The Speaker Building Bible

[MikeV@parts-express.com]

In the beginning...

Start here first!

How a Loudspeaker is Made

Deconstructed: How Speakers Work by HowStuffWorks

Speaker Building Glossary of Terms

Thiele/Small Parameters Explained

Beginner's Speaker Building Guidelines

How to choose the right speaker project - for your ears by Troels Gravesen

Speaker Building Tools

The advantages and challenges of working with MDF

Simple box construction and driver spacing for beginners

Driver Impedance Interaction and Amplifier Effects

Start to finish build thread for those starting out

Subwoofers

The Subwoofer DIY Page

Cult of the Infinitely Baffled

Collo's DIY Subwoofer Enclosures

Crossovers

Crossover Designing Principles

How to turn a schematic into a crossover

How to assemble crossovers

Baffle Step Loss and Baffle Step Compensation

Speaker Designing with Software

Designing speakers with FRD Consortium tools

Designing Speakers with freeware using simulated measurements

Wolf's Passive Crossover Designer Walkthrough: 1

Wolf's Passive Crossover Designer Walkthrough: 2

Wolf's Passive Crossover Designer Walkthrough: 3

Zaph Audio's Soundeasy Setup for Modeling and Measuring

Flash-based Soundeasy Tutorial

Simple Loudspeaker Design by Dave Dal Farra

Zipped archive containing the companion files for Simple Loudspeaker Design by Dave Dal Farra

Advanced Speaker Building Concepts

Jeff Bagby describes his approach to creating a 2-way loudspeaker

Loudspeaker Imaging Theorem by Jeff Bagby

Dave Ralph's Speaker Building Guidelines

Driver Tweaks and Various Audio Topics by David Ralph

Designing speakers with random drivers

Effects of flush mounting by Roman J. Bednarek

Effects of flush mounting by Zaph Audio

A Visual Approach to Understanding Audio

Series Crossover FAQ by Andy G

Dr. Jim Griffin's Near Field Line Array White Paper

Testing and Measuring

Measuring with ARTA by Ed Froste

Measuring with ARTA by Hong Nguyen

Measuring with LSPCad

Effects of gating in MLS measurements

Interpreting Harmonic Distortion Measurements

Interpreting Linear Distortion Measurements

Interpreting Non-Linear Distortion Measurements

HOLMImpulse Starter Guide by rbp and Ryan Bouma

Essential Speaker Building Software


Jeff Bagby's Excel based speaker building software

Passive Crossover Designer

Woofer Box and Circuit Designer

Frequency Response Modeler and Phase Extractor

Baffle Diffraction and Boundary Simulator

FRD and ZMA driver files for use with Passive Crossover Designer

Roman J Bednarek's Driver Files

A zip file of Parts Express FRD and ZMA files listed by part number

HOLM Acoustics' Frequency and Impulse Response Measurement Software

HOLMImpulse Home Page

Speaker Workshop speaker design software suite

Speaker Workshop Home Page

Claudio Negro's Speaker Workshop Walkthrough

WinISD box modeling software

LinearTeam's hompage for WinISD

FRD Consortium

Many useful acoustic design tools from the FRD Consortium

UniBox

Unified Box Model for Loudspeaker Design

HornResp

Horn Loudspeaker Response Analysis Program

Woodworking

WoodNet Forums

Veneering tutorial using contact cement

Veneering tutorial using iron-on PVA method

Flush Mounting an Irregular Speaker Frame

MaxCut Wood Board Optimizer

Useful Links

Google

Google Sketchup Computer Animated Design Software

Zaph Audio

Music and Design

Linkwitz Labs

DIYAudio Forum

RJB Audio Projects

HowStuffWorks Speaker Articles

Parts Express' Woofer Selection Guide

Parts Express' Technical Help Section

A free collection of online audio tests, test tones, audio signals and more at Audio Check

Speaker Wiring and Impedance Calculators at Basic Car Audio Electronics

[MikeV@parts-express.com]

I'm going to leave this open for a few days to allow for constructive criticism regarding the layout and sequence and any information that needs to be added.

Let me know guys!

[arlis_1957@yahoo.com]

great effort mike. thanks.

[ckmoore]

Looks great!

Maybe add some info regarding suggested books, like the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, and Speaker Building 201.

[howard]

Mike,
Nice job! That is a lot of resources in one place. Thank you for your time and effort. It will be helpful to a lot of people.

Howard

[Paul Carmody]

The link to "optimizing XO frequencies according to drivers" doesn't work. I can't figure out how to get it to work, either. Get Wayne to fix it!

The article "Zaph Audio's Speaker Building Guidelines" was all Dave Ralph's work. Zaph is just hosting it for him. I say give Dave the credit.

Also, the title "designing speakers with random drivers" makes me laugh every time I read it.

