First DIY Project - Several Questions - Adire (1 Viewer)

[Matthew Will]

Alright, I'm building my first DIY speakers. They're a pair of Adire Audio HE10.1's. Here are a few questions that for some reason I just can't find.

1. Polyfill - Stuff it everywhere in the enclosure except near the speakers? Should I do anything to hold the stuff back so it doesnt shift and end up in the driver? Im building the recommended sealed enclosure so I'm not glueing it to the walls like you would in ported boxes.

2. I just glue the sides to each other with no screws? It seems like screws would split the 3/4" MDF I'm using. So I just glue it, clamp it, dry it, then caulk it?

3. How am I going to wire these speakers to my Sony Stereo Receiver? Each enclosure will have dual input terminals. Terminals for the tweeter and terminals for the 10" driver. I'm just burnt out. I'll probably figure it out eventually but any help is appreciated. Thanks. Matt

 

[Mattak]

MDF won't split if you predrill the holes. I put over 100 1 1/2" wood screws in my sub box and had no splitting anywhere.

 

[Gerry S]

I'll take a shot at 2 and 3.

If you have a bunch of clamps, glueing the MDF is sufficient. The bond created by the glue is as strong as the MDF. Many do choose to use screws; just drill some pilot holes first. It will also increase finishing time later as you will have to fill the holes with some kind of wood putty.

For 3, you'll need to build a crossover to take the signal from your amp, and split the signal so that the low signals head to the woofer and the higher frequency stuff goes to the tweeter.

 

[Matthew Will]

I think I would rather glue and clamp than drill the holes. I'll just make sure it is all good and tight.

The adire kit comes with a crossover package that I need to assemble. I'm just confused because right now I have a pair of 3-way KLH speakers running from the Sony Stereo. They have a 15" sub, 4" mid range and a 1" tweeter in each enclosure. To connect I only run two wires from the Sony stereo to the back of each enclosure. On the receiver this leaves two outputs empty for both the right and left channels. For the new adire speakers it looks like I will be running 4 wires from the Sony receiver to each enclosure. Is this true?

To see what I am talking about go here and look at the back of this stereo receiver -
Go Here

Its only a stereo receiver but it has 4 output terminals for each side. Some are labeled A and some are labeled B. Do I use all 4 for one enclosure with the adire speakers?


Also, I forgot that my kit is in fact ported. Do I only line the walls of the enclosure with the polyfill? No clue. Thanks. Matt

 

[Joseph Sabato]

When you finish your crossover, you should find that there are only 2 wires to connect to your receiver. I have not looked at the schematic, but it may be confusing showing a low pass section and separate high pass section of the crossover ( which you could bi-wire to the receiver). These can be connected in parallel at the crossover, bringing 1 set to the terminals just like your 3 ways.

 

[Matthew Will]

The plans for the entire HE10.1 kit, including crossover schematics, can be found HERE


It looks like on the schematics that the crossover is only connected to one set of the input terminals? Why then would adire include terminals that have two sets of inputs on each one? This is pretty much exactly what Adire sent me for each enclosure.
HERE

At that site it says its perfect for having a seperate amp for tweeters and woofers, which I do not. But in the schematics I still do not see the wiring going to both sets of terminals on the cup. Any ideas?

Thanks. Matt

P.S. - I still need help on the polyfill.

 

[TimForman]

It's not unusual for Adire to provide an input cup with four terminals. This is just to give the option of bi-amping (good) or biwiring (worthless but chic). The input cup should have conductors running between both positive and both negative terminals. You can either leave them there and connect to whichever terminals you want or remove them and remember which terminals are connected inside. I've never had a problem with poly-fil. Just stuff it in. If you want you can use a little 3M Spray Adhesive on the interior walls to keep it from settling.

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

The reason your sony reciever has 4 speaker terminals per side is that its designed to power an alternative pair of speakers- typically in another room. Just use the "A" terminals and ignore the "B". Two wires per box then. As for your terminal cup, so long as you leave the shorting bars in place, then it makes no difference which pair you wire up to. As has already been said, adire provided a 4 pole terminal in case the builder wanted to mess with biamping or biwireing- both of which I suggest you stay away from.

 

[Bob K]

Hi, Matthew,

On the theory that it's good to get confirmation, the advice you have been getting is correct:

1. If you have clamps, you can make an MDF box using nothing but yellow or white glue, without screws. The bond created by the glue will be stronger than the MDF.

If you want to use screws with the glue anyway, no problem. Just make sure to predrill holes.

2. You will see that that the four-post terminal cups shown in the picture you linked in your post #6 has two "bridging straps". If you were to bi-amp or bi-wire, you would remove the straps. In your case, you leave the straps in place and hook you speaker cables up to one set of the terminals.

3. I don't think shifting of the polyfill will present a problem, but just in case, you can attach your drivers in such a way that they are readily removable so you can get to the inside of the boxes. To do this, attach your drivers using threaded inserts (my preference) or tee nuts (seems to be the majority view) and machine screws. Again, don't forget to pre-drill holes! In this way, you will be able to repeatedly screw and unscrew the drivers, without causing wear or damage to the MDF. You can see this on the first photo at the link below. Threaded inserts (as well as tee nuts, wood and machine screws, etc.) are available at McFeelys, McMaster-Carr and other places on the web.

Good luck!

Adire Tempest Construction Pix: http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/m...bum.php&page=3

 

[Joey Skinner]

You might want to use a couple of screws per joint just to keep the pieces from sliding around when clamping. I try not to use screws but it is frustrating to have your panels move when you tighten the clamps. If anyone has any tips on how to prevent this without using screws or nails I would appreciate hearing them.

 

[TimForman]

There are several methods of joinery which could be found on various woodworking web sites. Some that I've used are dado joints, biscuits and dowels. Each requires some careful measuring and specialized tools. Dados and biscuits require power tools.