That's the nuclear option 🙂
Explaining $60+ worth of purple foam board won't be the most smooth conversation with the girl. I'll try a couple other stores on my way home from work tomorrow, there's one sort of on the way home that supposedly has eight of them in stock.
Fingers crossed 😀
Man, this has turned into a mission lol
Explaining $60+ worth of purple foam board won't be the most smooth conversation with the girl. I'll try a couple other stores on my way home from work tomorrow, there's one sort of on the way home that supposedly has eight of them in stock.
Fingers crossed 😀
Man, this has turned into a mission lol
My first post is going to be a praise report on the 0.53x karlsonator w/pa130-8. I have read every post on this thread and the xki thread also... my goodness that took a minute. I would like to thank xrk971 for his seemingly tireless efforts to crank out simulations for every speaker imaginable like a mad scientist on meth, for free
.
The 0.53x I built is made out of 1/2" Hobby Lobby foamcore with PVA glue/hotmelt method with no bracing and sounds amazing, even though I had to put them in the cubby-holes of our entertainment center. In the pic I had not placed the apertures on yet but they sounded alright with them off too.
I'm running these with a cheap sony 2 channel avr from best buy for mostly movies and background Pandora every now and again. While I had them out putting the wings on, the wife told me she never realized how bad the tv speakers were and told me to hurry up and put them back!
I do have a question for you though. I'm looking to build another, better set for the living room and move these to the bedroom. The three I've been eyeing:
Dual pa130-16 xki or if there's a karlsonator version?
Dual 3fe25-16
Post 2164, w5-2143 karlsonator, or post 2243, xki
LR and kitchen open, 22x30, vaulted ceilings. Don't want a subwoofer.
If you were me and I were you, which one would you build?

The 0.53x I built is made out of 1/2" Hobby Lobby foamcore with PVA glue/hotmelt method with no bracing and sounds amazing, even though I had to put them in the cubby-holes of our entertainment center. In the pic I had not placed the apertures on yet but they sounded alright with them off too.
I'm running these with a cheap sony 2 channel avr from best buy for mostly movies and background Pandora every now and again. While I had them out putting the wings on, the wife told me she never realized how bad the tv speakers were and told me to hurry up and put them back!
I do have a question for you though. I'm looking to build another, better set for the living room and move these to the bedroom. The three I've been eyeing:
Dual pa130-16 xki or if there's a karlsonator version?
Dual 3fe25-16
Post 2164, w5-2143 karlsonator, or post 2243, xki
LR and kitchen open, 22x30, vaulted ceilings. Don't want a subwoofer.
If you were me and I were you, which one would you build?
Attachments
Thanks for the kind words Btram4. The white foam core matches your white entertainment center! 🙂
If you like the sound of this speaker, the dual 3FE25 will be 6dB more sensitive but sound similar maybe with a more resolved top end. But the PA130-8 can take more power so you could turn them up louder with bigger amp. Try moving these to the new location and test it out. If you still need more oomph make the dual PA130-8 XKi. If you want a nice all around smooth sound with good bass and nice highs, try the w5-2143. But I think you would be very happy with dual 3FE25-16. That’s a sure thing and not expensive. Dual PA130 XKi is about same price in drivers but a bigger box.
If you like the sound of this speaker, the dual 3FE25 will be 6dB more sensitive but sound similar maybe with a more resolved top end. But the PA130-8 can take more power so you could turn them up louder with bigger amp. Try moving these to the new location and test it out. If you still need more oomph make the dual PA130-8 XKi. If you want a nice all around smooth sound with good bass and nice highs, try the w5-2143. But I think you would be very happy with dual 3FE25-16. That’s a sure thing and not expensive. Dual PA130 XKi is about same price in drivers but a bigger box.
When I scaled the plans by 0.53x, I made some small adjustments to make it easier to measure and cut with natural ruler lengths etc. Here is the "xrk971" scaled plans from post 1.
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vs a true 0.53x taken by meticulously rescaling the GregB CAD plans as done by Blades and Mudjester, etc.
The design is very forgiving so a few mm off here and there is no big deal. Even +/5mm (except on vent width) is OK. Don't fret - jut build. 🙂
Okey, I've been comparing the plans and the biggest difference I could see was the height, your one is 381mm externally while the other one is 381 mm internally, so a cm difference in height.
I was bored at work today so I drew a picture in paint and added the measurements translated (and a bit rounded) to mm, does it seem to look correct? (Never mind the drawing, its just randomly drawn and therefore not correct,just to know what measurement goes where.)
And the drawing to the right in the picture is how I'm going to fold and cut and paste it together.
This was the fut and fold idea you had muddjester?
If the drawing to the right is understandable!
Attachments
While I had them out putting the wings on, the wife told me she never realized how bad the tv speakers were and told me to hurry up and put them back!
My girlfriend didn't really "get it" until I set these up on our TV. She's home with the kids most of the day, and always has either kid movies or music going. After I set the 0.41's up and we listened for a while she stated that they were very natural and relaxing to listen to, even just watching The Lion King😉
I turned the amp off and went back to the TV speakers and she immediately said "wow, that's gross. Turn it back to the new speakers" 😀
High praise coming from her, she's a bit over all the electronic projects and indifferent most of the time. 😱
She's on board now. She didn't object to the idea and purchase of the four 3FE25-16 speakers and material to build the .053's either.
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I recently built a set of .53s Very nice sound and now I want to rebuild them as my workmanship leaves a lot to be desired. Thank you HHJ for your new drawings much better.
I know from my reading that this is a formula to determine the shape of the front opening, would it be possible for someone to indicate say 4-6 points along the curve on either side with the resulting width measurement, with that it would be easier to connect the dots.
Thanks in advance
I know from my reading that this is a formula to determine the shape of the front opening, would it be possible for someone to indicate say 4-6 points along the curve on either side with the resulting width measurement, with that it would be easier to connect the dots.
Thanks in advance
I recently built a set of .53s Very nice sound and now I want to rebuild them as my workmanship leaves a lot to be desired. Thank you HHJ for your new drawings much better.
I know from my reading that this is a formula to determine the shape of the front opening, would it be possible for someone to indicate say 4-6 points along the curve on either side with the resulting width measurement, with that it would be easier to connect the dots.
Thanks in advance
Post 556 has a good drawing of a X.40 that you can look at and rescale from, I have not rescaled it yet but I will be looking at that one for my build !
Mini Karlsonator (0.53X) with Dual TC9FD's
I recently built a set of .53s Very nice sound and now I want to rebuild them as my workmanship leaves a lot to be desired. Thank you HHJ for your new drawings much better.
I know from my reading that this is a formula to determine the shape of the front opening, would it be possible for someone to indicate say 4-6 points along the curve on either side with the resulting width measurement, with that it would be easier to connect the dots.
Thanks in advance
Just hand sketch it as an arc tangent to the centerline about 3in from the top and extending down to the bottom corner while traversing through a tangent point on the surround of the driver. Do it on a piece of paper to-scale. Then fold paper and cut with scissors to get mirror image. Then trace over actual material to be cut for K aperture. That’s how I do it every time - never use a CAD drawing or a formula.
Lingwendil,
Very nice to hear the speaker has SWMBO’s approval. You know it’s goid when they comment.

