously doubt you will find anything that sounds much better.
Here is the kit information:
https://meniscusaudio.com/product/piccolo-loudspeaker-kit/
And here is a write up with a very good review:
https://meniscusaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Piccolo-Write-up.pdf
Here are Jeff's remarks at the end of that review:
"These are really a top-of-the-line mini-speaker: Excellent low distortion drivers, low crossover point, near perfect phase tracking, flat response, stable impedance, great bass extension, a solid cabinet - I would put them up against anything in their size range at any price."
Here is the kit information:
https://meniscusaudio.com/product/piccolo-loudspeaker-kit/
And here is a write up with a very good review:
https://meniscusaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Piccolo-Write-up.pdf
Here are Jeff's remarks at the end of that review:
"These are really a top-of-the-line mini-speaker: Excellent low distortion drivers, low crossover point, near perfect phase tracking, flat response, stable impedance, great bass extension, a solid cabinet - I would put them up against anything in their size range at any price."
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From the wtite-up “...with a Qtc of .75…"
Way too high for wall placement unless you want a biggish bump up in the bass. So a bigger box would be required.
dave
(Hi Dave, you prob. won't remember me but I eventually got your Fonkensteen design built--amazing bass THANKS--but with a super-tweeter placed on top and the F120A high up on the baffle.)
In my very limited experience I found small TL to be quite forgiving and very easy to experiment with, assuming the drivers are appropriate of course (Qts ~ 0.4). I only started diy during the pandemic and by now have done five TLs using only rules-of-thumb and a tone-generator APP. They include what I call LXmidi, 8"+4" fiberglass honeycombs version of LXmini that is seamlessly crossover-less, relying on off-axis and baffle loss. The 8" pedestal is an umbrella stand steel can with two nested tubes to make a TL that exits bottom. My 10L 1.3m TL is a slotted cab into which I stuffed cardboard before replacing with ply. My first diy, 7L 1m TL 2-way (honeycomb+AMT) delineated every musical part and shook the windows playing organ. My point (and suggestion) is to experiment freely with TL
It's the midrange and particularly the high end with the SBA tweeter that make this speaker so exceptional. If someone is looking for lots of bass, then this is probably not the best speaker for them.
However, close wall placement might just give the bass a boost that it needs anyhow. Mine are 3 feet away from the front wall in a near field arrangement, so I don't really get any extra bass boost.
True, one can add damping to lower the Q (not really applicable with a box with a hole in it, but…) as you push the line more & more aperiodic, but it is way easier if you start with a proper design instead of somethign sort of random as a starting point or you result will not be that much different than the same size aperiodic box with no partitions.
I’d think near-field it would be emphasized… and another reason for a 1-way speaker. You ar eclose enuff that you will not be far enuff away for the separation of a typical cone+dome system to have any chance of integrating.
dave
William,
November 2009. Glad you like it. I can see where an sT would help. Pictures?
dave
Meniscus has probably the best selection of DIY kits anywhere. And they keep adding new ones and growing the list.Totally forgotten Meniscusaudio, an early DIY community 'mover n' shaker'!
Yes, that looks good, though as Dave stated a bit too high a Qtc, so let's make it ~aperiodic to 'taste'
Madisound also has a good selection, but more from the driver manufactures themselves rather than from independent designers that Meniscus seems to feature.
Parts Express also has some DIY kits, but rather limited selection and mostly featuring the Dayton brand of drivers.
And then diysoundgroup has some other kits not found from any of the other three sources above.
