newbie with a DIY kit

[cmitch]

Hey Guys im very new to the DIY audio scene but i love music and have always wanted to make my own speakers.
i just purchased a diy kit from ebay, it included 4 audax woofers, two unknown tweeters and two crossover units.
i understand the basic principles of cabinet building but i have no idea how to calculate the dimensions and how big/long my port should be any help would be fantastic
cheers
curtis
PS can take many photos to help you, help me so feel free to ask

 

[jomor]

Download WinISD, it will help you desing a box quite easy. Enter the Thiele/Small parameters of your woofer ( you can find them on http://www.audax.fr/ukhome.html or http://www.thielesmall.com/database.asp ) to the program, and let it decide the box for you. Then you can try changing the box volume and the port's dimensions ( if its a bass reflex box ) to see how it affects the frequency response. Note that you have to change the signal from 1 Watt to X watts where X is the nominal wattage of your woofer, and then check the driver's Cone Excursion graph to make sure it doesnt exceed the red line ( Xmax of your woofer). The box acts like a dumper acts to a car's wheels, so if the box is too big, the damping on the cone will not be enough to keep it in between the safe limits when playing loud music and your woofer will be stressed. Play with the program and read its help, its a good start.

 

[jomor]

if your crossover kit has an electrolytic capacitor in series with the tweeter, replace the cheap capacitor with a MKP capacitor (with the same uF of course), this will make your highs more clear.

btw didn't the kit include a box design ?

 

[rabbitz]

Get onto the seller as all that must have had a design in mind and I'm sure he'll have it.

If you have problems with the design, send me a PM.

 

[cmitch]

cheers

hey thanx for the link, the box desgin was prettey easy, i emailed the seller but have had no responce.
what was that u mentioned about changing the capacitator on the x over???
cheers curts

 

[phibes]

Cmitch,
What is the audax kit you've bought and or what are the drivers you have in the kit?.....I've had some experience with Audax drivers and may be able to be of some assistance depending on the kit you have.
Cheers

 

[jomor]

Re: cheers

hey thanx for the link, the box desgin was prettey easy, i emailed the seller but have had no responce.
what was that u mentioned about changing the capacitator on the x over???
cheers curts

If there is an electrolytic capacitor in series with the tweeter, it would be better to replace it with a polypropylene capacitor of the same value. If there is a 4.7uF electrolytic, you should replace it with a 4.7uF polypropylene ( mkp ) for better sonic results.

 

[cmitch]

thanx again will look at the cross over for this but how do you tell the difference? all i can tell abou the speaker kit is that its two speakers worth of stuff,4 wooffers,2 tweaters and two crossovers. i had them pluged into the crossover the other day to see if it all worked and the tweater sounded almost silent im a bit worried about this. the seriel number on the back of the woofers is AD-160-8-SH and their is a name on the xover it says"AMBASSABOR-1"
thanx for all the help so far
curtis

 

[cmitch]

the x over

looking closely at the x over now i think that the tweeter runs on seperate input to the woofers does this sound right??

 

[rabbitz]

If it came with a 2 socket speaker terminal then the crossover would do both the tweeter and woofer. The crossover would have 8 terminals.... 2 in.... 2 for tweeters and 4 for woofers.

What numbers are on the tweeter?

Methinks this seller needs to supply more info to his customers.