Havin' fun with 2.1, in the sun, watch me run, etc. etc.

[poppachubby]

As my title clearly reveals, I am in need of sleep. Anyhow, I am getting a new dac, the Grant Fidelity Tube-09. I need the proceeds from my existing Spitfire though, which means I am dac-less during the sale and purchase time. This creates a big hole in my system.

I basically set up everything to accomodate the new dac. In the meantime, I temporarily added to the mix my old RCA H/T amp for the comp. I set the soundcard's output to 16/48 and with coax, plugged direct into the amp's CD input. Actually sounds great, no jitter issues either.

I pulled out a pair of speakers that a friend of mine made. They house an 8, 5, and 2. Combined with the sub, they are the world's biggest 2.1 speakers I think. I hardwired some 12g cable and they sound great. And yes, I know they are too high, but this is where I prefer them. Ear level is too much, I thought about drilling them into the sides of the desk. Would've looked way cool.



Anyhow, I posted this because I thought for anyone without a dac, or in a bind with a broken dac or something similar, there are options available for digital music. I know I sound like a broken record (so to speak), but I am still havin a blast with my turntable hooked into this set up. I have been using the DD but I want to hook in the belt drive for a little more soul. DD is so great for conversion however, accuracy.


OK, enough of this blabbing. If you have read this far, you have successfully wasted 2 minutes of your day. Goodbye.

[harley .guy07]

the ports on those DIY speakers are huge. Are they tuned to a certain frequency or are the ports just square holes cut in the cab. I would hope they are tuned because they would sound much better tuned I am just not sure how he tuned such a port unless he has a PC based program to tune a rectangle port. they look like Drivers from another speaker system and not DIY order drivers, What did they come out of. I am totally into DIY and are planning on doing some more projects in the future in fact I have a pair of 6" Dayton reference and 1 1/8" soft dome Dayton tweeters that I plan on making a pair of monitor size speakers with. I just have to deside on the crossover and order the components and make the cabinet. I already have the size of cabinet I want and everything and an idea of the color and style of the cabinet that I want to make I just need to build it and build the crossovers. I will put pictures up when I get started.

[poppachubby]

the ports on those DIY speakers are huge. Are they tuned to a certain frequency or are the ports just square holes cut in the cab. I would hope they are tuned because they would sound much better tuned I am just not sure how he tuned such a port unless he has a PC based program to tune a rectangle port. they look like Drivers from another speaker system and not DIY order drivers, What did they come out of. I am totally into DIY and are planning on doing some more projects in the future in fact I have a pair of 6" Dayton reference and 1 1/8" soft dome Dayton tweeters that I plan on making a pair of monitor size speakers with. I just have to deside on the crossover and order the components and make the cabinet. I already have the size of cabinet I want and everything and an idea of the color and style of the cabinet that I want to make I just need to build it and build the crossovers. I will put pictures up when I get started.

I will have to ask him harley. The ports are just holes cut into the cab, he made these along time ago but I think he copied the design from another speaker. They really do sound awesome. Really bright and fast, I have been listening to Herbie Hancock and it sounds superb. I can send you the full specs with more pics if you want.

[harley .guy07]

I was just wondering what they were. yeah I plan on building the monitor speakers and having them as a secondary too what I have unless one of my friends hears them and wants them and pays me well for them. I have plenty of friends that love music and audio but have no clue how it works and how I know as much as I due. I guess its always been something that has come easy to me. I would love to design and engineer this stuff but that would be the job of a lifetime and only few people could get that lucky.

[harley .guy07]

oh Yeah, How is the "watch" integrated amp working for you. I know you just found it and was wondering how it compares to the other amps you have.

[harley .guy07]

It makes me wonder if Timex started making audio gear it might not be the best looking or sounding stuff out there but hell you could drop it, run it at 1/2 ohm and crank it for years without it failing. you know the "take a lickin keep on tickin" thing.

[poppachubby]

Hahaha, ya the amp is in getting serviced for a couple of things. I wanted a pro to look at it, was having trouble with the balance potentiometer. Turns out its a problem that runs much deeper than the pot. He's been slowly working at tracing it. Once its been serviced, it'll be good as new. It really is a great amp and if I ever upgrade down the line, I can use it as a preamp if I want.

