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  1. Mark_E_Smith

    Flying Speakers

    You must be careful to match the resonate frequency of the tensioned wire (like a instrument string) to a frequency outside of the hearing range. The best way to do this is hang the speaker and twang the wire to see what they sound like. Also you could use some small shock absorbers to dampen...
  2. Mark_E_Smith

    New Toy, New Toy, Woo Hoo.. (Router + Router Table)

    May I recomend a Lockmiter bit for your router. It will make life much easier esp with BB as you can use the natural veneer with perfect 45 deg miters that are square I fought plain miters and never was able to make a square box much less 2 of the same :frowning: any way with the lock miter it...
  3. Mark_E_Smith

    Finishing Baltic Birch 13ply

    Test the dye on some scraps first. I found that parts of the wood came out beautiful and whole sections blotched solid red. I have found out but not tried yet, the dyes are soluble in shellac so I have some garnett shellac that I'm going to add some Sol-lux Blood Red to and see what happens...
  4. Mark_E_Smith

    Moving into my 1st apartment: cable or DirecTV?

    If you are getting DTV as a "new" customer, Get a Direct TiVo known as the DTV DVR. There are some discounts available for new cusotmers. Make sure you have and can place the dish at the apartment first.
  5. Mark_E_Smith

    For those who have DirecTV...

    Tivo had a working HD Direct TiVo at the CES show this year so its not a rumor, BUT the new DTiVo was suposed to be out before Chrismas 2002 and it made it out in March 2003. That said I have 4 DTiVos and would quit watching tv if I had to give them up!!!! DTV is the way to go, but get at least...
  6. Mark_E_Smith

    What is a good CD mini system

    I bought a Sharp mini CD stereo sytem for my daughter. Has a 3 cd changer, Tuner and Cassett player. Best of all it has an aux input for stereo like a tv and a sub out. all for $120. american. Speakers sounded the best of the lot, except for a yamaha that was $400.
  7. Mark_E_Smith

    Cheap Table Saw

    I just bought a Grizzly band saw. Wow this thing is great. Has all the features of a $700 band saw for $375 + shipping. I have a medium Craftsman table saw and its fence su#ks and its realy to small to build any serious sized speakers. I am saving up for a Grizzly 10". These people seem to be...
  8. Mark_E_Smith

    DIY sub for a n00b on a budget

    May I suggest a 15" Dayton quatro about $86 and a 250w PE plate amp about $130, in a 22" external dimension 3/4 MDF cube. Sealed with some good bracing inside and some poly fill. should play MUCH lower and louder than any $300 commercial sub.
  9. Mark_E_Smith

    Yesterday was a good day for me.. Got a TableSaw and a new Multimeter cheap!

    FWIW, a professional cabnet maker told me to keep your blades you use on MDF for MDF only, MDF has small amounts of metal and puts small nics in the carbide blades that will make them cut poorly on hard woods. I found this to be true.
  10. Mark_E_Smith

    my first MTM setup

    You have 2 choices, 2 4 ohm speakers in series or 2 16 ohm speakers in parallel. The reason most MTMs are 4 ohm is they use 8 ohm speakers in parallel. I hope your tweeter has a low Fs so that you can cross it at about 2K to 2.5K.
  11. Mark_E_Smith

    solid vs. braided conductor cables

    For analog audio you need braided, for digital it may not matter.
  12. Mark_E_Smith

    Building Crossover

    You might consider using "lamp cord" available at most hardware stores. I have used this for years as my standard speaker wire. And yes Ive tried the big exspensive monster speaker cables and couldnt hear the difference untill you droped below 18 ga or had a run over 25 ft to 50 ft
  13. Mark_E_Smith

    Building Crossover

    What Mark says plus, Try not to put your inductors next to each other(opposite ends of the x-over board), and install them perpendicular to each other. ie I- or IO not II or =. I used silicon sealer on my caps to glue them down. Then I smeared a line of the silicon in all the joints of my...
  14. Mark_E_Smith

    SPL Mod. Panasonic mic upgrade-who wants in......

    Say chris Im in too as I have a Rat Shack spl meter also, btw you still coming to the Great State this weekend?;)
  15. Mark_E_Smith

    TB W4-657s Crossover Help

    That is the manufactures published frequency response and is most likely NOT what you will have in an enclosure of your design. Build the enclosure and see what it sounds like. If you have access to an spl meter or better yet a measurement system like Clio, make a measurement so you can adjust...
  16. Mark_E_Smith

    XO experts: what the heck is this??

