My first ever (speaker) build
- Thread starter chris turner
- Start date
Fatmarley
"It appears my intelligence circuits have melted"
Copper foil capacitors are my favourite, BUT I would buy the cheap, white Mundorf with the red writing or Ansar to start with. I'd argue that the Mundorf are the most neutral. They seem to get more coloured, the more you spend... I'd buy a cheap 3.3uf, 3.9uf and 4.7uf, and try them all. If one of these sounds very good, they will sound a bit better with copper foil. Copper foil caps won't fix a bad sound, they just sound a bit more grown up - smoother, but without losing detail.I'm using a Seas A26 10" woofer and Morel CAT378 tweeters, the woofer characteristics mean that they can be fed the full audio signal and only the tweeter needs anything in the signal path, the design I'm using is this one
I've been looking at components and wonder if the Jantzen Amber copper foil Z-caps or the Aubyn true copper caps would be suitable or are they overkill for the drivers being used, simillarly I'm thinking of Pathaudio 10watt resistors?
I think all I need then is to buy these along with hook up wires, binding posts and will damping for the back of the speaker then I should be able to finish the build and test before organising the veneer
EDIT: I agree with S-man. By far the most sensible way to do this is to buy the cheapest components to start with. Even the cheapest Mundorf or Ansar could be OTT.
chris turner
pfm Member
Thanks, great advice and I'll do just that
I'm having a bit of a challenge understanding resistor part numbers, if anyone has an idiots guide to help me figure which parts to buy I'd be really grateful
Fatmarley
"It appears my intelligence circuits have melted"
2.7R is 2.7ohm. I'd buy the ceramic wirewound that are found in pretty much every commercial speakers you can buy.
For a tweeter you will probably be fine with 5 watt, but for the price difference, you may as well buy the bigger 10 watt.
Like the capacitors, it would probably be worth buying a selection of values to play with.
For a tweeter you will probably be fine with 5 watt, but for the price difference, you may as well buy the bigger 10 watt.
Like the capacitors, it would probably be worth buying a selection of values to play with.
chris turner
pfm Member
fab, thanks for that, just what I needed to clear things up
chris turner
pfm Member
The drivers I ordered a few weeks ago arrived today, really pleased as this had held up the next stage of things for me so will start on the front baffles tomrrow
I've ordered up the components for the crossover and everything else I need to get the speakers up to the point I can test them and finalise the crossover components before final assembly and deciding on the veneer/finish
I've ordered up the components for the crossover and everything else I need to get the speakers up to the point I can test them and finalise the crossover components before final assembly and deciding on the veneer/finish
chris turner
pfm Member
I haven't had a lot of progress to share for a week or two, the usual life and family things to do however lots of thoughts about how to get on with these and then in the last few days a bit more work had been done on them
I figured that the boxes as they were, 5 sided but without the front baffle attached so far, would need caulking or sealing along the seams but decided to use fibreglass to do this and add a bit more structural integrity to the box
I've got this done and now everything has dried I attached the front baffle to check all of the alignment and was pretty happy for my first attempt at any woodwork, only a mm out here or there and so did a bit of sanding to get everything levelled out
I've decided to use sound deadening in the boxes and will be adding self adhesive bitumen with acoustic foam tiles on top of that
I also decided on the veneer and have paper back black oak for the sides, top, bottom and rear panel with Indian rosewood for the front, I've yet to decide on an oil or varnish finish though
next steps, as I currently see them are
1) apply veneer to front baffle
2) cut holes and rout the rebates for the drivers
3) fit sound deadening, finish the crossovers and internal wiring then fit in the boxes ahead of
4) fit the front baffle
5) veneer rest of panels
6) fit ports
7) fit drivers and compete wiring
8) add final finish to veneer
9) finalise design and build stands
I might have forgotten something, or change the sequence of jobs as I progress, but hopefully will be back with more updates in the next few days
I figured that the boxes as they were, 5 sided but without the front baffle attached so far, would need caulking or sealing along the seams but decided to use fibreglass to do this and add a bit more structural integrity to the box
I've got this done and now everything has dried I attached the front baffle to check all of the alignment and was pretty happy for my first attempt at any woodwork, only a mm out here or there and so did a bit of sanding to get everything levelled out
I've decided to use sound deadening in the boxes and will be adding self adhesive bitumen with acoustic foam tiles on top of that
I also decided on the veneer and have paper back black oak for the sides, top, bottom and rear panel with Indian rosewood for the front, I've yet to decide on an oil or varnish finish though
next steps, as I currently see them are
1) apply veneer to front baffle
2) cut holes and rout the rebates for the drivers
3) fit sound deadening, finish the crossovers and internal wiring then fit in the boxes ahead of
4) fit the front baffle
5) veneer rest of panels
6) fit ports
7) fit drivers and compete wiring
8) add final finish to veneer
9) finalise design and build stands
I might have forgotten something, or change the sequence of jobs as I progress, but hopefully will be back with more updates in the next few days
chris turner
pfm Member
I looked around on various site for ages, place such as Wood Veneer Hub and df richards (there were a lot more I looked at) but quantities were a challenge, either too little or the pieces weren't large enough or too large a minimum order quantity
In the end I found just what I wanted via a google search with a veneer company selling on ebay, if anyone likes what they came up with I'll be happy to dig out the details
chris turner
pfm Member
Thanks, hopefully the end result matches the picture in my head......
Yes, should be too hard to do that, as the woofer gets fully signal I could piggy back from there using jumpers as if they were providing a feed to the tweeter then route that to the croossover to the second set of binding posts in order to finalise the specs, that should work, shouldn't it?
PaulMB
pfm Member
If I understand you correctly, yes. But others with more knowledge than me might confirm.
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
I think the veneer looks great, details will be great if you can. I can't find anything like what you've pictured.
chris turner
pfm Member
Happy to share if it helps out, it’s the ebay seller perfect_body_center (sic) if you have any problems finding it just let me know and I’ll post a link, assuming that’s no problem with forum rules?