Stereo Console

[sapperpie]

Hello friends,

For a little side project, I was hoping to make a stereo console to place in a little nook of my bedroom. I have built a few kit speakers, mainly Paul Carmody's designs, but I am struggling a little bit in how to implement speakers into a single cabinet.

Would it be feasible to take an exisiting 2-way speaker design and putting those drivers into the cabinet, provided i keep the same cabinet volume? I guess BSC wouldn't be needed since the cabinet would be against the wall?

Or would a full-range or coaxial speaker be more suitable?

It would mainly be for every day/background listening. I can go up to about 50-60 Litres in volume per speaker cabinet. It'll be powered by a Yamaha WXA-50 at this stage.

Cheers!

 

[Moondog55]

How much room do you have how wide do you want the base cabinet to be?
Do you want that "Classic" Pye radiogram look or something else?
I have a 3-door IKEA low cabinet that would lend itself to that sort of project
Naturally no longer on the site

 

[Pano]

I've built and sold quite a few mini consoles. I use a pair of high Qts 8" woofers and a pair of 3" fullrange speakers as tweeters along with a simple crossover. Stereo in a single cabinet. The boxes are approximately 56L or 2 cubic feet, gross volume. Sealed and leaky.

My goal is not hi-fi, just pleasant room filling sound.

 

[Moondog55]

Here's an awful picture of the IKEA cabinet.
It is being used as a horizontal surface at the moment due to renovations work

I can see this as such a console
It stands 750mm tall
420 deep / 470 high / 1400 wide all external
We will be selling it as soon as the renovations are nearing completion if you were remotely interested and I'd toss in 2 pairs of drivers suitable as I have a Coral 8" here I am no longer going to use
Pick-up might be a problem tho
But this might also be an interesting project for my own use if I ever get the time

 

[sapperpie]

Hey guys!

I've built and sold quite a few mini consoles. I use a pair of high Qts 8" woofers and a pair of 3" fullrange speakers as tweeters along with a simple crossover. Stereo in a single cabinet. The boxes are approximately 56L or 2 cubic feet, gross volume. Sealed and leaky.

My goal is not hi-fi, just pleasant room filling sound.

Thanks Pano, I might go the 2 way route and see what I can get!

We will be selling it as soon as the renovations are nearing completion if you were remotely interested and I'd toss in 2 pairs of drivers suitable as I have a Coral 8" here I am no longer going to use

Thanks for the offer moondog, I make furniture for a living and hope to make this as a kind of show piece and a test of what I have learnt this past year.

Cheers!

 

[Pano]

Excellent. Intrigued to see what you build.

 

[Moondog55]

Hey guys!



Thanks Pano, I might go the 2 way route and see what I can get!



Thanks for the offer moondog, I make furniture for a living and hope to make this as a kind of show piece and a test of what I have learnt this past year.

Cheers!

Then go for it.
Take the piece in the pix as a generalisation of the old time size and shape. Way back my parents had such a unit, they used 12inch plus something else I didn't pay much attention at 12YO.
EDIT
The 8" Coral full range would work very well as the upper driver as would almost any smaller full range but you do need a biggish woofer to give any reasonable bass even for background music.
Not quite enough room for a 15" woofer in most of these, if you are interested in some cheap OB woofers get in touch, you need a high Qts to work well in this type of console with a leaky back panel and I have 2* 10" I am happy to move on cheap

 

[tsmith1315]

I make furniture for a living and hope to make this as a kind of show piece and a test of what I have learnt this past year.

Cheers!

I'd also be interested to see what you build. Do you have an inspiration for the design?

 

[wiseoldtech]

Back in 1999, I custom built a stereo console.
I wanted to do something "different", with a different look.
Introducing the "Symphony 2000 Deluxe" console.


White melamine finished cabinet with blue highlights...
Garrard 3600 record changer w/Pickering magnetic cartridge...
Receiver taken from a 1970 Zenith console and highly modified...
CD/R player...
6.5 inch woofers in ported enclosures plus dome tweeters...

