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Almost finished
[QUOTE=kexodusc]MomurdA: It's unlikely a 12" or 10" sub would work in such a big cabinet properly, so you'd have to shrink it down some. Too big a cabinet is bad for a sub as well, there' s a point where the bass extension is sacrificed for distortion and output...
Well, I'm almost finished with the sub. I just need that amp and I'll put on the finishing touches. Where is the best place to see photos of a lot of diy speakers (if it exists) I've seen the ones at PE.
Thanks
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For pics, look no further than:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...threadid=23208
This is an excellent site by the way...other than that you'll have to head to the PE tech talk forum and try to find a thread with some weblinks...a bunch of guys have their personal web pages full of DIY projects...I just don't have them linked.
I'm waiting for the amp too...Should be in tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath...when it does return to stock, I'll probably have 2 weeks of waiting to do...
Been working on installing new flooring in my basement HT room anyway, so that's kept me busy.
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Well, the sub was looking awesome...I had a nice plate glass top made and with the front being black and the rest of the box a fire red, it was looking pretty sweet. I carried it down stairs and set it in front of our home theater curtain and it clashed so bad that my wife said "NO WAY!". The paint originally looked like it would work great but I guess the color looks different when used on a larger area. I had about 6 cans of red on that thing. So up to the garage again and now it's all black. A fly had to land in the first coat of course.
It's still nice looking but not as "cool".
Also I wanted to start looking for a 6.1 DIY system to start in a few months or so. I would like to make nice towers- something unique. I saw some pyramid-like towers on the PE site and thought they were really nice looking and they didn't take up much floor space. I want something high quality of course. I have speaker building 201 and started reading it but wasn't thrilled with the one system they had. Any suggestions? I'd probably start out like you said Kexo and build the front three first.
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www.speakerbuilder.net
This site has a lot of good inexpensive projects.
The Project Showcase at Parts Express has a few as well, but they become more complex and not necessarily any better
I love the Ar.com DIY's, by Ed Frias that you can find right here at this site...click "Learn" in the blue bar at the top of the page and then follow the links...
You could turn those into towers very easily by basically building a "false bottom", and filling it with foam or something...Great sound, easy to build, and if you make them towers, you don't need stands. You could make a bookshelf sized speaker for the center channel, or eventually make your own center channel...most people either build an extra bookshelf or buy a center channel directly from Ed Frias (the designer)...
There's lots of home theater kit ideas at Madisound.com too...try the Vifa ones, they get good reviews, or the audax HT kit.
For great performance on a tight budget, the Dayton projects at Speakerbuilder.net (Dayton Budget, DIII's, etc) are probably the way to go...you can find matching centers at the Project Showcase...It all depends how much you want to spend.
What do you have now?
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[
What do you have now?[/QUOTE]
I have Cambridge Soundworks Newton M60's for left and right on custom stands (I actually love the way the stands look...they were my first DIY project)
The Middle speaker is the Newton MC500 and the surrounds are their dipole/bipole surrounds (I can't remember which model but one of their better ones)- Of course you already know the sub.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hmmmm
What do you have now?
I have Cambridge Soundworks Newton M60's for left and right on custom stands (I actually love the way the stands look...they were my first DIY project)
The Middle speaker is the Newton MC500 and the surrounds are their dipole/bipole surrounds (I can't remember which model but one of their better ones)- Of course you already know the sub.
Sorry, hmmm, for some reason I never got the auto-e-mail and missed this earlier.
In my home theater I decided to go with the EFE AR.com DIY's. I also built the PeeCreek's on Speakerbuilder.net, and almost went with those...I prefer the ar.com DIY's, much nicer top end a more natural soundstage to my ears, not as razor sharp or tightly focused imaging. For Home Theater, either would be great IMO. The AR.com's replaced my Paradigm Studio 40's and 20's (version 2)...fantastic value in that design.
You can buy better drivers and come up with a better speaker, but as a beginner's speaker project, the AR.com's are winners for sure...and the prices are right at Madisound.com. $175 for a kit with decent quality crossover parts (pre-assembled crossovers at that), or $340 for the finished cabinets and all parts.
I see the 240 watt amp is in stock again...shouldn't be long now!
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sub etc...
[QUOTE=kexodusc]Sorry, hmmm, for some reason I never got the auto-e-mail and missed this earlier.
First you won't return my calls, and now this?!
Just kidding. I just received my amp today and am leaving work early to install it:) I'll post a picture if I can figure it out. I saw on another site a couple people complained that their box vibrated to much and made an annoying sound (doing the same project). Hopefully that doesn't happen to me. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.
I appreciate the home theater advice. I might take a short break from speaker building to do some projects for my wife. I'm in the middle of reading speaker building 201. I definately will start something in a few months though.
have to run...
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SP 201 is an awesome book.
I recommend the larger David Weems book too (Designing, Building, and Testing Loudspeakers I think).
