Duane Brown’s Dayton 4 (aka the Persistence Monitor)

[stephenmarklay]

So after many bad cuts, miscalculations, several sanded finishes and one blown woofer my persistence monitor is complete!

Why do I call it the persistence monitor? Because I almost threw them out twice due to so much frustration. It took persistence to get this one done but I am happy I did.

I used a slightly different box dimension than Duane. However, it is about the same internal volume. I had a pair of stand I wanted to use with them…

The baffle is Corian. It is the first time I have used it. It "works" fairly easy but I don’t have the correct saw blades so I made a router work. The only downside is that it is pretty messy to use with a router. But it does spruce up the box a bit. I get scraps locally so I paid only a few dollars for this material.

I know my square edges are a diffraction magnet… I am going to use some felt around the tweeter to mitigate that problem.

I want to thank all of the people that helped me and answered all of my questions. I simply could not have done it without all the help here.

I am getting a bit more skilled at both the woodworking and I am starting to grasp the basics.

This is the last of my “hack” builds as it were. I have since bought a table saw, nice blades. and tools to make sure my cuts are square. I am optimistic that things will get easier with these new tools.

I

[craigk]

Look really good. I already know they sound good.

[stephenmarklay]

Thanks Craig!

[PWR RYD]

I agree with the other Craig. They look very nice. Just wait until you're cutting wood on a nice and square table saw... you'll be addicted just like the rest of us. You'll be buying drivers you don't even need just because...

[stephenmarklay]

Boy that is for sure. I can’t wait to use put that saw to good use. I am going to build a small matching box with a TB W5 which looks similar to the little Dayton. That will be my first project with the new saw.

[Jake]

Nice work, nothing like the gratification of completing a frustrating build. I've had thesenough on my radar for a minute.

[tomzarbo]

That doesn't look like a "hack" build to me. They look very nice. Match the stands perfectly too!

TomZ

[stephenmarklay]

Thank you so much Tom. Well, in the end they are presentable but I look forward to a smoother build with better results in the future.

[Jeff F.]

Nice! Looks good! Are you enjoying them?

[stephenmarklay]

Thank you Jeff! Actually, the bad woofer still needs to be replaced. They are out of stock so hopefully in a week or two I will get it. Regardless, I have listened to them and they are going to be great. I think adding a sub (not that they really need bass) will allow them to shine. There is only so much volume to expect out of a 4” woofer but they don't not sound like budget speakers.

[Kered]

Sorry you had so much trouble with them. They do look really good though. Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk

[stephenmarklay]

Thank you Kered. No need to feel sorry. I learn each time I take on a project. I think fixing errors is a good skill I have really improved my tool situation so things should be easier moving forward.

[stephenmarklay]

I picked up some 3/4 BB to build the sub for these guys. I have been listing to the one good speaker. They have a nice balanced sound. They may be a bit marginal for my larger living space for total SPL but they are still impressive in their over-all sound and really hard to fault being a 4” woofer.

I have not heard any of the smaller popular designs but I am sure the Dayton 4 would fit in well with the others.

[PRS259]

I have to ask how do they compare to the KEFs placed behind?
I understand that they are not in the same range but still relative impressions
would be great to hear.

[stephenmarklay]

I have to ask how do they compare to the KEFs placed behind?
I understand that they are not in the same range but still relative impressions
would be great to hear.

So far I have not been able to listen a lot to the new Dayton 4. One woofer is bad and a new one hopefully will be on its way soon.

My initial impressions are that the Dayton is tonally a very good speaker. It has obvious limitations with dynamic range and SPL but in a smaller room I think it will be a very nice sounding speaker.

The Kef has more of everything but as far as balance I am not sure it is better than the Dayton. With the little sub I am building the Dayton will be a darn nice monitor.

[dynamo]

Wow I absolutely love them. The British monitor look suits them perfectly. They look soooo much more expensive than they are. Very well done!

[stephenmarklay]

Wow I absolutely love them. The British monitor look suits them perfectly. They look soooo much more expensive than they are. Very well done!

Thank you so much Dynamo. You got me. I have had a few sets of LS3/5a and I always liked the utilitarian look for British monitors.

But I also found this method of building to be a good way to tinker with stuff after the fact. As I become more confident I will do try more “interesting” ways to build but I am happy how these look even after the difficulties.

[stephenmarklay]

I ended up getting a new woofer from Amazon. I paid more than 2x the PE price. I intended these for my garage gym and now that my regular gym is closed I needed something now. I am lucky I have enough to get by with my workouts (although with the weather improving, biking and hiking are taking front and center.)

Also, I the actual price is so low I could justify the $14 wasted.

I am super happy with them. I started the matching subwoofer box yesterday and got the corian baffle cut out too. I am using a TB w5 which actually looks a lot like the little TCP. I have to measure if I have room on the baffle for the w5 and the port but I am using a 2” precision port and they take up gobs of space. It will be a tight fit in there but keeping it on the baffle would be nice.

Really though, for normal listening in a smaller room I would not use a sub. The do have a good full sound. In my garage I will HP filter them at 150hz and cross the sub. That way I can play them louder for my larger garage space.


I have to get a few bits for the sub form PE so it will probably be a couple weeks yet...

[stephenmarklay]

Now that I have had them in my garage gym for a few days I can say that they sound much bigger than they are. The bass is a bit round like a tube amp but the overall sound is great. Even rock music like Def Leopard sounds great. They certainly are a price/performance leader. Although PE has a hard time, currently, keeping the drivers in stock.