Edit: Im going with 2 x Fane Colossus 18XB, 2 x Fane Sovereign 12-300, 2 x BMS 4554 1.4" compression drivers & Crown XLS 5000, t.amp TSA 4-700 & Behringer DCX2496
I have been wanting to build a soundsystem for a while, and as my school where I study as a carpenter ends in 3 months, now would be my best time to do it. I can get the plywood for -30% of the price through school.
I didnt really know anything about soundsystems before couple months ago, and I have never made a speaker before, but after vigorous hours of googling through the last 4 weeks and with some help from a few friends with soundsystems I think I have been able to make an okay plan
The budget (discluding plywood/amplifier) was around 1200€ without much room to go over it. It will be a single tower so that the transportation would be manageable with backseats+trunk of a normal car and not having to need a van. It will have 2 subs for under 100hz, 2 mids and a high top (unless I need 2?). I would mostly play electronic music focusing on lower frequencies.
I have decided on using 2 x Fane Colossus 18XB-8's as subwoofers;
https://www.fane-international.com/view-product/colossus-18xb#tab-1
In a cabinet design like this;
this way it will be a single tower, without being too high for the high top and so that I could pile it up without a ******* ladder
As for the midbass I havent made up my mind yet as I only started using winISD today, but I thought about using 2 x Fane Sovereign Pro 12-500's;
https://www.fane-international.com/view-product/sovereign-pro-12-500#tab-1
The cabinet would be a basic vented enclosure, but I havent really been able to find other graphs for midbass to compare mine with, so Im not sure if I've completely screwed some value in my WinISD. here are two graps for a 50 and a 65 liter cabinets for the mid Fane Sovereign Pro 12-500
50 liter;
65 liter;
I havent found other midbass graps to compare these with, do these waves look okay? is the high wave at the start due to the fane 12-500's xmax of 6, or should there be no wave. Or have I completely ****** a parameter and this looks nothing like it should
I'm using drivers available in my country, I don't want to order 80kg from abroad. Many of the "approved" drivers I found were not available anymore, or were better suited for scoops. I havent read much about high tops yet, I was looking at Monacor MHD-152 though;
https://www.monacor.com/en-us/monac...hnology/pa-tweeters-and-horn-drivers/mhd-152/
I have been wanting to build a soundsystem for a while, and as my school where I study as a carpenter ends in 3 months, now would be my best time to do it. I can get the plywood for -30% of the price through school.
I didnt really know anything about soundsystems before couple months ago, and I have never made a speaker before, but after vigorous hours of googling through the last 4 weeks and with some help from a few friends with soundsystems I think I have been able to make an okay plan
The budget (discluding plywood/amplifier) was around 1200€ without much room to go over it. It will be a single tower so that the transportation would be manageable with backseats+trunk of a normal car and not having to need a van. It will have 2 subs for under 100hz, 2 mids and a high top (unless I need 2?). I would mostly play electronic music focusing on lower frequencies.
I have decided on using 2 x Fane Colossus 18XB-8's as subwoofers;
https://www.fane-international.com/view-product/colossus-18xb#tab-1
In a cabinet design like this;
this way it will be a single tower, without being too high for the high top and so that I could pile it up without a ******* ladder
As for the midbass I havent made up my mind yet as I only started using winISD today, but I thought about using 2 x Fane Sovereign Pro 12-500's;
https://www.fane-international.com/view-product/sovereign-pro-12-500#tab-1
The cabinet would be a basic vented enclosure, but I havent really been able to find other graphs for midbass to compare mine with, so Im not sure if I've completely screwed some value in my WinISD. here are two graps for a 50 and a 65 liter cabinets for the mid Fane Sovereign Pro 12-500
50 liter;
65 liter;
I havent found other midbass graps to compare these with, do these waves look okay? is the high wave at the start due to the fane 12-500's xmax of 6, or should there be no wave. Or have I completely ****** a parameter and this looks nothing like it should
I'm using drivers available in my country, I don't want to order 80kg from abroad. Many of the "approved" drivers I found were not available anymore, or were better suited for scoops. I havent read much about high tops yet, I was looking at Monacor MHD-152 though;
https://www.monacor.com/en-us/monac...hnology/pa-tweeters-and-horn-drivers/mhd-152/
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Those Fanes will do okay, and they're good out to 1.5-2kHz so adding a compression driver is quite easy.
What are you going to use to power your speakers?
Chris
What are you going to use to power your speakers?