If your cabinet is built well there shouldn't be any resonance...I think I read the same post on the PE tech talk forum. that guy used a plywood, which hopefully you didn't.
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it's done
Quote:
Originally Posted by kexodusc
SP 201 is an awesome book.
I recommend the larger David Weems book too (Designing, Building, and Testing Loudspeakers I think).
If your cabinet is built well there shouldn't be any resonance...I think I read the same post on the PE tech talk forum. that guy used a plywood, which hopefully you didn't.
I finished the sub yesterday and it sounds awesome. I've been busy, but in the little time I've had to play some sacd's, dvd'a and movies, it has performed great. I've cranked the blue man group dvd-a up and several others and I haven't had any problems at all. This has been a great experience. Hopefully, when I'm audited Tuesday, that will go as smooth!
Tomorrow I'll check out some of my favorite movie scenes and see how it does.
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Congrats!!! Just remember to take it easy on the volume control.
Try to cross it over as low as your receiver and main speakers will allow...80 is fine, 60 Hz is better, etc.
I don't remember, did you get the BFD too? Boosting the 20-35 Hz signals at a few points will do wonders as well. You'd have to spend near $800-$1000 to get a sub capable of this.
Have any pics yet?
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I didn't get the BFD yet but will. I've been on a spending craze on the home theater so I need to chill to keep the wife calm. I'll get some photos soon. I should have some more free time by the end of next week. I have the cross over at 80 but will try 60. The guy at CSW said 60 is ideal for the front three but not the surrounds.
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If your surrounds don't have an F3 at 60 Hz or so, then the CSW guy isn't off by saying the surrounds could suffer. Of course, you could always set them to "large" and not worry about it....
Some rooms/setups are more forgiving to higher crossovers too, so a bit of experimentation is called for.
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more thoughts
Quote:
Originally Posted by kexodusc
If your surrounds don't have an F3 at 60 Hz or so, then the CSW guy isn't off by saying the surrounds could suffer. Of course, you could always set them to "large" and not worry about it....
Some rooms/setups are more forgiving to higher crossovers too, so a bit of experimentation is called for.
O.K. I'll admit that last night I watched "Electra" and loved it. Not a great movie of course but I found it entertaining. Now, why post this here? Well, I had to watch this after my daughter and wife went to bed. In otherwords, I had to keep the volume down. I have never felt the bass so intense at such a low level. It was amazing. Also, earlier in the evening, while weightlifting in another room that I can open up to listen to the system in the home theater room, the bass vibrated the universal gym. This was at a higher volume of course but nothing extreme (again because of the wife factor) You usually need to have insert quarters to get that type of feeling! I've been using that room for years and have never felt the bass like that. This of course is after the sub was calibrated so I know it's not that it was turned up too high. I'm liking this sub more every day.
Now, I wish there was an "out" switch on this like the Hsu to bypass the sub's crossover. It's hard to tell where exactly 60 or 80 is on the dial... or is that just me?
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Great to hear your loving the sub...I'm drooling in anticipation now...My amp should arrive today, and I hope to start early next week.
Word of advice on the sub's crossover...what you should be doing is setting the sub's crossover all the way to the max position and let the receiver's built in crossover handle the LFE cutoff (crossover). You may need to set your speakers to small depending on the receiver if you haven't already, but don't worry, in most setups, this is the recommended method and will improve your main speaker performance too...bass frequencies demand the most power, by routing that signal to the sub, you are relieving the speakers of that burden and allowing them to focus on 80 Hz and above...Often you'll notice improved dynamics and better midrange.
The variable crossovers aren't always perfect, and setting it to 60 or 80 could cause some frequencies that you don't want cut off to be attenuated.
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crossover
Quote:
Originally Posted by kexodusc
Great to hear your loving the sub...I'm drooling in anticipation now...My amp should arrive today, and I hope to start early next week.
Word of advice on the sub's crossover...what you should be doing is setting the sub's crossover all the way to the max position and let the receiver's built in crossover handle the LFE cutoff (crossover). You may need to set your speakers to small depending on the receiver if you haven't already, but don't worry, in most setups, this is the recommended method and will improve your main speaker performance too...bass frequencies demand the most power, by routing that signal to the sub, you are relieving the speakers of that burden and allowing them to focus on 80 Hz and above...Often you'll notice improved dynamics and better midrange.
The variable crossovers aren't always perfect, and setting it to 60 or 80 could cause some frequencies that you don't want cut off to be attenuated.
Thanks for the advice. I always thought if you set it to max, that you would get the bass overlapping too much and it would sound "muddier". I'll change it when I get home. The Yammie says the front three are large but I had changed them to small awhile ago.
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My Yamaha RX-V1400 picks up my DIY's as large too...it's not the size of the speaker you go buy, but rather it's range...I think if it detects speakers below 70 Hz or so it will call them "large"...not really the right word for it IMO.
