If you are looking for big coherent sound and are willing to put in the work look into making a MEH based upon the Klipsch K402 horn as per the fellow who -posts as Chris A at the Klipsch forum. He started a thread about this here but it was more of a solicitation of interest for a ready to go version of the K402 with provision molded in for the two Crites Eminence woofers that Chris A found to work. I waited almost two years for that to happen and it has yet to be realized. You have to get K402s from a Klipsch Cinema dealer. It comes with a B&C driver you will find is very easy to sell. The price is NOT reasonable but nonetheless i have no regrets about paying the price/
I have built a pair of them using the RYTHMIK woofers for the lowest bass - their cabinet is the base for the K402 box - in my case they are about 22.5 inches tall. The main cabinet is 44 inches tall. Obviously I have the horns vertically oriented - with the woofers mounted on the "large" sides.
In many ways these are simple to build - anyone can build a box! Nothing like building a horn. The woofer baffles will take some time since they need to be chamfered to allow fitting to the side of the horn. Cutting the ports is tricky - I have mine in the valley of the horn which requires building up the side walls with JB WELD. Then making the frustums which requires a die grinder and sanding wheels. Birch ply is time consuming to sand. This is by far the most difficult part and it is more time consuming than actually difficult.
I am using the CELESTION Axi-periodics which are the best compression driver I have ever used. I have owned Tad 2001, Tad 4001 and the JBL 2441 with the TRUEXTENT diaphragms and I listened for a day or so to the B&C drivers that came with the K402. I had never heard a titanium diaphragm before so I thought I should give it a try. They were not as bad as I expected them to be but there is no way i could ever be happy with them. They were EQed with the xilica XP2040 so they were given a fair hearing.
I was concerned about the Celestion's titanium radiator - PARTS EXPRESS has a return option so I figured might as well give it a try. After a few days to be sure it was really as good as I thought it was I then sent an order for the second one. Maybe these suit my system and room extremely well? Who knows but I have never heard a compression driver as minimally resonant as these.
One must use something like the xilica to make it work. No way you could make the necessary EQ otherwise. There are gigantic level differences in the horn with each of the drivers which must be quelled. I once was a purist who disdained DSP but I have learned this is foolishness. Whatever they take away they return with a far larger amount of goodness.
I use a First Watt SIT 1 for the Celestions and the FIRST WATT J2 for the woofers. I do not hear a need for any more power.
Having the RYTHMIKs close to the main horn allows the two speakers to work together.
The crossover between these is a very curious thing. The slope is made with the xilica and has a very slow initial rolloff - there is a large overlap between them. I used some brute force PEQ to get rid of the top end of the RYTHMIKs - similarly the same approach for the K402. Per Danley: nothing more than first order slopes and not even are those always used here. You can make much better slopes with the PEQs.
I am using two RYTHMIKs per channel. I wanted distortion to be as low as possible with the cone movement minimized.
At one meter away there is less than 300 degrees of phase change - 20 hz to 20KHz. Most of this occurs below 400 hz. I can get it even smaller but it doesn't sound right.
Will make a reasonable looking square wave at one meter - as one would expect they look lots more like square waves above 1000 Hz.
The sound is big and dynamic beyond my expectations.
I have recently placed a reticulated foam surround around the horn - 2 inches deep - 30 ppi. Every horn benefits from this and this one is no exception. Takes away almost all of the tizziness - you have to try to hear it now.
I figure this is a 21st century A5.
My room is a similar size to yours - a bit longer with a sloping ceiling that starts at nine feet on the speaker end and goes up to about twenty feet. I listen about ten feet away.
I have the speakers in the corners.
I have spared the myriad details. If anyone is interested I would be glad to post more.
I have built a pair of them using the RYTHMIK woofers for the lowest bass - their cabinet is the base for the K402 box - in my case they are about 22.5 inches tall. The main cabinet is 44 inches tall. Obviously I have the horns vertically oriented - with the woofers mounted on the "large" sides.
