ShinOBIWAN said:
Ahh c'mon chap! You must be getting rid of something LOL.
I know the weather's been pretty poor, but today looks OK so far
😉
Your patience is frankly unbelievable, I'd have been listening to them by now, gaffa taped, bare mdf et all, but thats just me!
Steve
stee-b said:
😀
Thing is I've had them working for a few months over winter. So I've done the listen to them at any cost thing with bare MDF, cheap and messy cables and drivers that weren't even screwed in.
I was bored today, cr@p weather again, no work and not much else to do meant that I was looking for somthing meaningless to keep me occupied 😀
I decided to take the speakers apart apart and redo all the internal cabling again as it was a bit of a bodge job the first time around. Cabling has never been a strong point of mine but I've recently discovered heatshrink and I must admit that this stuff is great, why I never used it before I don't know.
I regret using the Qed Genesis cable for the internal wiring as its a runt to work with, stripping the 9 individual cores at the end of each wire is annoying to say the least.
I decided to take the speakers apart apart and redo all the internal cabling again as it was a bit of a bodge job the first time around. Cabling has never been a strong point of mine but I've recently discovered heatshrink and I must admit that this stuff is great, why I never used it before I don't know.
I regret using the Qed Genesis cable for the internal wiring as its a runt to work with, stripping the 9 individual cores at the end of each wire is annoying to say the least.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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Joined 2002
ShinOBIWAN said:
We are doing the exact same thing today. My day off and i don't feel like going out side so i have decided to re-wire my speakers with my new silver wire 🙂 1 hour to do one EKKK😱 😱
jleaman said:
Hi Jase,
Small world...
Wiring is the worse part IMO, its a total PITA. I see some of the crossover's created by the likes of Tony Gee, Troels and it makes me feel ashamed. Mine look like scrap in comparison, its funny because I've got the patience to build the speakers in the first place yet have little patience for anything wire like. I hate soldering too.
Member
Joined 2002
Time!
I love soldering its my fav.. If i could do it all day in a vented room i would 🙂 Your speakers are really nice i wish i had a set that nice and looked like that. I can see the amount of time put into them.
Of course i just bought a new soldering iron. Now i own 2 wellers 🙂
ShinOBIWAN said:
I love soldering its my fav.. If i could do it all day in a vented room i would 🙂 Your speakers are really nice i wish i had a set that nice and looked like that. I can see the amount of time put into them.
Of course i just bought a new soldering iron. Now i own 2 wellers 🙂
Member
Joined 2002
Here are some pic's. The towers are not finished they will be soon. I am getting the same arberite as my desk on them and then a felt front to quiet them down, & to remove some of the de-fraction from the tweeter on the top.
http://gallery.jasesspace.com/main.php?g2_itemId=617
http://gallery.jasesspace.com/main.php?g2_itemId=617
This has nothing to do with speakers but I thought it was interesting enough and related to the Perceives.
Here's the design for the amps.
The front and rear are 10mm Alu sheet, the side cheeks are wood with gloss black finish. The whole design revolves around 3 amps per side (for tri-amping) with seperate enclosures for amp modules and PSU components. The small upper enclosure houses the amp modules and will feature a black tinted glass top.
The whole things sits on a thick granite plinth which is decoupled via spikes. The feet for the enclosures will be more of those polished alu discs I used for the satallites.
They're pretty small and I've included a scale drawing comparing the Perceives to the amps:
Here's the design for the amps.
The front and rear are 10mm Alu sheet, the side cheeks are wood with gloss black finish. The whole design revolves around 3 amps per side (for tri-amping) with seperate enclosures for amp modules and PSU components. The small upper enclosure houses the amp modules and will feature a black tinted glass top.
The whole things sits on a thick granite plinth which is decoupled via spikes. The feet for the enclosures will be more of those polished alu discs I used for the satallites.
They're pretty small and I've included a scale drawing comparing the Perceives to the amps:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Member
Joined 2002
I am doing the same thing. I have 2 amps per speaker. This is 2 amps for one speaker here in this pic. They are the Through hole Aleph mini amp's they are not in cases yet as i just build 4 aleph smd mini's.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Nice work so far Jase.
My metalworking skills are well below par but its something I'm wanting to improve on hence the amp enclosures.
I'm not completely suicidal so I've worked around the sizes of alu that I've bought. This means I've only got a few cuts to make and alu seems to machine fairly easily so finger crossed.
