Which Markaudio drivers for integrated home streamer?

[Woody99]

If I'm imagining this box sitting on a pedestal, perhaps not right up against a wall, you could make it a bipole for some of that ambience. Of course, whatever "ambience" means as a superlative. To me it means perceptibly bigger sound than you'd expect from the size of the device.

I normally associate bipoles with surround sound and home theatre setups, I could be wrong. More drivers, more space needed and more expense. And less clarity about where the sound is coming from. A good idea but I think I'm better off starting with something conventional and see how we go.

There's other options that use smaller MA drivers but larger boxes, so... I'd honestly save yourself the hassle and just do what I did, unless you want to go much deeper in to the R&D for this exercise. If you want punch then this is the way to go. Avoid smaller.

Nice setup, Alsyd (and another Sydney-based speaker builder?). Yes the driver size dictates everything in this arrangement. For my first project I thought the 11s would be too big, but maybe I've gone too small with the 6Ms? I am looking for something closer to a soundbar in proportion ( but not in sound). Only time will tell, and of course I can always build another...

Eggbox foam did wonders for my prototype too. I wonder why MA say "avoid acoustic foam" (if that's what eggbox foam is) on all their plans?

 

[alsyd]

Nice setup, Alsyd (and another Sydney-based speaker builder?). Yes the driver size dictates everything in this arrangement. For my first project I thought the 11s would be too big, but maybe I've gone too small with the 6Ms? I am looking for something closer to a soundbar in proportion ( but not in sound). Only time will tell, and of course I can always build another...

Thanks Yes, Sydney-based! I would offer to give you a demo but I'm in the midst of moving and the speaker is in storage... Send me a message if you are interested.

My personal experience is that you can house a large driver (P11) in a small cab and it works, with heaps of low end, good mids and respectable highs. Probably not optimal, but as mentioned, this is a highly compromised format for speaker building. Something smaller (such as a 6M) should have less low end. I'll gladly accept it any corrections!

Dave's Plu-Ken suggestion is an good one. It is ~8.7L vs ~7.7L on my Compact Monitor build, which would be better. I wasn't aware of it when I built my speaker but regardless, I was aiming for max driver size in minimal cabinet volume (I know, controversial!).

And yes - who cares? Just build another one if you're willing. That's part of the fun. My next project is probably going to be putting the P11s in a Pensil.

As for egg create foam... I dunno, but my speaker sounds better with it in there.

 

[Woody99]

First pics of the finished result - the 'Tassie Devil' home streamer. Named after the well-known and often boisterous Tasmanian devil marsupial, since Tasmanian wood was used for the body (Tasmanian oak veneer) and front and rear panels (25mm Tasmanian blackwood). Both set off the drivers and amp well, I think.

Still breaking in the 6.2s but early results are very encouraging - punchy but warm bass, clear mids and smooth highs. The Fosi amp is driving the 6.2s nicely and the Wiim Mini sits inside the box under the amp. Twin power inlets at rear for amp (24v) and streamer (5v) with rca aux input in case an external source is used. Removable rear panel to amp section held in place by baby round magnets. 9.5mm felt inside, currently experiments with amount and placement of the felt since the curved ends seem to do most of the damping and little extra damping is required on first listenings. No audible downside so far to having the drivers at each end. Will do some more testing in the days ahead.