In many ways these are simple to build - anyone can build a box! Nothing like building a horn. The woofer baffles will take some time since they need to be chamfered to allow fitting to the side of the horn. Cutting the ports is tricky - I have mine in the valley of the horn which requires building up the side walls with JB WELD. Then making the frustums which requires a die grinder and sanding wheels. Birch ply is time consuming to sand. This is by far the most difficult part and it is more time consuming than actually difficult.
I am using the CELESTION Axi-periodics which are the best compression driver I have ever used. I have owned Tad 2001, Tad 4001 and the JBL 2441 with the TRUEXTENT diaphragms and I listened for a day or so to the B&C drivers that came with the K402. I had never heard a titanium diaphragm before so I thought I should give it a try. They were not as bad as I expected them to be but there is no way i could ever be happy with them. They were EQed with the xilica XP2040 so they were given a fair hearing.
I was concerned about the Celestion's titanium radiator - PARTS EXPRESS has a return option so I figured might as well give it a try. After a few days to be sure it was really as good as I thought it was I then sent an order for the second one. Maybe these suit my system and room extremely well? Who knows but I have never heard a compression driver as minimally resonant as these.
One must use something like the xilica to make it work. No way you could make the necessary EQ otherwise. There are gigantic level differences in the horn with each of the drivers which must be quelled. I once was a purist who disdained DSP but I have learned this is foolishness. Whatever they take away they return with a far larger amount of goodness.
I use a First Watt SIT 1 for the Celestions and the FIRST WATT J2 for the woofers. I do not hear a need for any more power.
Having the RYTHMIKs close to the main horn allows the two speakers to work together.
The crossover between these is a very curious thing. The slope is made with the xilica and has a very slow initial rolloff - there is a large overlap between them. I used some brute force PEQ to get rid of the top end of the RYTHMIKs - similarly the same approach for the K402. Per Danley: nothing more than first order slopes and not even are those always used here. You can make much better slopes with the PEQs.
I am using two RYTHMIKs per channel. I wanted distortion to be as low as possible with the cone movement minimized.
At one meter away there is less than 300 degrees of phase change - 20 hz to 20KHz. Most of this occurs below 400 hz. I can get it even smaller but it doesn't sound right.
Will make a reasonable looking square wave at one meter - as one would expect they look lots more like square waves above 1000 Hz.
The sound is big and dynamic beyond my expectations.
I have recently placed a reticulated foam surround around the horn - 2 inches deep - 30 ppi. Every horn benefits from this and this one is no exception. Takes away almost all of the tizziness - you have to try to hear it now.
I figure this is a 21st century A5.
My room is a similar size to yours - a bit longer with a sloping ceiling that starts at nine feet on the speaker end and goes up to about twenty feet. I listen about ten feet away.
I have the speakers in the corners.
I have spared the myriad details. If anyone is interested I would be glad to post more.
I have always used Google Photos or most forums allow for direct upload. With the demise of Photobucket what else works?
I checked Lowes, the ones around here are not stocking it.
Do the baffles need to be rectangular? First thing she thought of was live edge wood in the proper size.
Hi Ericspt,
I had first hand experience with my Pi3 speakers build, due to bad WAF factor and problems with neighbors I need to say good-by to them. They were very capable of filling the room with big sound without breaking a sweat!
Actually - they were sounding better with more power fed to them.
It's a 2-way 12inch woofer with Horn, you can found more info on Pi speakers forum, there is a also 15inch version as well!
Happy building whatever you choose!
I had first hand experience with my Pi3 speakers build, due to bad WAF factor and problems with neighbors I need to say good-by to them. They were very capable of filling the room with big sound without breaking a sweat!
Actually - they were sounding better with more power fed to them.
It's a 2-way 12inch woofer with Horn, you can found more info on Pi speakers forum, there is a also 15inch version as well!
Happy building whatever you choose!
Attachments
For photos, attaching them here always works. This tells you how.
How to attach images to your posts.
EDIT: I've heard the Pi3 speakers, they are very nice.
How to attach images to your posts.
EDIT: I've heard the Pi3 speakers, they are very nice.
Thanks for the pics, I don't see any unusual problems. Those tall ceilings will really help.
