Long since gave up any pretence of membership in the “purist” club, and definitely found the ease of use of REW/miniDSP combo to be very flexible and far more granular than the rather simplistic and rigid EQ/XO functions built into either my RZ740 or BlueSound Node 130. Each of those systems are now limping along with just a 2x4HD, and a FlexHtx is on my income tax rebate wishlist.
Curious if you played much with the align multiple subs utility in REW, and if so, how efficacious you found it?
Still gotta experiment with side and diagonal corner placement of the two cheapie DIY subs I built to repurpose a pair of 20+ year old Fosgate RFA 84 drivers, and yes, I’m quite aware that a 2720 cu ft room with moderate damping but no bespoke acoustic treatment is not the same as a Ford Ranger extended cab - the last vehicle in which these were installed.
I’m trying to consume this elephant one bite at a time.
Curious if you played much with the align multiple subs utility in REW, and if so, how efficacious you found it?
Still gotta experiment with side and diagonal corner placement of the two cheapie DIY subs I built to repurpose a pair of 20+ year old Fosgate RFA 84 drivers, and yes, I’m quite aware that a 2720 cu ft room with moderate damping but no bespoke acoustic treatment is not the same as a Ford Ranger extended cab - the last vehicle in which these were installed.
I’m trying to consume this elephant one bite at a time.
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My latest project: an omni-directional wireless speaker. It's not finished but I just did a first test and am too excited not to make a post!
I wanted a speaker for the kitchen and after evaluating some commercial offerings I ended up pilfering a Pluvia 11 driver from my boombox build (post #4871) and designed an ~8L enclosure myself. The first design iteration had a port but I've never done a passive radiator speaker before and figured this was a perfect opportunity. A close friend is in to 3D printing and recently acquired a Bambu Lab P1S - an impressive machine - and 3D printed the enclosure using PLA-CF (carbon fibre reinforced PLA). There was a print error on the inside of the PR mounting but I am content with it.
The first test was to assemble the parts, tape the enclosure halves together, and give it a test run. It sounds excellent! Despite a small air leak around the 3.5mm jack passthrough, the bass is really punchy and the 360 effect from the cone absolutely works. I really expected the deflected sound from the cone to muffle the higher end of the output but it's very crisp. The PLA-CF is extremely stiff and doesn't appear to resonate, but I will probably experiment with some deadening material on the inside surface anyway.
The pictures don't do it justice; it's big! Dimensionally, the total height from the bottom of the feet to the top of the cone is 475mm (18.7") and the outside diameter of the enclosure is 205mm (8"). If anyone is interested in making their own I have attached the STL files.
The job list is pretty short - fix the leak, glue the halves together, and experiment with stuffing/deadening. I do have a healthy love for woodworking, but I must admit developing this design in CAD and assembling it in about an hour after getting the parts together was extremely satisfying. Oh, and last point... Its party trick is that the cone is printed using Phosphorescent PLA
It will almost light a corner in a room when it is charged up!
I wanted a speaker for the kitchen and after evaluating some commercial offerings I ended up pilfering a Pluvia 11 driver from my boombox build (post #4871) and designed an ~8L enclosure myself. The first design iteration had a port but I've never done a passive radiator speaker before and figured this was a perfect opportunity. A close friend is in to 3D printing and recently acquired a Bambu Lab P1S - an impressive machine - and 3D printed the enclosure using PLA-CF (carbon fibre reinforced PLA). There was a print error on the inside of the PR mounting but I am content with it.
The first test was to assemble the parts, tape the enclosure halves together, and give it a test run. It sounds excellent! Despite a small air leak around the 3.5mm jack passthrough, the bass is really punchy and the 360 effect from the cone absolutely works. I really expected the deflected sound from the cone to muffle the higher end of the output but it's very crisp. The PLA-CF is extremely stiff and doesn't appear to resonate, but I will probably experiment with some deadening material on the inside surface anyway.
The pictures don't do it justice; it's big! Dimensionally, the total height from the bottom of the feet to the top of the cone is 475mm (18.7") and the outside diameter of the enclosure is 205mm (8"). If anyone is interested in making their own I have attached the STL files.
The job list is pretty short - fix the leak, glue the halves together, and experiment with stuffing/deadening. I do have a healthy love for woodworking, but I must admit developing this design in CAD and assembling it in about an hour after getting the parts together was extremely satisfying. Oh, and last point... Its party trick is that the cone is printed using Phosphorescent PLA
It will almost light a corner in a room when it is charged up!Attachments
... The finished product.
