First time DIY XO build, random questions

lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Sad trombone moment.
Wa-wahhhh

In trying to get the tweeter board installed, one screw broke clean into the cabinet, and in the process, I cracked a resistor.

:(


What’s one more delay?! :)

Time to go see about ordering that part, and clearly finding better screws!!!

I’ll be back next week to report: holding pattern until the parts arrive.

Cheers!


Sent from a handheld device using a silly little app.
You drilling screws without a pilot hole or somethin?
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
You drilling screws without a pilot hole or somethin?
I'm just that strong. :p

smdh

There is no way to get a drill in there. I think the screw was a one in a million shot... It got tight for not even a quarter turn... and then... strangely loose. :rolleyes:
*shrugs

I think its time for another Sazerac. :)
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I'm just that strong. :p

smdh

There is no way to get a drill in there. I think the screw was a one in a million shot... It got tight for not even a quarter turn... and then... strangely loose. :rolleyes:
*shrugs

I think its time for another Sazerac. :)
LOL think when I put my BR-1 together I had the same issue of the drill not fitting and ended up using too much glue....which backfired later when I went to swap the xover I bought from Dennis :)
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
LOL think when I put my BR-1 together I had the same issue of the drill not fitting and ended up using too much glue....which backfired later when I went to swap the xover I bought from Dennis :)
yeah... I'm doing a lot of things I don't need to do. The Molex is a great example, and though it makes installation easy, it's really about the ease with which I can remove these components and shove them in a different box. So... glue? not so much. :D
Besides, there was a good amount of glue that I cleaned out from the first XO, I don’t wanna have to do that again!
 
M

MrBoat

Audioholic Ninja
Some notes about popular kits and conversions. If the conversion or kit is popular enough, chances are that someone will have made a PCB for it. Such is the case with the popular C-note kit from PE. I found PCBs for the crossover network on ebay. I typically just build the crossover on a plain piece of MDF but it's one of those things that sometimes, just knowing how is enough, and I don't feel bad about splurging for, or using non-DIY parts all the time.


Here's the crossover for Paul Carmody's Classix2 design. I never checked if there was a board for those because it didn't occur to me to at the time. One's not really easier than the other, except for perhaps a PCB that is labeled for each component. I mostly use them when possible because it looked cool and I am not super fond of MDF on it's own.


Here's the crossover for Jeff Bagby's (RIP) "Continuum" design that I also did the usual way.


As far as sourcing parts, more popular circuits (at least with amplifiers etc) go, often times, someone will have a saved shopping cart at Mouser, or Digikey so, all you have to do is find it. I found one for the ACA (Amp Camp Amp), and the universal power supply I just built. One click and a read thru and I was done. Otherwise, parts ordering from a larger BOM can be tedious.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Some notes about popular kits and conversions. If the conversion or kit is popular enough, chances are that someone will have made a PCB for it. Such is the case with the popular C-note kit from PE. I found PCBs for the crossover network on ebay. I typically just build the crossover on a plain piece of MDF but it's one of those things that sometimes, just knowing how is enough, and I don't feel bad about splurging for, or using non-DIY parts all the time.


Here's the crossover for Paul Carmody's Classix2 design. I never checked if there was a board for those because it didn't occur to me to at the time. One's not really easier than the other, except for perhaps a PCB that is labeled for each component. I mostly use them when possible because it looked cool and I am not super fond of MDF on it's own.


Here's the crossover for Jeff Bagby's (RIP) "Continuum" design that I also did the usual way.


As far as sourcing parts, more popular circuits (at least with amplifiers etc) go, often times, someone will have a saved shopping cart at Mouser, or Digikey so, all you have to do is find it. I found one for the ACA (Amp Camp Amp), and the universal power supply I just built. One click and a read thru and I was done. Otherwise, parts ordering from a larger BOM can be tedious.
Thanks for the photos @MrBoat ! I enjoy seeing what other people put together. I did everything I could to keep my boards orderly and neat. It was fun (strangely, in that OCD-type way that organizing and micromanaging is fun o_O ).
Needless to say I'm looking forward to the finishing stages!

Parts are all scheduled to arrive on the 12th.

Once I get these AA+ upgrades done, I'm going to get on with that Hypex rig. I'm going to double check, but I'm pretty certain I can run all 5 monoblock channels in a single chassis. Once I get confirmation on that, I'll get the appropriate chassis ordered. Really with those modules, all I need to do is figure out how to route all the wiring. I'd love to do something snazzy like voltmeters just to give it that WOW, but there is something nice/alluring about the utilitarian look of a straight black chassis. Perhaps I can splurge on getting the N-Core logo engraved. Ha!

