Yet another cost effective floorstanders build

[JRivera]

Brief intro:
After playing around with some 3-Way and 2-Way speaker/projects, passive and active configurations, I settled up for another 2-Way 10" Pro Mid/Woofer and 1" CD speaker project, also since I always use subwoofer(s), make the speaker reach low deep bass is no priority but rather optimize for strong upper bass/midbass.

The project goal was to be an cost effective, very simple to build compact main towers, high SPL capable while holding dynamics with relatively low distortion when pushed to high volume levels.

About the box design:
I used two 5/8" 4'x8' MDF sheets bonded together to form a 1.25" thick walls for all sides of the speakers, I laminated them with lightly textured black matte standard laminate #909, as I'm not even average at painting with detailed terminations, the box measures are 36"H x 12"W x 14.5"D (without cabinet feets), and ~57 Lbs/ea empty, about ~2FT3 after drivers, complete build progress HERE.

Speaker crossover/management:
The speaker crossover/management is provided by an DBX DriveRack PA2 I already have, (Part # 246-182).

The drivers/parts of choice are as follow:
Part # 294-1041 - FaitalPRO LTH102 Tractrix Horn.
Part # 294-2828 - PRV D280Ti-B CD (Upgraded to FaitalPro HF10AK, PE# 294-1011).
Part # 294-2725 - PRV 10W650A Mid/Woofer.
Part # 027-121 - Audyn Q4 33uF 400V MKP, (CD protection capacitor).
Part # 260-411 - Speaker Cabinet Port Tube 4" ID x 4-3/8" L.
Part # 092-054 - Neutrik NL4MPR 4-Pole Connector.
Part # 260-7710 - Penn-Elcom 9145 Rubber Foots.


Conclusions:
The speakers turned out somewhat nice compared to my previous builds using Poly-fiber black carpeting, also much better than a poorly executed painting job.

As for how they sound, this things can scream when pushed and keep the dynamics, though it does not take a lot of power to drive someone out the room, also with an optional ~6db LF boost PEQ this speakers are very musical without subwoofer.

They are crossed over to 60Hz right now as I just have a single UM18-22 sub, but plan to cross them to about ~80Hz after build two 21"(B&C 21SW152) subwoofers which is the next planned build.

Finished speakers:

The speaker size is 37.5" x 12" x 14.5" HxWxD with cabinet feets, and weight about ~75Lbs/ea after drivers, 2FT3(after drivers) and they are tuned on purpose to ~47Hz.

Some build images:

Closeup of the almost finished speaker.



Mounting the drivers after the laminate work with a smile from ear to ear.


Some measurements:




All build progress images can be found HERE
Initial build progress was posted HERE

Regards

[devnull]

Thanks for posting your project. The laminate looks great. How did you finish the corners and edges? Is the laminate black all the way through the material?

[blue934]

Very interesting build! I'm glad to see you glued in the T-nuts. I made that mistake one time
The picture of the bent router bit in your build log may be the scariest thing I've seen!
How much DSP did you have to implement?
Nice job.
David

[JRivera]

Thanks for posting your project. The laminate looks great. How did you finish the corners and edges? Is the laminate black all the way through the material?

Hi thanks, I just carefully file the edges manually at 45 degree angle until edge feels smooth, then used a fine tip black permanent marker to cover all the edges, thus hiding the slightly visible lines.

I used the standard Formica like shown below, it is not black both sides unlike the more expensive ColorCore2 Laminate which its color are all the way through.


Regards

[JRivera]

Very interesting build! I'm glad to see you glued in the T-nuts. I made that mistake one time

Hi, Fortunately I never had issues with my favorite ones which are the Hurricane Nuts bonded with epoxy, also I always put a drop of oil in the screws before driver installation to prevent further oxidation, but have to note that I also tighten the screws manually.

The picture of the bent router bit in your build log may be the scariest thing I've seen!

That accident was caused by a cheap yellow router bit commonly sold on eBay, the bit was a bit too long for the router collet, so when I power the router it rapidly feel with very high vibration followed by a boom!, the bit bent and destroyed the base plate of a new router, so lesson learned, gladly I always wear safety glasses.

How much DSP did you have to implement?
Nice job.
David

Besides the level matching, this speakers yields an acceptable frequency response, so the DSP I did after the measurements was more for my music tastes/basshead, which may be too hot on the band edges for most people.

I raised the top-end a bit(may be bright for some) with: 12kHz + 0.5dB, 14kHz + 1dB, 17kHz + 1dB, 19kHz + 2dB, all Q of 1 bell type which yield an overall +4dB boost for the highs like shown below.


The current crossover is set to 1.3kHz/LR4 Highs, and 60Hz/LR4 Lows since the speakers are mated to single an UM18-22 subwoofer.

Regards

[Serpentus]

They look amazing.

[JRivera]

They look amazing.

Thank you!

[devnull]

Hi thanks, I just carefully file the edges manually at 45 degree angle until edge feels smooth, then used a fine tip black permanent marker to cover all the edges, thus hiding the slightly visible lines.

I used the standard Formica like shown below, it is not black both sides unlike the more expensive ColorCore2 Laminate which its color are all the way through.


Regards

Thanks for the info. I looked at something like the colorcore stuff when I redid my kitchen. It's still way expensive, you can by a lot of sharpies for the difference in price between it and regular formica.