I temporarily glued some dowels inside the enclosure to get the alignment right during the glue up. The glue is a 5-min epoxy so there wan't much waiting to do (it was 30°C, too
) before removing them and applying adhesive-backed non-slip matting to the inside surface - a token effort at taming reflection without taking up volume. I also filled the enclosure with loose stuffing.
The only thing left to play with is adding weight to the PR to adjust tuning, but it sounds great as-is. If I want proper hifi I'll still be on the couch listening to my main system... this speaker will be competing with noise from the coffee machine, extractor fan, oven, etc.!
I temporarily glued some dowels inside the enclosure to get the alignment right during the glue up. The glue is a 5-min epoxy so there wan't much waiting to do (it was 30°C, too
) before removing them and applying adhesive-backed non-slip matting to the inside surface - a token effort at taming reflection without taking up volume. I also filled the enclosure with loose stuffing.The only thing left to play with is adding weight to the PR to adjust tuning, but it sounds great as-is. If I want proper hifi I'll still be on the couch listening to my main system... this speaker will be competing with noise from the coffee machine, extractor fan, oven, etc.!
Attachments
These are my latest speakers, a larger version of something I did before, they use Daytonaudio CE65W-8 2 1/2 inch drivers. They sound quite good, but then they're full range drivers in a closed box, it would be difficult to make them sound bad, A work colleague commented "why are all your speakers so ugly". I do intend on making bronze coloured caps foe the speaker magnets, making them look more like oversized perfume bottles than table lamps without lampshades.
MAOP 11.2 in 3D-printed enclosures. My first build after some years and my first 3D-printed enclosures. Mainly printed with 18% wood PLA, finished with a walnut stain. The cabinet is in multiple parts, using constrained layer damping, careful selection of infill, and a semi-permanently fastened top. All in an effort to minimise ringing and cabinet movement while minimising weight. And I think I succeeded. At louder volumes the cabinets feel dead, and almost no sound emitting through the baffles. The cabinets weigh less than 3 kg without the drivers. If seen from the top the speakers are almost teardrop shaped, and there is 2" foam lining behind each driver.
The slot port is flared out (the sidewalls are not parallel) and heavily radiused. The box is tuned to 65 Hz, but I am getting a significant bass boost to the low 50s thanks to my room. I have to tone the bass down with my amp.
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You're forgiven.
Over the speakers or in-between them the VHF direct backwave is pretty good, just a bit less bright than cone's front direct sound (which is almost adequate for my older ears). But sitting far away from them the omni lost too much high extension (hence imaging, depth, and detail). The white balls/bowls help quite noticeably making them perhaps good enough for everyday relaxed listening.
Bass-wise I now have them fake-isobaric, powering the two Aura in mono with a high-quality subwoofer plate-amp, cut-off ~250hz, continuous phase knob adjusted by ear. Again, a relaxed kind of bass sound, clear and quite deep. I didn't know whether the fake-isobaric-clamshell would work; seems to, in only 25L.
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I like to listen in the cellar, it give the sound more "depth".
Firstoff - interesting little project you got there. Any chance of posting a sketch of the internal configuration?
What electronics are employed, and are you able to play around with placement out from the front wall?
What electronics are employed, and are you able to play around with placement out from the front wall?
chrisb - I'm not able to play around much with placement with my wife around. But, I do pull the speakers off the wall temporarily for my own personal listening. That there is how my wife likes them displayed. I power them with a Fosi Audio BT20A Pro through a Fosi Audio X5 preamp. The turntable is the infamous Audio Technica AT-LP60X my wife got me for my birthday. Pretty good actually, especially with the internal preamp bypassed.
I'll see about posting something to look at the inside. There's not much going on in there. It's a sort of tear drop shape. Curved side walls with a rear baffle much narrower than then front. There is a 2" foam lining at the rear spanning half the vertical length, and half the sides. I haven't been playing around much with that. But, as far as hearing anything smearing or messing up with the imaging I couldn't hear anything wrong so I leave it at that.
I'll see about posting something to look at the inside. There's not much going on in there. It's a sort of tear drop shape. Curved side walls with a rear baffle much narrower than then front. There is a 2" foam lining at the rear spanning half the vertical length, and half the sides. I haven't been playing around much with that. But, as far as hearing anything smearing or messing up with the imaging I couldn't hear anything wrong so I leave it at that.
