The Minions

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

Thanks Ed. Yeah I can't complain. If the only sacrifice I have to make is which project to divert funds to, I'm in a better place than a lot of other people these days. I've wanted to be able to build my own speakers since high school and now I've finally done that and I've always wanted to own a classic muscle car and that dream has almost reached realization too. Like I said I can't complain.

In the picture, the passenger fender has the wrong extension on it. I pointed that out to them and reminded them that I had given them several of the correct extension to choose from and they say they have now corrected that oversight. Looking forward to seeing it in person in a few days.

[tobis]

Re: The Minions

More Minions...


Cut all sides the same at a 45 degree angle.


Dry fit.


OK so far, but if I glue it like this will I be able to get the tape off or will it just be a big gluey mess?


In another thread someone mentioned attaching grills by magnets sticking to the speaker mounting screws. And then I found these flat top screws. But I have no idea what to do about grills yet.

[bungelow_ed]

Re: The Minions

More Minions...


Dry fit.


OK so far, but if I glue it like this will I be able to get the tape off or will it just be a big gluey mess?

You can tape the exterior edges to protect the wood, then use tape as you have to hold the boxes in shape. Does take awhile to apply all the tape though. Pretty common practice with cabinet makers and woodworkers. Saves time and protects the wood from glue penetration. Dis-assembly is no problem.

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

Those are looking good. I'm not sure I could cut 45s accurate enough to get good glue joints and seams.

[michiganpat]

Re: The Minions

dumb idea for a "super minion":


how about taking the basic design, putting it on top of a column that is a down firing 4th order bandpass box housing a dayton ND90 3.5" driver? playing with the published specs in a design calculator, a .027 cubic foot vented portion tuned to 105hz and a sealed portion .057 cubic foot yields a -3db of 58hz and a response range of 58-192hz. you could then potentially run the peerless driver sealed, with no crossover, or maybe just one big NPE as a highpass for the peerless driver.

it would yield a ~16" base for the minion to sit, or increase the internal dimension from 3x3 to 4x4, and the base is only 9" tall....

or use the box separate as a mini-subwoofer....

thoughts?

[ameuba10]

Re: The Minions

hmm are you talking about a mini tower? im working on a set of dual minions currently. Hope to have them finished this weekend

[michiganpat]

Re: The Minions

more or less...basically a minion top end and a bandpass base it would sit on, kind of like a mini AR M5....

http://classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/holographic_series_1990/holographic_series_brochure/holographic_series_brochure.pdf

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

On my way back from Michigan, I stopped to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Kentucky. I had my rosewood minions with me and played some music for them. My Aunt said she could actually understand the lyrics which she has a hard time with. She asked if they could be used with their TV, because she has a hard time understanding what is being said. They had even bought an expensive Samsung sound bar that she couldn't understand. So we gave it a try. The TV only had an optical speaker out, but the cable box had rca outs. We hooked the Lepai amp up using the rca outs. She sampled a number of movies and TV series, news channels, etc... and was excited that she could here and understand. She was especially surprised when she was able to understand a person speaking English who's native language was not English. My rosewood minions now have a new home in Kentucky.
Made me happy to know that something so small that I did could make her so happy.

[jheizer]

Re: The Minions

That's awesome! Glad to hear you could help her out. I finally got some stuffing in mine and it help out a lot. Been rocking out with them this afternoon while work has not been going my way.

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

Are you using them with a sub?

I'm playing around with another sub to go with them using the Cambridge 6.5" buyout driver. I'm using it in an oversized cabinet for the moment, but will build an appropriate cabinet for it when I get back from New York.

[jheizer]

Re: The Minions

Yeah have them running off of this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836121122 with the port stuffed with a tshirt.

[Soundslike]

Re: The Minions

Wow! There's been a lot going on over here -- I hadn't noticed until today. I've been waiting for an opportune time to work on my Minions with my Grandson, but today I decided to go ahead and finish them. Got some primer on today -- should be trying them out soon. I like the Cougar too...

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

jheizer
I like how they made the controls a separate unit rather than having them built into one of the satellites, easy to use the sub with different satellites.

Soundslike
I wondered what happened to you. Never saw you post your finished set. Now I see it is because you haven't finished them yet. You do great finish work, so I'm anxiously awaiting your finished product.

Since I gave my last finished pair to my Aunt and haven't had time to build more since I got back from Michigan, I've been listening to the center I built with each pair split into separate channels. I have the Lepai going to a Dayton 25Watt plate amp high level inputs, the high level outs going to the separate channels of the center speaker and the sub line going to one of the Cambridge 6.5" buyouts in a temporary enclosure. The Cambridge sounds good but I need to get it into a proper enclosure before I will know if it is better than the 4" Tymphany sub I built previously.

[hooligan72]

Re: The Minions

I'm subscribed. I've been looking at these for use as center channel duty for in car use. They are low power, but for limited bandwidth applications, say 300hz to 4000hz, may work well in car.

I would love to see some off axis response curves.

The Minions look great and with that extremely compact size they look tempting for kitchen, bathroom, dining room...etc. Anywhere space is at a premium and only moderate listening levels are needed.

Have you considered a super skinny eight driver array? Or perhaps a 1.5 way?

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

The closest I've come to an array is the 4 driver version I built on page 2 of this thread. I don't have measurement gear up and running yet, so maybe someone else that built these could post some measurements from theirs.

I may get around to playing with some other designs using these drivers, but for now I am working on other projects. I'm planning to build a few more pair to give to my nieces for Christmas.

If you wind up building some, post some pics here.