Matthew Will

Using sonotube for speakers other than subwoofers?

Just a quick question, has anyone used sonotube to build speakers other than subwoofers? I'm thinking it would be simple to do. Probably the hardest part would be making the stands but that is simple if you can build a traditional enclosure. Of course you wouldnt be able to have them downfiring but it sounds like it would make construction much easier. What do you all think? Matt

ThomasW

Having round baffles for the main speakers present an interesting set of design challenges..........

theAudioWorx Klone-Audio
Cult of the Infinitely Baffled (Resource for IB sub builders)

Ryan T

My friend recently completed his speakers he designed. He used an 8" audax woofer and a audax dome tweeter i think. Anyway the woofer is enclosed in an 8" diameter tube and the tweeter is in a separate enclosure on top. I haven't seen pics yet but i think he went with mounting the tweeter in a PVC pipe and then mounting it on top of the woofers enclosure. He used an Active PA crossover for them. He said the results are very good so far.




Ryan

NickSo

Matthew Will

Do you think it would be hard? A sonotube for a sub doesn't sound very hard. Simply cut the desired length of tube, fabricate two end caps, and you're basically done besides the wiring. Wiring doesn't count though because you'd have to do that for any enclosure. Now consider for any traditional enclosure you have to cut a minimum of 5 panels if you build a pyramid shape, but then the math for figuring out internal volumes because that much more tricky. So for a basic monitor kit you will most likely need to cut 6 panels. So would using sonotubes really be that much more difficult? It sounds easier if you ask me.

As I said earlier the hardest part is figuring out how to mount them onto stands or make pedestals for them to sit on shelves. That is fairly easy though if you have the skills to make a traditional box for the speakers. As long as the internal volume of the sonotube enclosure correct it'd be just the same sounding/performance of a traditional box right? If so then I bet I could pound out enclosures every couple hours if I absolutely desired instead of the 2-3 days the HE10.1 kit took me. Matt

ThomasW

I guess my hint was too subtle. Perhaps this will be less so.

Round baffles cause weird baffle diffraction effects. You might want to study up on this issue before proceeding

theAudioWorx Klone-Audio
Cult of the Infinitely Baffled (Resource for IB sub builders)

Ryan T

I'm not sure on my friends final design was but last i heard he didnt use a baffle. He used an 8" woofer and an 8" piece of sonotube and secured the driver to that. So it was flush i think. I dont know what will happen sound wise if you dont have any baffle but he said they sounded pretty good when he was done. I'll try to find out what he decided on and maybe get a pic of them.


Ryan

Aaron Gilbert

I haven't used Sonotube, but I have used Cubicon D tubes. It's a cylinder (12" nominal diameter for mine) with a flat section, about 8" wide. I think they work great, as you only have to put on end caps, cut driver holes, and your box is done! For finishing, my preference is to wrap the tubes in fabric. I haven't made stands yet because all mine were long enough tubes as to not require stands. The downside of all this is that Cubicon (or a similar company, Contour Paperboard) are a real pain to work with, and if you have less than five pieces I believe they charge you a setup fee. Shipping is a killer, too. But hey, anyone can build a rectangular enclosure, right? Anyhow check out my link at the end of the post. I am actually redoing some of the speakers so they will be different than shown at my site. I won't be finished for another week or so though, and who knows when I can update the site... too darned many projects! I have also built some speakers using hemispherical enclosures, flower pots to be specific. They really sound quite amazing, I think, and are also on my site. Not only is the back hemispherical, the baffle is of course circular, and the driver is in the center of it! I am pretty sure I read this was supposed to be horrible for sound, but it sounds great to me.



ThomasW,

What sort of effects are you referring to? Whatever they are, I find they are not objectionable, or else my enclosures don't fit what you are describing above.


Long live rounded speakers!


Aaron Gilbert

http://www.aaroncgilbert.com/hometheater.html

Matthew Will

ThomasW...from what I understand the baffle diffraction effect is when a speaker is placed on the center of a round baffle, since it is equidistant from all edges on the baffle it will cause even more peaks and troughs in the resonance of the speaker? Not in a good way like how a subwoofer is tuned to a certain frequency but simply that certain frequencies drop quickly in db's. This isn't a problem (or isn't so noticeable) with square baffles because the speaker is not equidistant from all edges in the baffle. Am I correct thus far?

To me this sounds like an easy fix. Just mount the speaker off center somewhere in the baffle and it should fix the problem just like a square baffle does. This might be necessary anyways if the speaker would require a port. Am I understanding what you were trying to hint at? Matt

Aaron Gilbert

Matthew,

I'm not ThomasW, but I believe you are essentially correct. I understand this phenomenon, but I thought Thomas had something else in mind since he did say 'weird' baffle diffraction effects. Or maybe I just read too much into the weird...

I believe you're also correct in that the best way to avoid this is to offset the speaker to one/two sides of the baffle. Of course, the latest trend with commercial speakers, and also many (most?) DIY speakers is to make the baffle just wide enough to hold the woofer, and thus offsetting to the side is not possible.


Aaron Gilbert