Cheers!
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
OK!
Both XO boards are completed now with the Resistor replaced on the one Tweeter board and the Molex connections finished on the second.
I'm going to let the Silicone Sealant set overnight while I re-plan my installation strategy.
Tomorrow these will make sound for the first time in over a year!
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Wheee!
Had some unexpected work show up this weekend: always a plus!

And then...
Tweeter Board:


Woofer Board:


Gratuitous shot of both:


Tweeter and stuffing installed:


The new Terminal Cup:



Sent from a handheld device using a silly little app.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
And then the money shot!



New screws worked like a charm. I also used some short standoff spacers to avoid any flex or wonkiness in the installation of the XO Boards.

The other speaker will be wrapped tomorrow, then I’ll hook them up and see what happens!

Cheers!
R


Sent from a handheld device using a silly little app.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
#boom!
:cool:



Still need to test, but they are ready!


Sent from a handheld device using a silly little app.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Follow up report:
Overall SQ is great. There is still a significant difference between these and the Phil3s... but c'mon. That's not a fair comparison.
Of note:
Joe Lovano's Sax work on Evolution sounds great, detail in the Cymbals, Upright Bass hits clean.
Tori Amos voice on Northern Lad is detailed and smooth. Can get a little harsh in the range she sings in during the chorus, but I didn't feel my ears twitching with these; Piano was strong and sounded pretty natural. Mohamed My Friend and Talula were both equally delightful and the Harpsichord sounded pretty much spot on.
Twelve Jewelz from Gravediggaz second album was borderline shocking with the bass hits coming out of those boxes. Rza's vocals were clean and detailed, perfectly understandable.
Steve Wynn's Blue Drifter revealed some of the hollowness in this Speaker. Hard to describe other than perhaps leaning on some lack of midrange richness(?). That same quality remained in Anthem, especially at the beginning of the cut, but the dynamic hit in the second part of the song was handled well and made up for the lack heard in the first part.
Dexter Gordon's rendition of Darn That Dream from One Flight Up sounded pretty right. I don't know how many times I've played this cut... But for the sound of a '60s Blue Note recording, it was All Dexter!
Black Peter from Workingman's Dead... just couldn't help start singing along with Jerry. If anything, that hollowness in the mids came out a little here, too.
Walk On the Wild Side. Yup. Went there. Lou's voice, that bass line... everything was there but for that rich midrange. I had to wrap and get on to other things, so I paused 1/3 way through the song, powered down the Amps, switched the cables back to the 3s, powered back up and hit play. Just, Wow.

The differences and the similarities were fully on display in those brief moments. By Similarities, you've got very nice top end, and impressive bottom end out of these AA+s. But the devil is in the Mids.
This is not to say that I heard anything wrong. I want to be very clear about that. When your mains are what mine are, and your reference point is a very neutral and revealing 3-way speaker, a budget friendly 2-way shouldn't have the same resolution and depth of SQ: I don't care who designed it! ;)
Regardless, I promised myself that I would learn to do some measurements with these once I finished. So now it's on me to see what I've done by getting my OmniMic out and learning how to do a good measurement.

NOTE: Left Speaker, as seen above, has an occasional vibration that I have to chase down. Might be a hook up wire that's just positioned weird. (If I shake the speaker, I can hear the wire hit the side of the cabinet. :rolleyes: )

Would I ever do this again? Hellz-Yeah! :D

Would I recommend somebody try this project as a pure DIY endeavor like I did. ...Now that Dennis has the kit available? NO. :) Don't misunderstand. For me, the educational experience was everything, but the cost and time spent learning how to do this doesn't add up to the ease of what Dennis' 30-minute quick kit promises.

Is the AA+ worth its salt? Absolutely. At $350 per pair, this is a winner of a speaker.

I'll revisit this when I learn how do do some speaker sweeps.

Lastly, and as I have done routinely throughout this thread:
THANK YOU! To everyone that has participated and offered their assistance, who has helped me learn!

Cheers!
 