    The complexity of the 3 way! Ditto what Brian said
  17. Mark_E_Smith

    Best MTM Kit?

    Eric, drop Danny an e-mail or call him he is a really nice guy. He hosted the Texas DIY in Wichita Falls, Texas. I met him there, great and knowledgeable guy. You wouldn't go wrong with him.
  18. Mark_E_Smith

    "From the formula above, it is clear..."

    Pickup David Weems book on designing speakers, its a great place to start with out SCARING you out of trying to have some fun. I was there 2 years ago, and wouldn't do it any other way. There is good, great and perfect. You should be able to build some good sounding speakers esp considering the...
  19. Mark_E_Smith

    Dish vs. DirecTV

    Before you buy be sure to check out TiVo, now called the DTV DVR. It is the COOLEST thing to have. Do some searches on TiVo and PVR. The DTV TiVo can record 2 things at once, uses the TiVo software, records and plays back DD 5.1. It will change your life!!!! The reason I mention this is they...
  20. Mark_E_Smith

    Tivo Problem: Can't Record To VCR

    You might want to record off the video input instead of the coax input. Hook up the L/R/V out from the TiVo to the L/R/V in on the vcr and set it to record off the video input. Did you know TiVo has a save to vcr feature? It will record 5 seconds of the guide discription at the begging of the...
  21. Mark_E_Smith

    ReplayTV - great gadget

    Pat The question is why do you need more than 1 VCR? I have 4 DTV DVRs (TiVo), 3 SA TiVos (not all at the same location)You are not yet as insane as I but I jumped on this pvr thing in 1999 when it started. My 2 year old daughter doesnt have the conceept of shows coming on at a certain times...
  22. Mark_E_Smith

    Difference between PR's and Porting

    As usual I learn something from the "fortunate son":D ! I have a comercial pr system that sucks, I thought all prs did, but the Stryke FAQ makes since and has changed my mind. Maybe i'll take a look and see if I can tweek the system I have.
  23. Mark_E_Smith

    1st day with Tivo, 3 questions

    Actually you might want to try a lower quality for animation it might actually improve the PQ. TiVos use a modified MAC/Apple disc format, they do not need to be defragged ever. 2 X 120 Gb of storage is a whole lot, you might try experimenting with lower setting on some programs. The...
  24. Mark_E_Smith

    How does this design look for a Line Array?

    I am in the middle of CLIO testing the MCM 6.5 CF drivers and they dont look bad. Also they look just like the Audax HM170CO externally, square flange with rounded corners. BTW the picture MCM has on their website is NOT what they look like. If I get a warm day that I can play I will rerun the...
  25. Mark_E_Smith

    Are people hibernating this winter?

    You can go here for the 6.5": http://www.mcmelectronics.com/Home/l...48&SKUID=78151 Would be great in a MMT for R/L and MTM for center with the PT2. Btw it doesnt look like the picture, it looks allot more like the Audax HM170CO here...
  26. Mark_E_Smith

    Coil Inductance and Sound Quality

    Consider this, if the voice coil is/has inductance then it will act like an inductor, rolling off/absorbing the high frequencies but it will start to do this before the actual speaker begins to roll off. Therefore inductance of the vc CAN play a roll in the detail IF the inductance Q is before...
  27. Mark_E_Smith

    Are people hibernating this winter?

    Well I just spent last Saturday and yesterday testing MCM carbon fiber drivers 55-2321 and 55-1840 - 6.5" and 4" respectively, for a MMT or MTM design with the NEO3PDR, NEO8PDR or maybe the PT2. I did learn that doing TS with a CLIO is kinda cool, but it really makes a difference with the temp...
  28. Mark_E_Smith

    walnut burle veneer

    How about Austrailian Lacewood ;)
  29. Mark_E_Smith

    Crossover construction questions.

    My sugestion, Leave all the resistors alone Change the 4 mH iron inductor to a 14 gage air core same value, leave the 250 uF alone. these are in the woofer section an seem to cross at about 150HZ, cant be exact because I don't have the driver info. Change the .73 mH and the .31 mH to 16...
  30. Mark_E_Smith

    Crossover construction questions.

    The 200 uF is used in the woofer section to roll in the 5" speakers around 150 Hz. You don't need a high quality one there, but in the tweeter circuit you bet. You can also use a small uF "bypass" cap that will greatly improve a lower quality large cap. IE 30 uF and a 1 uF in parallel will sound...
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