It doesn't have to sound at all, no matter of which material or construction method
Well, sound of the native material is important. It has been proven on 3 builds that the mini Karlsonator sounds better when made of foam core or XPS foam and not plywood or MDF. Everyone who made it from plywood complained of a boxy sound. Switching to foam core made it an excellent sounding speaker, unlinstenable as plywood.
X i am not sure if this makes sense but when the foamcore is braced well the surface is taut like a drum and does feel like one so on playing drums the whole speaker sounds like a drum. on real drums the size determines the resonant frequency but on this speakers all drums sound natural. when not braced well it still sounds ok at low volume but as the volume goes up the sound is off(like loose or flabby?)
I really like the idea of the pink foam.. because I like art deco and well I can put a few progressively smaller layers of the thinner foam on the sides I can cut to any shape I like
Q: The tweeter is supposed to sit just under the tip of the woofer.. is that necessary or can I have a small gap between them? Recessing placing under the woofer is more difficult.
I can cut to any shape I like Q: The tweeter is supposed to sit just under the tip of the woofer.. is that necessary or can I have a small gap between them? Recessing placing under the woofer is more difficult.
Cutting boards? Check.
Vacuum sealer? Check.
Food processor, hmm...
food processor...
...
A food processor?
Is that for the margaritas?
I am more concerned about rattle, or excessive movement which leads to distortion as it is in phase with sound from driver.
for karlson clones below upper tuning its fine because the front and rear are the same(in phase)? but above tuning speakers act like dipole? but when i walk around speakers there is still huge sweet spot in front and there doesnt appear to be a place where the sound dips or changes character or volume as i move to the back. maybe its because my ears are failing
There are two types of foam....EPS=Expanded Polystyrene (usually white color) and XPS=Extruded Polystyrene (usually either pink or blue color).
Also there are different degrees of densities/grades for each type of Polystyrene, which range from very hard/stiff to very soft/flexible as this will effect the sound of the enclosure.
Also there are different degrees of densities/grades for each type of Polystyrene, which range from very hard/stiff to very soft/flexible as this will effect the sound of the enclosure.
I recently had a flooding in my basement and the speakerlab - so the downside of foamcore speakers is that they cannot tolerate getting wet. I lost about 6 Karlson type speakers (8in XKi, KaZba, 0.53x Karlsonator, etc) as they were all on the floor. The ones above the floor survived as I brought them upstairs. The PVA glue joints failed and or the paper just came off the whole foam face. Only along where parts got soaked though.
I also hate water related problems... and I seem to attract them!
My mini-Ks have a thin coat of pva glue all around, and it seems to protect them from a little rain at the beach. No soaking though.
Hope you get your basement fixed without too much hassle, X.
We get flooding all the time when typhoons hit. But houses here are made of cement and floors of tiles. Most of the time, it's just a matter of pushing the water out.
Good luck!
My mini-Ks have a thin coat of pva glue all around, and it seems to protect them from a little rain at the beach. No soaking though.
Hope you get your basement fixed without too much hassle, X.
We get flooding all the time when typhoons hit. But houses here are made of cement and floors of tiles. Most of the time, it's just a matter of pushing the water out.
Good luck!
Sorry to hear about your basement flooding. I went through a flooding event in December 2015 at Chennai, India, when water rose to about 4 feet in the first floor (no basements in these parts). A total of four particle-board speaker cabinets were soaked and disintegrated as the binder/glue just dissolved in water. However, I was available to salvage most of the drivers and XOs - a couple of full-rangers had their whizzer cones slightly deformed, but I was able to clean and reform them with water and PVA.
To my surprise, a lot of home electricals and electronics survived, after drying and superficial cleaning to get rid of caked mud from the flooding. These include a Panasonic Vierra LCD TV, an Acer PC (fully functional except for the buttons on the LCD monitor), an LG refrigerator, and so on. I was a bit lucky, in that water receded in about 36 hours after the initial flooding, and I managed to retrieve and dry a lot of stuff on the terrace before attempting to clean and re-condition anything. The Acer PC required a new CMOS battery - even the fans were functional after cleaning, and haven't failed in the 2.5+ years since.