Don't worry about the frequency overlap or anything...the receiver will use it's processing capabilities to set the crossover, you just won't get frequencies above the cutoff point so setting the sub's XO to 100 or even 200Hz won't matter. Typically if your sub has a by-pass on the crossover (XO) then I'd suggest using that, but in absence, setting it to max is just as good.
As I mentioned though setting it below can cause some inaccurate response as your using 2 crossovers in the same range...not desireable. Not to mention the analog circuitry isn't necessarily as accurate as your receiver's crossover.
I found 60 or even 40Hz was the best blend with my main speakers, if your receiver allows it....
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I have the same receiver. I'll try setting the crossover at 60 and see how that does. I think the manual for the speaker says to set it as close to 60 as possible for the left and right but the center should be at 80. Its interesting because the center is twice the size of the left and right but an acoustic suspension instead of ported.
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Manuals are great places to start, the problem is they assume average everything. Average knowledge, average room, average gear. Until recently most speakers had the xo fixed at 80 or 90 Hz...now they're much more flexible...
In the end it could be right, but try a few settings out...the rule of thumb is generally the lower the better, provided you don't go outside the range of the weakest speaker.
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I just stumbled onto this thread and am psyched to see someone getting into DIY and enjoying it this way. Excellent advice from Kex and others as well as informative links. I discovered diyaudio.com a year or so ago and it was hard not to jump in with both feet (and credit card). I'll second the promotion of the BFD, though you may want to measure response first and see how far off you are. I had no idea how much LFE I was missing until I got a flat curve down to the 16-18hz range. You can move some serious air down there. Have fun with your new toy.
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Bfd
Quote:
Originally Posted by toenail
I just stumbled onto this thread and am psyched to see someone getting into DIY and enjoying it this way. Excellent advice from Kex and others as well as informative links. I discovered diyaudio.com a year or so ago and it was hard not to jump in with both feet (and credit card). I'll second the promotion of the BFD, though you may want to measure response first and see how far off you are. I had no idea how much LFE I was missing until I got a flat curve down to the 16-18hz range. You can move some serious air down there. Have fun with your new toy.
The BFD will be my next purchase. It's not the price holding me back. It's the wife! It could be one dollar and she'd say "when's it going to stop" She's actually pretty cool about it, so after I get my bar installed I'll get it. I had to get her a new sink, etc...to keep her happy for awhile:) Is it easy to get the settings right or will I need to spend forever reading a thick manual?
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Nah, when you get the BFD you're going to rely on this site for all your needs:
http://www.snapbug.ws/bfd.htm
It's no harder than setting up the rest of your system, but a bit of trial and error is involved. You'll find yourself learning a lot about lower frequencies and how they interact with your room's acoustics...a good learning experience.
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hmmmmmm- As Kex mentioned, that link will offer more insight than the actual manual. The link is simplified and sometimes redundant but very accurate. The manual is geared more towards the pro audio crowd. I skimmed the manual and used it's reference chart for target frequencies, but largely used the link as my guide. Once you set a few filters all you need is the frequency reference guide in the manual, the rest will come naturally.
Amazing how universally the wive's are "bought off" (said toungue in cheek of course) to futher the hobby of audio! Thinking logically, after a large expense (audio gear) it would make more sense to scale back spending for a bit to account for it. Instead we end up spending more for appeasments sake. Just got to remember to budget double for every AV expense to afford the ensuing purse/shoe/outfit expense.
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appeasments sake
Amazing how universally the wive's are "bought off" (said toungue in cheek of course) to futher the hobby of audio! Thinking logically, after a large expense (audio gear) it would make more sense to scale back spending for a bit to account for it. Instead we end up spending more for appeasments sake. Just got to remember to budget double for every AV expense to afford the ensuing purse/shoe/outfit expense.[/QUOTE]
She wants a swimming pool and after the first few estimates...well, all I can say is that I should be fine with my hobby for at least the next 10 years!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hmmmm
Amazing how universally the wive's are "bought off" (said toungue in cheek of course) to futher the hobby of audio! Thinking logically, after a large expense (audio gear) it would make more sense to scale back spending for a bit to account for it. Instead we end up spending more for appeasments sake. Just got to remember to budget double for every AV expense to afford the ensuing purse/shoe/outfit expense.
She wants a swimming pool and after the first few estimates...well, all I can say is that I should be fine with my hobby for at least the next 10 years![/QUOTE]
ROFLMAO!!!
This is so true.
I always get the "you're building ANOTHER speaker" line thrown at me...geez I've got about 19 speakers in my home, 6 of them aren't even being used. The ones in the garage and dining room might get an hour a week if they're lucky. I've got my Studio 40's in my closet. Just can't bring myself to sell them yet, for the simple reason I like having a popular commercial speaker around to gauge the various DIY projects I do.
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