Open Baffle works best when you can get them away from the walls. 3 feet is minimum, 4 feet is better. If that doesn't work for you, there are a number of good projects mentioned here that you could get closer to the wall. But even box speakers sound better with room to breath.
Open Baffle works best when you can get them away from the walls. 3 feet is minimum, 4 feet is better. If that doesn't work for you, there are a number of good projects mentioned here that you could get closer to the wall. But even box speakers sound better with room to breath.
The back of the driver itself?
3' would be tough but if it was the back of the driver may work.
We really like the look of the OB along with the wood options.
I know I‘m late to the party, but I personally am very tempted by the open source monkey box: Open Source Monkey Box
They seem to be exceptionally good, and I will build them, some day.
If you are still in the evaluation process you may be interested in those.
...
Nice room you have, and it is really so cool that you and your wife build a soundsystem !
They seem to be exceptionally good, and I will build them, some day.
If you are still in the evaluation process you may be interested in those.
...
Nice room you have, and it is really so cool that you and your wife build a soundsystem !
ericspt You are undoubtedly a lucky man regarding WAF.
I am half, they let me do it, I have the living room at my disposal, but there is not much interest in spending hours of his life listening to music. To each his own, she prefers her plants, cooking and board games. (these days online, of course)
I have a system with many large speakers, in a suitable room, they are the closest thing to live sound. Go ahead and good luck with the adventure, it will give you many satisfactions.
My opinion :
DTQWTIII from Troels, amplifier PP KT-88. If you notice a lack of the deeper bass, you can go for subwoofers. (less than 40 cycles with these speakers)
I am half, they let me do it, I have the living room at my disposal, but there is not much interest in spending hours of his life listening to music. To each his own, she prefers her plants, cooking and board games. (these days online, of course)
I have a system with many large speakers, in a suitable room, they are the closest thing to live sound. Go ahead and good luck with the adventure, it will give you many satisfactions.
My opinion :
DTQWTIII from Troels, amplifier PP KT-88. If you notice a lack of the deeper bass, you can go for subwoofers. (less than 40 cycles with these speakers)
so cool your wife's into this, heres an high waf alternative
but looking at your living room i see no way to place such a big speaker to be honest.
15" bass could be difficult.
Open Baffle Loudspeakers: DIY IKEA hack - IKEA Hackers
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Years ago I drew up plans for a similar shape OB to be made from bamboo plywood, but I never built it. Yours turned out nice.so cool your wife's into this, heres an high waf alternative
but looking at your living room i see no way to place such a big speaker to be honest.
15" bass could be difficult.
Open Baffle Loudspeakers: DIY IKEA hack - IKEA Hackers
I've got a plan. We never sit in our living room, our main room is in the basement. The dogs lay on that furniture. We can shrink it down a bit, move it back a bit.
I thought it would be cool to put tracks on the floor where they could be moved in/out as needed. Set back against the wall and then slid out when listening.
Her and I have nearly all the same interests except for a few. We both enjoy audio, booze, guns, and fast cars/racing. She is the construction person between the two of us. She has rebuilt all our bathrooms, built our bar, game room, the floors you see that is hardwood she installed.
I like the Trio's because of the unique design and the baffles are simple enough that as we come up with new idea's or change the room colors we can change the look of the speaker easier.
I had even considered Plastidip. We were building a BMW 330 track car and I experimented with it on a fender. Looks awesome sprayed out of a gun.
I had never painted a thing in my life. Bought a $100 air sprayer, a $50 spray tent and did this is 10 minutes. I did the blue first, waited a few days, peeled it off and did the orange.
I second that
Can't open the picture in the first post though, is it the room layout?
Here it is and also from a different angle. All the wood on the floor and saw horses are for tomorrow project. That entire wall with the windows is getting re-trimmed out and new window treatments.
Assuming the room was empty could they be made to work. I've had them where they are because we are in the kitchen often, putting it along the windows would mean we are perpendicular to the speakers.
Thank you. I was shocked how easy it was, now granted those were big surfaces and the key is being able to spray around edges without getting overspray and drips but I could not believe how well it came out.
I have not build any of these, I just found some random
OBs on google pictures, some also in the OB sticky
