Samba in MDF, Oak and Walnut . . .

[Steve Lee]

OK, so this Samba kit drivers have right at 2 weeks of constant play time at moderate to semi loud levels played upon them and are now fully broken-in; here are my findings:

1. The bass is too boxy/boomy
2. The Mids are now more pronounced/well balanced

So, I opened the cabinets and experimented with additional pillow stuffing and found that a small handful of it pushed in the lower corner/back behind the woofer and the same stuffed into the upper top back corner by the port tube stops the boom/boxyness.

I am no longer using wave guides on the tweeters because they don't need it.

The kit, speakers, crossovers are awesome as designed - they just need to be broken in well and some slight attenuation to the interior via mechanical stuffing - just a little bit - not much at all.

Next I need to assemble the Xovers onto their boards and move the speaker to the drum studio and replace the existing NS10M's then remix my latest work on them.


TAKE AWAY FROM ALL OF THIS? Let your speakers break-in before you chase your ass all over the place changing crossover components . . .

More later.

[Steve Lee]

Thanks so much UncleDude - I was so let down by the 'meh' response that I thought I had done something wrong here.
The trim was done as it was to prevent the problems arising from PVA glue shrinkage and MDF exposed edges that everyone complains about and the cabinets look fine from about 6' away but they do have finish flaws. (I got tired of sanding and wanted to listen to them).

They sound good though - with wave-guides on them . . .

[unclejunebug]

​
Cabinet finishing is not my strong suit . . .
​

I beg to differ, Steve. Those look great! Nice job!

[Steve Lee]

Good catch, 01-0077 - I corrected the part number - thanks.

[01-0077]

Great looking speakers Steve. Just to be certain RS28F-4 or RST28F-4?

[Steve Lee]

I have the SEOS-8 wave guides clamped over the tweeters and a series resistance of 4 ohms on the tweeters now and the sound of the Samba's is much, much better - the vocals are front and center and so clean.

Looks like I will be breaking out the test mic so I can share my findings soon - This kit is nice as designed but they lack SPL in the mids - the wave guides just make them come alive.

[Steve Lee]

Thanks, djg.

[djg]

Very nice looking cabinets.

[Steve Lee]

Thanks for your gracious comments, Geoff.

[Geoff Millar]

These look really nice, the trim works well and the MDF finish looks good too.

Geoff

[Steve Lee]

Holding a SEOS-8 Wave-guide up against the RST28F-4; WOW!!

The upper midrange that was missing becomes so alive and balances out the heavy bass so much better!!

I'm gonna gut the cabinets and redo these things with some test cabinets - these tweeters have some real potential not disclosed in the Samba design . . .

[Steve Lee]

OK, I am over 24 hours into constant play time on these speakers and here are my observations for those interested in the Samba kits:

1. Initially the NEW UNUSED speaker drivers sounded boomy, midrangy, raspy/loud treble so I padded the tweeter with an 8 ohm resistor rather than the kit supplied 4.7 ohm and let them play for about 12 hours then found them to be lacking in highs as the mids got smoother and the bass got less boomy.

2. I replaced the 8 ohm series tweeter with a 6 ohm and it sounded better and let them play for about 6 hours - after returning I found the mids had relaxed and the bass too loud so I replaced the 6 ohm series tweeter resistor with the kit supplied 4.7 and let them play for a few more hours.

3. So now at over 24 hours of constant play I have replaced the kit supplied 4.7 ohm series tweeter resistor with a 3 ohm and the balance is about perfect now.

4. I have been using Sade's BEST-OF album (Deep percussion/vocals) and Steely Dan's GOLD EXPANDED album (Masterful production) as I am familiar with how they sound on various systems.

5. Port lengths are set to exactly 6" - It gets deep and punchy - the Q of the Bass is not at all muddy - very well defined but not annoyingly pulsating.

6. Speakers are out away from walls and near the center of the 24 X 36 X 8 foot room - they sound excellent in here.

Once I finish assembling the cross-overs and stuffing them into the cabinets I'll move them to the house and see what damage the room acoustics can inflict on them and deal with it later.

I would buy these again . . .

[Steve Lee]

​ Pic-6


Pic-7




Cabinet finishing is not my strong suit . . .

​

​

[Steve Lee]

Finally nearing completion after a year and a half but they are really impressing me with their clarity, detail and bass.

I changed the series resistance value on the tweeter from 4.7 to 8 Ohms as I find the highs too strong but the speakers still need to be broken in for a week so I'll revisit this again once they are placed in the room they will call "home".

I have a significant number of build photos sitting on my shop camera but I snapped these today as I was testing out the cross-overs and tweaking them to taste:

Pic-1


Pic-2


Pic-3


Pic-4


Pic-5