DIY Center Channel

[JShe]

Hello, I'm completely new to this forum. I have been off work lately and would like to build some speakers for my "other" home theater system. Go to *** to skip my introduction

In the house I have a 60" Samsung LED 3D, Samsung 3D Blu-ray player, Samsung HW-D600 5.1 receiver, 2 Klipsch F3's, a C2, 2 S-30's, and a SW450.

Now back to the "other" system, which will be located in my shed. But this shed is basically a backyard living room. 12'x16' insulated, heated and A/C, microwave, and of course a beer fridge. When I built it, I wired it for a 5.1 system.

In the shed, as of now, I have a 40" Samsung LCD, an Onkyo HT-RC160 7.2 receiver, an Onkyo SKW-770 powered sub, and a PS3. I recently sold my Onkyo speakers to fund the start of a speaker building project.

***I'm gonna start with a center channel. I've been looking on Parts Express and have found something that I'd like to try but would like to run it past people who know much much more than I do about speakers. Here's my shopping cart for a center channel;

5" Concave Paper Cone Woofer Speaker 2 Ohm 299-289
Dayton Audio DC28F-8 1-1/8" Silk Dome Tweeter 275-070
Dayton Audio XO2W-3.5K 2-Way Crossover 3,500 Hz 260-146

With this I'd like to run 4 2ohm woofers in series, and place a dome tweeter in the middle while using a prebuilt 2 way crossover. Will this crossover do the trick and will the wiring in series affect it. Also, just curious to hear opinions of this as a center channel project.

Thanks for reading!

 

[adwilk]

Sounds like a fun project. Unfortunately, I don't think you're off to the best start. A pre-made xover is a bad idea IMO and a poor way to build what you think is going to be an easy project. Much better to do the proper research on enclosure design and xover layout. I'd recommend starting with a "kit" that has most of the design part done for you and begin researching loudspeaker design. The unit you're planning to build certainly will make noise, but it won't be a hi-fi loudspeaker.

 

[JShe]

You're right, I do need to research more! I was hoping to find a project that would keep me busy and keep the wheels spinning while I am off. I am very obsessive and when I find something I want to do I usually jump in face first. My background as far as hobbies go is R/C cars and (full size) Electric Vehicles. I have always been interested in audio though. As a kid I went through the car audio phase that many go through. Blowing my money on the latest and greatest.

Without blowing my money now, I'd like to get started on cabinet(s). Last week I built a subwoofer box/cabinet for my living room. My receiver has a subwoofer channel and all I had was powered subs. I bought a $23 12" 8 ohm pyramid to put in it. I found some specs on a sealed box and somewhat guessed on that but surprisingly it sounds great.

So, if I could find some plans on the cabinets alone for a tower or center channel, I would start tomorrow afternoon. Until then, I will keep looking and learning.

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Josh Sheley's 1993 Eagle Summit

 

[templemaners]

DIY center channel plan in general? Sounds good.

The DIY center channel plan you listed above? Pretty much the opposite of good.

Picking out a few drivers and an off the shelf crossover is a good way to waste some money. You would be infinitely better off building an existing design and going that route.

There is a collection of different DIY builds (mains and center channels) here:

HTGuide Forum - A Guide to HTguide.com Completed Speaker Designs.

as well as here:

Speaker Design Works

One of the more expert users on the forum has had a lot of success using a modified version of this kit with a 2nd coaxial driver that has the tweeter disabled. Search the forum for username TLS Guy for more info.

 

[JShe]

Thank you templemaners. Those are some very interesting links and they make me realize as you and adwilk have touched on, I either need to do more research or take a proven design and go with that. I appreciate the posts!