Just pointing out some basic info on this project
I build these speakers with stuff I have recovered from audio stuff that I bought in the past, super bargains, free stuff, etc. I recover quit some hifi things and if cabinets are bad, or some components failing I put the working things in my storage, you never know what project the future gives ... or you wake-up in the morning with that feeling of checking if you somewhere have a 15 cm woofer 🙂
So a friend of mine has 2 kids, they had a play room however as they are growing and have become teenagers ... they wanted to transform the room into a chill/relax room for their game things and hanging around, listening some music, watch television. Last christmas they asked money to get a television and they have choosen as theme for the room ... LONDON.
The basic sound of an LCD television is not very ... lets say good. So may I please kindly ask you to keep in mind that this build is used for improving the sound they have currently. It's not a high end, balanced out, measured speaker system. Audiophiles would run away breaking the sound bareer. HOWEVER, I kind of like the result and wanted to share the super fast and easy build.
Components:
- 15 cm woofers out of some old Marantz speakers (I think HD260), I don't know what Marantz was up to but these are no superb speakers, small magnet, low power however they have this cool white conus 🙂
- 6 cm mid range (magnetic shielded) Aiwa
- 3 cm tweeter also from the same Aiwa speakers
- crossover Aiwa also recovered and i replaced the capacitor with a new descent one same value slightly higher voltage, just to be sure as the old ones looked like very very cheap one
- Variera banboo storage boxes from Ikea (14,99 euro a pc)
- bought the cheapest pillow at ikea for another project to get some alternative cheap damping going on
- some wire
- some solder
- some hot glue
- some staples
- some wood glue (extra strong + instant)
- recovered some fabric from the curtains of the room !!! To match them
Price:
Total investment for the speakers: 30 euro all the rest was laying around at my place please also keep that in mind!
Amplifier:
I bought last year at black friday a Scythe Kama Bay 2100 amplifier for about 50 euro brand new. This is actually a quit cool litle amp that I love.
- it's a class D amplifier
- it delivers 2x10 watt at 8 ohm however with 10% thd ... 2x8 watt with 1% ...
- it has 2 analog power meters
- blue led lights
- 3 rca inputs
- 1 jack input
- usb port for charing cellphone, mp3 player, ...
- headphone jack
- power and mute button
- it comes with a 12 volt 3 ampere power supply (36 watt so oversized for the amp
- it comes with a lot of cables etc
- you can also build it in a slot of your computer (same size as a standard cdrom player) (5.25 inch slot)
- it has a class A headphone output that is actually quit descent
- it has a Yamaha class D chip (YDA138)
if you take all of this into account a pretty good deal!
Allright ... enough of the bla bla
The Ikea box and elements. Why i didn't use the original Marantz tweeters? one is broken the otherone has a fingered dust cap 🙂
This will fit
For the lovers that want to search more specs
Overview
Glued some mdf to the inside in order to have some more wood to safely glue the front + to make the box more solid
applied glue to the front
used a small paintbrush to spread it out
some paper and ironing going on here
sides are done with the hair dryer
Connecting everything and soldering the woofer / crossover
hotglued the crossover in
filled up the box with damping whool from a pillow 🙂 #hatersGonnaHate
Glued everything together for a few hours
This is how they look like
They slightly tilt and the fabrik worked out very nicely around the corners
Rear view (on the second hole I will make a label stating my name and 8 ohm etc)
This is the little 50 euro amplifier ... descent connectors
I really like the view of it
And this is how it looks in an Ikea rack 😉
Soundwise it is a big upgrade however under 70 hertz it's not to good 🙂 might add a little subwoofer lateron.
Build in about 4 hours.
I build these speakers with stuff I have recovered from audio stuff that I bought in the past, super bargains, free stuff, etc. I recover quit some hifi things and if cabinets are bad, or some components failing I put the working things in my storage, you never know what project the future gives ... or you wake-up in the morning with that feeling of checking if you somewhere have a 15 cm woofer 🙂
So a friend of mine has 2 kids, they had a play room however as they are growing and have become teenagers ... they wanted to transform the room into a chill/relax room for their game things and hanging around, listening some music, watch television. Last christmas they asked money to get a television and they have choosen as theme for the room ... LONDON.
The basic sound of an LCD television is not very ... lets say good. So may I please kindly ask you to keep in mind that this build is used for improving the sound they have currently. It's not a high end, balanced out, measured speaker system. Audiophiles would run away breaking the sound bareer. HOWEVER, I kind of like the result and wanted to share the super fast and easy build.
