Mike Keith
Second Unit
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2002
- Messages
- 324
Most of you probably frequent AVS or DIY Audio so this is a repeat for the few who don’t, plus this site has been so slow lately, so I thought it could use another topic, even if its posted in other forums.
Like most of my projects, I seem to take way too much time trying to find the proper hardware or a method of doing something wacky. The time spent isn’t really indicative of the difficulty, just a product of my finicky attitude and desire to do things that no one else would do, plus I always do at least a few prototypes and spend some time listening before I proceed.
The fit and clearances along with the proper hardware for the gimble assy was probably the hardest part of the project, although I now have an even deeper appreciation of the difficulty in aligning grains and matching different pieces of wood together to give a homogenous look. Working with hard and soft woods mixed is another challenge that I find very frustrating at times, especially on a lathe. The full adjustment range exceeds 6 inches at the rear-articulating ball assy, which on second thought was probably the single most difficult to devise and construct. The adjustment can allow close to 30° of angle on the mid/woofer cabinets relative to the tweeter pod. Every part can be removed and broken down like a gun, each mid enclosure pivots on a spring loaded pin that fits into a receptacle and can be depressed for removing the enclosure from the gimble mounting ring once the top thumb screw is removed. Everything is solid Oak or painted MDF to match my mains. The tweeter pod is easily removable with a ¼ -20 bolt behind the faceplate.
The prototype has been up and running for months so I have tweaked the sound to satisfying results already, these little woofers will pack a whallop for their cone area, but a little overprices IMO. Next time a do a set of mains I will more closely consider the cost of the drivers, these nearly broke me.
Woofers- Scan-Speak 8530-K01S
Tweeter- Vifa XT-25 with custom faceplate.
Crossover- Marchand XM44-4 (2.6K 4th order)
Woofers are paralleled (2-way) and powered by the Halo A-52 and a separate channel to the Tweeter. The inside is stuffed with poly batting (4oz) and the inner walls are lined with the same tar slurry goop that I have been using for a while now, total weight for the speaker assembled (without stand) is about 55Lbs. This is about as baffle-less as you can get, which has been my goal for some time now so I think I can move on to other designs finally, OB will be next. Total cost is hard to calculate but I would guess about $750.
Pictures,
http://kingdaddy.linaeum.com/Center%20Channel/
Like most of my projects, I seem to take way too much time trying to find the proper hardware or a method of doing something wacky. The time spent isn’t really indicative of the difficulty, just a product of my finicky attitude and desire to do things that no one else would do, plus I always do at least a few prototypes and spend some time listening before I proceed.
The fit and clearances along with the proper hardware for the gimble assy was probably the hardest part of the project, although I now have an even deeper appreciation of the difficulty in aligning grains and matching different pieces of wood together to give a homogenous look. Working with hard and soft woods mixed is another challenge that I find very frustrating at times, especially on a lathe. The full adjustment range exceeds 6 inches at the rear-articulating ball assy, which on second thought was probably the single most difficult to devise and construct. The adjustment can allow close to 30° of angle on the mid/woofer cabinets relative to the tweeter pod. Every part can be removed and broken down like a gun, each mid enclosure pivots on a spring loaded pin that fits into a receptacle and can be depressed for removing the enclosure from the gimble mounting ring once the top thumb screw is removed. Everything is solid Oak or painted MDF to match my mains. The tweeter pod is easily removable with a ¼ -20 bolt behind the faceplate.
The prototype has been up and running for months so I have tweaked the sound to satisfying results already, these little woofers will pack a whallop for their cone area, but a little overprices IMO. Next time a do a set of mains I will more closely consider the cost of the drivers, these nearly broke me.
Woofers- Scan-Speak 8530-K01S
Tweeter- Vifa XT-25 with custom faceplate.
Crossover- Marchand XM44-4 (2.6K 4th order)
Woofers are paralleled (2-way) and powered by the Halo A-52 and a separate channel to the Tweeter. The inside is stuffed with poly batting (4oz) and the inner walls are lined with the same tar slurry goop that I have been using for a while now, total weight for the speaker assembled (without stand) is about 55Lbs. This is about as baffle-less as you can get, which has been my goal for some time now so I think I can move on to other designs finally, OB will be next. Total cost is hard to calculate but I would guess about $750.
Pictures,
http://kingdaddy.linaeum.com/Center%20Channel/