Hello hello from my first speaker real speaker build.
I am a electroengineering student from switzerland, attemting to build the zaph zd5.
Now, i am facing a problem in my little workshop (its just a garage with a drill an a hand saw).
I am doing the cabinets now and my bracing is 2.5 cm x 4.5 cm instead of 4.9 cm x 1.9 cm. I really dont have a clue about speaker bracing... how does this affect sound quality and would you advise me to redo them?
I am a electroengineering student from switzerland, attemting to build the zaph zd5.
Now, i am facing a problem in my little workshop (its just a garage with a drill an a hand saw).
I am doing the cabinets now and my bracing is 2.5 cm x 4.5 cm instead of 4.9 cm x 1.9 cm. I really dont have a clue about speaker bracing... how does this affect sound quality and would you advise me to redo them?
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Thanks alot for the replies guys!
I will carry on woth these.
Another question im asking myself is: do the two braces need to be under pressure?
I made mine so that they are the exact length maybe a tenth millimeter shorter, but i think the clue with cover that. But if i glue the like this there will be no active forces on the cabinets. What do you think?
I will carry on woth these.
Another question im asking myself is: do the two braces need to be under pressure?
I made mine so that they are the exact length maybe a tenth millimeter shorter, but i think the clue with cover that. But if i glue the like this there will be no active forces on the cabinets. What do you think?
Without doing some rather sophisticated measurements followed by some rather complicated calculations, it is impossible to know if a pre-load on the brace would be better or worse... in any case, the difference will be small.
So to repeat a wise man
So to repeat a wise man
To avoid this problem I prefer to have all pieces with the same length to be cut in the same pass. In this case I would cut the top, bottom and braces in the same pass, that means in this case the sides will cover all the side of the speaker and the top/bottom pieces are enclosed between the sides and not covering them. Any excess wood has to be trimmed down with a router.
If you want to have the top/bottom pieces to cover the full top/bottom surface (meaning that the sides pieces are enclosed between the top/bottom), then make the top/bottom slightly wider and cut the excess with a router after the sides are glued.
The braces in the Zaph projects are on the minimal side, I'm not sure they are fully efficient. In the ZD5 this problem is minimized as this is a rather small box (assuming you are building the sealed version), but I prefer something that takes together all panels and not only the sides, see second post here for what I mean: Another 6.5”+1” BR design (Peerless HDS + Seas Prestige)
BTW, difficult project for a beginner.
Ralf
Hello thanks for all your feedback.
I have left it as is for now. Since i build it in a way that i can remove the back plate, i can always add a bit more bracing.
Really excited to listen to them tomorrow��
I have left it as is for now. Since i build it in a way that i can remove the back plate, i can always add a bit more bracing.
Really excited to listen to them tomorrow��
Hi there, thanks again for all your advice.
I just finished the first speaker and it sounds great.
The soldering all the crossover parts was indeed a bit of a mess and cable management of the crossover could be lightyears better. Also i didnt finish the cosmetic part, like sanding and so on. See my picture 😱
But all in all i am very impressed. Maybe an understatement. Apart from bass response which isnt very low or impactful, which was clear from the start, this speaker sounds phenomenal.
I dont know how it would sound with better bracing but i am very pleased.
I have listened to canton digital 1’s in my room every day. Their price was once around 15000 and in the mids and highs i prefer the zaph zd5.
And this is with listening with one speaker only, so i cant really comment on sound stage.
Also i did some very short measurements in my room at around 1 meter distance and WOW these speaker match my room very well. None of the speakers i tested in my room were as linear as these. Measurements are in the attachments.
Also, i dont have any damping yet apart from 4 mm Bitumen pads. If anyone has some advice i would be very happy.
Thanks again it turned out to work very well with the bracing.
I just finished the first speaker and it sounds great.
The soldering all the crossover parts was indeed a bit of a mess and cable management of the crossover could be lightyears better. Also i didnt finish the cosmetic part, like sanding and so on. See my picture 😱
But all in all i am very impressed. Maybe an understatement. Apart from bass response which isnt very low or impactful, which was clear from the start, this speaker sounds phenomenal.
I dont know how it would sound with better bracing but i am very pleased.
I have listened to canton digital 1’s in my room every day. Their price was once around 15000 and in the mids and highs i prefer the zaph zd5.
And this is with listening with one speaker only, so i cant really comment on sound stage.
Also i did some very short measurements in my room at around 1 meter distance and WOW these speaker match my room very well. None of the speakers i tested in my room were as linear as these. Measurements are in the attachments.
Also, i dont have any damping yet apart from 4 mm Bitumen pads. If anyone has some advice i would be very happy.
Thanks again it turned out to work very well with the bracing.
Attachments
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Congratulations!! That looks to be a very nice speaker!! 
Buy a very inexpensive pillow, use the poly stuffing from the pillow and add to the box a handful at a time. At some point it will sound slow, remove some until sounds good again. Simple and easy.
More bracing will make little or no difference. It's a small box (stiff and strong) and there is only so much you can get from a 15cm driver.
Buy a very inexpensive pillow, use the poly stuffing from the pillow and add to the box a handful at a time. At some point it will sound slow, remove some until sounds good again. Simple and easy.
More bracing will make little or no difference. It's a small box (stiff and strong) and there is only so much you can get from a 15cm driver.
Kilian888,
Good to see that you have the speakers up and running!
I have the same ScanSpeak 15W/8530K00 in another design and really enjoy the sound.
Better get to stereo soon! 🙂
Btw, what amplifier are you using?
Good to see that you have the speakers up and running!
I have the same ScanSpeak 15W/8530K00 in another design and really enjoy the sound.
Better get to stereo soon! 🙂
Btw, what amplifier are you using?
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