Paul Carmody's Swope MTM build from India

[Jeanpher]

Hello Everyone

I am new to DIY, after extensive search, I have decided to go for Swope MTM. This is my first build on proven designs. Main reason to decide on this design is because of the parts availability in India. I have collected all major design info's from multiple threads.

Parts Ordered from Diyaudiocart.com

I chose 18 mm HDF material for enclosure, orders 4X4 sheet of same and prepared the cut list too.

Will update some pics tomorrow of the progress.

Looking forward some tips from your experience

Regards
Jean

[Jeanpher]

I have received the parts in good condition looks cool and cut down the pieces too

[Jeanpher]

Update: Last Sunday, I got some time to put together the one of the enclosure. Without clamps it was very difficult job keep it in place(square) when drilling and screwing. Somehow with my brothers help, I could put it together. Waiting for next Sunday.

[Jeanpher]

Update: I got some time this week, so I have put together the other enclosure too except the baffle, even I trimmed the edges using the router. it looks like only a minor sanding necessary later.



I have decided to use a double-layer baffle, done the cutout too.



Just the speaker holes to be routed, experts tips to do so are most welcome. The dry fit looks perfect



There is so much sawdust in my house, So I need to complete this soon before being kicked out of the house.
Using a router without proper workplace and gears was a bad idea, should have taken it to a carpenter.

There is heavy continuous rain in our place(Kanyakumari) so there is often power failure, which again slows down my progress. Hope it will be better tomorrow.

So far so good thank you for looking.

Regards
Jean

[DeZZar]

Looking great!! Hope you can get them finished soon!! 👍

[Jeanpher]

Today I had some time to route the holes. I have made some mistakes too like forgot to lock the depth couple of times, Will fix it with wood filler or putty.

[DeZZar]

Whoops!

Oh well...at least you remembered to mirror the tweeter offsets. I finished up routing out speaker cutouts in a project once with offset tweeters and looking at them side by side after I realised I marked the both out on the same side.... Had to cut a plug, glue and fill and try again!!

[unclejunebug]

Looking good! Nothing some filler won’t solve. Mistakes are just part of the process

[davidB]

At least you have a good helper there.

[Jeanpher]

I have done chamfering and lined the wall with acoustic felt. I have arranged the crossover parts and haven't done the proper soldering, just waiting for the expert's approval to go ahead.

[Chris Roemer]

I THINK your 1.5ohm (tweeter) series resistor needs to go to the other end of the coil (so the cap, coil, & resistor make a "T" - like in Paul's schemo).
If I'm seeing your layout correctly ... ?

[Jeanpher]

I THINK your 1.5ohm (tweeter) series resistor needs to go to the other end of the coil (so the cap, coil, & resistor make a "T" - like in Paul's schemo).
If I'm seeing your layout correctly ... ?

As per the schematic below one end of the resistor should connect to 68uf cap and 0.4mh inductor, which I have done, if I connect to another end of the coil, that is to the 22uf cap to the woofer, then it is wrong rite?

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Or I misunderstood, you may be talking about the placement of the parts in layout, does it matter really?

[Chris Roemer]

Sorry, I misspoke.
BOTH your XO pics look correct. I (mentally) swapped the 22uF NPE w/the 6.8uF pp cap (which has a smaller value, but is larger in size - since it's NOT an npe).

[Jeanpher]

Weekends are awesome Finally, I got some time to put together everything and had a good listening session too. Initially, when I listened to it, I felt like something is missing in HF. Then I checked the wiring and found one of the tweeter polarities has been reversed. Oh, Thank God you helped me figure it out soon. It sounds good looking forward to inviting my friends to listen to it post COVID. Thanks again Paul for such a nice design.

I am planning to finish it either with paint or laminate sheet, any ideas, please comment.

[DeZZar]

I would definitely recommend a laminate finish - it is a LOT of work to get a satisfactory paint finish over MDF. I've seen professionals apply laminate to MDF first and THEN apply the paint finish to get a better result.