Chris
Thanks for the reply, this was my first post on any audio forum. I have not made up my mind yet, but thomanns "the t.amp TSA 4-1300" would give me enough watts with enough channels to power the whole tower. I would run subs in mono. I have read it isnt a good amp for low frequencies though, but someone else wrote it was perfectly fine for their 4x 15" subs.
https://www.thomann.de/fi/the_tamp_tsa_4_1300.htm
I have only glanced at crossovers and read quite little about how they work, but I think I would have to pair the TSA with something similar to this;
https://www.thomann.de/fi/dbx_234s.htm
Another option was Behringer iNuke 6000DSP with enough power for subs+mids but with only 4 channels. With it (and probably with any other amp besides that TSA 4-1300) I would need another amplifier + crossover for the high top.
https://www.thomann.de/fi/behringer_inuke_nu6000dsp.htm?ref=search_rslt_inuke_259411_2
I have been hoping to spot used amplifiers and crossovers for cheaper price but so far i havent been able to find anything able to give enough power for the subwoofers for the same price.
The entire thing would cost me about 2100-2200€. I am hoping it to have a satisfying quality of voice, power, and low frequencies for the price. I want to build it just so I could play music for friendsand acquaintances, and after some experience provide audio for small-ish parties.
https://www.thomann.de/fi/the_tamp_tsa_4_1300.htm
I have only glanced at crossovers and read quite little about how they work, but I think I would have to pair the TSA with something similar to this;
https://www.thomann.de/fi/dbx_234s.htm
Another option was Behringer iNuke 6000DSP with enough power for subs+mids but with only 4 channels. With it (and probably with any other amp besides that TSA 4-1300) I would need another amplifier + crossover for the high top.
https://www.thomann.de/fi/behringer_inuke_nu6000dsp.htm?ref=search_rslt_inuke_259411_2
I have been hoping to spot used amplifiers and crossovers for cheaper price but so far i havent been able to find anything able to give enough power for the subwoofers for the same price.
The entire thing would cost me about 2100-2200€. I am hoping it to have a satisfying quality of voice, power, and low frequencies for the price. I want to build it just so I could play music for friendsand acquaintances, and after some experience provide audio for small-ish parties.
Hi ubersafka,
1) do you have a plan yet at which frequency you cross sub to kick/mids?
2) is that 50/65 Litres for one or both drivers?
3) do you pan to build a seperate box for the HF horn?
4) do you plan a "reggae sound system" style mono stack?
Ideally you don't want a hump like that, you want a flat response near the crossover frequency. Ideally if you know the crossover frequency, you can design your mids to roll of around that frequency.
Another place that might be worth checking out for advice:
Ported Enclosures - Speakerplans.com Forums - Page 1
PS: curious username, Finland connection? 😉
1) do you have a plan yet at which frequency you cross sub to kick/mids?
2) is that 50/65 Litres for one or both drivers?
3) do you pan to build a seperate box for the HF horn?
4) do you plan a "reggae sound system" style mono stack?
Ideally you don't want a hump like that, you want a flat response near the crossover frequency. Ideally if you know the crossover frequency, you can design your mids to roll of around that frequency.
Another place that might be worth checking out for advice:
Ported Enclosures - Speakerplans.com Forums - Page 1
PS: curious username, Finland connection? 😉
The hump at the crossover is okay, just EQ it out and you'll gain headroom. I design some of my speakers like that so they're not working so hard at the bottom of their range.
Chris
Chris
Hey bob, to answer your questions;
1.) The subs would go to 80hz and the mids would take over from there
2.) The boxes are for single drivers, I will build two cabinets for subs, two cabinets for mids
3.) The horn will also be in its own cabinet
4.) It will indeed be a reggae style mono stack, for music that has lots of low frequencies
And yeah I am from finland, I have been using this username in different places for near 15 years now. It was safka at first but needed to uber it up a little bit.
Hey Chris, I checked your profile and you seem to build nice speakers. If it is fixable through EQ and even suitable for certain situations, then it doesnt sound like an issue.
1.) The subs would go to 80hz and the mids would take over from there
2.) The boxes are for single drivers, I will build two cabinets for subs, two cabinets for mids
3.) The horn will also be in its own cabinet
4.) It will indeed be a reggae style mono stack, for music that has lots of low frequencies
And yeah I am from finland, I have been using this username in different places for near 15 years now. It was safka at first but needed to uber it up a little bit.
Hey Chris, I checked your profile and you seem to build nice speakers. If it is fixable through EQ and even suitable for certain situations, then it doesnt sound like an issue.
Oh and here it is tuned to 80hz, much less curve
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The plans have sort of changed a lot now. I changed the cabinet design in to this, they are the latest fanes own cabinet design for the 18xb. It has a much clearer plan as the original one was missing dimensions and angles.
