Homemade Portable Bluetooth Speaker

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BelacYekcor

Audiophyte
Hi I have a question for all you wonderful audiophiles. I'm thinking of building myself a portable bluetooth speaker with two dayton audio PC83-8 full range drivers, driven by a class D 50w per channel amp, and a cabinet Built out of exotic Hardwoods. Now the question Is less about building it and more on the lines of if I built it do you think there's a market for selling it? I would probably Have to sell it for around $385, would you buy something like this? Or do you know someone Who would? Anyway here's an attached photo of my preliminary Blueprints.
Speaker.png
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Generally speaker cabinets are not made from actual wood as it's just not a good speaker cabinet material....mdf and ply are common materials, and if you want a nice wood grain finish then a veneer perhaps. I wouldn't buy someone else's diy stuff in any case....I'd just do my own.....and diy stuff generally is harder to sell.....people like branded products :).
 
B

BelacYekcor

Audiophyte
Generally speaker cabinets are not made from actual wood as it's just not a good speaker cabinet material....mdf and ply are common materials, and if you want a nice wood grain finish then a veneer perhaps. I wouldn't buy someone else's diy stuff in any case....I'd just do my own.....and diy stuff generally is harder to sell.....people like branded products :).
Thanks for the reply, what's your reasoning for speaker Cabinets not being made of hardwoods? I thought it was just to be more cost effective, but I could be wrong. If you know a little more about how the cabinet material effects acoustics I would be interested in learning more.
 
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BelacYekcor

Audiophyte
So the speaker they were talking about in the thread was a pretty big speaker, and they were talking about wood movement Being the biggest problem. On something Smaller like what I'm working do you still think it would be a big issue? Dimensions Being (9"L × 5"H × 5"D) I'd really Like to make it out of the hardwood, but if it is really gonna be a big issue I'm willing To compromise with ply.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
No experience personally, maybe someone else can comment. How did you determine the necessary dimensions for the drivers you want to use, tho? Why build a bluetooth speaker at all?
 
B

BelacYekcor

Audiophyte
The dimensions of the Cabinet In the current Iteration Is based off of just making Sure all the components fit. But once I get further In the prototyping faze I plan on running the numbers through a speaker cabinet sizing software to get the final dimensions. The reason for building a bluetooth speaker is that I love woodworking, and I love audio and hi quality Sound. So instead of buying something like the JBL Xtreme 3 I thought I'd use both my passions to build something Comparable. Like I said I'm still in the prototyping faze of this project, and I haven't bought any of the components yet, which is why I started this thread, to bounce ideas off of someone a little more knowledgeable then I am.
 
M

MrBoat

Audioholic Ninja
If you build things to sell from solid wood, for starters, you have to consider shipping, and the often wild humidity/temperature changes just on that trip alone. If you are in a low humidity area like say, Colorado, and you sell a wood product to someone in Florida, in just a couple days, it's going to experience some extreme, and relatively abrupt changes. This means you would have to perhaps, vacuum stabilize the wood with a special penetrating (and waterproof) sealer, and now it's no longer cheaper.

I've been offered twice, what I have into my Fusion-12 Tempest speakers, but the would-be buyer knows me personally and knows my work now for almost 30 years. Very few other people would have that kind of informational trust. Twice what I paid to build them would basically have me breaking even, once I consider my time/labor.

One thing most people tend to underestimate with DIY endeavors, is the finish process. It's the most laborious, and perhaps, skill/specialist reliant part of the build, if you are after professional results. Especially if you offer more than one finish option.
 
B

BelacYekcor

Audiophyte
If you build things to sell from solid wood, for starters, you have to consider shipping, and the often wild humidity/temperature changes just on that trip alone. If you are in a low humidity area like say, Colorado, and you sell a wood product to someone in Florida, in just a couple days, it's going to experience some extreme, and relatively abrupt changes. This means you would have to perhaps, vacuum stabilize the wood with a special penetrating (and waterproof) sealer, and now it's no longer cheaper.

I've been offered twice, what I have into my Fusion-12 Tempest speakers, but the would-be buyer knows me personally and knows my work now for almost 30 years. Very few other people would have that kind of informational trust. Twice what I paid to build them would basically have me breaking even, once I consider my time/labor.

