The making of: The Two Towers (a 25 driver Full Range line array)

Wesayso,

Kudo's to you for an amazing endeavor. I'm one of those, likely many others, that follow various threads from time to time with interest. Yours has been one of them.

No need to say more about... next steps... you've had plenty to wade through.

I would however like to offer this. Being somewhat new to on line forums, it's been disappointing to see some of the bickering that goes on. One's ability to agree... to disagree... is certainly a virtue for some. While my words won't lessen your disappointment and challenges, maybe there's a "Ray of Hope" in all this, there has been for me anyway...

It has been a breath of fresh air to see so many forum members come along side you, with genuine concern, and offer help. The human spirit can be good, and this has been a great example of that. Some may call this naive, I prefer to call it hope.

Good luck in your journey..many are cheering you on.

Kindest,
Marko
 

opc

Member
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Hi wesayso,

Just wanted to pop in and say hi after catching this thread on the main page and enthusiastically reading every page of it! I haven't been getting notifications from the other thread (stupid cheap line array) so I missed out on all your progress!

Your work with these is nothing short of astonishing, and the finish you've achieved is possibly one of the nicest I've ever seen... including those found on the best boutique systems.

I was reasonably proud of how my arrays turned out, but this is a whole different ballgame! Your work makes my arrays look like some sort of primate made them. I even showed my wife this thread and she was floored. She told me I had to rebuild mine... thanks for that :S

As for the crack, I'm sure you'll figure out a way to solve it. My personal guess is that you need to get those bolts out, and some of the suggestions of tightening one end a few millimeters a day until the glue holding the rod gives out seem like a pretty clever idea. For what it's worth, that would be my path forward.

Worst case is you'll have to refinish the one that cracked and hopefully the other one lives through the bolt removal without splitting. Redoing work a second time is never fun, and I've been there many times before, but if you consider the amount of effort to get to where you are now, it's well worth it to maintain that incredible finish the way it is now.

On another note, have you settled on what you're driving them with, and how your final EQ will be done? Mine are still in full service in the living room in our new house, and with some minor EQ tweaks they are sounding as good as ever. I hope you get yours finished up so you can enjoy them as well.

All the best with this project, and I'll be watching from the sidelines!

Regards,
Owen
 
Q1: how are you going to seal the baffle to the enclosure?

Found the name of my mystery calk: 3M Strip Calk
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

(not my house, just an example of the look)

So either that or neoprene...

To Mark:

Thanks for your thoughts and I agree. This is one of the friendliest forums I have been on. And I am impressed with it's members, not only the big names we have on here but the helpful people around that encourage you to go forward.

To Owen:

Glad you found me :). your comments about the wife made me laugh. Maybe we need to swap (lol) my girlfriend is into a white phase right now. All accessories in the house are slowly replaced by white items, sort of this weathered look:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


The decision on the rods will come in time. Not making up my mind yet on what to do. I'll continue to observe what these enclosures do next.
I'm sure I'll find a way to rescue all my work so far. I'm just glad to get this much help here, I won't rule out the possibility to do this again someday and there were some good suggestions thrown in on how to do it a next time.

My primary EQ for music will be from within JRiver Media Player. Possibly with a plugin, will do some tests. My secondary sources will use the Behringer DEQ, I'll even mod the analog input and route the digital out to a separate DAC. Most important to me is to have access to separate left/right EQ, if my Car audio experience, where you sit way off axis in a very reflective environment has thought me anything.
But there will be some tests I'm sure using digital in on the Behringer as well.
 
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After all this commotion lets return to our regular scheduled program...
I'm drawing up the aluminum baffles to have them made for me.
I want to optimize the flow at the rear of the baffle a bit but not to the extend that my friend will be mad at me to have to make it.
I'm thinking of this:
uitsparing-a.jpg


And similar for the front baffle, a little different than I had it due to dimensional changes:
uitsparing-b.jpg


I can have these made like this and keep my friend happy. I'll make the drawings for production next.

Also did some work on the test enclosure. Almost done, hope to do tests early next week. It looks like this right now:
testbox.jpg


Way too pretty for a test (lol). My girlfriend wanted me to use these instead of the towers :D.
 
final.jpg

6moons said:
Perhaps most important is how the cabinet is constructed in a very costly time-consuming process whereby six steel rods compression-fit 38mm MDF slices stacked vertically which are isolated from each other by 3mm elastomeric silicone-impregnated washers. Similar construction can be found in the Greek Mythos Ligeia or Italian Eventus Audio loudspeakers we previously reviewed. However it is the first loudspeaker of its kind for Isophon. The MDF baffle is covered with black varnish in a nice uneven texture.

Hmmm, interesting...
10.jpg


1.jpg
 
My personal thoughts, like many others. It's a high probability that in the speaker that split, the rods were unintentionally glued in place, not allowing the wood to do it's things. Just getting the rods to a point where they can move freely in place might be enough to stop the cabinet from splitting again :) Have you been able to compare how free the rods are between the two cabinets?

The gasket idea is nice, it should take up the expansion/contraction of the wood. Looks like the front baffle slots into the layered design and is fixed top/bottom!? Bolts probably/should help keep everything straight.

Paul
 
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I think the threaded rods might help with that :)

After not thinking about it for a few hours.......
All you have to do is load the 'elastomer' with some thing like silica to make it very nearly the same density as the mdf, gaskets need to hold shape, not migrate outwards or produce a floppy tower (think of the pm you sent me:D )
£1 on if you dug out the 'end fixings' (nuts!) the whole lot might be easily split - mdf parts being pre-finished, baffle 'plate' used 'as the jig' or 'part of'.
 
Hi.
Just read the hole thread for the first time, and am truly sorry as to how your labour has paid off. Those towers are seriously awesome. I have been an audiophile for more than 3 decades, and a woodmaker for almost as long.
I will not tell you what to do, but if they were mine, I would put all my effort in driving out those rods. (I have a few ideas) The construction will not survive as long as they remain inside. Regarding the baffle, forget any mechanical fastening between the alu and the plywood. Use 4 or 5 equally sized pieces, and get any of the professional adhessives (silicone type) to glue each one to the cabinet. I should think this would allow your towers to move (and they will) at least 10mm during the seasonal shiftings.
Steen
 
Thanks for checking in niffy...

Not much happening here yet on the speaker front. Been busy with other things lately.
I have one cracked enclosure and one is still in one piece. Like I said, I'll wait and see what happens next. Removing the rods is not on my agenda.
I'll probably end up wrapping them in either fibre glass matt, Kevlar or Carbon matt and epoxy. But that will have to wait till after the winter, still a few months off.
My baffles are not ready yet, my friend is way to busy to do anything for me right now.
If I have the baffles I'll continue making plans on how to do the next step, and I will mount them to have sound in the mean time.

I'll get there, but not any time soon...
 
Did you get around to doing any tests with the single driver cabinets? If you did, did they perform to your expectations and did you come to any conclusions as to the configuration of the internal damping for the arrays?
These diy projects have a habit of making up their own schedules and taking much longer than expected, my wife can vouch for this phenomenon. I'm sure you shall prevail.

Happy New year
Niffy