The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

[Brian Steele]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

I finally got around to finishing the paint job on these, so I thought I would share.

Keep in mind that this represents the "toning down" of an over-excited and over-creative 5 year old girl.

Anyways, enjoy.

FWIW, the glitter letters on the speaker cone are a monogram of her name. They probably weigh less than 1/2 a gram, so I doubt they did anything to change the thiele small parameters.

[ATTACH]45458[/ATTACH][ATTACH]45459[/ATTACH][ATTACH]45460[/ATTACH]

Nice - I love them!

[tyger23]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Fixthedoor - I hope you enjoy them. Fwiw, I really think buying the cabinets for $19/pair is worth it. These things are so small, they're hard to work with unless you're pretty handy with woodworking.

Also, when I rebuilt them after paint, I used about half the stuffing. It helped the bass marginally, but probably lowered the power handling. These sound really nice with a LP-2020a+, which is also worth the current sale price of $19.

[fixthedoor]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

I thought about getting the knockdowns, but building the enclosures is the fun part for me as I don't know enough yet to start designing my own speakers. Good to know about the stuffing. I picked up a 2x50W TDA7492 to power them for now. I won't ever use all the power, but I wanted to have something to play around with when I eventually replace it with 2.1 TPA3116 based board.

[fixthedoor]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Finished them up last night, for the most part.



This was very challenging because on more than one occasion the plies came apart, I wouldn't be surprised if the cabinets are leaky. The insides have a couple coats of glue as a precautionary measure. Finish-wise they're good twenty footers. I have areas that didn't get sanded enough and some areas that didn't get enough filler.

Listening impressions: I'm currently listening to them at work and these are a big step up from the 2.1 Altec Lansing system I had been using. Particularly at lower volumes I'm able to hear so much more of the music. Good work and thanks for design tyger!

[benhinkle711]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Great looking cabinets fixthedoor. I have these drivers on hand and also have been eyeballing this design as an upgrade for the work system. Thanks for providing some inspiration/motivation to get started on mine!

[tyger23]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Finished them up last night, for the most part.

Awesome looking cabinets! I'm impressed! I hope you enjoy them.

[PWR RYD]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

+1

Those look cool!

[Wolf]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Very nice! Have any cutaway views?
Wolf

[fixthedoor]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Thanks for the compliments. The translam enclosures gave me h3ll, and I almost gave up on them multiple times. Last of which was when I was pushing the ND16 in and one of the plies split, so very frustrating. Unfortunately I didn't take in build pictures on this one Wolf. I was too busy licking my wounds and calming myself down.

I'm enjoying them very much Tyger, when no one's around, the volume has a tendency to get turned up . For $50 in parts these are awesome! I love that you designed them for an office desk situation, job well done.

[tyger23]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

I'm gonna place a bet that your laminations came apart on factory-glued locations rather than where you joined them together...

[fixthedoor]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Exactly. From delamination to chunks falling out. After cutting out the centers of each layer, about 3/8" - 1/2" of material was left. If I kept the thickness closer to 3/4" I probably wouldn't have had as many issues.

[tyger23]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

FYI - Looks like the woofer brand and part number has changed with Tectonic Elements buying out HiWave.

The new woofer part number is: TEBM65C20F-8
http://www.parts-express.com/tectoni...-ohm--297-2156

Appears to be no changes other than the part number. Enjoy! If anyone knows how to edit the subject of a thread, let me know.

[silverD]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

I just completed my build of these speakers. I went with the knockdown cabinets and could have done a bit better job with the initial sanding before the coat of watered down glue to seal up the wood before painting. After several coats of primer, some of which were high build which didn't really seem to help fill imperfections, I used chalk board paint for a nice matte black appearance. The speakers sound great! Thanks to tyger for a great small box speaker design that I plan to mount high on the walls as zone 2 speakers for several rooms. I filled the box with polyfill with the updated amount. I'd also like to note that routing for the recessed woofer was tricky for such a small baffle. I ended up screwing down the baffle to a saw horse using the portion of wood that would be later removed for the woofer for stability when routing. I'll try to get some final pics up soon.
Thanks again,
Nate

Update: I have attached a pic of the completed speakers.

[tyger23]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Awesome, I'm glad you're pleased with them! I find myself more pleased with them as time goes on. They're not fantastic, but they're really good as a desktop or "fill-music" type build. They'll do great as a surround as well!

[silverD]

Re: The Mariposas - An ultra small, extremely versatile 2-way (ND16FA + HIBM65C20-8)

Here they are mounted in the dining room powered by a LP-2020A+ with a 12V 3A laptop brick and WeMo switch. The input is from the zone 2 preouts on our RX-A810 in the living room. It's great being able to fully control our A/V equipment by smartphone.