And.... featuring a "one touch" motor-driven top lid! (Dyna Lift).

 

[Lojzek]

A nice achievement especially having in mind not much work involved with dusting hifi gear.

 

[mayhem13]

Great project. I've been retrofitting 60's and 70's stereo consoles for friends and family over the past couple years.......mostly mid century modern style as that's in vogue right now. I'd suggest you consider saving the build effort and try and grab one off LetGo, Ebay or Craigslist........I'm finding NICE real wood veneer units in non working order for $100 sometimes less. 8" fullrangers from Visaton work really well. I just did an old Silvertone that was on legs and did two 10" downfiring subs for my daughter.........a real party machine!

 

[korpberget]

Why not go mono?

 

[wiseoldtech]

Great project. I've been retrofitting 60's and 70's stereo consoles for friends and family over the past couple years.......mostly mid century modern style as that's in vogue right now. I'd suggest you consider saving the build effort and try and grab one off LetGo, Ebay or Craigslist........I'm finding NICE real wood veneer units in non working order for $100 sometimes less. 8" fullrangers from Visaton work really well. I just did an old Silvertone that was on legs and did two 10" downfiring subs for my daughter.........a real party machine!

Speaking about "wood" consoles, I also have a completely customised RCA Victor from 1963.

 

[sapperpie]

I'd also be interested to see what you build. Do you have an inspiration for the design?

Once I sort out the speakers I can start doing the cosmetics. I like old looking guitar amps, so might take inspiration from them. But I also like mid century stuff (as mayhem13 said, so vogue ). The unit itself will be solid timber, but the speakers will be plywood boxes within. Essentially, everything will be accessible if I need to get to anything, and the whole unit can be gutted if I need/want to make any changes down the line.

Back in 1999, I custom built a stereo console.
I wanted to do something "different", with a different look.
Introducing the "Symphony 2000 Deluxe" console.

Nice! Any issues with the vibrations effecting the record player? Not sure
if I'll include one in this build, but might include the space/provisions to add one in the future.

Great project. I've been retrofitting 60's and 70's stereo consoles for friends and family over the past couple years.......mostly mid century modern style as that's in vogue right now. I'd suggest you consider saving the build effort and try and grab one off LetGo, Ebay or Craigslist........I'm finding NICE real wood veneer units in non working order for $100 sometimes less. 8" fullrangers from Visaton work really well. I just did an old Silvertone that was on legs and did two 10" downfiring subs for my daughter.........a real party machine!

Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look at the Visaton speakers. The build effort is half the fun! I havent considered putting a sub in... Hmm

Why not go mono?

I ... don't know. What would be the advantage? I won't be building the amp from scratch at this stage, but using an off the shelf Yamaha unit.

Cheers!

 

[wiseoldtech]

Nice! Any issues with the vibrations effecting the record player? Not sure
if I'll include one in this build, but might include the space/provisions to add one in the future.

No issues since i installed a Sallen-Key subsonic filter in the custom phono preamp module.
It effectively eliminates anything under 25Hz - rumble, record warp pumping, and any cabinet vibration.
The cabinet has two 12 inch high-compliance woofers, so the filter is needed.
And it ROCKS!

 

[homebuilder]

Console stereo

Good project! I'm looking into a similar thing for my MCM house. I'd like to point out a few additional tips:

1. See if you can score a Barzilay cabinet. Gorgeous stuff!

2. You might consider building a pair of kit speakers into the console in order to save time, and get a "known" design. I was considering some of the offerings from DIYSOUNDGROUP, but Erich advised me that many of their kits have baffle step built into the crossover, and you would be placing your cabinet against a wall. (In my case, I am also considering building the entire affair into the wall, which would provide even more boundary support)

3. Right now, my thoughts process is to sink my cabinet part way into the wall, and make the front part look like either a JBL Ranger-Paragon, or Metregon. A person could do the full blown cabinet, but skip the curved center horn section and place your equipment in that area.

Just thoughts.

Have fun!