Beginning of some DIY speakers ***UPDATED*** - Overclock.net

cyberspyder · 03-16-08

***THOSE WHO ARE NEW TO THE THREAD, ALL UPDATES ARE POSTED IN THE FIRST POST TO MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER. FOR SUBSCRIBERS, THE UPDATES ARE ADDED IN SUBSEQUENT POSTS (IE, SCROLL TO THE LAST PAGE)***

For my wood shop summative, I've decided to make some DIY bookshelf speakers. Normally, MDF would be use, but to cut that during class time would require having respirators and goggles for all 24 guys. So no MDF.

BUT I have scrounged up some 3/4" Baltic Birch/Russian Plywood as a substitute, which will get here on Monday. I plan to duplicate a set of Zaph's Bargain Mini's, although with a few tweaks of my own.

1) Recess the baffle into the 4 sides
2) Do a 3/4" roundover on the front of the sides
3) Have a recessed back

Preliminary side sketch:

Front drawing (from Zaph's page):

Baffle detail (also from Zaph's page):

Dimensions are 9 1/4" deep, 10" tall, and 6 1/4" wide

Crossover Components:
-2x Bennic wirewound 4ohm resistors
-2x Bennic wirewound 5ohm resistors
-2x 10uF Solen/SCR/Bennic/Clarity Caps Poly capacitors
-2x 2.7uF Solen/SCR/Bennic/Clarity Caps Poly capacitors
-2x 3.3uF Solen/SCR/Bennic/Clarity Caps Poly capacitors
-2x 1.5mH Solen/other brand 18-20ga inductors
-2x 0.25mH (or close to) Solen/other brand 18-20ga inductors
-2x 0.1mH Solen/other brand 18-20ga inductors
-Speaker wire as ICs between the Xover & woofers/tweeters/binding posts
-63/37 0.20-0.32" dia. solder

Vendors: Solen, Madisound, PartsExpress, any other reliable DIY place

Cabinet Parts:
-5' x 5' 3/4" Baltic Birch/Russian Plywood (this is the size it comes in, you only need half of that for a pair, with lots to spare)
-1" dia. x 4" Port tube (I couldn't find any 1" dia. PVC tubing at Home Depot or Rona, so I had to buy special port tubes)
-2x MCM 4'' Shielded Aluminum Cone Woofer (Part #: 55-1853)
***Remember to get the source code on the flyer (here), as it'll get you a discount (only if the woofer is on sale)***
-2x Aurasound NT1-204-8D 3/4" Titanium Dome Tweeter
***DO NOT TOUCH THE DOME***
It is out of stock with a lead time of at least 4 weeks, a substitute (same size & mounting method), BUT IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED, is below
-2x Dayton ND20FB-4 Rear-Mount 3/4" Neodymium Dome Tweeter
-1/2" Sonic Barrier Dampening
-1 1/4" Sonic Barrier Dampening
OR
-1/2" Chopped foam carpet padding doubled (or tripled) up
***To judge whether chopped foam is good or not, hold it up to the light. There shouldn't be many pinpricks of light shining through. This type of material is pretty much the only cost-effective damping material for speakers. It's really not that bad.***
-5/16" OR 1/4", 1 1/2" long socket cap screws (black)
-5/16" OR 1/4" Tee nuts
-4x Binding posts
-Various sizes of heatshrink

LOG

March 10, 2008
-Ordered parts

March 15, 2008
-Some parts arrived :rock::

March 17, 2008
-My plywood arrived, except it was the wrong thickness...

March 18, 2008
-Some crappy pics of my workspace:

March 19, 2008
-PE order arrived, along with my wood!

Hmmm, whats in the PE box?...

Some books and...

MY TWEETERS...

Close-up of the protective cap & tweeter

Along with my 18mm (sigh...they don't make it exactly 3/4") Baltic Birch

Dramatic angle shot showing all 13 plies

March 26, 2008
-My Mini-RCA IC parts arrived (Canare Star-Quad, Switchcraft connectors)

March 27, 2008
-IC done (Canare StarQuad, Switchcraft connectors), Mini-RCA:

March 28, 2008
-My woofers arrived and I began cutting the wood to width:

March 29, 2008
-The last of my parts arrived, some perfect lay inductors and wirewound resistors from Solen
-Soldered all the wires to the woofer and tweeter, all preliminary work done, have to wait until enclosure is done

OOOH A BOX! What's inside it????

Parts

More parts...

More parts....

Speaker and tweeter tabs are a b!tch to solder and thread stranded wire through...I HATE THEM ALL.

Some pics of my home workshop (ie, the dining room table and kitchen counter):

April Fool's Day
-OK, next update. First up, some better pictures of my workshop, and then some pics of the completed side and tip panels. Will get a new soldering iron tomorrow, wish me luck

*pics are on the last page*

Brendan

tofunater · 03-16-08

Good luck man, I just finished a DIY sub using a kit from Rythmik Audio. One of those might go nicely with your bookshelf speakers.

F3t1sh · 03-16-08

Looks....complicated. Good luck! *subscribed*

balake777 · 03-16-08

yea good luck! plus reps for when you finish. I was wanting to build those for rears in 7.1 HT systems, but too lazy. lol

cyberspyder · 03-17-08

Blah, they delivered the wrong thickness...hoping to have the plywood for tomorrow...with me luck

cyberspyder · 03-18-08

ARRG, have to wait till tomorrow for the plywood to come...sigh. In the meantime, enjoy some crappy pics of my workspace:

Brendan

deskjockey · 03-18-08

looks good, you might look into parts express also, they have been very good to me with delivery and prices.

masks and goggles with MDF?

I understand the dude cutting it. but thats a little overboard to have the whole class wear them, dont you guys have a vacuum system?

cyberspyder · 03-18-08

PE is quite expensive with shipping to Canada, so I got most of my stuff locally. As for the MDF, we have a dust collector, but it's board policy for stuff like this so i"d have to stay afterschool to cut. Besides, veneer is not the same as actual wood, so meh.