More Curt Campbell spawn.. Tritrix Complete!

[WWWJD]

Now I have to deliver them. *sniffle* Dad should love these, they sound fantastic!



PE's Cherry paperback veneer with light walnut stain and poly semi-gloss clear coat.





One roll was barely enough to cover the 22L design, but I think I managed to lay it down just right.



Dad's budget was $300; this included stands, speakers, power, the whole shebang. Of course, I dropped $40 to $50 on top of it for various little thingies, but his budget did include an on board Tripath TA2020 amp. I was worried about them being underpowered; happy to report that they have no problems in the loudness dept.

[mzisserson]

Now I have to deliver them. *sniffle* Dad should love these, they sound fantastic!



Dad's budget was $300; this included stands, speakers, power, the whole shebang. Of course, I dropped $40 to $50 on top of it for various little thingies, but his budget did include an on board Tripath TA2020 amp. I was worried about them being underpowered; happy to report that they have no problems in the loudness dept.

Bloody Brilliant! I love to see unique applications for things. Love the finish too.

[djg]

Best looking tritrixes I have seen here, love that cherry.

[nick29498141]

They look great. BTW, a pair just sold on Audiogon(!)

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....-mtm-transmiss

Look great, IMO.

NK

[gc1]

Yes, those are nice!! And the stands are equally impressive!!!

[evilskillit]

Looks awesome. I love the fact that they're active too. I always wanted to build some active speakers just for the heck of it, and using the ebay t-amp is a great idea as well as the only full range plate amp I've seen for making active speakers I've seen was like $125 and that would be per speaker. If I make speakers for anyone I might have to consider going that route since it probably sounds better than most cheap receivers. And you can hook your iPod up to them

[WWWJD]

They look great. BTW, a pair just sold on Audiogon(!)
Look great, IMO.

NK

Boy.. I could never sell. Spending gobs of time on projects like this, only to sell them for the cost of materials just doesn't seem right. I would almost rather give them away.

I think I'm really falling in love with the whole "active speaker" bit; it really adds a whole new level of utility to the mix. Portability, simplicity, etc. Most of the gainclone / tripath amps with appreciable output can run on 12-24VDC. It's really appealing to me lately. In dad's case, he didn't want to buy a receiver (can't blame him). His V037L Vizio has variable out with basic EQ features. Right now they're sounding great. He was having a new kind of Wii zen moment when I left.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

[Dirk]

Mark, got a link to the Tripath you went with? I've been thinking about a self-powered set for my wife's sunroom. Since she only ever wants to plug in her iPod, it'd be a great idea.

BTW, sharp work, top to bottom. I'd be proud.

[WWWJD]

Here you go Dirk. Kit takes about an hour to assemble. Easy stuff.

http://www.41hz.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=43

[Dirk]

What, just add a regulated power brick and that's it? KICK A55.

[arlis_1957@yahoo.com]

very nice. and a really cool idea.
i can here him ............... oh, thank you, my son built those for me.

[WayneN]

Mark,

Very, very NICE, I can imagine the look in your Dads face when he got those speakers and stands
So you’ve done the Overnight Sensations, now the TriTrix what’s next?

I realize there is a bit of a difference between the two amplifiers but I am curious if you have tried the Dayton Class-T Digital Audio Amplifier? Which AMP6 did you use and what did they cost you?

WayneN

[WWWJD]

Mark,

I realize there is a bit of a difference between the two amplifiers but I am curious if you have tried the Dayton Class-T Digital Audio Amplifier? Which AMP6 did you use and what did they cost you?

WayneN

Both the enclosed and open (kit?) Dayton Class T amps are based on the Tripath TA2024; of which I have one of the older silver cased version. IMO, it's not quite enough of an amp to push anything to a level I'm happy with without beginnings of distortion. The TA2020 is the next level up in the chip series and so far, I haven't had any complaints. I've been paying $60 for the 2020 kits; there are cheaper complete amps with the same chip out there, but the build quality from the China amps is really disappointing from what I've seen. The 41hz kits are laid out much better, and are more flexible for this type of project.