I think I am leaning towards using 3x fanes 12-250 TC's;
https://www.thomann.de/gb/fane_sovereign_12_250_tc.htm
They are"fullrangers" instead of the pro 12500 and horn for the simplicity, and my friend has two of them in his stack and Ive always thought it sounds nice. I was first thinking about 4 since they are cheap, but that said friend said it could be an overkill. It would also be too high when stacked all on top of each other, 2.7m, so I think 3 would be good.
In the future if I would want to expand, I could build one more stack like this, and it would still be not that terribly large. Here are my great paint skills because I am sure nobody could have thought what the stack would be shaped like when piled.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I think I am leaning towards using 3x fanes 12-250 TC's;
https://www.thomann.de/gb/fane_sovereign_12_250_tc.htm
They are"fullrangers" instead of the pro 12500 and horn for the simplicity, and my friend has two of them in his stack and Ive always thought it sounds nice. I was first thinking about 4 since they are cheap, but that said friend said it could be an overkill. It would also be too high when stacked all on top of each other, 2.7m, so I think 3 would be good.
In the future if I would want to expand, I could build one more stack like this, and it would still be not that terribly large. Here are my great paint skills because I am sure nobody could have thought what the stack would be shaped like when piled.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Im not sure if I can edit/delete my posts so I am going to have to spam this thread, but I thought id make yet another update on my plan. Scratching that previous post, the originally thought sovereign 12-500 pro would have been too expensive for me, but I found the sovereign 12-300 which is very similar for much cheaper.
I am going to buy the plywood in the next couple days and the other parts I will order a little later
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I am going to buy the plywood in the next couple days and the other parts I will order a little later
updating the thread again, I find pictures of construction interesting and I think some of you do too. I bought the plywood yesterday, cut it up in a little smaller pieces, and today I cut all of the sides to correct size. I also ordered both sub and mid drivers, but I havent ordered a high top cause I need to look in to it a little more. If my mids go to 1.5 or max 2, I need a super tweeter that can go as low as 1.5-ish then. But as it will be the easiest to build I am focusing on building these now.
I dont know how to make the preview pictures smaller. Made the handle boxes that come inside the cabinet, since I made holes on the sides from which to carry it. Pretty much like the one on my cart in the last picture, only smaller.
Thats also the color im going to use, its very close to what I wanted and the school has plenty of it. Added glue+wood dust on all of the joints just in case, although im pretty sure they were all airtight. The front panels are also done.
Thats also the color im going to use, its very close to what I wanted and the school has plenty of it. Added glue+wood dust on all of the joints just in case, although im pretty sure they were all airtight. The front panels are also done.
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.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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Todays progress, glued and screwed in the handle boxes, also made holes for the neutrik connectors that come to the back
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.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Was not a fun day, but its nice to be able to start putting it together. The orange clamps were not equally even, something I found out after gluing the first panels together seen in the first picture. Itll be alright after sanding, but you can see from the last picture that the cabinet on the left has one side that is facing the table a little off
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.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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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.
I took subs and all the parts for mids home. The subwoofers are both only missing the bottom panels, and glued the first panel to the mid today. I apologize for everything else you have to see in the pictures taken from my apartment
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
High tops are pretty much done. It was pretty quick, a 2 day operation from start to finish. I had a drawing made for their cabinets but had to re-do that, as I ran out of plywood. Now its a gorgeous mix of 21mm, 18mm and I believe there is a single 12mm plywood sheet as a bottom in one of them.
But it doesnt matter since they are only for the compression drivers. Used a keyhole saw for the horns installation hole, which you can probably see from the result. I am taking everything to school tomorrow morning
But it doesnt matter since they are only for the compression drivers. Used a keyhole saw for the horns installation hole, which you can probably see from the result. I am taking everything to school tomorrow morning
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.
Piled up for the first time today, before sanding and staining. Going to stain them again tomorrow
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I've just now seen the photos. Make the handle holes bigger for the subs! They are too small. You'll squeeze your fingers if you stack the subs yourself or at loading/unloading them. And you need to round the openings out- and inwards, it makes the carrying so much easier.
This 'butterfly' shaped grip design is very good:
Or half-butterfly, you probably could modify yours to those:
Also round openings are excellent for handling.
For the tops these are great (more rounded though):
This 'butterfly' shaped grip design is very good:
Or half-butterfly, you probably could modify yours to those:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Also round openings are excellent for handling.
For the tops these are great (more rounded though):