Dayton Audio BR-1 Mod

[Swerd]

Alex - Nice photos. Take more while you're making the boards.

From your measurements, it looks like you can fit a 5"×8½" board in there. Test that with a piece of paper or cardboard.

Attached are some drawings of possible layouts for the woofer and tweeter circuits. You can put both circuits on one board even though I drew them separate. I also didn't draw them to scale, so try a layout with all the parts on a 5×8½ piece of paper once you get them. The strange looking blue things are supposed to be cable ties which I prefer to glue. I left out a few cable ties on the woofer layout.

Once you have boards cut and a planned layout that fits, drill holes for the leads and cable ties. When you twist the wires together under the board, they will help hold things in place better.

The only important thing is to keep the inductor coils separated and place them so their wire windings are not parallel to each other.

I recommend reading this guide on how to go about laying out a crossover board from a schematic diagram:
http://www.parts-express.com/resources/building-a-crossover.cfm

Good luck!

 

[Swerd]

One last tip just came to mind. Get some red nail polish. If you don't have that color, ask your girl friend .

Mark the + terminals on the back of the woofer and tweeter, and on the inside of the terminal cup with a big red dot.

These will be among the last things you connect, and I can't tell you how many people (one of whom is typing right now ) screw it up.

 

[Alex2507]

Incredibly enough she does not use nail polish. I think I am going to assemble the stock BR-1 x-overs and order the parts for an entire Murphy crossover assembly. I have some measurement toys now that I want to learn to use in a comparrison. It never ends does it?

 

[Swerd]

Incredibly enough she does not use nail polish. I think I am going to assemble the stock BR-1 x-overs and order the parts for an entire Murphy crossover assembly. I have some measurement toys now that I want to learn to use in a comparrison. It never ends does it?

That might be fun.

Be sure to save the layouts I attached to my other recent post.

If you have any questions, I'm always glad to try and answer.

 

[Alex2507]

Be sure to save the layouts I attached to my other recent post.

If you have any questions, I'm always glad to try and answer.

I'm going to stop saying that I appreciate the help and encouragement for fear of sounding like a broken record. Here's where it's at now.

There's a Tangent Tutorial site
http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/
that talks about soldering and they recommend the local electronics shop for stuff. That's a great tip. My Helping hands came from there and they have a glass magnifying glass. The iron was $22. I got a couple of extra tips and I generally like the guy who owns it. Ordering stuff on the computer is easy I guess but I can't stand typing.

 

[Swerd]

That soldering tutorial is good. I'll save that link.

I saw your helping hands stand in one of your photos. They really make soldering easier when you have to hold the board, wires, hot iron, and solder. I'm jealous - I need one of those. Your iron looks good too. I use a cheap $10 iron.

 

[Alex2507]

These helping hands are really nice. The glass is heavy enough to offset the weight of the components but it really does want a custom base. PE has them for cheap but if it's a plastic magnifying glass I would skip it. This one was only $6.

The automatic stripper is mandatory.

Two temp. hot glue gun used on low setting.

They tell you to solder or the connector blades to the board at the bottom of the pic. For demo purposes I placed the paint stir sticks in under the inductor to show what I used for a spacer until the glue set at a couple of points.

The board:

The back:

How I hold solder:

Since it's my first time in over 25 years I made an effort to use the iron and hold the solder with each hand so that I will be ambidextrous with this. Once you learn with one hand only, it's too late.

Since I am not working I must do the grocery shopping or my g/f will kill me. I tried to show her how Swerd had helped and she told me to see if there was a guy on here that would tell me how to paint our bathroom.

 

[lsiberian]

I am with Swerd. You have nice soldering tools. First down a speaker next thing will be a new amp.

 

[Swerd]

…The automatic stripper is mandatory.

Is the automatic lap dance also mandatory?

 

[Rickster71]

Hey Alex, looks good.

The table looks hand made, is that some of your work? Nice.

 

[Alex2507]

Like I said, the iron w/ variable temp was only $22. That's like 2 beers in a strip joint if you tip. Some lap dances with those 2 beers is the price of the speakers for Pete's sake.

I found some spacers to glue up under the board for feet and soldered up the wires at all ends. I'll probably solder the connectors to the speakers too.

