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A place to discuss member's DIY audio projects & post pictures/schematics. NOTE: There is a limit of 2MB per attachment, and a maximum of 3 attachments per message. If you need to post more than 3 attachments, just add another message.
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Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 10:01 am

I think having an easy to drive and efficient speaker design (SET friendly or at least tolerable) is important. A significant percentage of the group uses low power amps although I know some do not. So something that most everyone in the club could potentially use would help.

For me, While I respect the work and creativity of well constructed DIY speakers (like Toms eggs), I think most people at a CAF show will see them and think "there is really no way that I have the time, skill set or knowledge to build these". Build up some open baffles or tuned 1/4 wave pipes or even an Onken style horn and people will be impressed with the sound and might even consider trying it IMHO. It was fun playing around with PVC piping speakers when folks were doing that years back. My wife's office waiting room has a set of 3.5' tall painted black PVC pipe speakers with 3" driver sitting and a plexiglass "lens" in the corners being driven by a Peachtree integrated amp. They sound surprising musical and take up virtually no space.

Something like this would be cool (skip the paint and leave the PVC tubing unpainted), It would not be too hard to add another lower level for a larger bass driver:

http://projectgallery.parts-express.com ... c-extreme/


Or even more fun:

https://makezine.com/projects/make-31/s ... -speakers/
Last edited by TubeDriver on October 15th, 2018, 12:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 10:35 am

2 cents worth of my philosophy. To reach beginners who have not been involved in DIY you hit the nail on the head regarding a simple project. That is probably a large potential market of new DIYers but getting them actually involved is not a simple thing with today's instant gratification at the push of a button philosophy. One of the problems with simple exotic designs is they usually winding up sounding worse than a $300 per pair bookshelf speaker set you can buy in any big box store. The real advantage comes with a project that sounds at least as good as the big box offering but with your personal flair. The easiest way to do that is a speaker kit that can be finished to your liking. After they are hooked then on to more sophisticated designs.

Another area of benefit for our group would be to stimulate the already hooked to grow and excel. That is where our combined expertise can really make a difference. Take the eggs. Yes, the woodworking was very involved but the basic design was very simple. It is basically a three way with woofer, mid and tweeter using a 12 dB/ octave LR passive crossover. How much more plebeian can you get. It pays to stretch your capabilities but in gradual steps. However, the goals should be high. BTW, there is a man in IL who is in the process of building a set of eggs based on the article in audioXpress, so there are those out there who want a challenge. We have lots of expertise in a wide range of subjects and we should concentrate on that as well. As a group we can really make a difference with those people.

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 10:53 am

The PVC pipe speakers are too trivial for us. If we want to consider pipes, maybe Linkwitz’s LXMini

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/LXmini/Introduction.htm

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 11:07 am

If we are to do one of the Linkwitz Lab designs we should probably build the LX521 - Reference Loudspeaker.

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 11:17 am

If we want to get new/younger people into DIY, we need to do a project that has four things:

  • Easy
  • Cheap
  • Great Sound
  • Works in any room

The first three are fairly easy, the last one is a bit more difficult. Speakers that need to be in the middle of the room are a huge turnoff for a lot of people. If we could design an easy to build, cheap, great sounding speaker that worked ON the wall, preferably no more than about 4" deep, we'd be on to something... We need a great sounding picture frame ;)

Roscoe

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 11:57 am

Roscoe Primrose wrote:If we want to get new/younger people into DIY, we need to do a project that has four things:


Interesting suggestion. If our goal is to bring younger draw younger people into DIY, the best option would be to display pre-fabricated kits from the likes of PartsExpress. They are easy, cheap, grate sounding and work in many rooms. I suggested to my nephew a PartsExpress DIY sub. He was happy with it for a few years before upgrading.

OTOH, if we are trying to build things for our own experience and learning, "works in any room" should be off the list, because that precludes all OBs, rear/side firing woofers and rear-ported systems.

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 12:46 pm

A suggestion... don't assume to speak for others here. If you feel that PVC speakers are too trivial, say that for yourself but but don't assume that "us" agrees. The speaker you posted is also a PVC pipe speaker? The real point is that there are a tons of DIY PVC pipe speaker designs out there, some are incredibly basic and some are more sophisticated but all are relatively easy to build and fairly inexpensive.

Cogito wrote:The PVC pipe speakers are too trivial for us. If we want to consider pipes, maybe Linkwitz’s LXMini

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/LXmini/Introduction.htm

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 12:46 pm

Roscoe Primrose wrote: If we could design an easy to build, cheap, great sounding speaker that worked ON the wall, preferably no more than about 4" deep, we'd be on to something... We need a great sounding picture frame ;)

Roscoe

See the following:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-range/225622-building-cornu-spiral-horn.html

The foam core expert appears to be xrk971 who apparently lives in the DC area. Does anybody know him?

ray

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 12:51 pm

I've looked at the spiral horns. They're slim, but not small... They may have potential, but they're probably more difficult to assemble than a more conventional design. May be the only choice for a slim on-wall if you want to keep them SET friendly.

Roscoe

Re: GROUP POLL

October 15th, 2018, 1:38 pm

Spiral horns would be an interesting project.

I wonder how they sound in a room since only the reflections reach the listener.
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