The Minions

[Soundslike]

Re: The Minions

Just in case anyone is interested, I've found a good 1/4" material for the Minions. Great name, by the way. I had a little difficulty coming up with a material suitable for the little boxes, until I found the MDF "bender board" at Home Depot. My grandson and I knocked out a set of Minion enclosures the other day, using the bender board.

Regarding your earlier comment about the uneven coloration of the little drivers -- I found the same with my four. They look like they've been setting in a Bakery kitchen for a few years. Adds to their character. Rather than color them, I think I'll concoct some cover story about how they're coated with a special dust at the factory that makes them remarkable.:rolleyes:

[bungelow_ed]

Re: The Minions

Ed, I like the mix of veneer and paint. Is that walnut? Glad you like them.

I built an enclosure that holds four of these today. Tried using it as a center with my big 4 cuft. enclosures as mains and the mains drowned it out. I'll try it with a pair of the minions tomorrow to see if it performs better in that configuration. In it's current configuration it has a left sealed chamber with two drivers wired in parallel and a right sealed chamber with two drivers wired in parallel. Those then have leads that go to a 3" center chamber where I can run each pair separately as 4 Ohm loads or wire the two pair in series for an 8 Ohm load. It is 3.5" tall x 3.5" deep x 16" wide.

The veneer is actually Rosewood I have for a turntable plinth. I have a habit of picking up wood when I see interesting grain and/or a good price.

Sounds like you are on your way to building some line arrays. ;) Just another 20-30 more and some serious series/parallel wiring.

Based on my limited listening so far, I think the Minions will work best in an all Minion setup. They are simply out gunned by conventional 2 and 3 way systems. Up to their limits they are very nice. Perfect for PC monitors and mini desk-top stereo systems.

My Lepai's are due to arrive this week. Can't wait to see Aaron's face when he realizes he has his first stereo.

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

Ed, I like the mix of veneer and paint. Is that walnut? Glad you like them.

I built an enclosure that holds four of these today. Tried using it as a center with my big 4 cuft. enclosures as mains and the mains drowned it out. I'll try it with a pair of the minions tomorrow to see if it performs better in that configuration. In it's current configuration it has a left sealed chamber with two drivers wired in parallel and a right sealed chamber with two drivers wired in parallel. Those then have leads that go to a 3" center chamber where I can run each pair separately as 4 Ohm loads or wire the two pair in series for an 8 Ohm load. It is 3.5" tall x 3.5" deep x 16" wide.

[bungelow_ed]

Re: The Minions

Ed, You can do it...Go man Go...

I don't know about the rest of you that have ordered them, but the factory didn't seem to get the cones on these dyed very consistently.

Well your words of encouragement were just what the doctor ordered. Sound is really quite nice, better than I anticipated. Thanks for sharing this little gem.

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

Thanks guys.

Rotech, I am very much interested in your listening impressions after you get them set up. I haven't tried them in an outdoor setting.

Ed, You can do it...Go man Go... The only reason I've been able to post so many is because when I was cutting, I cut enough to make five pairs and then glued them all up at once. The Hickory pair were the last pair I had ready made. Since there seems to be some interest in a two driver version, I'm going to try to find time this weekend to cut some more wood.

I don't know about the rest of you that have ordered them, but the factory didn't seem to get the cones on these dyed very consistantly. I tried coloring in the cones on the Hickory pair last night with a medium sized Sharpie and it did a pretty good job. They look pretty good now, consistant black surface. Kind of like painting, several light passes until the whole surface is filled in. You don't want to spend too much time in one spot and get the paper cone too wet with ink. If anyone has a better way to do this I'd like to hear it.

[bungelow_ed]

Re: The Minions

Ok, here are a couple with wood veneer. Sorry about the crappy phone camera pics. The lighter ones are Hickory and the dark ones are Rosewood. They both look better than the pics. The rosewood pair aren't finished. After two days the gloss urethane hadn't cured so I sanded it off just before I took the pics.

They look very nice, low res pic's not withstanding. Seeing your latest gives me a push to get out to the shop this weekend. Hope mine look as nice as yours.

[ROTECH]

Re: The Minions

Leroy,

Thank you for letting me go back to basics on this, I ordered 4 pairs of the drivers and did the cute little boxes last night. They are going in my buddies outdoor hottub shed/gazebo/ugly shack thing, powered off an old cambridge soundworks mini avr, mated with a panasonic kelton subwoofer (6.5'' with 10'' passive) Was totally a fun, stress free build.

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

Ok, here are a couple with wood veneer. Sorry about the crappy phone camera pics. The lighter ones are Hickory and the dark ones are Rosewood. They both look better than the pics. The rosewood pair aren't finished. After two days the gloss urethane hadn't cured so I sanded it off just before I took the pics. Not sure if I'll try the semigloss or satin urethanes I have or buy another can of gloss, but hopefully the current urethane that is absorbed into the wood won't cause a problem. Not sure why it didn't cure, it worked fine when I finished the tritrix's with it.

[DallasNovelty]

Re: The Minions

Those are very cool I may have to look at building some of those

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

The don't need a tweeter. The mids and highs are fine. If anything, they could use a woofer or subwoofer to fill in the bottom end.


Veneered a pair in Hickory this weekend and a pair in Rosewood.

The Hickory pair was finished in a satin poly and will probably be ready for assembly tomorrow.

I used some gloss poly I had left from my tritrix build on the rosewood pair and that isn't turning out so well. For some reason the poly won't cure, it's staying sticky. I had them in the garage where the heat was plenty high enough, but thought maybe it was too humid there, so I moved them into the house where the A/C keeps the humidity down and the temp is still high enough, but they are still not curing.

[Crayborn]

Re: The Minions

Anyone got any recommendations on a Tweeter/ Xover to incorporate into the Minion's design? Getting a new office and would like to improve on the cheesy Polk computer speakers that I have.

Chuck

[r-carpenter]

Re: The Minions

t-carpenter, nice little cubes you built. How did you like them with that driver? Were they sealed or ported? Going to have to go check out that driver if it's still available. What were the internal dimensions?

This is the one I've used and it's no longer available.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=295-358

this is the replacement.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?PartNumber=295-352

I like them. Of cause not a "do it all" driver, but it's quite nice. It's small so beaming isn't that big of an issue. Low end (if one can call it that) is clean to a 100hz.
I've used it sealed in a 6" cube (external, 3/4" wall thickness, crossoverless) and in a 3L ported box (with BSC and tank). Don't think it make sense to expect much of a lo end out of it. It is very pleasant if one considers the limitations.

[Leroy R]

Re: The Minions

Ed, I'm looking forward to seeing your finished product.

Ron, his first draft doesn't look all that different from mine. A little narrower and taller. You've got a future designer on your hands. ;-) Looking forward to seeing and hearing how your joint venture goes.

t-carpenter, nice little cubes you built. How did you like them with that driver? Were they sealed or ported? Going to have to go check out that driver if it's still available. What were the internal dimensions?

[r-carpenter]

Re: The Minions

very nice, very simple. looks great!
I did similar speakers couple of years ago based on Dayton RS100

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/album.php?albumid=247&pictureid=2140

[Soundslike]

Re: The Minions

Hi Lee,
I have four of the drivers on hand and plan to build a set with my grandson -- he's eight. After looking at one of the little drivers for a minute, he picked up a scratch pad I had laying around. Here's his design:



Think this will work? We should have a lot of fun building these together, but just between you and me, I think I'll use your design.

Ron