Google is a useful site. Thanks for the link! I'm totally kidding you around. Nicely-done; it's well-organized. Makes me realize that there's still so much to be written down!

[Wolf]

Other than what Paul said- Nicely tabulated!
Later,
Wolf

[MikeV@parts-express.com]

Thanks for the replies. Everything should be functionally correct now.

I'll add more resources as we go along to include books and whatever we gather. The main reason for omission of books, to this point, is to keep this guide totally free for the user.

Some of it is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but the reason for the google link is to allow for a quick pop-out window without needing to open up a new tab or browser page...

[fastbike1]

Folks, what do you think?

The two links on box building / mdf, while I know they come from a respected source, are wrong or misleading on several structural facts about mdf. They also conflict with each other on several points.

At a minimum MDF is not harder or stiffer than plywood.
It also will not hold a screw as well.
While edges are "sharp when machined", they are very fragile.
Several of the better jointing techniques will not work with mdf since it relies to a large extent on the skin for strength.
They completely gloss over (no pun intended) the difficulties with sealing the surface.
No discussion of the large quantities of very fine, nasty dust
No real mention of plywood as an option.

[Paul Carmody]

Folks, what do you think?

The two links on box building / mdf, while I know they come from a respected source, are wrong or misleading on several structural facts about mdf. They also conflict with each other on several points.

At a minimum MDF is not harder or stiffer than plywood.
It also will not hold a screw as well.
While edges are "sharp when machined", they are very fragile.
Several of the better jointing techniques will not work with mdf since it relies to a large extent on the skin for strength.
They completely gloss over (no pun intended) the difficulties with sealing the surface.
No discussion of the large quantities of very fine, nasty dust
No real mention of plywood as an option.

Personally, I think you're nit-picking. There is a lot of useful information there, especially for people who know nothing about wood--such as myself, when I got started in the hobby. Not every bit of information is optimum, but I also don't see anything that's flat-out "wrong" that would lead a builder to a failure of a box.
Yes, plywood is a viable material for speaker boxes; almost ubiquitous in pro audio. But in home audio, most retail speakers are made from MDF, even the high-end ones, so I like that this article is there to "demystify" MDF.

Could someone write an article touting all the benefits of plywood over MDF? Of course! Where is it?

[fastbike1]

The thing that bothered me the most is that the articles pretty much present MDF as the only choice.

As far as failure, there are some pretty long threads dedicated to dealing with edges and sealing. Some pretty elaborate trenching and multicoating methods are presented. In those threads, people seemed to view the edges printing through the finish as failure.

[Ray Tremblay]

Very nice! Thanks, Mike!

[MikeV@parts-express.com]

Got a couple more links up there that I've found useful over the years. Can't find Jeff's crossover tips webpage... anyone got that?

[weinstro]

I'm going to leave this open for a few days to allow for constructive criticism regarding the layout and sequence and any information that needs to be added.

Let me know guys!

On the first Efficiency decision point, under Large, the arrow on your Visio points the wrong way.

Regards,

Rob

[Paul Carmody]

Can't find Jeff's crossover tips webpage... anyone got that?

I looked all around the internets, and I couldn't find it either.

Since you added WinISD, would you be willing to add Unibox as well?
http://audio.claub.net/software/kougaard/ubmodel.html

[Paul Carmody]

The thing that bothered me the most is that the articles pretty much present MDF as the only choice.

point taken

As far as failure, there are some pretty long threads dedicated to dealing with edges and sealing. Some pretty elaborate trenching and multicoating methods are presented. In those threads, people seemed to view the edges printing through the finish as failure.

Well, it's an article for beginners. I mean, think of learning an instrument... to a person just starting out, they're happy if they can make it through the song without stopping. Obviously, a more advanced player has a higher set of standards for his performance.

[Wolf]

I know he posted them on the old MAD board waaaayyyy back, but he also posted them in a thread on the PE forum here. Just do a search for "Jeff Bagby's Crossover tips", and you might find it. There were at least 3 threads of postings over the course of a month, and a lot of people found it interesting and useful.

I use Unibox and WBCD, so WinISD is not my normal either.

Later,
Wolf

[MikeV@parts-express.com]

I'm thinking of changing the Veneer section into a wood working section... thoughts?

Personally I have no knowledge of useful woodworking sites/forums. Any recommendations?

[Jeff B.]

Got a couple more links up there that I've found useful over the years. Can't find Jeff's crossover tips webpage... anyone got that?

I think I have them in a Word doc. I'll take a look and can send it to you or anyone else who wants it.

Jeff

[Paul Carmody]

I think I have them in a Word doc. I'll take a look and can send it to you or anyone else who wants it.

Jeff

Why don't you put them in a "blog" here at PE?