CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

I'm using this crossover design:

http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/indexn.cfm?project=Impresario

I assembled one side last night to check that I'm understanding everything correctly. It worked, sounded really well next to my Yamaha satellite speakers (not saying it takes much for improvement there). So far so good!

Thanks,
Joel

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

Okay, I assembled and soldered the crossovers last nite. Have both sets of speakers sitting on the shelf without the enclosures. So far so good. I have an older Bose 201 I'm using as a center channel, the Dayton drivers with no enclosure has better sound. I put Cars in the PS3, the Dayton drivers have a much cleaner, more detailed, and lifelike sound compared to the Bose.

I have been a Bose fan for years, now I understand why people call them "Blose".

I'm hoping to finish up the enclosures this weekend, and I'll update then.

jask · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 10187 Location: kamloops BC

looking forward to some pictures.

rabies_70 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:33 am Post subject:

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

Jask - My external hardrive is at hardrive911 for data recovery. It ended up on the tile floor while we were away for a weekend. I suspect the cat, but she's not talking. I took some new pictures this morning, will see if I can get them uploaded over the weekend.

Ray - that woofer looks interesting. Can you explain how the infinite baffle works? I glanced through the description, but didn't "read" it, the woofers are in the ceiling or floor? This sounds perfect for my setup.

Peace,
Joel

jask · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 10187 Location: kamloops BC

Joel, Ray will be able to give you more specifics but the best resource for IB subs on the web is "the cult of the infinitely baffled" here:
http://ibsubwoofers.proboards51.com/index.cgi

rabies_70 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject:

That's ^ what I was going to say-except the part about me having more specifics. I barely have a working grasp of this entire home theater thing myself. Join the cult forum and start reading. My setup goes down to around 12-15 Hz at 85dB, which translates into the concussion from explosions resonating inside you as the ground around you shakes, all distortion free crystal clear realistic bass.

Very very simply the IB separates the rear wave from the front wave and moves large volumes of air to recreate the sonic and sub sonic frequencies. It does this with multiple drivers and usually pro amps. Even when things are going nuts in the sound track the drivers appear most times to be barely moving.

That guy Thomas over on the cults site (and most of the other folks over there) really know what they're talking about. I hope I will never have to be without my IB sub. Once you hear an IB setup I personally do not think you can forget it. They have a bit of a learning curve and require some hands on DIY (no problem for us, right?). I have mine in an Outtie box with the 4 drivers facing in the room, but you can very easily use a manifold assembly and have a hole that enters your room that is no bigger than an air return grate from your heating system. My advice is to go for it. I have never regretted one moment of the time or money spent. And the first time peoples jaws hit the ground when something blows up and they look around all crazy like Twisted Evil

yup. So worth it.

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

I'm thinking about completely redesigning my theater now.

Thanks guys. Laughing

Peace,
Joel

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:44 pm Post subject:

rabies_70 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:52 pm Post subject:

One of the things the scientist type guys over there say is that if done correctly they are extremely efficient. I don't think my amp ( a Mackie FR1400i) even really notices when there's a movie on. Done incorrectly, as with most things, that's a different story. Then there's the room EQ, room treatments, Room EQ wizard, The Behringer Feedback Destroyer (for the parabolic EQ, not feedback). I usually only ever see 1or 2 green lights dancing on the front of the amp - even when the ground is shaking Shocked

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:00 pm Post subject:

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

Here are some pics. The first one is a mock-up of the speaker layout so I could get a feel for changing the layout to a TMWW. The second is a general view of the wall with the screen down.

I've started building the enclosures. I've decided to build the two subs into one enclosure with the mid and tweeter in a seperate enclosure. I'm building the enclosures out of 6/4 solid cherry, they're looking sweet. I'll post more pics when I get the first enclosure finished.

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

Picture of first completed speaker.

greg_mitch · Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 5320

That looks great. Did you build or buy the cabinet?

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

Thanks. I built the cabinet out of 6/4 solid cherry that I had left over from building my kitchen counter tops.

I've been concerned that my design method would destroy the sound. There was a huge evolution from my initial intent and the final product. I wanted to build the speakers into the book cases (you can see the carcass in the background). My Bride didn't like the idea, and once I got the speaker parts, I couldn't get them to lay-out the way I wanted so I decided to build floor towers. The problem is that to the left of the speaker in the picture is the hall to the guest room and bathroom, so the floor standing tower would be in the flow of traffic. So, I decided to build book-shelf speakers. You can see in the background a piece of MDF with the tweeter and mid. I experimented without different WTMW arrangements and decided on making the left and right fronts modular components of TM and WW. I'm very pleased with the way the two WW's sound in the enclosure. I think the trick in my modular design is getting the faces of all four drivers in the exact same plane. But, I'm not that much of an audiophile, I like the way they look and am extremely happy with the sound so far. Now I just need a good surround processor.

paw · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1176 Location: Arvada, CO

Good looking woodwork!!

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:51 am Post subject:

Wow those are some nice looking speakers! What color is the wood stain?

tri_joel · Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 646 Location: Northern Virginia

Thanks Paw and AR.

The wood stain is custom made.

When I was working on an historic home in Washington DC, I brought home a bunch of heart pine planks from the floor. The house was originaly built by Washington Bowie (of Bowie knife fame), he was married to George Washington's God-Daughter. The heart pine has been documented to be from Mount Vernon (George Washington's home and farm). Anyway, I am building a table from this wood for my Bride's Christmas present, I haven't been able to get back to speaker building.

I also picked up a set of Avid speakers. The 12" woofer is blown in both (one was taped back together with packing tape, I didn't waste my time to see if this repair method worked.) I'm thinking about using the tweeters and mids to build my center channel speaker, assuming they are in better condition than the woofers.