That's if anyone's interested: I got a family friend to make my first cabinets as only one firm from 11 contacted in Melbourne wanted to do the job and their price was ridiculous.
I've also looked a re-purposing old cabinets, but almost invariably they're made of thin chipboard and require too much work to make it worthwhile. Plus you're stuck with the existing dimensions. Certainly has its appeal, but, as for me the hardest part of speaker building is the cabinets.
Geoff
You can build a rather ugly cabinet with little more than a jigsaw (aka saber saw) and a screwdriver; I've done it on a kitchen table. Used saber saws go for under $10 at thrift stores around here. Wood filler will be needed to seal the gaps, but if you paint it black and stick it in a corner it'll work just fine.
But, with just a router, you can make a very nice cabinet, because a router is like a hand-held milling machine. $35 for a used B&D router at a pawn shop, 1/4" carbide bit for about $20, and a circle jig out of scrap plywood. I've used the router and a straightedge to cut up 4x8 sheets of plywood by taking several passes, but it's better to make the first rough cut with a circular saw. Those can also be bought used for cheap.
Admittedly, a pair of Quick-Grip clamps, a "screwdigger" for countersinking screws, and a (screw)driver drill were very helpful. Old cordless drills with dead batteries are almost free, and can be modified to run from a car battery if they were originally 9.6 or 12V (and probably good enough if 14.4 or 18V).
But, with just a router, you can make a very nice cabinet, because a router is like a hand-held milling machine. $35 for a used B&D router at a pawn shop, 1/4" carbide bit for about $20, and a circle jig out of scrap plywood. I've used the router and a straightedge to cut up 4x8 sheets of plywood by taking several passes, but it's better to make the first rough cut with a circular saw. Those can also be bought used for cheap.
Admittedly, a pair of Quick-Grip clamps, a "screwdigger" for countersinking screws, and a (screw)driver drill were very helpful. Old cordless drills with dead batteries are almost free, and can be modified to run from a car battery if they were originally 9.6 or 12V (and probably good enough if 14.4 or 18V).
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Use good quality plywood, or foam board.
If service available at a reasonable cost, laser cut the cabinets.
Crossovers are a huge topic.
Stuffing and bracing also.
I got old speakers second hand, very reasonable prices.
Read up on new builds, and believe me, the materials needed can be varied.
+1 on above, average quality speakers are chip board, easily rot in damp areas, for that reason use suitable materials.
If service available at a reasonable cost, laser cut the cabinets.
Crossovers are a huge topic.
Stuffing and bracing also.
I got old speakers second hand, very reasonable prices.
Read up on new builds, and believe me, the materials needed can be varied.
+1 on above, average quality speakers are chip board, easily rot in damp areas, for that reason use suitable materials.
If you don't play too loudly, and like bass, you can make speaker enclosures out of a cardboard box and tape with a good box knife. I've repurposed 13 w 6..5" projection TV speakers (full range with whizzer cone, found on the curb & unscrewed in 4 minutes) in a 14"x7"x7" smile box. Machine screws & washers to hold driver to end, 1" square hole in the back, instant bass reflex boost.
I've also repaired old speaker boxes with something different. KLH23 blew a bass driver at 35 w (????) new one was about $35 at parts-express.com . Original crossover was a single capacitor series the 3" tweeter. Not to hard to improve on that. works, not quite as good sound as original mate.
Here in US visiting charity resale shops can be productive. I've had plywood & drivers to build SP2-XT copies (mine were stolen 9/20) for about a year. Found a circular saw at resale shop yesterday (finally) for $10. Cord is ittermittant, only runs if you hold the cord a certain way. New cord will be about $15. Not anxious to pay $$$ for new tools, insurance company is dragging feet about not being able to read 30 year old receipts.
In those resale shops there are dozens for speaker boxes unsuitable for anything. Not enough volume to match theil parameters on any decent (10" up) driver. Im going to have to cut wood. Found a stand for an old door this summer on the curb at a house cleanout. Make a cutting table. Cost zero. I do have space to work, a garage. No apartments for me, since I turned 33. At that age I picked a new place to live with affordable housing with garages & yeards. 1.5 year salary for this place. Houston I left, equivalent house would be $400000. LA, $800000. Had a job offer there, laughed at them. Houses were 20 x a year's salary even in 1983. A nuclear engineer then with master's from Perdue was driving 30 miles one way to work at the power station.
I can't believe all the threads on multiway about people building a 6" + tweeter bookshelf speaker. You can buy that sort of garbage for $3 apiece all year at my charity resale shop. Then upgrade if neceesary Yeah, if your music is strumma strumma singer songwriters, you don't need bass. I've played 76 keys of a piano since age 11, which can go down to 26 hz. I play organ too, which has a lot of 32 hz notes. No bass, no 8000-14000 hz treble, no reality IMHO.
I've also repaired old speaker boxes with something different. KLH23 blew a bass driver at 35 w (????) new one was about $35 at parts-express.com . Original crossover was a single capacitor series the 3" tweeter. Not to hard to improve on that. works, not quite as good sound as original mate.
Here in US visiting charity resale shops can be productive. I've had plywood & drivers to build SP2-XT copies (mine were stolen 9/20) for about a year. Found a circular saw at resale shop yesterday (finally) for $10. Cord is ittermittant, only runs if you hold the cord a certain way. New cord will be about $15. Not anxious to pay $$$ for new tools, insurance company is dragging feet about not being able to read 30 year old receipts.
In those resale shops there are dozens for speaker boxes unsuitable for anything. Not enough volume to match theil parameters on any decent (10" up) driver. Im going to have to cut wood. Found a stand for an old door this summer on the curb at a house cleanout. Make a cutting table. Cost zero. I do have space to work, a garage. No apartments for me, since I turned 33. At that age I picked a new place to live with affordable housing with garages & yeards. 1.5 year salary for this place. Houston I left, equivalent house would be $400000. LA, $800000. Had a job offer there, laughed at them. Houses were 20 x a year's salary even in 1983. A nuclear engineer then with master's from Perdue was driving 30 miles one way to work at the power station.
I can't believe all the threads on multiway about people building a 6" + tweeter bookshelf speaker. You can buy that sort of garbage for $3 apiece all year at my charity resale shop. Then upgrade if neceesary Yeah, if your music is strumma strumma singer songwriters, you don't need bass. I've played 76 keys of a piano since age 11, which can go down to 26 hz. I play organ too, which has a lot of 32 hz notes. No bass, no 8000-14000 hz treble, no reality IMHO.
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