D

D Murphy

Full Audioholic
Follow up report:
Overall SQ is great. There is still a significant difference between these and the Phil3s... but c'mon. That's not a fair comparison.
Of note:
Joe Lovano's Sax work on Evolution sounds great, detail in the Cymbals, Upright Bass hits clean.
Tori Amos voice on Northern Lad is detailed and smooth. Can get a little harsh in the range she sings in during the chorus, but I didn't feel my ears twitching with these; Piano was strong and sounded pretty natural. Mohamed My Friend and Talula were both equally delightful and the Harpsichord sounded pretty much spot on.
Twelve Jewelz from Gravediggaz second album was borderline shocking with the bass hits coming out of those boxes. Rza's vocals were clean and detailed, perfectly understandable.
Steve Wynn's Blue Drifter revealed some of the hollowness in this Speaker. Hard to describe other than perhaps leaning on some lack of midrange richness(?). That same quality remained in Anthem, especially at the beginning of the cut, but the dynamic hit in the second part of the song was handled well and made up for the lack heard in the first part.
Dexter Gordon's rendition of Darn That Dream from One Flight Up sounded pretty right. I don't know how many times I've played this cut... But for the sound of a '60s Blue Note recording, it was All Dexter!
Black Peter from Workingman's Dead... just couldn't help start singing along with Jerry. If anything, that hollowness in the mids came out a little here, too.
Walk On the Wild Side. Yup. Went there. Lou's voice, that bass line... everything was there but for that rich midrange. I had to wrap and get on to other things, so I paused 1/3 way through the song, powered down the Amps, switched the cables back to the 3s, powered back up and hit play. Just, Wow.

The differences and the similarities were fully on display in those brief moments. By Similarities, you've got very nice top end, and impressive bottom end out of these AA+s. But the devil is in the Mids.
This is not to say that I heard anything wrong. I want to be very clear about that. When your mains are what mine are, and your reference point is a very neutral and revealing 3-way speaker, a budget friendly 2-way shouldn't have the same resolution and depth of SQ: I don't care who designed it! ;)
Regardless, I promised myself that I would learn to do some measurements with these once I finished. So now it's on me to see what I've done by getting my OmniMic out and learning how to do a good measurement.

NOTE: Left Speaker, as seen above, has an occasional vibration that I have to chase down. Might be a hook up wire that's just positioned weird. (If I shake the speaker, I can hear the wire hit the side of the cabinet. :rolleyes: )

Would I ever do this again? Hellz-Yeah! :D

Would I recommend somebody try this project as a pure DIY endeavor like I did. ...Now that Dennis has the kit available? NO. :) Don't misunderstand. For me, the educational experience was everything, but the cost and time spent learning how to do this doesn't add up to the ease of what Dennis' 30-minute quick kit promises.

Is the AA+ worth its salt? Absolutely. At $350 per pair, this is a winner of a speaker.

I'll revisit this when I learn how do do some speaker sweeps.

Lastly, and as I have done routinely throughout this thread:
THANK YOU! To everyone that has participated and offered their assistance, who has helped me learn!

Cheers!
Debbie Downer here. Did I mention that the kit takes 20 minutes to complete? Whaaaaaaaaaaa Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. And you get a free CD and two extra screws. But I love to see people suffer, and I greatly enjoyed reliving all of my screw-ups and emergency orders to Parts Express. I'll be interested to see what your OmniMic plots show. The response should be basically flat until 2 kHz (except for the many room peaks and dips that show up on OmniMic plots below 1 kHz because Waslo chose too high a frequency for the anechoic windowing to lengthen and transition to a room measurement). At 2 kHz, the response should ramp down slightly and continue smoothly until the typical dome peak at 15 kHz.

I'm not sure I've heard any hollowness in the midrange sound, but these speakers do use almost complete baffle step compensation, which will mean voices will be slightly further back than with most speakers. Also, if your reference is the Phil 3, the midrange will be fulleron the 3's because its dedicated midrange has wider dispersion than the Dayton woofer has at the top of its operating range.
 
J

josephpearson

Audiophyte
Follow up report:
Overall SQ is great. There is still a significant difference between these and the Phil3s... but c'mon. That's not a fair comparison.
Of note:
Joe Lovano's Sax work on Evolution sounds great, detail in the Cymbals, Upright Bass hits clean.
Tori Amos voice on Northern Lad is detailed and smooth. Can get a little harsh in the range she sings in during the chorus, but I didn't feel my ears twitching with these; Piano was strong and sounded pretty natural. Mohamed My Friend and Talula were both equally delightful and the Harpsichord sounded pretty much spot on.
Twelve Jewelz from Gravediggaz second album was borderline shocking with the bass hits coming out of those boxes. Rza's vocals were clean and detailed, perfectly understandable.
Steve Wynn's Blue Drifter revealed some of the hollowness in this Speaker. Hard to describe other than perhaps leaning on some lack of midrange richness(?). That same quality remained in Anthem, especially at the beginning of the cut, but the dynamic hit in the second part of the song was handled well and made up for the lack heard in the first part.
Dexter Gordon's rendition of Darn That Dream from One Flight Up sounded pretty right. I don't know how many times I've played this cut... But for the sound of a '60s Blue Note recording, it was All Dexter!
Black Peter from Workingman's Dead... just couldn't help start singing along with Jerry. If anything, that hollowness in the mids came out a little here, too.
Walk On the Wild Side. Yup. Went there. Lou's voice, that bass line... everything was there but for that rich midrange. I had to wrap and get on to other things, so I paused 1/3 way through the song, powered down the Amps, switched the cables back to the 3s, powered back up and hit play. Just, Wow.

