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I've been working up to this build for better than a year, so it's great to finally get it off the ground! This is my first speaker build, and I'm the worst kind of noob - impatient and self-educated. So I expect the finished speakers to be ugly, interesting, and sound awesome.
Today, I've uploaded some pictures of the crossovers. Now, normally you build crossovers by using a little node-analysis and inductor arrangement, tying everything together on a little board with as few jumper wires as possible. Then you bury that in the bottom or back of the speaker box, never again to see the light of day. At first, I thought I'd do that, too.
Then I opened my big box of components from PE, and said, "OOOOOooooohhhhh, SHINYYYYY!!" NO way was I going to hide all this cool techy-looking stuff from public view! So, I immediately thought plexiglass boxes on top of the speakers. I figured since they're two-box units to start with, it would kind of flow with the design. Then I thought, why build plexiglass boxes when you can build plexiglass pyramids? :D
Step One: Start with a great big mess of haphazardly connected crossover parts.
You can't see it in this photo, but the one thing in this build I do really well is solder things together. All my connections are rock-solid.
I wish I had pictures of cutting triangles out of sheets of plexi, and gluing them together with Weld-On 16, which was way more difficult than it had any business being. So take my word for it, it's an awful pain in the rear. Next time, I'm going to use a hot glue gun for the plexi.
Step Two: Stuff the big mess into the plexiglass pyramid:
In Aviation Maintenance, we call this sort of device a Shoctopus.
I used hot glue to attach components to the inside of the plexi. The real trick here was making sure that the proper connection points reached the proper banana jacks, and at the same time getting the coils in the corners so they won't mess with one another in operation. This will immediately draw the reader's eye to the two coils on the right of the pic, which are obviously incorrectly placed. This was a total accident. My glue gun needed a new stick right in the middle of gluing the big coil on the bottom, and by the time I had that sorted and stuck it down, I had somehow got on the wrong side of it's corner. The coils are about 4 inches apart at their nearest point, close to 6 inches center to center, so I don't think it will create a problem.
Inside the second Shoctopus. Notice the much nicer locations of the coils! I couldn't get them all in the corners, due to the jumpers having a slightly different randomishness than in the first unit. The coil for the tweeter circuit is stuffed sideways way up in the top. It will be interesting to see if this makes any difference that can be heard. I had to be very careful to trace all of the lines and make sure nothing will short on anything else - in a few places I hot-glued the jumpers to maintain arrangement and spacing.
Shoctopus One, Exterior. I love the way the shiny metal bits look through the plexi! Things like this almost never turn out the way I think they're going to, but I have to say, this time the end result matches my initial vision almost exactly!
And finally, the completed Twins. I think I'll call them Arky and Sparky! I'm also considering labeling the binding posts "Input, 1.21 JiggaWatts". I have a few more pictures of them in my photo albums, in case anyone's as interested as I am.
Two questions on my mind at this point - what kind of amplifier will I use with these speakers? And the most important question:
What will be the first awesome rock and roll record I play through them?
Decisions, decisions! ;-)
Today, I've uploaded some pictures of the crossovers. Now, normally you build crossovers by using a little node-analysis and inductor arrangement, tying everything together on a little board with as few jumper wires as possible. Then you bury that in the bottom or back of the speaker box, never again to see the light of day. At first, I thought I'd do that, too.
Then I opened my big box of components from PE, and said, "OOOOOooooohhhhh, SHINYYYYY!!" NO way was I going to hide all this cool techy-looking stuff from public view! So, I immediately thought plexiglass boxes on top of the speakers. I figured since they're two-box units to start with, it would kind of flow with the design. Then I thought, why build plexiglass boxes when you can build plexiglass pyramids? :D
Step One: Start with a great big mess of haphazardly connected crossover parts.
You can't see it in this photo, but the one thing in this build I do really well is solder things together. All my connections are rock-solid.
I wish I had pictures of cutting triangles out of sheets of plexi, and gluing them together with Weld-On 16, which was way more difficult than it had any business being. So take my word for it, it's an awful pain in the rear. Next time, I'm going to use a hot glue gun for the plexi.
Step Two: Stuff the big mess into the plexiglass pyramid:
In Aviation Maintenance, we call this sort of device a Shoctopus.
I used hot glue to attach components to the inside of the plexi. The real trick here was making sure that the proper connection points reached the proper banana jacks, and at the same time getting the coils in the corners so they won't mess with one another in operation. This will immediately draw the reader's eye to the two coils on the right of the pic, which are obviously incorrectly placed. This was a total accident. My glue gun needed a new stick right in the middle of gluing the big coil on the bottom, and by the time I had that sorted and stuck it down, I had somehow got on the wrong side of it's corner. The coils are about 4 inches apart at their nearest point, close to 6 inches center to center, so I don't think it will create a problem.
Inside the second Shoctopus. Notice the much nicer locations of the coils! I couldn't get them all in the corners, due to the jumpers having a slightly different randomishness than in the first unit. The coil for the tweeter circuit is stuffed sideways way up in the top. It will be interesting to see if this makes any difference that can be heard. I had to be very careful to trace all of the lines and make sure nothing will short on anything else - in a few places I hot-glued the jumpers to maintain arrangement and spacing.
Shoctopus One, Exterior. I love the way the shiny metal bits look through the plexi! Things like this almost never turn out the way I think they're going to, but I have to say, this time the end result matches my initial vision almost exactly!
And finally, the completed Twins. I think I'll call them Arky and Sparky! I'm also considering labeling the binding posts "Input, 1.21 JiggaWatts". I have a few more pictures of them in my photo albums, in case anyone's as interested as I am.
Two questions on my mind at this point - what kind of amplifier will I use with these speakers? And the most important question:
What will be the first awesome rock and roll record I play through them?
Decisions, decisions! ;-)
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