[Vedyl]

I hope i can post this in this section...

Anyways, im building some paper plate speakers for the lulz and i want to check on some things with you guys.

]Is more windings of smaller diameter wire more preferable than thicker wire? I figured more smaller gauge wire would give greater impendance.

And now the issue of wiring.
Well i have like 3 magnets and a 3.5mm jack cable just lying around so ill use those, but i need help with wiring.


I bet the anwser to this one is stupidly simple or just "you cant do this", i hope you wont cringe at my lack of knowledge on this matter.

 

[iPatch]

You want a diameter appropriate to the current. But for speakers thin is fine. But note that thicker the conductor the more it can carry.

Couple them parallel. So that you have three wires on each of the wires on the cable.

 

[Vedyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iPatch

So that you have three wires on each of the wires on the cable.

The total sum of the ends on the coils is like 6, 2 for each. how can i connect it so that each each cable wire has three wires?

wouldnt i need 9 coil wires then

Can you connect it with lines in Paint or something please

 

[kevmatic]

Why 3 magnets? You have 3 speakers?

 

[Vedyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevmatic

Why 3 magnets? You have 3 speakers?

They will all be mounted to drive a single cone

 

[iPatch]

Okay so. + and - on the jack needs to go to three different places. So 2x 3-way splitters should do it. Ground goes to the cabinet or something.

 

[kevmatic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vedyl

They will all be mounted to drive a single cone

Oh.

I take it you likely do not have a multimeter? If you do, measure the resistance of your coils and tell us.

The impedance on your coils is likely to be rather low, so I think I'd wire them in series instead of parallel.

 

[Go Gators!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevmatic

I take it you likely do not have a multimeter? If you do, measure the resistance of your coils and tell us.

The impedance on your coils is likely to be rather low, so I think I'd wire them in series instead of parallel.

I would advise the same. Although the lower impedance may not harm the amp (or you might not care about the amp) most consumer amps are rated to push 4-8 ohm drivers. The lower the resistance the greater the heat in the amp. Heat is your enemy if you want longevity.

As for the wiring just use both left and right as the "positive" and the common ground. This shouldn't hurt the amp.

Also, before you finish putting all three voice coils on the same cone permanently make sure they are in the same phase. That is, the electro magnets are all going up together or down together when current is applied to them. You'll be kicking yourself if they are opposite phases and effectively cancelling each other out.

EDIT:
Wiring like this (assuming 2 ohms per coil) yields 6 ohms which almost any consumer amp can handle with ease. And more windings would be beneficial as it will generate more force (louder). You should attempt to count the number of turns for each coil and have them match each other or be pretty close. Don't forget to use coated magnet wire for the windings.

 

[Vedyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go Gators!

As for the wiring just use both left and right as the "positive" and the common ground. This shouldn't hurt the amp.

liiiike this? :3
EDIT: Probably should have wired the right together with left
Quote:

Originally Posted by kevmatic

Oh.

I take it you likely do not have a multimeter? If you do, measure the resistance of your coils and tell us.

The impedance on your coils is likely to be rather low, so I think I'd wire them in series instead of parallel.

I do and i will and i will. ^^

You guys have been so much help, thanks so much. Ill be updating this thread tommorow when i make the bugger.
Ill be running it trough this if that matters. Will i mess anything up in here with 4-6ohms impendance? http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta66.html

 

[Go Gators!]

The wiring looks exactly right. Like you said, you can mix/bridge the R and L channels. Don't forget to check which way each coil is oriented before making anything permanent (i.e. the poles of their magnets and flow of current is the same)

From glancing at that M-Audio device, it looks like a mixer more than it does an amplifier. An analog mixer should be unaffected by the resistance. I wouldn't worry about the resistance unless the sum total of all 3 coils is less than 4 ohms. Even below that should be fine, but no point to risk damaging an amp on a project that is just for shiggles.

For reference, I run my home theater subs @ 2 ohms, but I have amps that are designed to operate properly with 2 ohm loads. In general the lower resistance just creates more heat in the amp so it requires added cooling. You probably wont blow something up playing at low volumes.

 

[Vedyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go Gators!

The wiring looks exactly right. Like you said, you can mix/bridge the R and L channels. Don't forget to check which way each coil is oriented before making anything permanent (i.e. the poles of their magnets and flow of current is the same)

From glancing at that M-Audio device, it looks like a mixer more than it does an amplifier. An analog mixer should be unaffected by the resistance. I wouldn't worry about the resistance unless the sum total of all 3 coils is less than 4 ohms. Even below that should be fine, but no point to risk damaging an amp on a project that is just for shiggles.

For reference, I run my home theater subs @ 2 ohms, but I have amps that are designed to operate properly with 2 ohm loads. In general the lower resistance just creates more heat in the amp so it requires added cooling. You probably wont blow something up playing at low volumes.

Yeah, its more of a recording interface for me then anything, but drives my cans better then the motherboard so its all good.
@"You probably wont blow something up playing at low volumes" i was planning to crank it as high as i can when i get bored of it and see if it bursts in flames actually

http://img.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/why-for-the-glory-of-satan-of-course.jpg

 

[kevmatic]

You won't blow up the interface- they're designed to drive into 0 ohms safely in the event of a wiring mistake. In fact, I frequently short an output of my Mackie 1202 in order to mute it. They just don't generate enough current to damage themselves.

