Oh Boy

[Nestor]

That's all some guys want. I know over on AVS, the subwoofer conversations get out of control over there. Those guys are talking about being able to hit 140+db no matter what room their in with gjallerhorns and all sorts of insane driver configurations. They're basically running SPL competitions, just in their homes and not their cars.

I get that impression too.

Some years ago, there was an AVS member whose obsession with single digit LFE led to disastrous modifications of his house. I think his handle was Kryptonitewhite.

 

[panteragstk]

I get that impression too.

Some years ago, there was an AVS member whose obsession with single digit LFE led to disastrous modifications of his house. I think his handle was Kryptonitewhite.

I remember one where the guy spent a grand on a granite slab to set the giant concrete/sand box with something like 8 18" LMS ultra drivers. I forget the exact build, but I was amazed.

 

[jinjuku]

I get that impression too.

Some years ago, there was an AVS member whose obsession with single digit LFE led to disastrous modifications of his house. I think his handle was Kryptonitewhite.

It was and unfortunately he committed suicide about 2 years ago.

 

[mattsk8]

It was and unfortunately he committed suicide about 2 years ago.

I HATE hearing stories like this. If anyone out there's even considering anything like this, don't. Go be an ***, quit paying your bills, go have a beer; whatever it takes but don't do that.

 

[lsiberian]

I HATE hearing stories like this. If anyone out there's even considering anything like this, don't. Go be an ***, quit paying your bills, go have a beer; whatever it takes but don't do that.

There's always another way.

 

[mattsk8]

There's always another way.

Actually, after I thought about what I said I saw the irony in it...

Go be an ***, quit paying your bills, go have a beer; whatever it takes but don't do that.

Or quit drinking, start paying your bills, or stop being an arse

 

[ImcLoud]

Wow, thats not good, I have a cousin who committed suicide and I remember standing in the door way of my aunts house the next morning and thinking "if he could see how much he just hurt everyone her would have never done it", it was over a girl and we were young, kind of wish you could explain it to someone, you don't solve a temporary problem with something as permanent as suicide...

 

[j_garcia]

We've had a few suicides in the family, none recently. I just don't see how anyone can get to that point. I've been really low in my life, but NEVER anywhere near contemplating something like that.

My issue with the build is that person DIDN'T learn ANYTHING about speaker building. Clearly he already knew how to do the woodwork side of it so I wouldn't say much was learned there, but basically rather than asking up front, this guy build really nice looking garbage.

 

[mattsk8]

Looks like he's in good hands now. In his last post he stated he's attending a Consumer Electronics Show, I'm sure he'll get all the advice he needs over there

 

[fuzz092888]

I saw one guy ask for acoustic measurements. I don't have, and I don't expect those watching that thread over there have very high hopes for what he's going to get. The wood working really is top notch and if he had only consulted before he started cutting he could have had something really great, that would have rivaled the Aperions he was modeling his project after and possibly even been better. He could always ditch the front baffles, chop them down to size, reduce the number of drivers in the towers and have enough drivers to make a pair of towers and some bookshelf surrounds/center if gets thing straightened out.

 

[sawzalot]

I see these are just about completed now, I think they look really good but can they sound any where near the look, or will they be just awful . I hope the guy is honest about his impressions or then again maybe they will be exactly the sound he prefers and that will be the end of it, they just peaked interest , maybe any DIY does that to me.
On another note I started a thread about these totally overlooking this one and for that I apologize, don't know how I missed this.

 

[fuzz092888]

I see these are just about completed now, I think they look really good but can they sound any where near the look, or will they be just awful . I hope the guy is honest about his impressions or then again maybe they will be exactly the sound he prefers and that will be the end of it, they just peaked interest , maybe any DIY does that to me.
On another note I started a thread about these totally overlooking this one and for that I apologize, don't know how I missed this.

I peeked in on his thread the other day as well. They look great, and his work is far better than anything I'm currently capable of. I think he would've stood half a chance if he had at least changed the driver arrangment to WMMTMMW instead of TMMMWWWS. I'm no expert on acoustics, but I'm thinking there has got to be a lot of cancelation stuff going on, not to mention the tweeter is going to be like 3-4ft above your head sitting down. Plus, since it's a 4 way and he has zero experience with passive crossovers he has no choice but to go active since there isn't any easy way to do a passive one for that thing. Heck, I'm not sure going active would be all that easy either.

 

[mattsk8]

They look fantastic and he obviously has skills. I'm really curious how they (honestly) sound, anxiously waiting to watch this unfold.

