newbie eminence open baffle

[mrthieme]

I built my first speakers yesterday and I'm shocked they sound as open and full bodied as they do considering my lack of knowledge with diy speakers. 24x48x.75" mdf with Eminence 2002 horn tweeter with 1 uf cap, Beta 12 lt wide band, and Delta 15lt ran straight off the Beta.( I need inductor here). I have been using Maggies and wanted to maintain the 3d soundstage they have while improving sensitivity, dynamics and bass. I think the open baffle can definitely do it with a little fine tuning. If there is anyone interested who lives around Detroit MI with some equipment for measuring response I would love to bring them over to see where the weak spots are. This site has been extremely helpful so far, thanks. Matt
I will attach photos as soon as I find out how to shrink them to size.

 

[mrthieme]

photo

 

[mrthieme]

photo rear

 

[willycom]

Hi,

Nice Job there !

I use Eminece spkrs for my guitar cabinet (4x10 legend 102) and bass cabinet (2x12 beta) (2x15 kappa pro).

Never had in mind to use them in home audio.

How's the 'vocal' ? What power amp do you use ?


Thanks,

Wil

 

[mrthieme]

Thanks, I have some work to do in getting drivers integrated properly with high low passes, but want to listen for a while to see what happens. So far the vocals are very good, "well rounded", if I run the tweeter in a little lower I should get a little more air I think. I must get a low pass on the 15 though to clean up the bass.
I am using a tube pre and ss amp both from Balanced Audio Tech. vk3i and vk 200. Very good stuff I feel, but I want to build a pair of tube monos, maybe Bottleheads. Matt

 

[mrthieme]

here's the finished baffles. Still need xo work, still smiling.

 

[mrthieme]

close up of figured maple veneer, definitely not a pro woodworker but it does capture the look I wanted pretty well.

 

[joensd]

Nice looking baffles you got there. Like the looks with the stripes.
Is your rack DIY or which manufacturer is that?

In case you wanna cut the 15" real low you could think about a cheap active solution if you don´t mind (and have) another amplifier.
(some simple solid state amp; guess the 15" don´t mind a bit more power in the baffles as well)
A Behringer CX-2310 works pretty well for me.
Might be cheaper than trying a few of those big and expensive coils?

greets

 

[mrthieme]

Thanks, The rack is simply the Lovan Classics stackable frames with shelves I had cut locally made of marble and granite. I have been thinking of doing a butcherblock rack like the Mapleshade Samson.
Your advice for going active is exactly what I've been thinking about, just getting sub amps so I can adjust gain and xo freq.

 

[joensd]

just getting sub amps so I can adjust gain and xo freq.

You can certainly do that with a CX-2310 or similar as well;
only phase can´t be adjusted.

If you have a separate preamp (and another amp) passive line level crossovers might be an option too.
http://www.t-linespeakers.org/tech/filters/passiveHLxo.html

greets

 

[xstephanx]

those look like pretty small baffles, how low do they play?, is that 15 really neccisary?

 

[mrthieme]

The baffles are 24x48" , and I guess that might be on the small side, but I don't live alone and could not get anything more monolithic in the door. I am sorry but I don't have any means right now to give you an exact answer on low end extension. I would say they go lower, with more impact than the Magnepans they are replacing. For girl with guitar music I don't think the 15 is needed,neither is it needed for piano solos, but for drum solos and Led Zeppelin, it helps alot, and I want these to be as close to full range as possible. In fact I just ordered a pair of sub amps to give me some adjustment with the 15's. I am very new to diy speakers and this gives me a nice starting point I think. Easy construction, adjustable bass, almost no crossover on top, and it fills the room nicely with little power.99db 97db and 110 db for the 15,12, and tweeter. So far I'm very encouraged and can't wait to be able to measure it.

 

[ashok]

mrthieme: Your baffles look great. 24 x 48 inches is pretty large for many rooms !

I've been trying to make them narrower by using wings / equalisation to get as low as possible. Eventually I think I'll end up with an almost flat and narrow baffle with an add on sealed sub to handle things below 50 hz. My rough set up sounds pretty decent but not yet good enough compared to my earlier tests with a bigger baffle. The 'in room' response is still very bumpy . Need to fix that too. However audibly it sounds quite nice as it is.

Waiting to see how your system measures. Does the wide band Eminence 12 incher tend to shout when used by itself ?

 

[Spalls]

Very nice job! I have had a couple of open baffle projects floating around in my noggin for a while and you have given me some impetus to get moving.