Components:
- 15 cm woofers out of some old Marantz speakers (I think HD260), I don't know what Marantz was up to but these are no superb speakers, small magnet, low power however they have this cool white conus 🙂
- 6 cm mid range (magnetic shielded) Aiwa
- 3 cm tweeter also from the same Aiwa speakers
- crossover Aiwa also recovered and i replaced the capacitor with a new descent one same value slightly higher voltage, just to be sure as the old ones looked like very very cheap one
- Variera banboo storage boxes from Ikea (14,99 euro a pc)
- bought the cheapest pillow at ikea for another project to get some alternative cheap damping going on
- some wire
- some solder
- some hot glue
- some staples
- some wood glue (extra strong + instant)
- recovered some fabric from the curtains of the room !!! To match them
Price:
Total investment for the speakers: 30 euro all the rest was laying around at my place please also keep that in mind!
Amplifier:
I bought last year at black friday a Scythe Kama Bay 2100 amplifier for about 50 euro brand new. This is actually a quit cool litle amp that I love.
- it's a class D amplifier
- it delivers 2x10 watt at 8 ohm however with 10% thd ... 2x8 watt with 1% ...
- it has 2 analog power meters
- blue led lights
- 3 rca inputs
- 1 jack input
- usb port for charing cellphone, mp3 player, ...
- headphone jack
- power and mute button
- it comes with a 12 volt 3 ampere power supply (36 watt so oversized for the amp
- it comes with a lot of cables etc
- you can also build it in a slot of your computer (same size as a standard cdrom player) (5.25 inch slot)
- it has a class A headphone output that is actually quit descent
- it has a Yamaha class D chip (YDA138)
if you take all of this into account a pretty good deal!
Allright ... enough of the bla bla
The Ikea box and elements. Why i didn't use the original Marantz tweeters? one is broken the otherone has a fingered dust cap 🙂
This will fit
For the lovers that want to search more specs
Overview
Glued some mdf to the inside in order to have some more wood to safely glue the front + to make the box more solid
applied glue to the front
used a small paintbrush to spread it out
some paper and ironing going on here
sides are done with the hair dryer
Connecting everything and soldering the woofer / crossover
hotglued the crossover in
filled up the box with damping whool from a pillow 🙂 #hatersGonnaHate
Glued everything together for a few hours
This is how they look like
They slightly tilt and the fabrik worked out very nicely around the corners
Rear view (on the second hole I will make a label stating my name and 8 ohm etc)
This is the little 50 euro amplifier ... descent connectors
I really like the view of it
And this is how it looks in an Ikea rack 😉
Soundwise it is a big upgrade however under 70 hertz it's not to good 🙂 might add a little subwoofer lateron.
Build in about 4 hours.
Nice job, liking the front cover idea. To get more bass you could always port them but would have to be at the front I guess, not much room though, maybe bottom corners.
My ikea “speakers” are not as ambitious. Wanted stands for my bookshelf speakers and sub to make a quasi 10+6.5+1 and found the Wharfedale sw150 was an exact fit in the Ikea Kallax cube system, just needed to cut a hole on the shelf for the downward firing port. The 2x2 unit also provided a good stand for my dac and amps. Also just about pleased SWMBO, which was a relief.
Ikea seems to be a good place for speaker parts, iirc there was a run on solid wood salad bowls a few years back to make spherical full range speakers.
Quick pic - need to get a minidsp as the location/room has some horrible reflections at the moment.
My ikea “speakers” are not as ambitious. Wanted stands for my bookshelf speakers and sub to make a quasi 10+6.5+1 and found the Wharfedale sw150 was an exact fit in the Ikea Kallax cube system, just needed to cut a hole on the shelf for the downward firing port. The 2x2 unit also provided a good stand for my dac and amps. Also just about pleased SWMBO, which was a relief.
Ikea seems to be a good place for speaker parts, iirc there was a run on solid wood salad bowls a few years back to make spherical full range speakers.
Quick pic - need to get a minidsp as the location/room has some horrible reflections at the moment.
Nice !!! I love that. I didn't go for a ported housing as the original Marantz housing was also closed not sure if the woofer is made for open designs.
Porting for more bass is not a universal prescription - the drivers have to be suited to the alignment.
These drivers are likely to have a high Qts value, making them a poor choice for porting.
Exactly what I was thinking.
searched a bit more they come out of a set of Marantz HD250's from 1984! So these drivers are 35 years old !!! 🙂
Cheers guys, I stand corrected.
But, if you go down the sub woofer route I can recommend the wharfedale sw150, 150w, 10” drive, downward firing port. Does not go terribly deep but is tight and pretty musical. I picked one up for £25 and another for £65 so bargains can be had, they were originally £250, not worth building at that price. Oh, and I will even let you copy my sub woofer stand 😉
But, if you go down the sub woofer route I can recommend the wharfedale sw150, 150w, 10” drive, downward firing port. Does not go terribly deep but is tight and pretty musical. I picked one up for £25 and another for £65 so bargains can be had, they were originally £250, not worth building at that price. Oh, and I will even let you copy my sub woofer stand 😉
The bits I like most:
I think re-purposing an existing item is great. It speeds things up partly cos it takes some of the decisions out of your hands 🙂 I can see these bamboo boxes being handy in other projects, e.g as enclosures for external crossovers.