Nothing was insured, except two vehicles which were both assessed as total losses and covered. The indoor losses were primarily in things built with plywood and/or particle-board. Houses here are built on high plinths (18" to 36") with brick and mortar, ceramic tile flooring, concrete columns, beams and ceilings for good reason - cyclones (hurricanes) are common. Older British-era housing is generally on higher ground and also has high plinths and 12 to 15" walls for the same reason - the one I'm living in now has a 30" plinth and gone through maybe a dozen hurricanes in 75 years without being flooded anywhere, except the garage and utilities rooms outside, which are on a low plinth.
Anyway, lessons have been learned, and I store and do all my electronics and PC-related stuff on the 2nd floor now. There's no electronics stored at floor level, and all furniture downstairs is solid teak or related hard-wood, which have no problem with flooding. I also switched to marine-grade MDF for speaker cabinets, but no occasion to test if they will survive flooding - my guess is that glue joints will deteriorate anyway from flooding.
(BTW, Tymphany kevlar-cone drivers survived flooding completely intact - they just had to be rinsed out and dried, from my experience with 2 drivers that got completely immersed.)
To my surprise, a lot of home electricals and electronics survived, after drying and superficial cleaning to get rid of caked mud from the flooding. These include a Panasonic Vierra LCD TV, an Acer PC (fully functional except for the buttons on the LCD monitor), an LG refrigerator, and so on. I was a bit lucky, in that water receded in about 36 hours after the initial flooding, and I managed to retrieve and dry a lot of stuff on the terrace before attempting to clean and re-condition anything. The Acer PC required a new CMOS battery - even the fans were functional after cleaning, and haven't failed in the 2.5+ years since.
Nothing was insured, except two vehicles which were both assessed as total losses and covered. The indoor losses were primarily in things built with plywood and/or particle-board. Houses here are built on high plinths (18" to 36") with brick and mortar, ceramic tile flooring, concrete columns, beams and ceilings for good reason - cyclones (hurricanes) are common. Older British-era housing is generally on higher ground and also has high plinths and 12 to 15" walls for the same reason - the one I'm living in now has a 30" plinth and gone through maybe a dozen hurricanes in 75 years without being flooded anywhere, except the garage and utilities rooms outside, which are on a low plinth.
Anyway, lessons have been learned, and I store and do all my electronics and PC-related stuff on the 2nd floor now. There's no electronics stored at floor level, and all furniture downstairs is solid teak or related hard-wood, which have no problem with flooding. I also switched to marine-grade MDF for speaker cabinets, but no occasion to test if they will survive flooding - my guess is that glue joints will deteriorate anyway from flooding.
(BTW, Tymphany kevlar-cone drivers survived flooding completely intact - they just had to be rinsed out and dried, from my experience with 2 drivers that got completely immersed.)
Last edited:
Thanks, Scott68. I do have insurance for basement water backup. But I get the feeling the damage is going to be more than covered. But lesson learned is to not have any paper boxes on the floor. Also, water sensor alarms are a must.
This counts since its foam, right? Even if it is XPS... I’m planning on using the “poor man’s fiberglass” method of using a bedsheet and wood glue to give it a little bit better durability. I also used your “accidental MLTL” method to design this enclosure. 58 l, driver located 12” down the 36” line length. Using the drivers to clamp while the glue dries, hopefully finish this up tomorrow...
Hi OFH,
Photographs aside, how does it sound? What driver are you using?
My guess is that MLTL's generally need a baffle step compensation (BSC) circuit unless they are placed in a corner.
The whole bedsheet and PVA glue trick is very strong - they make durable lightweight boats using this method as I recall. Important to brace internal spans more than 6in with piece of XPS glued internally. I found non-volatile "Liquid Nails" to be an inexpensive but strong glue for XPS cabinets.
Last edited:
Doesn't surprise me that Kevlar being what is used to make bullet proof jackets can survive a flooding.
Thanks, Linuxguru. Basement is now dry and drywall repairs and carpet replacement to begin soon. My electronics lab is back up and made my first new amplifier since the flood last night.
So the audio lab is about half way back now.
Last edited:
So sad to hear X. maybe we don't talk often enough.
Well, if they didn't survive, no big loss right?
ducking.