The Speaker Building Bible

[Wolf]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

I know he posted them on the old MAD board waaaayyyy back, but he also posted them in a thread on the PE forum here. Just do a search for "Jeff Bagby's Crossover tips", and you might find it. There were at least 3 threads of postings over the course of a month, and a lot of people found it interesting and useful.

I use Unibox and WBCD, so WinISD is not my normal either.

Later,
Wolf

[Paul Carmody]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

The thing that bothered me the most is that the articles pretty much present MDF as the only choice.

point taken

As far as failure, there are some pretty long threads dedicated to dealing with edges and sealing. Some pretty elaborate trenching and multicoating methods are presented. In those threads, people seemed to view the edges printing through the finish as failure.

Well, it's an article for beginners. I mean, think of learning an instrument... to a person just starting out, they're happy if they can make it through the song without stopping. Obviously, a more advanced player has a higher set of standards for his performance.

[Paul Carmody]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Can't find Jeff's crossover tips webpage... anyone got that?

I looked all around the internets, and I couldn't find it either.

Since you added WinISD, would you be willing to add Unibox as well?

http://audio.claub.net/software/kougaard/ubmodel.html

[weinstro]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

I'm going to leave this open for a few days to allow for constructive criticism regarding the layout and sequence and any information that needs to be added.

Let me know guys!

On the first Efficiency decision point, under Large, the arrow on your Visio points the wrong way.

Regards,

Rob

[[email protected]]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Got a couple more links up there that I've found useful over the years. Can't find Jeff's crossover tips webpage... anyone got that?

[Ray Tremblay]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Very nice! Thanks, Mike!

[fastbike1]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

The thing that bothered me the most is that the articles pretty much present MDF as the only choice.

As far as failure, there are some pretty long threads dedicated to dealing with edges and sealing. Some pretty elaborate trenching and multicoating methods are presented. In those threads, people seemed to view the edges printing through the finish as failure.

[Paul Carmody]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Folks, what do you think?

The two links on box building / mdf, while I know they come from a respected source, are wrong or misleading on several structural facts about mdf. They also conflict with each other on several points.

At a minimum MDF is not harder or stiffer than plywood.
It also will not hold a screw as well.
While edges are "sharp when machined", they are very fragile.
Several of the better jointing techniques will not work with mdf since it relies to a large extent on the skin for strength.
They completely gloss over (no pun intended) the difficulties with sealing the surface.
No discussion of the large quantities of very fine, nasty dust
No real mention of plywood as an option.

Personally, I think you're nit-picking. There is a lot of useful information there, especially for people who know nothing about wood--such as myself, when I got started in the hobby. Not every bit of information is optimum, but I also don't see anything that's flat-out "wrong" that would lead a builder to a failure of a box.
Yes, plywood is a viable material for speaker boxes; almost ubiquitous in pro audio. But in home audio, most retail speakers are made from MDF, even the high-end ones, so I like that this article is there to "demystify" MDF.

Could someone write an article touting all the benefits of plywood over MDF? Of course! Where is it?

[fastbike1]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Folks, what do you think?

The two links on box building / mdf, while I know they come from a respected source, are wrong or misleading on several structural facts about mdf. They also conflict with each other on several points.

At a minimum MDF is not harder or stiffer than plywood.
It also will not hold a screw as well.
While edges are "sharp when machined", they are very fragile.
Several of the better jointing techniques will not work with mdf since it relies to a large extent on the skin for strength.
They completely gloss over (no pun intended) the difficulties with sealing the surface.
No discussion of the large quantities of very fine, nasty dust
No real mention of plywood as an option.

[[email protected]]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Thanks for the replies. Everything should be functionally correct now.

I'll add more resources as we go along to include books and whatever we gather. The main reason for omission of books, to this point, is to keep this guide totally free for the user.

Some of it is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but the reason for the google link is to allow for a quick pop-out window without needing to open up a new tab or browser page...

[Wolf]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Other than what Paul said- Nicely tabulated!
Later,
Wolf

[Paul Carmody]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

The link to "optimizing XO frequencies according to drivers" doesn't work. I can't figure out how to get it to work, either. Get Wayne to fix it!

The article "Zaph Audio's Speaker Building Guidelines" was all Dave Ralph's work. Zaph is just hosting it for him. I say give Dave the credit.

Also, the title "designing speakers with random drivers" makes me laugh every time I read it.

Google is a useful site. :p Thanks for the link! :D;) I'm totally kidding you around. Nicely-done; it's well-organized. Makes me realize that there's still so much to be written down!

[howard]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Mike,
Nice job! That is a lot of resources in one place. Thank you for your time and effort. It will be helpful to a lot of people.

Howard

[ckmoore]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

Looks great!

Maybe add some info regarding suggested books, like the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, and Speaker Building 201.

[[email protected]]

Re: The Speaker Building Bible

great effort mike. thanks.