Meters on amps: I like. Also: nice to see a cheap(ish) low power amp with some preamp functions - usually all they have is a volume knob.
I think re-purposing an existing item is great. It speeds things up partly cos it takes some of the decisions out of your hands 🙂 I can see these bamboo boxes being handy in other projects, e.g as enclosures for external crossovers.
Meters on amps: I like. Also: nice to see a cheap(ish) low power amp with some preamp functions - usually all they have is a volume knob.
I make it about 11L gross, 9.5-10L net depending on wall thickness (that's probably a bit high estimate as the bottom is narrower). The smaller ones 5.7L gross. Could maybe fit the Tang Band W51138SMF in the larger one to make a Boxel (Bamboo Voxel?).
I have built a pair of speakers using the small Variera bamboo boxes. A plywood baffle sets off the box nicely and makes a decent looking speaker. What is not apparent is that the box is slightly tapered towards the back, so if you have them as desk top speakers they tilt slightly up, which is rather useful. (the edges still sit square on the baffle)
The 2 holes at the back. I drilled them out a tiny amount, and speaker wire connectors (the individual ones) fitted perfectly.
The small Variera's average internal measurements are about 13.5cm x 14.5cm x 21.5cm, giving a volume of just about 4.2litres. The bigger one, is about double the volume.
The walls are about 6mm. I put some damping sheet on them, which of course reduces the volume slightly. I am about to remake them with Monacor sp100 main drivers ported.
The 2 holes at the back. I drilled them out a tiny amount, and speaker wire connectors (the individual ones) fitted perfectly.
The small Variera's average internal measurements are about 13.5cm x 14.5cm x 21.5cm, giving a volume of just about 4.2litres. The bigger one, is about double the volume.
The walls are about 6mm. I put some damping sheet on them, which of course reduces the volume slightly. I am about to remake them with Monacor sp100 main drivers ported.
Some other random thoughts.... A stand off surround before the baffle would net additional volume if needed. Could even cover the lot the same to blend/contrast with the box.
I started mooting a 2.1 system or boombox with one large and one smaller box. Also have a weird desire to have a print on the baffle or grille of the top of a pic(er)nic basket for some reason.
Just pointing out some basic info on this project
I build these speakers with stuff I have recovered from audio stuff that I bought in the past, super bargains, free stuff, etc. I recover quit some hifi things and if cabinets are bad, or some components failing I put the working things in my storage, you never know what project the future gives ... or you wake-up in the morning with that feeling of checking if you somewhere have a 15 cm woofer 🙂
This is how they look like
They slightly tilt and the fabrik worked out very nicely around the corners
Build in about 4 hours.
I did something similar this year. I built a pair of "Obseletes" from parts hanging around as seen in the attachment. Every part in them you can't buy today and 2 of the companies don't exist with the original cast. (PHL and American Technology Corp.) Note the brass plate on the bottom part of the foam cover says "Obsolete". I laughed this morning when I saw Scottmoose's thread where he provides some designs. A lot of his drawings have something about Obsolete as well.
I really like your iron on for the front and will likely use that for next years effort and expect your speakers sound so much better than tv speakers. I've got 4 Fostex FF165k's hanging around that should get used. They are likely to be in a design for next years DIY audio get together.
Thanks for the post.
Grant.
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Nice job HaerdenC! I like all DIY stuff, but the most interesting thing is when you use commercial products in different ways. I recently built by desktop FRs using the VILDAPEL pot, great, fast and inexpensive build 🙂
They also sell APTITLIG bamboo cutting board, wich would make quite nice front baffle for these builds. Bit expensive for the size but would be at least similar material.
They also sell APTITLIG bamboo cutting board, wich would make quite nice front baffle for these builds. Bit expensive for the size but would be at least similar material.
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heyyyy I did kind of the same thing
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full project here
Ikea/AliExpress Stereo – Cliff Haerden
Nice to see other people also look around and seeing speakers in daily usable other things that are not made for it
I just bought couple of small wooden chests for office speakers. Perfect size (0,7 liter) for Peerless 830970 full range in BR, will tune them in about 100hz with a small port. Also integrating PAM class D amp in one speaker, powered via USB.
They cost a whopping 4,5€/piece, with that price I don't even think about building an enclosure 😀
They cost a whopping 4,5€/piece, with that price I don't even think about building an enclosure 😀
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