One thing most people tend to underestimate with DIY endeavors, is the finish process. It's the most laborious, and perhaps, skill/specialist reliant part of the build, if you are after professional results. Especially if you offer more than one finish option.
Thanks for the info, I've had a little more time to think and research it, and I'm Thinking what I'll do is cut the hardwood down 1/4" thick and glue that to a 1/2" plywood Backer. That way it still has the look and feel of hardwood, but also the rigidity of the ply. Thoughts and suggestions on this idea would be greatly appreciated.
 
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BelacYekcor

Audiophyte
So updated on the design side, I'm going with 1/4" thick hardwood glued to 1/2" thick plywood backer. I'm thinking this will be a good compromise. Also I'm not sure if the cabinet Is big enough for the speakers. According to the parts-express bass box pro 6 rating, the sealed cabinet volume should be 0.09ft3 for one driver. If I have two drivers In the cabinet Do I have to double the volume?
Suggestions and constructive criticism is welcome.
1614979252688_Speaker.png
Speaker 2.png
 
M

MrBoat

Audioholic Ninja
So updated on the design side, I'm going with 1/4" thick hardwood glued to 1/2" thick plywood backer. I'm thinking this will be a good compromise.
Now you have different substrates that move at different rates. It's doable, I suppose, but special adhesives etc., are to be considered. That and species that tend to be more dimensionally stable than others too, perhaps. You end up better off just using thinner veneer, since that is what you have is veneer anyway, albeit thicker than usual. Even the thinnest, non-backed veneer calls for special adhesives and presses.

Here I used a very thin, non-backed veneer, and I applied it over MDF with thickened (by me, with fumed silica) epoxy. I live in an environment that has some pretty wild humidity swings at different times of the year. Otherwise, I would have had to use a special veneer adhesive. The substrate was epoxy saturated as well so it is now encapsulated in epoxy, after I primed the cabinets with the same epoxy used throughout.


Upon further thought, with what you have shown, you would be well ahead if you just bought plywood that already has the veneer of your choice applied to it. Then all you need be concerned with is some prep, and topcoats.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Yes, generally you'd double the volume for a second driver.
 
B

BelacYekcor

Audiophyte
Now you have different substrates that move at different rates. It's doable, I suppose, but special adhesives etc., are to be considered. That and species that tend to be more dimensionally stable than others too, perhaps. You end up better off just using thinner veneer, since that is what you have is veneer anyway, albeit thicker than usual. Even the thinnest, non-backed veneer calls for special adhesives and presses.

Here I used a very thin, non-backed veneer, and I applied it over MDF with thickened (by me, with fumed silica) epoxy. I live in an environment that has some pretty wild humidity swings at different times of the year. Otherwise, I would have had to use a special veneer adhesive. The substrate was epoxy saturated as well so it is now encapsulated in epoxy, after I primed the cabinets with the same epoxy used throughout.


Upon further thought, with what you have shown, you would be well ahead if you just bought plywood that already has the veneer of your choice applied to it. Then all you need be concerned with is some prep, and topcoats.
This may end up being a one off project for me, so I may try it, for the sake of expirementation, and if it ends up being stable, then I'll think about selling it. The reason I don't really want to go with a premade ply is because I've got some specific woods I'd like to use. I think these types should be pretty stable, because they're pretty dense woods. Here's some pictures of the woods I would like to use. One is quilted maple, and the other one is Tzalam.
IMG_20210303_120314_628.jpg
IMG_20210303_120314_651.jpg
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Nice pieces of wood....just not sure why it relates to speaker builds but then I find little use for a bluetooth speaker :)
 
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BelacYekcor

Audiophyte
Yes, generally you'd double the volume for a second driver.
Now the question I have is can I get away with a smaller cabinet for something this size and not compromise on sound to badly?

I'd like to keep the the overall Product as small as possible, so as to make it relatively portable.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Now the question I have is can I get away with a smaller cabinet for something this size and not compromise on sound to badly?

I'd like to keep the the overall Product as small as possible, so as to make it relatively portable.
The size of the enclosure is tied to the driver/volume needs. Aesthetics are a different subject, and can complicate combining the subjects :)
 

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