Well, Started a New Project

[poneal]

I took my 20 year old kenwood tower speakers and ripped the guts out and the front baffle. I have braced it up and sealed it. This was a cheaply made box if I've ever seen one. Anyway, im getting all the speaks from PE and dayton 1 1/8" silk dome tweeter, a vifa midrange, and a peerless woofer for a three way system. Parts should be in this weekend. I'll let you know how it all works out. I sure do have the speaker building bug.

[kingdaddykeith]

If you getting new drivers, why bother reconstructing an old enclosure, just build a new one. I bet it would be much better then anything Kenwood ever did anyway.

[gonefishin]

I took my 20 year old kenwood tower speakers and ripped the guts out and the front baffle. I have braced it up and sealed it. This was a cheaply made box if I've ever seen one. Anyway, im getting all the speaks from PE and dayton 1 1/8" silk dome tweeter, a vifa midrange, and a peerless woofer for a three way system. Parts should be in this weekend. I'll let you know how it all works out. I sure do have the speaker building bug.



Did you order the parts as part of a kit?


advantages of ordering drivers as part of a kit is that a qualified individual has already "designed" the speaker (drivers/box/crossover). This can be looked at as a HUGE advantage.


Also, it may be fun to build a new enclosure for the speakers your going to be working on (as kingdaddy suggested).


have fun!

[poneal]

Nope didn't want to build a box when I already had one that was salvagable. I just braced it up real good and put in a crossbrace. Parts are due to arrive this Tuesday. I will then cut the holes and all the other stuff. I just bought a plain old 3 way cross over from parts express. The $35.00 3-way 2nd order bypass with crossovers of 375 and 3000. The Peerless woofer matched my internal box enclosure almost perfectly. I had to build a separate enclosure for the vifa midrange and am using a 3x4 inch pvc plug to seal the tweeter. If it soulds better than my Infinities, then I'll keepem and sell the Infinities on ebay and then build another matching pair for the rears. I praying it all comes out all right since I shelled out 253 dollars in parts and shipping + another 50 on mdf for the front baffles and paint, sandpaper, sealant, etc. So I got 300 dollars invested in this thing so it better sound good.

Those are some monster speakers you built gonefising. Is the sub separate from the two ways or are the two ways sitting on top of the subwoofer? Anyway, they look real nice and I'm sure you spent a lot of time putting them together. Is that an 18" woofer? Nice wood work too. Me I just sand, prime, and paint them high gloss black and after a couple of weeks of curing time, I then put a couple of coats of polycrylic on them trying to give them that 3D piano look.

I should be done by the end of next week so I'll post my results. At some point my knowledge may be good enough to design my own crossovers and all that but for now premade is easier since I don't have the technical knowhow to do it myself. Well, goodnight and happy listening.

[gonefishin]

poneal...let us know how everything turns out...If ya can...love ta see some pics too :)

Thanks for the kind words on my DIY speakers...that actually isn't a sub. It's a 15" midbass woofer used from 800Hz down to 38Hz or so...before it starts dropping off.


take care...and have fun!

[poneal]

Almost done, unfortunately I do not have a digital camera to take pics. I'm down to the last two sandings and enamel coats. I disconnected both mains and hooked up a box to check the speakers and crossover. First the tweeter, then the midrange, then the woofer (bingo all were working and crossover I wired correctly). I then placed all 3 speakers in and listened. I have to say my first impression was they sounded better than my infinities. Much better bass (peerless woofer). The midrange is the same driver used in my center from infinity also (but the part said vifa with the infinity logo on it) and the tweeter is the all talked about dayton silk dome tweeter (must say it sounds nice). I should finish painting and sanding tomorrow and then screw the drivers in and hook up both for a test run. I'll post my listening results then. Also they only sold 4" PVC caps at Home depot so I used that one. I used some of that speaker gooey black stuff to fill the holes where the speaker wire goes through and then stuffed some polyfill in them. The only thing I'm worried about is I was off a little on one of the woofer holes making it damn close to the edge of thecutout hole. God I hope the woofer dont crack it! Well, till tomorrow.

[Siper2]

I've never built a speaker, but the prospect seems exciting. :)

gonefishin, that's some very, very nice equipment. Job very well done!

=S2=

[poneal]

Finally got them together and got to listen to them. No fancy DBT or anything just strictly judgemental. They have much better bass response than my infinities (almost need no subwoofer) and the tweeter is less harsh than the infinity which suits me fine. I always thought the infinites were a little shrill on the top end. I have made these my mains and am placing my infinities on ebay for sale to fund a matching pair and center. After that, every speaker in my house will be DIY. It was fun by I sure am tired. Thank goodness for my neighbor and his table saw and router. Sorry I don't have any pictures but they definitely do not look as good as gonefishing's beautiful woodwork, but, they do sound nice. So all in all, I consider it a success. Thanks, Paul.