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gonna make sum speakers...

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punkgamingmaste

Member
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Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Location
USA
im currently planning on making a set of 4 bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer.

im not sure what size to make the enclosures for everything, i don't want them to big tho.

for the bookshelf speakers:
The Tweeter
The Mid-range
& the crossover
I think that crossover should be good, its about 1500Hz above the tweeters Fs and the mid-range looks fine up to 5000 according to the site.

and as for the subwoofer:
the speaker itself
& the plate amp
i think im gonna go ported in a decent sized box. id like to cross the subwoofer over at 60Hz (the lowest that plateamp allows).

any suggestions on box size? or better drivers without increasing the price?


also:
terminals
speaker wire

the most i can spend on this project is about $200. and currently what i chose above comes out to around $190. I can get all the wood and stuff for the enclosures for free. suggestions please?
 
Last edited:
beware, ryan's gonna force you to make your own xovers

although, judging by your budget (way to go) choice of drivers, you're not gonna want to spend 80 bucks on crossovers
 
beware, ryan's gonna force you to make your own xovers
Click to expand...

LOL. I wouldnt say force but I would HIGHLY recommend making your own Xovers :D. You can use a simple online calulator to get the values and it'll be cheaper to make your own too. They wont be optimized but they will at least be a bit more tailored to the drivers you want to use.

I am curious what lead you to pick those drivers though? Is there anything in particular your looking for with these speakers? You can use winISD to calculate the right size enclosure for the woofers. You will need to decide on ported or sealed (if your using a sub I would tend to prefer sealed). There is a walkthrough sticky on how to use winISD that you could check out. The same rules apply for subs or bookshelf speakers. You want it to go low an flat. With book shelf speakers you will have the enclosure be more of a problem cause you dont want a HUGE box in most cases. So set the size your willing to live with and look for a driver that will work well in it.



Ryan
 
i chose those drivers simiply because there the ones i found first that seemed decent. if i can get better drivers for about the same price then i dont mind switching. and i dont want to mess with crossovers just yet. i dont own a soldiering iron and i know nothing about that sort of thing. im more worried about just getting better speakers instead of my crappy $2 dollar wal*mart speakers that i have now (im not even sure what brand or anything they are.. there just small cubes with a single driver in them that sound like crap). im pretty leniant on the enclosure size. im willing to go up to a realtivly decent sized box (like 14" tall by 8" wide by 6" deep or whatever).

and i was gonna go ported for the subwoofer cuz i heard u can use a weaker amp and still get really loud and deep. and im gonna go sealed with the bookshelves,
 
I would probably choose some other drivers over those. In general I would use a dome tweeter over a cone. The cone tweeters have a few problems right off the bat. They tend to beam because the cone is so large. Another issue is the dispertion pattern isnt as wide as with a dome tweeter in most cases.

If you want a cheap tweeter I would go with one of these.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=279-234
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=275-035
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=275-030

I would also recommend a smaller woofer. I would go with a ~5" woofer to give you better extension into the 3Khz range. It may not have as much bass as the 6 1/2" driver but with a sub you shouldnt notice. Plus it will give you the ablility to use a smaller enclosure. Heres a couple different drivers that may interest you.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=295-301
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=264-816
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=295-305

The biggest problem with the crossovers you linked is they are only for the tweeters. So the woofer will receive the full signal and wont get cut were the tweeter starts. So what will end up happening is the woofer will be trying to play the high frequincy sounds along with the tweeter. You can try to get a woofer that cuts out really quickly but the ideal solution is to use a proper crossover that will cut the woofer and tweeter at the desired frequincy. There are some other things that can help the speakers sound a whole lot. For one its nice to use impedence EQ circuits. They will flatten the drivers impedence curve making the crossover more effective. Also its very nice to have variable L-pads on the tweeters. The L-pad will attenuate the tweeters signal so you can match it to the woofer. Sometimes once you get the speakers put together the tweeter or woofer will be louder than the other driver. Which will create an imbalence in the sound. the L-pad can attenuate the signal however much you want it to so you can match the drivers. Heres a link to the L-pads.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=260-248


For the subwoofer ported may be what you want. It will play louder and lower than a sealed enclosure. It isnt quite as clean as sealed or easy to build but for movies and games I think its well worth it. For the speakers I think its best to go sealed. The enclosures will be smaller and it is much easier to build them sealed.


Ryan
 
I would use a 3" flared or larger port for the sub. If you dont want to go flared you can use a normal PVC pipe but I would go no smaller than 4" diameter myself. You could go with a 3" diameter PVC pipe but at the highest SPL levels you may get some port noise.

