Well I thought I would start a thred on here to show a few people what i'll be doing as I make my DIY speakers over the next few weeks.
As I am based in the UK I have also attached all the links for suppliers and rough costs for the components incase anyone else wants to do anything similar.
My inital design breif was quiet simple:
1) Great sound
2) Cost around £700 ish (but get the value of a pair around five times this)
3) Great looks (she has to like it - Very hard !!)
4) They are going to be used as a front pair of speakers in a home theatre and so will be used for 5.1 and normal stereo.
5) I already have a nice sub (just finished making it a week or so ago) so very low bass entention isnt that important but I do want a nice punchy bass.
Before I decided to build my own speakers I listerned to all the current range of speakers from many different companies (a very wise thing to do as you get to know what kind of sound you like). I finally decided on two makes that i really liked the sound of which where B&W and JM Labs / Focal.
My initial idea was to make my own system using drive units from Focal (B&W where not interested in supplying me drive units! - ok BYE!!) so all I then needed to do was decice on which of the following drive units I was going to use:
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/index.htm
My deciding factor was that sombody on here was selling a pair of the "Audiom 6 WM" drive units for £165 a pair and I jumped at the chance:
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/midrange/a_6wm.htm
I did spend some time looking at the focal range and trying to theoretically model a three way cross over and after pulling myhair out with Loudspeaker Workshop and then worrying about getting a "theoritically great" speaker that sounds rubbish I decided to copy a design that i found on a German AUDIO DIY magazine :
http://www.clofis.nl/nl/zelfbouw/HH_5-2003.jpg
The full kit can be purchased from a German site as follows:
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/hifi/triga.htm
I managed to pursuade them to let me have the crossover for this speaker and after a week I received all the Resistors, capacitors and inductors needed for 178,20 EUR.
I have also purchased the following drive units that I will be using:
Tweeter - TC 120 TD5 (£53 each)
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/tweeter/tc120td5.htm
Woofer - 10 W 6411 (£150 each)
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/woofer/10w6411.htm
from a UK based company called Falcon Acoustics. Their web site is:
http://www.falcon-acoustics.co.uk
and the page with all the focal drive units on it is as follows:
http://www.falcon-acoustics.co.uk/pl28p11.htm
So thats the crossover and drive units sorted I am now currently sorting out the bits for the boxes. The design is going to look like the Triga speakers above that will consist of three completely independant boxes on top of each other. The sizes of these boxes (WxDxH) are as follows:
Midrange:
30cm x 34cm x 20cm
Tweeter
30cm x 34cm x 15cm
Woofer unit
30cm x 34cm x 60cm
The crossover for each of the drive units will be inside each respective box (makes the wiring a bit neater and also allows for biwiring ).
The boxes are going to be made from 18mm MDF which will be supplied from the local B&Q superstore which not only can they supply the MDF at a cost of around £30 they also can cut the MDF to size for an additional £20.
The Woofer and Midrange cabinets (not needed for Tweeter) are also going to be lined with "Acoustic Laminate Panels" and then filled Lambswool - All available from www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk
I am also considering lining the Woofer unit with grade 4 lead flashing (30cm x 3m from B&Q for £30) which is somthing similar to what JM labs do on their real high end cabinets (£30,000 plus units!).
The cabinets are then going to be finished using real wood Veneer. I have managed to get ahold of some Eurpoean Walnut Veneer that I managed to get from a local company. I am going to need four "leafs" each measuring around 35cm x 2.9m and costing around £25/leaf.
I'll post some pictures up on here when I start to build them.
Feel free to contact me if anyones got any questions / comments !
Mark.Carline@btinternet.com
As I am based in the UK I have also attached all the links for suppliers and rough costs for the components incase anyone else wants to do anything similar.
My inital design breif was quiet simple:
1) Great sound
2) Cost around £700 ish (but get the value of a pair around five times this)
3) Great looks (she has to like it - Very hard !!)
4) They are going to be used as a front pair of speakers in a home theatre and so will be used for 5.1 and normal stereo.
5) I already have a nice sub (just finished making it a week or so ago) so very low bass entention isnt that important but I do want a nice punchy bass.
Before I decided to build my own speakers I listerned to all the current range of speakers from many different companies (a very wise thing to do as you get to know what kind of sound you like). I finally decided on two makes that i really liked the sound of which where B&W and JM Labs / Focal.
My initial idea was to make my own system using drive units from Focal (B&W where not interested in supplying me drive units! - ok BYE!!) so all I then needed to do was decice on which of the following drive units I was going to use:
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/index.htm
My deciding factor was that sombody on here was selling a pair of the "Audiom 6 WM" drive units for £165 a pair and I jumped at the chance:
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/midrange/a_6wm.htm
I did spend some time looking at the focal range and trying to theoretically model a three way cross over and after pulling myhair out with Loudspeaker Workshop and then worrying about getting a "theoritically great" speaker that sounds rubbish I decided to copy a design that i found on a German AUDIO DIY magazine :
http://www.clofis.nl/nl/zelfbouw/HH_5-2003.jpg
The full kit can be purchased from a German site as follows:
http://www.lautsprechershop.de/hifi/triga.htm
I managed to pursuade them to let me have the crossover for this speaker and after a week I received all the Resistors, capacitors and inductors needed for 178,20 EUR.