[Geoffcin]

Harley guy is absolutely right. You need to have a proper sized port to get the correct bass extension fro those speakers. Right now they are operating as an infinite baffle system, much as a guitar cab would. There's several resident experts on speaker building on the AR forums. I would PM to Kexodusc to see what he says.

[Geoffcin]

Oh yeah, cool setup!!!

[poppachubby]

Harley guy is absolutely right. You need to have a proper sized port to get the correct bass extension fro those speakers. Right now they are operating as an infinite baffle system, much as a guitar cab would. There's several resident experts on speaker building on the AR forums. I would PM to Kexodusc to see what he says.

OK, Geoff, what can you suggest? The ports are built right into the box. Stuffing them perhaps? What's the difference with this or a rear port say? I only play them at low to moderate volume, so they sound pretty good. I cranked them just now, it wasn't the greatest thing I've ever heard.

[poppachubby]

Oh yeah, cool setup!!!

Thanks man, I now have my main system patched into the soundcard as well. This allows for my belt drive to be used. Now I can go between the DD or BD depending on function or mood. Analog through the digital makes for one hell of a listening experience, I would highly recommend it if you are able to configure it with your current gear.

I haven't had this much fun spinning vinyl in years.

[kexodusc]

Hi Chubbs,
I too am skeptical that those huge square ports are ideal...but there's not a whole lot you can do. How do these sound? Good bass?

Without knowing the parameters of the drivers, there's not a whole lot you can do...You could build new baffles and try port sizes, but you run the risk of damaging the drivers (probably not high risk), and you could experiment with stuffing a bit, but I doubt that will do a whole lot for the bass, but it will certainly cut down on some of the cabinet resonances and internal standing waves - might tighten the bass and mid-range up a bit. Just go to WalMart and buy a bag of polyfill for $5 and put a few loose handfuls in to line the walls and fill in any dead air...leave several inches of clearance behind the drivers...

I've seen a lot of older speakers like this actually so it could be proper design for those drivers? Best to check with the guy who made them if possible.

Cool looking setup...

Edit: Also...best easy tweak I can think of...turn them babies upside down...the off-axis response of the tweeter and mid-range driver won't be nearly as good as the woofer, best to bring them as close to ear-level as possible...assuming the FR's are even....

[poppachubby]

OK man, thanks for the looksy kex. I will put them lower, although I don't have an ideal space for them. I think I'll drill them into the side of the desk. I don't want sonic interference with my tables, you can see from my OP the problem that will happen.

I still haven't spoke with my buddy about the design but as I already said, I think he was copying an old style speaker.

They sound really nice at the levels I listen at. The bass is actually nice and punchy. As soon as I turned it up though, it was pretty awful. The bass turned into a wash of muddiness which in turn was eating away at the low mids. Basically unlistenable. They are already lined with polyfill inside Kex. Check out the OP for a link to an internal pic.

Thanks again, I'll post after I've made some changes.

[MikeyBC]

The speakers look like they should have a large midbass hump which might sound ok with certain kinds of music...looking at the internal pic it does look as though as there is more than just a hole in the baffle but the tuning frequency might still be a little high...if you use a longer port or extend the one that's there then that will give a lower tuning frequency and reduce that "wash of muddiness"

[poppachubby]

The speakers look like they should have a large midbass hump which might sound ok with certain kinds of music...looking at the internal pic it does look as though as there is more than just a hole in the baffle but the tuning frequency might still be a little high...if you use a longer port or extend the one that's there then that will give a lower tuning frequency and reduce that "wash of muddiness"

Hmmmm, I don't have these hooked up at the moment. If I bought a horn to extend it, would that do?

[audio amateur]

The Grant looks like a nice piece of kit! I didn't know you could use it as a normal pre-amp. Pretty cool!
As the outputs appear to be only variable, are you planing on using it as a pre and getting a power amp or are you going to use your integrated amplifiers with it?

[MikeyBC]

Hmmmm, I don't have these hooked up at the moment. If I bought a horn to extend it, would that do?

Just extend the square port farther back inside the cabinet creating a longer tube....but i would try them with the hole completely blocked and sealed also...that would smooth out the bass a lot.

[Audioman00]

very cool setup and I bet it sounds great. Love the look, and the feeling you get is really comfortable and at home I bet... Nice! cheers!