That said, don't be surprised if its very quiet... We'll know better once we know how many ohms your coils are. You may need an amplifier.

 

[Vedyl]

Ok so started doing this and stuff, construct is finished you could say....BUUUUT ******ed problems.
The cable isnt working. When i test for short circuit, only the Tip(left channel) seems to be connected to one of the three wires below.
When i try the other two wires, they dont seem to be connected, which seems nebulous.
I cleaned the wires with sand paper for 10 minutes and burned it,you can clearly see the insulation is off but its just not working.

EDIT: Got the Ground to work aswell,so now i have ground and left, right still isnt working. Atleast its in workable condition now.

How do i fix this, whats casing this cable's f#$%up

Also I can wind about 250 turns on these, giving me about 14 Ohms per coil. Is it okay if this thing has 45 ohms in the end?

And the parts have all been produced, all thats left is wiring and gluing all the parts

 

[Go Gators!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vedyl

Ok so started doing this and stuff, construct is finished you could say....BUUUUT ******ed problems.
The cable isnt working. When i test for short circuit, only the Tip(left channel) seems to be connected to one of the three wires below.
When i try the other two wires, they dont seem to be connected, which seems nebulous.
I cleaned the wires with sand paper for 10 minutes and burned it,you can clearly see the insulation is off but its just not working.

EDIT: Got the Ground to work aswell,so now i have ground and left, right still isnt working. Atleast its in workable condition now.

How do i fix this, whats casing this cable's f#$%up

Also I can wind about 250 turns on these, giving me about 14 Ohms per coil. Is it okay if this thing has 45 ohms in the end?

And the parts have all been produced, all thats left is wiring and gluing all the parts

The issue with the with continuity could be any number of things. Is it a decent quality cable?

If each coil is 14 ohms I would run them in parallel instead of series. This would put you around 4.5 ohms total which will be much easier for a normal amp to drive. No time to draw another diagram, but I'm sure you can figure it out!

EDIT: Found time to make a diagram.

 

[Vedyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go Gators!

The issue with the with continuity could be any number of things. Is it a decent quality cable?

If each coil is 14 ohms I would run them in parallel instead of series. This would put you around 4.5 ohms total which will be much easier for a normal amp to drive. No time to draw another diagram, but I'm sure you can figure it out!

The cable was taken from my father's broken Pioneer SE-M390


Is this how it should look now?

EDIT: just saw you posted diagram
EDIT2: new diagram

 

[Go Gators!]

Yes both diagrams are correct. To make things neat a simple you can tie the wires together wherever is most convenient on the actual speaker. Using something similar to how a normal speaker has it's voice coil terminations tied to the chassis and often with a type of quick connector or spade connector. That way you won't have to solder the wire permanently to this one speaker.

As for the cable you are using, I wouldn't be surprised if it was just broken. I've had tons of cheap/mid-range headphones develop issues with the 3.5mm jacks.

 

[Vedyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go Gators!

Yes both diagrams are correct. To make things neat a simple you can tie the wires together wherever is most convenient on the actual speaker. Using something similar to how a normal speaker has it's voice coil terminations tied to the chassis and often with a type of quick connector or spade connector. That way you won't have to solder the wire permanently to this one speaker.

Thanks for all the help man! Seriously i couldnt have done this without you (technically i still havent done it, but when i do its cause of you)

Ill probably post some pics and then you'll probably be disapointed with it considering its a paper plate.
But seriously, thanks man!

 

[Go Gators!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vedyl

Thanks for all the help man! Seriously i couldnt have done this without you (technically i still havent done it, but when i do its cause of you)

Ill probably post some pics and then you'll probably be disapointed with it considering its a paper plate.
But seriously, thanks man!

No problem man, I've been tinkering with speakers since I was a kid and the passion has never left. It's fun to help other people experiment with it too. I'm sure I won't be dissapointed, but I can't promise I wont laugh

Here is how I'm thinking you are going to implement it. If you're using a paper plate as a cone I'd imagine laying all 3 VC's in a circle would be the easiest and would allow for even distribution of force.


P.S. when you're done with this you may want to play with non-newtonian fluids. I still bust an old crappy speaker and corn starch from time to time just to have a bit of fun.

 

[Vedyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go Gators!

No problem man, I've been tinkering with speakers since I was a kid and the passion has never left. It's fun to help other people experiment with it too. I'm sure I won't be dissapointed, but I can't promise I wont laugh

Here is how I'm thinking you are going to implement it. If you're using a paper plate as a cone I'd imagine laying all 3 VC's in a circle would be the easiest and would allow for even distribution of force.


P.S. when you're done with this you may want to play with non-newtonian fluids. I still bust an old crappy speaker and corn starch from time to time just to have a bit of fun.

Indeed that was my initial plan

but then i realised i have 2 magnets from those heaphones mentioned earlier, and the third one from a transformer in a pump, so the 120 degrees setup wouldnt distribute force equally.

So i had to settle for a linear setup, pump magnet in the middle, headphone magnets on both sides, and springs vertical to them...

 

[Go Gators!]

Well let us know how it turns out. Those headphone magnets may not have much force so I'm curious to see if they'll push a paper plate!