Speaker question

Drivers.

Two of these RCA woofers.


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Midax


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Klipsch tweeter.


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Crossover


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I have two more midax and two trebax. What I could do is sell the two trebax since I don't like how it sounds and the third midax (keeping one in case I find two more RCA woofers to make a second speaker for stereo) and likely make more than enough to cover the cost of this project. Back in the late 2000s when I bought the three midax, two trebax and two XO950/500-2 crossovers I paid around $1k on eBay..
 
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In the late 1970s, I obtained high clarity sound by using Goodmans Hifax 750P horns along with my Wharfedale RS/12/DD 12" drivers mounted in 3 cu ft reflex enclosures. The Hifax had an integral high pass filter and operated over the range 1.4 to 12 kHz. I added small horn tweeters to assist at the higher frequencies.

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Goodmans Hifax 750P

P.S. The £17 cost of a Hifax back in 1977 is equivalent to around £100 today.
 
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My only concern is those speaker covers are plastic.

I didn't see any metal covers in a brief search that I felt wouldn't affect the audio any.

Also I just realized a problem with using nuts and bolts fore the L brackets. The bolts will likely hit each other unless I get some real short bolts.

Another thing is the L brackets will need to be mounted on the outside if I use the screws given the ends of the screws just do stick through the wood.

When I reassemble the wood at work, I may put the L brackets on the outside using screws. I have some eggshell black paint I can use at work to cover where the L brackets were on the inside. Another option is to use the L brackets but also use some glue on the inside to make it more sturdy, although I cannot then disassemble it again non-destructively.
 
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To make the base more sturdy I took the piece I cut off the top and put it on the bottom at the rear.


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The metal piece and crossover will be mounted as shown.


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Also I think the resistor or resistors I used for the tweeter are mounted on the tweeter terminals so I might put them inside the crossover box which I think is where the resistors I used for the midax are.

Concerning the L brackets I may go ahead and disassemble the thing tomorrow and spraypaint them on the other side so that I do not have to paint them at work.
 
I'd certainly favour bolts over screws for ensuring a sound construction - bolts inserted from the outside into brackets situated on the inside.

You could use bolts for the two outer holes in the bracket and that may be sufficient.
 
Got the speaker assembled.

It sounds good, however the bass doesn't sound quite as good or maybe it sounds like it is supposed to sound as I have no clue what effect the cardboard box had on the sound.

I mounted the woofers from the front.

Does it really matter if they are front or rear mounted far as open baffle is concerned?
 
Front mounting would theoretically be best in order to minimise diffraction effects at the edges of the circular cut out, but I doubt if I could tell the difference simply by listening.

Remember that the bass response of an open baffle depends very much on positioning within the room. If your screen room does not have solid walls that reflect the rear output from the baffle, then the bass will not be reinforced by the room.

I've seen plywood 'wings' attached to the sides of an open baffle via hinges. The wings are normally folded back at right angles to the baffle for compactness, but when the speaker is in use they are folded forward in line with the front of the baffle in order to extend its width and provide more bass extension.

EDIT: Keeping the wings folded back would tend to produce a boomy, one note bass characteristic of an open back enclosure like your cardboard one.
 
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Perhaps that's the bass I was hearing with the cardboard box. I really don't expect all that much bass out of those RCA woofers though.

What I should have done is measured the one woofer at home using my DATS V3 tester so I could figure out the required zobel network for the woofers.

I might take one home today and do just that.

For the two woofers given they're in series I'd halve the required capacitance and double the resistance unless it is better to use one cap and resistor per woofer.

Only thing there is it might require me to lower the level of the midax and trebax which might be beneficial as it will be better balanced with the woofers and the bass may sound better without actually having to do anything.

I do know the speaker does seem to sound a bit clearer which is likely due to the elimination of the cardboard enclosure.