If you have the extra money I would suggest checking this driver out as the sub.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=295-490&ctab=10#Tabs
It is a bit more but it has a lot more Xmax and would work better as a sub. Heres some enclosure plans.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pdf/295-490 DVC vented.pdf

If you still want to use the dayton classic woofer I can mess around with winISD and tell you what I come up with.


Ryan
 
I'll graph some enclosures later tonight. The extra cost isnt for shielding its for more bass. The second woofer I linked has about almost double the displacement, 2 dB more sensitivity, a lower FS plus more power handling all for only $10 more. It should also work better in a smaller enclosure if i'm not mistaken. But either driver should be good. Its just the Shielded woofer will have a lot more potential for bass since it really is designed to be a sub. Were as the dayton classic is designed more as a woofer for a 3 way speaker.


Ryan
 
im gonna go with the http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=295-490&ctab=10#Tabs as the subwoofer then, i dont really need a lot of bass currently. but i dont want to upgrade my woofer later so ill just go with the stronger one now and save myself from upgrading that later.

im guessing bigger is better for subwoofer enclosures? the speakers are going to be primarily for movies with some gaming and music mixed in. i have enough room to go pretty large with the subwoofer enclosure.

thx for ur help so far
 
yeah he's quite handy to have around..lol

I think bigger is better, but winisd would show what size it should be :)
 
In general the bigger you go the lower and more effecient the sub. However sometimes you have to go a LOT bigger and wont gain much by it.


I did a bit of playing around with winISD and you have some options for the shielded DVC. The most economical I found was a box 3.2 Cu ft. tuned to 28 Hz with a 4" x 9.3" port. That would give you an F3 of about 30 Hz. You can drop the tuning point more if you plan to watch a lot of movies with really low bass. But for games and most movies the a mid 20 Hz tuning point is sufficient. If you wanted to get a really big box and go lower you could jump to a 5 Cu ft box and tune it at 27 Hz. which would give you a 25 Hz f3. In my opinion it wouldnt be worth it though.

One more thing you could do is go with the 3 cu ft box and tune it lower somewere like 25 Hz. It wont look as flat on the graph but once you get it in room it should even out from the room boost. But like I said unless your goal is extreme low low frequency bass for the hand full of movies that have 20 hz content you should be fine with the 3.2 Cu ft box tuned to 28 Hz.




Ryan
 
i have no clue how to get a box to 3.2 Cu ft. so i need length/width/depth messurements.

also, do u have any suggestions for what size i should make the bookshelf enclosures? i was thinking something like 12"tall by 8"wide by 6"deep. or should i go bigger?
 
I'll have to model the book shelf enclosures with the dayton 6 1/2" woofer specs. I can give you the board diamesions for both enclosures also. Lemme work with that a little and I'll post it later today.


Ryan
 
Ok for the subwoofer optimum diamensions acording to winISD would be 19.5" wide x 30" tall x 12.5" deep external diamensions. I would make the box from 3/4" MDF (if you change the thickness of the wood you will have to change the size of the boards)

The front and rear baffles are going to be 19.5" wide and 30" tall.

The left and right sides are going to be 11" wide and 30" tall.

The top bottom and middle brace would be. 11" by 18".

Heres a quick diagram on how the box would go together (click on it to see full size).

enclosure.jpg


Heres how I construct the box. The front and back are completly outset (no board overlaps their edges). The top, bottom, and brace are completly inset (their edges dont show). And the sides are inset with regard to the front and back out out set with regard to the top and bottom. The brace will need to have holes cut in it for air flow. Just make sure to make a few good sized holes. Maybe 4" diameter and 4 holes like in the picture. You may need to notch out some of the bracing by the front baffle so the drivers basket and magnet will fit. Just test fit the driver and port before you glue the box :D.



Now for the main speakers. Again use 3/4" MDF. winISD says a .23 Cu ft box will give you a Qtc or .76 (F3 of 72 Hz). That is a good mix between extension and impact. The boxes external diamensions would be. 9" wide by 13.5" high by 6" deep.

the front and back baffle would be 9" wide by 13.5" high

The left and right sides would be 4.5" wide by 13.5" high

The top and bottom (no brace needed in my opinion) would be 4.5" by 7.5".

They would be put together the same as the subwoofer enclosure except without the brace.


If you have any more questions just let me know!
 
thanks alot for ur all ur help Ryan. i cant wait to get all my speaker drivers and stuff all ordered so i can get to installing them and using them for my movies.
 
i made the order for 2 of the bookshelves.. i need to save up another $100 before i can order the subwoofer, plate amp, and the flared port. but ill be getting all the parts for the bookshelf speakers in the next week or so. I can't wait!!!
 
i think MDF is much prefered. it is denser and much more rigid. i have no experience in the speaker building field, though.
 
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