KCHT Enthusiasts

[chirpie]

The title says it all. I'm gonna take a stab at this one and report my progress as it goes... and of course, finally listening impressions.

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8644

The tweeter was already on back order when I ordered the kit, so it'll be another 2 weeks before I get the actual drivers. But that doesn't mean I can't start on the enclosures in the meantime.

[Shawn_Byrne]

Ahhhhhhhhh, Madison, my hometown! Good luck Chirpie....I sent you a PM.
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[chirpie]

I've been working away with these and so here's the progress pictures...


The raw mdf has been cut. 3/4 inch for all sides except for the front baffle, which is 1 inch thick. The pieces with all the holes in them are the braces.




It wasn't in the budget to buy a circle router jig and more specifically I would need to buy a plunge router to use with it, since my router is a fixed one. Another upgrade for the future I guess. So in their sted, we have hole saws for the drill. They actually worked out quite well. MDF cuts so easily, even this cheap set made short work of it.




Clamping. Lots of clamping. I didn't hav a ton of clamps so I had to do one side at a time. Which was lame since you have to wait a day between each clamp due to glue curing time. Titebond II was the glue of choice for anyone who cares.




Scanspeak revelator 15W mid-woofers.




Assembled crossovers! Clarity Caps comprises the beefiest elements on here. Credit of this system goes to their designer, Jed, over at clearwave loudspeaker.




Most of the enclosure assembled. Foam installed. If I build another pair in the future, I might put the sides on last. More area to get to stuff that way.




Thanks to my wife's trusty gardening scissors, and some Amazing Goop Glue (yes, that's the proper name of the product). The stuff smelled like model glue, which made me kind of nostalgic.




Here's the back of the front baffle, the midwoofer hole gets chamfered on the inside to allow the backwave of the driver to breath. I should've scalloped the sucker in various spots instead to allow more wood for the screws to hold onto, but it'll be fine.



You'll notice that the top tweeter hole (closest to the camera) is offset. That's intentional. The crossover was designed with this in mind,and along with the roundover edges, will create less unwanted diffraction of soundwaves coming off the baffle from the tweeter. I cut the original size of the holes into the baffle with the hole saws, then came back with a 1/2" rabbet router bit to create the sunken lip around for the speaker drivers to mount flush to. 1/2 round over for the edge. I sunk it slightly to get the extra square edge all around. We'll see how well it shows up after finishing.




Connect tabs and some soddering for good measure keeps the wires in place on the crossover boards.





I elected to go for velcro to hold the crossovers agains the back wall of the speaker. Just incase anything goes wrong, I can take the front mid-woofer off and still pull the crossover through the hole.





Velcro on the back of the crossover. (Duh.)





Rough assembly for testing. I didn't put the speaker binding posts on the back of the speaker yet. I'm trying to decide what kind of plate I want to buy. That's why I improvised and for testing ran the cables out the ports instead. ^_^ Next steps will be to finish the front baffles and put the wood wrapped veneer on the sides, then come up with a finish that'll give it a nice glossy appearance. So I guess the million dollar question is, how do they sound? I honestly think they sound better than my setup in the theater room downstairs. Seriously, these midrange drivers are really good. If you love precussion and female vocals, these drivers nail it. The bass won't go as low as the monster sub downstairs, but these little drivers will go down to 33hz in this front ported design, which is headscratching. You listen to some songs, and these little speakers just sound huge. Now I just need to save up some scratch to get some GOOD veneer. ^_^

[ND23]

Wow! Nice work!

Proof that you can never have too many clamps! (and I own none...)

Total estimated cost in materials, not counting the investment in the hole saw set?

And if DIY speakers for a theater were going to be hidden behind a false wall, projection screen, and/or columns, it would not be necessary to finish them any further, correct?

[ND23]

Good thing you got your kit when you did. It is now sold out.

[chirpie]

[chirpie]

[chirpie]

Better late than never?

I finally got around to finishing these. Seemed like there was always something else that needed to be done.

I lost some photos showing me putting the veneer on to a hard drive crash. But here's the follow up. Finished them on Sunday.




Here's the break down on the finish...

Sandpaper -
320
600
1000
2000

Powders -
Fine Pumace Stone
Rotten Stone

What you see in front of you is the rotten stone.

It's like spreading around slip for all you people who ever used clay.














Brushed plates rock.



My arm hurts looking at this photo. Good workout though




Added some polish. Done. Some cable management is needed. I'll get to that someday...


THINGS I'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME:

1. - Construct the baffle separately! Man, what was I thinking? It's just a little extra work to add some brace corners and a hurricane bolt or something to sink a screw into as opposed to trying to finish two separate surfaces without screwing it up.

2. - Don't skip the using clear wood grain filler step! I had to slap on literally 20 coats of lacquer per side because the lacquer kept soaking into the grain and the grain pattern would show up through the lacquer.

3. - Flush route the port. That'd look a lot slicker.

This was my first stab at veneering. Just like the beginning of this build, man I learned a lot. I really want to try it again because there are mistakes and I know I can do better next time, but I'm running out of excuses on why we'd need another pair of speakers...

Once again, great job Jed (The original designer.) As we say in my house, your kung-fu is best.

[ND23]

Wow! Those look great! Nice job! Sounds like it was quite a lot of work!

[73shark]

I concur. Lot of work but it seems to have paid off. Very nice.

Looked but couldn't find how you finished the front of the speakers.
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[chirpie]

[73shark]

Beautiful work.

Should be a furniture maker.
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In space, no one can hear you scream . . .