Very nice to hear the speaker has SWMBO’s approval. You know it’s goid when they comment.

Okey, I've been comparing the plans and the biggest difference I could see was the height, your one is 381mm externally while the other one is 381 mm internally, so a cm difference in height.
I was bored at work today so I drew a picture in paint and added the measurements translated (and a bit rounded) to mm, does it seem to look correct? (Never mind the drawing, its just randomly drawn and therefore not correct,just to know what measurement goes where.)
And the drawing to the right in the picture is how I'm going to fold and cut and paste it together.
This was the fut and fold idea you had muddjester?
If the drawing to the right is understandable!
Here's what I am planning. I just need to add the bracing and I can start on the drawing. I decided to bring the front baffle to the bottom (shown in detail A) for aesthetics.
Attachments
Stupid question, where do you mount a single driver on a 0.40? I know the lower region, but what measurement?
I have 2 Faital 3FE35's I want to try.
I have 2 Faital 3FE35's I want to try.
Stupid question, where do you mount a single driver on a 0.40? I know the lower region, but what measurement?
I have 2 Faital 3FE35's I want to try.
Take a pencil and draw an X from corner to corner of the lower square piece. That’s the center of the board where you can cut the circle.
Awesome work - that’s the bracing scheme I used! Thanks for following it. It needs a lot because the walls are thin and span a large distance.
Fantastic job!
If you think that’s a lot of bracing, remember this? The Nailutaloss subwoofer:
Each side was a full 20x30in sheet. 🙂
Fantastic job!
If you think that’s a lot of bracing, remember this? The Nailutaloss subwoofer:
Each side was a full 20x30in sheet. 🙂
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She's home with the kids most of the day, and always has either kid movies or music going.
This sounds just like our situation ha. The tv has been hijacked by our kids and we're watching cartoons most of the time (Disney has some pretty good soundtracks though). While it was cold out the kids enjoyed helping me build the foamcore pa130 k's. My next build will be the w5-2143 k's in wood.
Here's what I am planning. I just need to add the bracing and I can start on the drawing. I decided to bring the front baffle to the bottom (shown in detail A) for aesthetics.
![]()
Looks really nice, perfect with the bracing also!
This one measures differently from both the CAD x0.53 and the xrk version in height, so now we have 371 mm internally(xrk), 381 mm internally(tb46) and 397 mm internally (MuddJester!
I think for "safety" i will go for the 381 to end up somewhere in the middle of everything.
Will start the build tonight!
Mine is a true x0.53 scaling of the original Karlsonator, focused on maintaining internal dimensions (the scaled down 3/4" walls of the original are thicker than the 3/16" foam core). XRK's was modified to make it easier to cut from 20x30 panels. Which CAD are you referring to?
the one by tb46 in post #198!Mine is a true x0.53 scaling of the original Karlsonator, focused on maintaining internal dimensions (the scaled down 3/4" walls of the original are thicker than the 3/16" foam core). XRK's was modified to make it easier to cut from 20x30 panels. Which CAD are you referring to?
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full...sonator-0-53x-dual-tc9fds-20.html#post3723843
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