Ok another foam core build report:
I recently bought a nice pair of yellow Alpair 10p with full enable treatment from Planet10, which i plan to put into frugelXLs. However, since access to woodworking facilities is very limited (not to say woodworking skill!), i wont be doing that build until the weather turns better. I will enlist the help of my dad who used to work as a carpenter in his youth to help me by that time. But i figured that rather than having the 10ps sitting in their boxes i might build some temporary boxes for them, and experiment a bit in the process.
I've had my eyes on Daves Marken boxes for a while. Aesthetically they press all the right buttons for me, and i was curious what the 10ps sound like in them. So with no further ado, i present foamcore Mar-ken 10p!
Like the FrugelLites, i used 10mm Foamcore for these, and adjusted the dimensions from Daves plans to keep the internal volume more or less the same. For the front i made a partial flush mount of the driver by sandwiching a piece of 10mm and 5mm foamcore and cutting the outside diameter in the front 5mm piece. The driver still protrudes a bit (two pieces of 10mm would have taken care of that ), but to me it looks quite neat. I also had to adjust the vent spacings to keep the vent area approximately equal.
All of these adjustments were done in a pretty quick and dirty way so i was expecting that these would work OK as temporary boxes to run in the drivers until i get the final boxes were ready, but i am surprised by the sound, and by how low they go. Problem is, now i am really curious how properly built wooden Mar-ken 10s would sound...
A few more pictures of the build:
Interior foam as per plans, i used some monacor polyfill stuff, probably less dense than ideal but it fit the budget well, so.
Front mounted. For the side pieces i glued each set (outer, spacers and inner wall) separately, sandwiched between the cutting mat and a chopping board with clamps. Same for the front. For the rest of the assembly i spot glued with hot glue then filled holes with white PVA. Speaker wiring is using solid core twisted pair from cat5.
Here they are, as they stand in front of me while typing. As previously mentioned, they sound very very good already, and i look forward to listening to a lot of music on them to break them in over the next couple of weeks. I can recommend anyone on the fence about these to build them in foamcore as a test. They must sound fantastic in real wood... To me they are also quite handsome for a foamcore speaker - not close to their wooden cousins, but better than most things stuck together from plastic foam and glue
I recently bought a nice pair of yellow Alpair 10p with full enable treatment from Planet10, which i plan to put into frugelXLs. However, since access to woodworking facilities is very limited (not to say woodworking skill!), i wont be doing that build until the weather turns better. I will enlist the help of my dad who used to work as a carpenter in his youth to help me by that time. But i figured that rather than having the 10ps sitting in their boxes i might build some temporary boxes for them, and experiment a bit in the process.
I've had my eyes on Daves Marken boxes for a while. Aesthetically they press all the right buttons for me, and i was curious what the 10ps sound like in them. So with no further ado, i present foamcore Mar-ken 10p!
Like the FrugelLites, i used 10mm Foamcore for these, and adjusted the dimensions from Daves plans to keep the internal volume more or less the same. For the front i made a partial flush mount of the driver by sandwiching a piece of 10mm and 5mm foamcore and cutting the outside diameter in the front 5mm piece. The driver still protrudes a bit (two pieces of 10mm would have taken care of that ), but to me it looks quite neat. I also had to adjust the vent spacings to keep the vent area approximately equal.
All of these adjustments were done in a pretty quick and dirty way so i was expecting that these would work OK as temporary boxes to run in the drivers until i get the final boxes were ready, but i am surprised by the sound, and by how low they go. Problem is, now i am really curious how properly built wooden Mar-ken 10s would sound...
A few more pictures of the build:
Interior foam as per plans, i used some monacor polyfill stuff, probably less dense than ideal but it fit the budget well, so.
Front mounted. For the side pieces i glued each set (outer, spacers and inner wall) separately, sandwiched between the cutting mat and a chopping board with clamps. Same for the front. For the rest of the assembly i spot glued with hot glue then filled holes with white PVA. Speaker wiring is using solid core twisted pair from cat5.
Here they are, as they stand in front of me while typing. As previously mentioned, they sound very very good already, and i look forward to listening to a lot of music on them to break them in over the next couple of weeks. I can recommend anyone on the fence about these to build them in foamcore as a test. They must sound fantastic in real wood... To me they are also quite handsome for a foamcore speaker - not close to their wooden cousins, but better than most things stuck together from plastic foam and glue
My next foray into this madness involves a little fun with PR's and a dandy little driver 3" labelled as JVC. Salvaged, they are not available to the public but every once in a while you come upon them in your local second hand store. I like to think of as them as my Vifa TC9/TG9 killers.
The radiators are a Reckhorn W130 woofer. I haven't altered them in any way as they seem to be up to the task with a thick contoured pulp cone and serious overhang.
The cabinets are a tapered pyramid cabinet and I am doubling the walls and adding laminated flooring where I mount the drivers and oversizing the baffle part. These are just a rough prototype like so many of mine are.
In the back of the pic, with the help of some cutting boards, a food processor and a vacuum sealer are assisting with the last of the glueing.
More tomorrow.
Cheers.
The radiators are a Reckhorn W130 woofer. I haven't altered them in any way as they seem to be up to the task with a thick contoured pulp cone and serious overhang.
The cabinets are a tapered pyramid cabinet and I am doubling the walls and adding laminated flooring where I mount the drivers and oversizing the baffle part. These are just a rough prototype like so many of mine are.
In the back of the pic, with the help of some cutting boards, a food processor and a vacuum sealer are assisting with the last of the glueing.
More tomorrow.
Cheers.
Attachments
I remember those white JVC’s, you spoke of them very fondly in the past. So the passive radiator is just based on a woofer and you are not connecting the voice coil? Will you build it via TS parameters and simulation? If you have a DATS, get me TS params on both drivers and I can help you optimize the box volume and how much mass (if any) to add to the PR.
I've only drilled it, it gets very messy quickly! If it is for driver cutouts i would just do several passes slowly with a sharp knife to keep the circle neat. If you need rebates, sandwich two layers of foamcore and cut the outer face according to the driver outer diameter. That's what i did for the Mar-Ken's and it worked nicely.
Hi X,
Thanks very much as always for your offer(s).
I think at this point I am simply winging it. I have a pretty good idea about the required box and also have a good feeling about the PR's. I wasn't looking to ruin the woofer by altering it so I looked around and found these. Just had to blow the dust off them. The size, cone travel and mass all seem about right. I am hoping to get these together in the next day or so and will know rather quickly if they are a success. They won't be a permanent speaker, just another Calsperiment.
Hope other things in your life are progressing as you hoped.
Cheers.
Silasmellor, Cal:
Flying dust shouldn't be a problem as this small CNC router has an integrated dust extraxtor
Jagged edges on the other hand would be a real problem, but there are router bits on the market wth more than two cutting edges, and with up to 24.000rpm I really wonder...
I came up with this idea as my right hand is nearly without any feeling, and my cuts show this more than clearly.
Flying dust shouldn't be a problem as this small CNC router has an integrated dust extraxtor
Jagged edges on the other hand would be a real problem, but there are router bits on the market wth more than two cutting edges, and with up to 24.000rpm I really wonder...
I came up with this idea as my right hand is nearly without any feeling, and my cuts show this more than clearly.
