Wolf's PC Speakers

[DIYNut42]

I recently started building a pair of these for a co-worker, and I'm sitting here tinkering with one of them that I have all buttoned up and ready to go.

I've played some music that I'm very familiar with, and now I'm watching a movie using my laptop, and my old test reciever. So far I'm very impressed! Especially in the vocals area. I don't have a need for a set of them for myself at the moment, but if I did, these would be what I would build.

Here are a few pics I took just now. I will post more pics, and go into the build process details ASAP.

[Wolf]

Glad you like 'em!
Thanks for the shots,
Wolf

[DIYNut42]

No problem, and thank you for creating the design and making it available to us DIYers! They really are great little speakers.

[andykriech]

Are they using a different driver? Where did the round frame come from? much nicer looking than the square one, I think.
They look great and I like the tilt. I have a set at work and built some tilted stands for them to get them better pointed at me. Yours is a much simpler method.

Andy.

[DIYNut42]

Andy,

Nope that is the same driver Wolf specifies.

I haven't posted many builds yet, but one thing you will find out about me is that I'm not big on letting those pincushion frames show. The drivers are actually inset into the baffle by about 1/4", and I made a ring to go over the frame using a router and my circle jig. The ring is 1/4" thick ABS plastic. The kind with a rough detailed finish that's used in a lot of custom car audio installs when installing equipment in the dash of a vehicle.

The driver is sandwiched between the baffle and that plastic ring. The screws go through the plastic, through the drivers mounting holes, and into the baffle. I used the same process for hiding the woofer frames on my AviaTrix build. (The link for that build is in my signature.)

The plastic is very rigid so the clamping force is distributed around the drivers frame very well and creates a nice air tight fit. I will go into more detail about the specifics when I get time to post more about the whole build process.

[andykriech]

That is a very cool method, a lot of work for these little fellers, but very cool nonetheless.

Andy.

[BeeTL]

Textured ABS like this?

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=265-948

[DIYNut42]

Textured ABS like this?

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=265-948

Yup. That's the stuff. I didn't even know PE carried it. The ABS I used was 1/4" thick since I was out of my 1/8" stuff.

Be warned. If you go after this stuff with a router bit, be prepared for lots of black snow.

[dwigle]

what's the acoustic impact of the "horn loading" as a result of the bevel or even a more pronounced bevel? Midrange peak? If so, what's the magnitude? Can it be tamed with a notch filter?

[DIYNut42]

what's the acoustic impact of the "horn loading" as a result of the bevel or even a more pronounced bevel? Midrange peak? If so, what's the magnitude? Can it be tamed with a notch filter?

This was a concern of mine when building these. I showed the person I built them for an itteration of the speaker with the driver surface mounted. She didn't care for the look, so aesthetics won out over any acoustic impacts the face plate may have on the sound.

To ease my own mind about it I did an A/B comparison bewtween one surface mounted, and one recessed with the face plate. I know there are probably some slight differences when measured, but to my ears I couldn't tell any difference between them across the band they are capable of. I listened to some material I am very familiar with, and I noticed no sudden peaks in either male or female vocals either. I wish I had some measurement gear to see the end result, but I haven't acquired any yet.

Either way, she was very pleased with the end result, so I call it mission accomplished.

[DIYNut42]

This is kind of moving in reverse, but here are a few more pics of these, and some build write-up.

The build process was pretty straight forward as these go. I built a 5.5" cube from 3/4" MDF. Paint process was sealer, primer, and 3 coats of Krylon Fusion rattle can gloss black.

Below is a picture of the feet I used to give them an angled stance. They are the rubber feet from some buyout speaker legs/feet I had on hand that have both rubber feet and metal spikes. Since I only plan to use the spikes, the rubber feet are spare parts. Using thread inserts seemed like a lot of work for these little guys, so I just drilled into the MDF at the correct depth for the threaded part of the feet, and screwed them it. They are set in with a small amount of gorilla glue at the bottom of the hole.

The back of each baffle got a healthy chamfer to allow the drivers to breath.

Also attached is a picture of me cutting out one of the plastic rings to cover the drivers frames.

[DIYNut42]

I used some security hex nut screws (PE part #260-840) to hold the faceplate and driver in the baffle.

After talking with forum member bkeane1259, I suggested an Indeed TA2021S amp to power them.

Below is a pic of the speakers with the amp. That amp is really impressive! Plenty of power on tap, and very crisp sound. I was pleasantly surprised.