I have also purchased the following drive units that I will be using:
Tweeter - TC 120 TD5 (£53 each)
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/tweeter/tc120td5.htm
Woofer - 10 W 6411 (£150 each)
http://www.focal.tm.fr/gb/compo/woofer/10w6411.htm
from a UK based company called Falcon Acoustics. Their web site is:
http://www.falcon-acoustics.co.uk
and the page with all the focal drive units on it is as follows:
http://www.falcon-acoustics.co.uk/pl28p11.htm
So thats the crossover and drive units sorted I am now currently sorting out the bits for the boxes. The design is going to look like the Triga speakers above that will consist of three completely independant boxes on top of each other. The sizes of these boxes (WxDxH) are as follows:
Midrange:
30cm x 34cm x 20cm
Tweeter
30cm x 34cm x 15cm
Woofer unit
30cm x 34cm x 60cm
The crossover for each of the drive units will be inside each respective box (makes the wiring a bit neater and also allows for biwiring ).
The boxes are going to be made from 18mm MDF which will be supplied from the local B&Q superstore which not only can they supply the MDF at a cost of around £30 they also can cut the MDF to size for an additional £20.
The Woofer and Midrange cabinets (not needed for Tweeter) are also going to be lined with "Acoustic Laminate Panels" and then filled Lambswool - All available from www.wilmslow-audio.co.uk
I am also considering lining the Woofer unit with grade 4 lead flashing (30cm x 3m from B&Q for £30) which is somthing similar to what JM labs do on their real high end cabinets (£30,000 plus units!).
The cabinets are then going to be finished using real wood Veneer. I have managed to get ahold of some Eurpoean Walnut Veneer that I managed to get from a local company. I am going to need four "leafs" each measuring around 35cm x 2.9m and costing around £25/leaf.
I'll post some pictures up on here when I start to build them.
Feel free to contact me if anyones got any questions / comments !
Mark.Carline@btinternet.com
Hi Mark,
If you're interested I have the copy of the HH article which describes the triga kit. could mail it to you. ( It's in german). It looks like a very well thought out and optimised speaker kit with sanded sandiwch walls that come in two versions: a cost effective one with a dc 90 tweeter if I remember well and a high end version with the ribbon tweeter as pictured on your link
let me know
T
If you're interested I have the copy of the HH article which describes the triga kit. could mail it to you. ( It's in german). It looks like a very well thought out and optimised speaker kit with sanded sandiwch walls that come in two versions: a cost effective one with a dc 90 tweeter if I remember well and a high end version with the ribbon tweeter as pictured on your link
let me know
T
LaMa said:
I agree. The speaker looks great, but I would stiffen it.
I like how the bass cabinet is created for this project:
http://home.hetnet.nl/~geenius/Andromeda.html
for a focal 13 series.
--
Brian
Banned
Joined 2002
LaMa said:
I have thought about this and with the 150 screws, glue, grade 5 lead, 12mm achoustic lining plus the lambs wool thats going in I have decided that this will be enough.
I have found that when making speakers that 10% of your time is spent making the boxes and the other 90% is spent on the final finish. I really want them NOT to look like DIY speakers (if you know what I mean).
I think its a real shame when you see some of the units on here that people have built and they seem to have lost interest in the final stages (ie boxes just left unfinished and you can see the bare MDF).
mark.carline said:
I tend to fall in this category for my latest projects, but I just don't have all the resources to put a proper finish on my speakers. I actually have gotten use the look of mdf speakers. I also like to listen to the speakers first and determine how I like them before putting the massive amount of time to make them look good. I made my first speakers (seas thor TL) look quite nice (solid red oak, stained and covered in many coats polyurethane), and I haven't found any speakers that I like more. I am hoping that my next pair that I am working on now will sound better. (raven R2 and Focal 7W4411 2-way TL) If I like them more than the Thor TL speakers, I am looking into paying to get them professionally painted with a piano black finish, which should look nice with the 1.5" roundovers on the cabinet.
--
Brian
Banned
Joined 2002
attaching the veneer
I used the following method:
1) Make sure the MDF and the Veneer is completely clean
2) Apply "Evostick Instant Contact Adhesive" to both MDF and the veneer.
3) Wait for 10 minutes until nearly try
4) Push them together making sure that they are lined up 100% accurate - You cant change your mind with this glue!
5) Use a small woodern hand roller to make sure the veneer is 100% flat
6) Placed a large bit of spare laminate glass I had knocking around over the top and then place a heavy object on the top
7) Leave for 24 hours to dry
8) Using a Stanley knife I then *VERY* carefully cut around the overlap of the veneer.
I have also applied the veneer in the following order (as you look at the front).
1) Back
2) Top & Bottom
3) Left & Right sides
4) Front
This ensures that the 1mm overlap of veneer isnt visible on any of the main sides.
GrahamnDodder said:
I used the following method:
1) Make sure the MDF and the Veneer is completely clean
2) Apply "Evostick Instant Contact Adhesive" to both MDF and the veneer.
3) Wait for 10 minutes until nearly try
4) Push them together making sure that they are lined up 100% accurate - You cant change your mind with this glue!
5) Use a small woodern hand roller to make sure the veneer is 100% flat
6) Placed a large bit of spare laminate glass I had knocking around over the top and then place a heavy object on the top
7) Leave for 24 hours to dry
8) Using a Stanley knife I then *VERY* carefully cut around the overlap of the veneer.
I have also applied the veneer in the following order (as you look at the front).
1) Back
2) Top & Bottom
3) Left & Right sides
4) Front
This ensures that the 1mm overlap of veneer isnt visible on any of the main sides.
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