The one thing I would totally do and can't believe he didn't is put at least a 1/4" round over on the edges of the front baffle, I'd probably even go 1/2".

 

[fuzz092888]

They look fantastic and he obviously has skills. I'm really curious how they (honestly) sound, anxiously waiting to watch this unfold.

The one thing I would totally do and can't believe he didn't is put at least a 1/4" round over on the edges of the front baffle, I'd probably even go 1/2".

It makes sense that he wouldn't since the towers he's modeled them after don't have very much of a roundover and he probably has no idea what the point of the round over would be outside of cosmetic differences. Although since he said he might someday build an alternate baffle with the other driver configuration he might try it then.

I'm guessing another big concern when it comes to performance is that all those drivers are sharing the same airspace. That's a tremendous amount of volume, even for all those drivers. I'm guessing he's not going to be getting optimal performance out of any of them and if he goes active, over excursion might end up being a major issue as well as distortion.

 

[lsiberian]

They look fantastic and he obviously has skills. I'm really curious how they (honestly) sound, anxiously waiting to watch this unfold.

The one thing I would totally do and can't believe he didn't is put at least a 1/4" round over on the edges of the front baffle, I'd probably even go 1/2".

He built a speaker without an actual design I find nothing surprising. How well does kerf cutting actually work in the real world for this application. It might be fun to try on a project.

 

[ImcLoud]

I think he is just going for big sound. not quality, some people just don't care, I have a friend of mine that has these god awful sounding "sound design" rack system {not really a rack, its all one piece} like you would get at kmart from the 80's, he said he bought it brand new in the early 90's, it has a record player on top dual tape deck, graphic eq, lol.. Its just terrible, looking, sounding, everything about it, but he has it in his parlor and uses it for music, he has a really nice home too, his wife hates it and said he could replace it with what ever he wants but he said he bought it for $99 and it still works so its not going anywhere.... He swears it sounds as good as my 1200w 2.2 system, lol and I always say "maybe to you"....

But anyway, I think if you make a new front baffle the speakers he made would be fine, maybe a pair of 6.5's with a nice ribbon tweet and a pair of 12" subs in each one.. or go full out with 50 tweets and 15 6.5's all the way up... I have a feeeling this was a tight budget speaker, it looks like he spent under $500 on materials... To you and me he would have been much better off with a pair of tri trix as far as sq goes, but to him, Im sure he loves these speakers..

 

[fuzz092888]

It's not that simple either, you can't just swap a few drivers for others and have it be better. Even with the best drivers in the world, what he's got would still he hard pressed to sound "good". However, when he's done and he has noise coming out of them he might be thrilled. Hopefully afterwords he never AB's them against a real pair of speakers and stays happy with them for a good long while.

 

[mattsk8]

He built a speaker without an actual design I find nothing surprising. How well does kerf cutting actually work in the real world for this application. It might be fun to try on a project.

I would be worried about it cracking, his kerfs were pretty deep. I think it would be solid if you coated it w/ at least a layer of fiberglass on the inside or something like that. IMO, for curved cabinets I'll stick w/ either 2 or 3 layers of 1/4" MDF, bent around some frames/bracing (rather than going the kerf route).

Also, I don't want to sound like a weenie or that I'm busting the guys chops. I can see he put a lot of time into them and they really do look good. The unfortunate thing is that we all know how that's going to turn out and I've never been one to say "A for effort", that doesn't do anyone any good. For half the money (or even less) he could have something that would sound 10x (or more) better.

 

[fuzz092888]

I would be worried about it cracking, his kerfs were pretty deep. I think it would be solid if you coated it w/ at least a layer of fiberglass on the inside or something like that. IMO, for curved cabinets I'll stick w/ either 2 or 3 layers of 1/4" MDF, bent around some frames/bracing (rather than going the kerf route).

Also, I don't want to sound like a weenie or that I'm busting the guys chops. I can see he put a lot of time into them and they really do look good. The unfortunate thing is that we all know how that's going to turn out and I've never been one to say "A for effort", that doesn't do anyone any good. For half the money (or even less) he could have something that would sound 10x (or more) better.

So do you think the wood filler he put in the kerfs will be enough?

 

[sawzalot]

I'm guessing another big concern when it comes to performance is that all those drivers are sharing the same airspace. That's a tremendous amount of volume, even for all those drivers. I'm guessing he's not going to be getting optimal performance out of any of them and if he goes active, over excursion might end up being a major issue as well as distortion.

Actually Fuzz the interior of the box is divided up into three equal spaces separated by a solid piece of 3/4 inch mdf, I dont know if that helps him or not with sound quality.