Edit:
Rick,

I stripped a nasty brown stain off of this table and had a friend with an HVLP spray a floor grade polyurethane on it. I sanded in between coats. The thing is bullet proof. No coasters required and you can throw your keys at it. It's solid maple and I picked it up at a flea market for $40. The big table came with the girl.

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Looking good Alex!

I have been too lazy to DIY...

Someday I'll build something just for the heck of it.

 

[Alex2507]

Looking good Alex!

I have been too lazy to DIY...

Someday I'll build something just for the heck of it.

I would rather win thousands and thousands of dollars worth of speakers.
This really is an obsession, a passion ... fine, a disease. They say that the first step is admitting that you have a problem. I woke up after two hours sleep thinking about what I want to do to the cabinets.

That ain't right.

(goes back to cutting Ice & Water Shield)

 

[jamie2112]

I would rather win thousands and thousands of dollars worth of speakers.
This really is an obsession, a passion ... fine, a disease. They say that the first step is admitting that you have a problem. I woke up after two hours sleep thinking about what I want to do to the cabinets.

That ain't right.

(goes back to cutting Ice & Water Shield)

Sweet buddy I see...........Nighty night for me buddy...

 

[lsiberian]

I would rather win thousands and thousands of dollars worth of speakers.
This really is an obsession, a passion ... fine, a disease. They say that the first step is admitting that you have a problem. I woke up after two hours sleep thinking about what I want to do to the cabinets.

That ain't right.

(goes back to cutting Ice & Water Shield)

Alex your on your way to being an engineer. The first step is thinking about designs when you sleep, eat, hang out with the GF. Watch TV. Even when you listen to an existing one. This isn't a bad thing it's a sign that your becoming a man. This type of thinking is how we solve real problems. I suggest an engineering notebook. It's a very nice book for documenting projects and when properly signed it's actually a legal document.

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.ACCT107430/sc.23/category.104/.f

I suggest you have 2. One for your lab or workshop and one for your car.

They are a great way to keep track of time, designs decisions. etc. After we get you in deep enough well have to pick out a school and then watch you suffer through it.

 

[Rickster71]

Rick,

I stripped a nasty brown stain off of this table and had a friend with an HVLP spray a floor grade polyurethane on it. I sanded in between coats. The thing is bullet proof. No coasters required and you can throw your keys at it. It's solid maple and I picked it up at a flea market for $40. The big table came with the girl.

That table looks real good.

 

[Alex2507]

That table looks real good.

If you knew what it took to get it to look like that you would think me a fool. The legs are turned so I put them on a lathe to remove the finish. The support valance has a profile routed into it that I re cut to get it to bare maple. I don't know. I guess I had the time and made a friend in the process of doing that. It was my obsession at the time like this little speaker thing is now.

I just got through lining the boxes with Ice & Water Shield with two layers but only one in the corners in between them with some overlap. What a pain. I glued and caulked a horizontal brace in between the drivers and am ready to cut up and install the foam. These little suckers better sound like a dream for all this work. This is my first time and all but this eats up some time. The real deal is what these will sound like with the Murphy crossovers though.

I know that Peal & Seal is the preferred product but I have this I & W Shield. I am contemplating adding bracing to the outside of the cabinet but really want to get a handle on REW before freaking out and turning this into a Frankenstein project.

Another thing I am doing is caulking in this cleat that is behind the front baffle. The knock test produces a rattle on both boxes. Is that resonance? I know that you can only get a certain return for any given buck but I just need to feel like my efforts are not the weak link.

 

[Alex2507]

You could use particle board in place of the concrete.

Why would you? Would it improve the results?

I think I screwed up the positioning of the small inductor according to that link provided by Swerd. Great, I would hate to get it right on the first try.

To glue the foam in place I used USG Acoustic Sealant applied in a heavy thatch pattern for the back piece. I have a few huge tubes and am thinking of applying it in a 1/4" thickness to the box sides. It would be nice to use the stuff up. I've been hanging on to it for years now.

 

[Alex2507]

I think I screwed up the positioning of the small inductor according to that link provided by Swerd.

I got the inductor placement to meet option #6. The only other option listed as 'good' requires 20 cm which I don't have. Now I understand at least part of the reason Swerd recommends plastic ties over hot glue. I wonder if there are other considerations. Almost a full tube of the USG Acoustical Sealant went into each box. That coupled with the I & W Shield is adding some nice weight to the box and it dropped the frequency of the knuckle rap test.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I don't even know what is going on here....