The differences and the similarities were fully on display in those brief moments. By Similarities, you've got very nice top end, and impressive bottom end out of these AA+s. But the devil is in the Mids.
This is not to say that I heard anything wrong. I want to be very clear about that. When your mains are what mine are, and your reference point is a very neutral and revealing 3-way speaker, a budget friendly 2-way shouldn't have the same resolution and depth of SQ: I don't care who designed it! ;)
Regardless, I promised myself that I would learn to do some measurements with these once I finished. So now it's on me to see what I've done by getting my OmniMic out and learning how to do a good measurement.

NOTE: Left Speaker, as seen above, has an occasional vibration that I have to chase down. Might be a hook up wire that's just positioned weird. (If I shake the speaker, I can hear the wire hit the side of the cabinet. :rolleyes: )

Would I ever do this again? Hellz-Yeah! :D

Would I recommend somebody try this project as a pure DIY endeavor like I did. ...Now that Dennis has the kit available? NO. :) Don't misunderstand. For me, the educational experience was everything, but the cost and time spent learning how to do this doesn't add up to the ease of what Dennis' 30-minute quick kit promises.

Is the AA+ worth its salt? Absolutely. At $350 per pair, this is a winner of a speaker.

I'll revisit this when I learn how do do some speaker sweeps.

Lastly, and as I have done routinely throughout this thread:
THANK YOU! To everyone that has participated and offered their assistance, who has helped me learn!

Cheers!
Were you able to figure out the left speaker vibration? I've got something similar with the speaker whose tweeter is positioned as the left speaker in your photo is. Other than that issue, they are the best speakers I've had in a span of almost 50 years. (as a public school teacher, now retired after teaching 42 years, I've had to look for equipment that offers good value).
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Were you able to figure out the left speaker vibration? I've got something similar with the speaker whose tweeter is positioned as the left speaker in your photo is. Other than that issue, they are the best speakers I've had in a span of almost 50 years. (as a public school teacher, now retired after teaching 42 years, I've had to look for equipment that offers good value).
Alas, springtime and the honey-do list have taken me away from solving that for the moment. Once the Lady is off my back, though... ;)
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I'm just that strong. :p

smdh

There is no way to get a drill in there. I think the screw was a one in a million shot... It got tight for not even a quarter turn... and then... strangely loose. :rolleyes:
*shrugs

I think its time for another Sazerac. :)
1616692654207.png
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
I have one of these:
1616693536515.png

...but it doesn't have the reach. Also kind of a PITA to use. Super helpful, though, and I have used this to great effect in enough projects that it has more than paid for itself.

Then there is this:
which is a little longer, but not much... but looks to be easier to hold on to.

A combination of that right angle adapter and the flexible extender you posted might be useful for tight reaches into 6" driver holes... and other applications.

But looky!
Here's a 12" flex attachment WITH a 90º head. :)

And another option that could be a little more diverse as the 90º attachment is removable:

Plus many more very similar to the image you attached. :D
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I have one of these:
View attachment 45929
...but it doesn't have the reach. Also kind of a PITA to use. Super helpful, though, and I have used this to great effect in enough projects that it has more than paid for itself.

Then there is this:
which is a little longer, but not much... but looks to be easier to hold on to.

A combination of that right angle adapter and the flexible extender you posted might be useful for tight reaches into 6" driver holes... and other applications.

But looky!
Here's a 12" flex attachment WITH a 90º head. :)

And another option that could be a little more diverse as the 90º attachment is removable:

Plus many more very similar to the image you attached. :D
I got my first SkewDriver in the late-'80s and it was OK, as long as I had two hands to work with it. I also have a lot of extensions and a right angle drill, but I doubt it would fit in those cabinets.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
I did get up in it and the tweeter cable was up on the port tube some how. *shrugs
I have not, however, had time to do any testing. So I've got, that, an Amp to assemble (Hypex NC400s), and now two 15" Sub Drivers...

And... that fcuking LIST! My gosh, that LIST. I swear its self generating. SMH.
:p
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Or did you get it up? Sorry, coudn't resist. :)

Looking forward to something....
 
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