The inspiration for these amps came from wandering around the kitchen section of a Homebase store where I saw some tinted glass place mats and some black granite chopping boards. I pretty much knew straight away that I wanted to incorporate these materials.
I always find walking around shops and looking at potential candidates for shoe horning into a project a great source of idea's - see something and build around it.
I did the same with the Perceive 2's, taking inspiration from the B-Wing fighter out of Starwars and then making it work for a speaker.
My metalworking skills are well below par but its something I'm wanting to improve on hence the amp enclosures.
I'm not completely suicidal so I've worked around the sizes of alu that I've bought. This means I've only got a few cuts to make and alu seems to machine fairly easily so finger crossed.
The inspiration for these amps came from wandering around the kitchen section of a Homebase store where I saw some tinted glass place mats and some black granite chopping boards. I pretty much knew straight away that I wanted to incorporate these materials.
I always find walking around shops and looking at potential candidates for shoe horning into a project a great source of idea's - see something and build around it.
I did the same with the Perceive 2's, taking inspiration from the B-Wing fighter out of Starwars and then making it work for a speaker.
Member
Joined 2002
ShinOBIWAN said:
that just goes to show me that your exactly like me. Always have the thinking cap on and can create ideas on the run too. I can look at something and POP there's a idea in my head for it 🙂
What amp's are you going to use / build ?
I make that six per side. If your pic is one PSU/Amp combo then the amps are going to be close to the height of the speakers?ShinOBIWAN said:
I remember having lots of fun when first starting with Aluminium. You can cut sheets easily on the table saw with the right blade, and even route it with a good bit. Like I said before, if you can build speakers of this quality, then knocking a squarish chassis up will be a breeze. Just watch the fingers... 😉ShinOBIWAN said:
I'd be interested in details of alu source, your cutting methods, how are you going to connect sides, tapping etc. If you need any advice then lemme know. Also check out PD's threads. He has shared some very practical experiences on building chassis' around here...
Hi Vik,
Stuck already...
Just a couple of really quick questions:
In this photo:
Are the boards correctly soldered? I'm specifically interested in the Caddock at R2. I'm doing Peter Daniels 'Patek SE' approach so have gotten rid of the series resistor as per his recommendations and going with Blackgates. But it looks like something has to go in R1 to get the signal into the LM3875. Could you please clear this up for me.
Also in this photo:
Are the MUR860 diodes in the correct way? Two of the boards are for the LM3875 and the other, darker one, is for an LM4780. It seems as though the diodes go the opposite way on the LM3875, is this correct?
I've also got a few questions about the alu stuff and probably even more once I start work.
The thing that I'm scratching my head about is tapping the holes for the machine bolts. How do you do it? I've tried before but it was a biatch to do and I was probably making it hardwork.
What blade did you use to cut the alu and is it good for 10mm and 4mm thicknesses?
This is the glass and granite that I pilfered out of the kitchen section at Homebase 🙂
The glass will form the top of the amp enclosure and the granite will make up the plinth for the amp to sit on.
Stuck already...
Just a couple of really quick questions:
In this photo:
Are the boards correctly soldered? I'm specifically interested in the Caddock at R2. I'm doing Peter Daniels 'Patek SE' approach so have gotten rid of the series resistor as per his recommendations and going with Blackgates. But it looks like something has to go in R1 to get the signal into the LM3875. Could you please clear this up for me.
Also in this photo:
Are the MUR860 diodes in the correct way? Two of the boards are for the LM3875 and the other, darker one, is for an LM4780. It seems as though the diodes go the opposite way on the LM3875, is this correct?
I've also got a few questions about the alu stuff and probably even more once I start work.
The thing that I'm scratching my head about is tapping the holes for the machine bolts. How do you do it? I've tried before but it was a biatch to do and I was probably making it hardwork.
What blade did you use to cut the alu and is it good for 10mm and 4mm thicknesses?
This is the glass and granite that I pilfered out of the kitchen section at Homebase 🙂
The glass will form the top of the amp enclosure and the granite will make up the plinth for the amp to sit on.
Shin,
Your boards look good. On Peter and Brian's boards you can check the diode orientation by where the solid line is on the board. If you look carefully on the board it will have a solid line, that is where the metal part or the diodes go.
I use the blade I use.
Forgot, here is one thread in which Peter dicusses cutting aluminium .