While the Dayton amp / TA2024 is rated for 4 ohm loads, and will do it, the construction of the Dayton unit doesn't accommodate heat sinks. 5 minutes on a 4 ohm load, and the finger touch test screams premature failure. They get quite warm when they're loaded down. Proper heat sinking would alleviate this concern, but like I said, it's not doable with the construction method used in the Dayton series. All they had to do to do it right would have been to sink it to a piece of aluminum or sheet metal; it wouldn't have taken much. Again... China. That's all I have to say about that. ;-)

[cpcarter]

BEAUTIFUL!
I love the crisp look. Very Scandinavian. The stands repeat the shape for a perfect match. I like the black which will disappear in the room so they float. You're Dad must be pleased and you should be very proud.
Questions: I'm totally ignorant on the amp used. Did you use a wall-wart power supply? What Voltage/Current does the amp need?
Also does it connect to the other speaker via RCA or 1/4" jacks? How much signal does it take to drive to full output? Will an mp3 player do it?

I'll also follow the amp link for details but wanted to say congratulations on such a nice job.
Chris

[WWWJD]

BEAUTIFUL!
I love the crisp look. Very Scandinavian. The stands repeat the shape for a perfect match. I like the black which will disappear in the room so they float. You're Dad must be pleased and you should be very proud.
Questions: I'm totally ignorant on the amp used. Did you use a wall-wart power supply? What Voltage/Current does the amp need?
Also does it connect to the other speaker via RCA or 1/4" jacks? How much signal does it take to drive to full output? Will an mp3 player do it?

I'll also follow the amp link for details but wanted to say congratulations on such a nice job.
Chris

A 3A 12VDC brick or wart is plenty (this tallies up to a whopping 36W, which doesn't sound like much by numbers; speaker output speaks differently however :-). I used RCA connectors on 18AWG wire for speaker connections. The input gains on the amp kits are typically adjustable like on the one I used; this allows the user to apply anything from low mV line level to fairly high preamp outputs (4Vpp I think). Outside of that, I just use a 50K stereo pot for level matching on the inputs. And Thank You. :-)

[Operandi]

Thats really cool, and they turned out great. The veneer look as nice as my solid Cherry TriTrix.

Do you have a better pic of the backs? If I understand correctly one cab holds the amp for both speakers? And the pot on the back is just for attenuation?

[christianb]

Awesome! Any chance of getting a close-up shot of the rear of one if you have some time? If not, no worries.

[WWWJD]

Thats really cool, and they turned out great. The veneer look as nice as my solid Cherry TriTrix.

Do you have a better pic of the backs? If I understand correctly one cab holds the amp for both speakers? And the pot on the back is just for attenuation?

That's correct; one cab contains the 2 channel amp. The pot is for fine adjustment / level matching. Example: Turned dad's TV speakers off, set the RCA TV outputs to variable. Turned the speaker pot all the way down, cranked the TV volume setting to 50%. Then brought the speakers up with the pot until dad's eyes started to cross. TV's volume setting of 50 is the new maximum volume setting.

I don't really have any close up shots of the rears; I suppose I can go home tonight and blow that section of a pic up. They're 8MP shots so it shouldn't be a problem.

[Operandi]

That's correct; one cab contains the 2 channel amp. The pot is for fine adjustment / level matching. Example: Turned dad's TV speakers off, set the RCA TV outputs to variable. Turned the speaker pot all the way down, cranked the TV volume setting to 50%. Then brought the speakers up with the pot until dad's eyes started to cross. TV's volume setting of 50 is the new maximum volume setting.

I don't really have any close up shots of the rears; I suppose I can go home tonight and blow that section of a pic up. They're 8MP shots so it shouldn't be a problem.

Nice, pretty smooth and simplistic approach.

Yeah if you could crop that section out that would be cool. I thinking this might be a good way build some portable monitors for small live shows that would be hooked up to mixing board.