DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

[MisterD]

Did you try bonding? How did it go?

Haven’t yet. Got 4 of the 2’x2’ Foamular panels here waiting. Weather is cold and rainy/snowy out and I want to bond them outside on a piece of glass so they’re perfectly flat. I’ll do them as soon as I get a couple warmer days, then let you all know how it works out.

[Bob Johnson]

Try the finish 1/4 sande plywood at Lowe’s. Works well

[Bob Johnson]

Have not found sheet tonewood large enough yet to try but the sande ply at Lowe’s or Home Depot works pretty well.

[Bob Johnson]

Was looking for this thanks. These JMLs see to be too braced to work correctly. Maybe we need a instrument builder to help us with this. These are never going to be close to full range.

[Bob Johnson]

I was looking for this. No way are these JMC speakers worth anything close to what they want for them

[Bob Johnson]

I have used finish plywood from home improvement stores with good results as long as you restrict to over 1k

[Bob Johnson]

Kornbread. Thanks for your comments and the link to the diy event in Indiana. Does anyone know of a DIY event in the northeast? The more I read about open baffle for lows and DML for highs it seems quite rational.

[Brewster56]

A lady did a YouTube video on what is the best Styrofoam glue. Glidden Gripper primer was the winner. Haven't tried it but interested in how it works on sanded XPS.

[Brij]

Hey folks!

I’m thinking of bonding two 2’ square panels together, edge to edge, to make a 2’x4’. Thoughts?

Did you try bonding? How did it go?

[Dukk]

Ordered up 3 pairs of different exciters last night. Time for some experimenting

[Kornbread]

But now have them passively crossed over at 2K and they lose all the extra resonances. Ran a few sweeps and found very little distortion. Yes 2K is high but I added a few ported boxes to handle below 2K and the difference is quite dramatic.

My idea is as follows - Try this wood material for mids/highs and some open baffle woofer designs - perhaps 2 15's in a open baffle dipole design. Bi Amp with a Mini DSP for the adjustments. Thinking the Goldwood 15's can go up to about 1-2k . has anyone tried this. It brings together the open baffle+ dipole idea for both sets of drivers. Never seen this done yet . Looked around for any examples and didn't find any.

Also has anyone tried real tonewood? Specifically Spruce ?

And are there any DYI events in the northeast coming up soon? I would like try this out there.

I was wanting a one driver, crossoverless speaker but after toasting a lot (6?) of the daex32 (I think the large panels used were becoming too excited and forcing the exciter past its excursion limits) the thought occurred to use the exciters as conventional drivers are with a smaller lighter exciter for the migs/highs and a bass shaker, on a separate panel, for the lows. The experiment got cut short as the frustration level increased due to the reliability issue and a warning that no further exciters would be replaced. I have yet to see someone use a bass shaker for the low end. You game?

Somewhere in one of the other large threads, someone did use tonewood for their panel. Don't remember their results.

InDIYana 2020

[Dukk]

Cool post. When I was in retail I sold NXT 'picture frames' and they were super cool but pricey in the early 2000s. I have a neat little set that are about 4"x6" and they always get comments if I leave them out.

Going to have to play with some exciters this year.

[Bob Johnson]

New Member - just started to explore the DML ideas with the exciters. Currently have 2 1/4 plywood 4x4 panels hanging on pipes with 2 25MM dayton exciters driven by the 2020 amp. Tried driving full range , highs and mids were fine but the panels rumbled and could not dampen the low frequency's sufficiently. But now have them passively crossed over at 2K and they lose all the extra resonances. Ran a few sweeps and found very little distortion. Yes 2K is high but I added a few ported boxes to handle below 2K and the difference is quite dramatic.

My idea is as follows - Try this wood material for mids/highs and some open baffle woofer designs - perhaps 2 15's in a open baffle dipole design. Bi Amp with a Mini DSP for the adjustments. Thinking the Goldwood 15's can go up to about 1-2k . has anyone tried this. It brings together the open baffle+ dipole idea for both sets of drivers. Never seen this done yet . Looked around for any examples and didn't find any.

Also has anyone tried real tonewood? Specifically Spruce ?

And are there any DYI events in the northeast coming up soon? I would like try this out there.

[MisterD]

Hey folks!

I’ve been listening to and enjoying my DIY DML panels since October last year (2019). I decided to make my first set from the 1” 2’x2’ Foamular panels sold at Home Depot and I’m using the “Thruster” exciters.

Seems I can’t find the same XPS stuff in 4x8’ sheets locally. If anyone knows of a supplier in the Socal or central California area (around Bakersfield?) please let me know.

I think I’m ready for some larger panels for better bass. Has anyone tried this 1” XPS Foamular material in a 2’x4’ panel speaker and liked their sound? Unless I can find some 4’x8’ sheets, I’m thinking of bonding two 2’ square panels together, edge to edge, to make a 2’x4’. Thoughts?

[geosand]

miniDSP Umik 1 and the Dayton PE umm6 are both usb mics that come in around $70. Of the two, I think the Umik 1 is the preferred mic.

Grab a cheap used laptop for price of a Friday night meal and load REW or ARTA.

https://www.roomeqwizard.com/

http://www.artalabs.hr/

Thanks Kornbread! ARTA looks very sophisticated.

So I have an old 8" tablet running Win 10 and 2GB memory. Its slow but should be enough for Arta and REW I hope...

Still though if anyone else has suggestions for a smartphone let me know.