Also, for tapping, which he discussed in the threads. You want to drill the holes preferably using a drill press, then use a cordless drill with a clutch to tap the holes.
Good Luck,
Josh
Your boards look good. On Peter and Brian's boards you can check the diode orientation by where the solid line is on the board. If you look carefully on the board it will have a solid line, that is where the metal part or the diodes go.
I use the blade I use.
Forgot, here is one thread in which Peter dicusses cutting aluminium .
Also, for tapping, which he discussed in the threads. You want to drill the holes preferably using a drill press, then use a cordless drill with a clutch to tap the holes.
Good Luck,
Josh
R2 looks fine. R1 simply needs jumpering if you're skipping series resistor on the input. Confirm with Peter, he's very helpful.
Diodes are fine. They were designed at different times and slight changed between versions. You'ev got the back of the diodes facing line which is correct.
Tapping is easy if you have a drill press. I drill the pilot hole, then put the tap into the chuck and wind it manually (I use some Rocol cutting compound here). The press ensures that it goes in perfectly straight and turning the chuck manually gives you enough feel to not over do it. In fact I now just put the belt pulleys on the least torque setting and power it on a second at a time. Tapping is a breeze this way.
I believe Peter uses a hand gun with a clutch which works well for him. There is a wealth of info in this thread when I was first going through it all: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38200&highlight=
I use a cheap blade from ebay which is designed for cutting non-porous metals (don't use anything else!). It has a negative rake, 80 teeth and is about £14. You can get a proper Freud one etc for triple or more the cost but it will probably last you longer too.
4mm thickness should be no problem (again get some Rocol cutting compound to help here) and use multiple passes for anything thicker. I did 10mm ridge in some heatsinks earlier today using this method.
Obviously be careful and well protected when cutting metal. It requires more attention than woodwork because when things go wrong you can lose body parts!
Diodes are fine. They were designed at different times and slight changed between versions. You'ev got the back of the diodes facing line which is correct.
Tapping is easy if you have a drill press. I drill the pilot hole, then put the tap into the chuck and wind it manually (I use some Rocol cutting compound here). The press ensures that it goes in perfectly straight and turning the chuck manually gives you enough feel to not over do it. In fact I now just put the belt pulleys on the least torque setting and power it on a second at a time. Tapping is a breeze this way.
I believe Peter uses a hand gun with a clutch which works well for him. There is a wealth of info in this thread when I was first going through it all: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38200&highlight=
I use a cheap blade from ebay which is designed for cutting non-porous metals (don't use anything else!). It has a negative rake, 80 teeth and is about £14. You can get a proper Freud one etc for triple or more the cost but it will probably last you longer too.
4mm thickness should be no problem (again get some Rocol cutting compound to help here) and use multiple passes for anything thicker. I did 10mm ridge in some heatsinks earlier today using this method.
Obviously be careful and well protected when cutting metal. It requires more attention than woodwork because when things go wrong you can lose body parts!
Attachments
pinkmouse said:
I've come to the sad realisation that I cannot afford the other two 1200E's at £4.5k each that are required to get the Perceives up and running.
In the meantime I need something to keep me going and will keep an eye out for other Chord related bargains in the hope that I'll be able to one day have an all Chord setup to tri-amp the speakers. For now I've decided to use the Chord's on bass with the GC's on mid and treble.
Member
Joined 2002
It's a sad day today.. I found out you'r going to power these very nice speakers with gain clones 🙁 
richie00boy said:
Hi Rich,
About a month or so ago I heard a pair of LM3875's with Blackgate bells and whistles on the end of Wilson Benesch Discovery's and its a tough call without a direct comparison. All this belongs to a good mate who also uses 4 x Hypex UcD700AD's in his home theater setup. His 2 channel setup is one of the best sounding systems I've heard and its always under constant refinement, the GC's were extremely good in both our opinions. Very direct and ultra clean sounding - I love that sort of sound.
I've no idea how these particular GC's will sound on the end of my speakers but they were cheap even with the Blackgates so what do have to lose?
I didn't sell the GB's to specifically replace them with GC's but did feel that they are lacking in some area's compared to them, at least for my tastes. It was shortly after I heard the GC's in my mates system that I decided that I couldn't be bothered to fully invest time and the enclosures required for them. This was more to do my personal lazyness and incessant mind swapping than anything else. The GB's are very good as the other testimonies will tell. The GC's also have their fair share of praise too.
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