Fun with the new ND Passive's - The Passive Aggressives

[Jake]

I'm interested in building the PAs and thought these would be a good opportunity to try out the laser cutter at work with some .5" baltic birch. Since the fingers are not quite deep enough, the faces protrude and would require a fair amount of sanding to remove the burnt edges. I like the contrast and may leave them be.

I think they would look good like this stained.

[3rutu5]

I'm interested in building the PAs and thought these would be a good opportunity to try out the laser cutter at work with some .5" baltic birch. Since the fingers are not quite deep enough, the faces protrude and would require a fair amount of sanding to remove the burnt edges. I like the contrast and may leave them be.

I personally think its a bit funky and like it. This would be something that i would try just because i know most of my mates wouldn't have anything like this and i could be unique, You guys in north american get all the good stuff, we get some average run of the mill ply down here and if you can get your hands on birch ply it cost a fortune and not really viable.

Will be interested on how it looks with speakers in it.

[tomzarbo]

Silver, does the "burnt" portion of the cut where the fingers touch impede good glue adhesion within the joint? Nifty looking cabinets by the way. I think I like the exposed black look too.
TomZ

[silverD]

Thanks for comments and suggestions everyone. I'll give some thought to staining them dark. Tom, I didn't glue it as I was doing a test fit. I had to use a rubber mallet to fully mate the pieces so I'm not sure if I'll get them apart. If I can I'll add a bit of blue, but might just seal the inside.

[silverD]

I laser cut the second box today applied a bit of glue when assembling it. I didn't want it to squeeze out and cover the burnt areas as I want to prevent from sanding them. I also gel stained some samples in Brown Mahogany and Java. Thoughts?

[andykriech]

I like the contrast, so would suggest the lighter stain...
Andy.

[Jake]

+1 on the lighter stain

[Mikeski]

I'd also like to see this kit made available without the cabinets, as I want to make my own cabinets out of solid oak. I have a lot of oak laying around, and oak veneer is expensive. Wondering how much the provided cabinets add to the cost of the kit. I know I can buy the components separately, but that costs more than the kit.
Although I have not heard these speakers, not needing a subwoofer for so small a speaker makes this project seem like a home run for the desktop! Currently running some Micca MB42X speakers on my desktop with a home-made 8" passive subwoofer under the desk and a 2.1 amp. Thinking of building these Passive Aggressives for my wife's desktop. They are much smaller than the very popular MB42X and I'm sure will have better bass.

[djg]

Try calling PE with money in hand, see what they say. IME, they discount kit prices a bit. For example, my 8" 250DSP sub kit price was the amount of the amp and driver. PE threw in the flat pack and a sheet of upmarket sound deadener.

Don't forget you'll still need binding posts and screws with this kit.

You know if it's cheaper than buying all the components, buy it. They are very nice sounding little speakers, and very entertaining to watch.

[djg]

I threw a wad of poly in mine. There's hardly any wall space for lining.

[mattp]

I haven't done anything with PRs yet, so I need to ask a question about them. I noticed no mention of stuffing or lining the walls. Is this typical with a design using a PR(S) or did I miss it?
Thanks,
Mike

Mike (et al),

I did not include any stuffing or lining in mine but it just depends on your personal tastes. Frankly I didn't use any because those little boxes were pretty well packed from the start so I didn't want to try to cram anything else in them. I doubt you will notice an audible difference one way or the other.

[mattp]

Got these put together this morning. No stuffing. I am very impressed! They really sound much bigger than they are. I've been running a few of my test songs through them and other than a bit of trouble with the lowest parts of "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" they have been doing great. I might have been asking too much from them, so I won't deduct any points. Private Investigations by Dire Straits sounded great. These will soon be on my desk at work, so imagine they'll really shine. Great little speaker.
I haven't put a finish on them yet. That's going to happen today and tomorrow. I haven't decided yet, but probably walnut veneer.
Mike

Thanks for the feedback Mike! Don't forget to post a review on our website too!

[3rutu5]

Sounds like a good base for a BT speaker build. What do you think a smaller bunch of drivers and radiator be like and box size? Let's say the ND65. Those boxes look quite small, but noticed they are 0.16cu.ft they still have a bigger footprint than anticipated, which I think cramming a 4" is why I got confused.

love the idea of getting that lower frequency for a small driver

[Chris Roemer]

Pretty sure post #1 states that these are the Denovo 0.04cf boxes, so...

[3rutu5]

Whoops, not sure what I read then. My bad