After trawling through many threads here and elsewhere, I decided to have a go at building a nice pair of speakers for my nearfield desk setup. I have a pair of small monitor now, but I wanted something a bit more snazzy, and I love to do a little DIY every now and then.
To have a good pair of speakers for the music I like to listen to at work (mainly light classical music) I settled on a full range design, to mitigate some of the directionality and tweeter sharpness I find rather annoying in my current set-up. I selected the Markaudio CHR-70 for looks, good reviews and forgiving characteristics for first-time builders, and, being a total n00b in the matter, I just picked the design on the Markaudio site that would fit my desk.
Without much further ado:
Drivers:
IMG_3882 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctjr/, on Flickr
Taping up the wood. I ordered some great ply from a guy that specialises in flight cases, but saws speaker wood on the side. Amazing quality stuff: straight, cuts right on spec and a lot more plies than at the hardware store. No voids so far and pretty faces on some of the pieces.
IMG_3874 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctjr/, on Flickr
Glueing (this is a dry run, but fit was good):
IMG_3875 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctjr/, on Flickr
Stain test. No fancy veneers on my first build, just some nice wood oil. Looks real good:
IMG_3876 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctjr/, on Flickr
Sealing the box:
IMG_4076 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctjr/, on Flickr
Acoustic foam lining:
IMG_4079 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctjr/, on Flickr
Next up is routing holes in the faces, mounting the drivers, drill some holes for the terminals and get some push-on connectors for the wiring.
To have a good pair of speakers for the music I like to listen to at work (mainly light classical music) I settled on a full range design, to mitigate some of the directionality and tweeter sharpness I find rather annoying in my current set-up. I selected the Markaudio CHR-70 for looks, good reviews and forgiving characteristics for first-time builders, and, being a total n00b in the matter, I just picked the design on the Markaudio site that would fit my desk.
Without much further ado:
Drivers:

Taping up the wood. I ordered some great ply from a guy that specialises in flight cases, but saws speaker wood on the side. Amazing quality stuff: straight, cuts right on spec and a lot more plies than at the hardware store. No voids so far and pretty faces on some of the pieces.

Glueing (this is a dry run, but fit was good):

Stain test. No fancy veneers on my first build, just some nice wood oil. Looks real good:

Sealing the box:

Acoustic foam lining:

Next up is routing holes in the faces, mounting the drivers, drill some holes for the terminals and get some push-on connectors for the wiring.
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