DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

[Tin Ear]

Re: DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

Yesterday I was in Big Lots to grab a bag of Coffee for work (Pour-Over or French Press) & as is the norm for most of us, looked around for materials which can find use in our addic-, I mean, hobby.

On an End-cap were some very small (6 X 6) corrugated Cat Scratchers. Very nice honeycomb structure with decent strength/weight. Ran a fingernail down & HOLY COW! No wonder these are Cat exciters! Who needs Catnip to get your buzz on?

Had a look on Amazon for Cat Scratcher - Apparently, these are the hardiest & the surface area is far greater than the small pieces I surveyed.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005BP8MUO/ref=psd_mlt_bc_B005BP8MUO

As always, hope this assists someone in their endeavors.

[rmaier]

Re: DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

Ok I need to admit I've been bitten by the bug ......I just completed a pair of eps panels 32.75 X 24 and am breaking them in. I used the DAEX32EP's from Dayton and went to a contractor for a commercial grade panel he said it was the ueps or ultra dense panel rated material. I have a pair of Bertangi's That have a blown exciter that I was looking to fix when I came across this thread and decided to see if this type of solution might work as no parts are available to repair the 1 speaker. I must say this set of panels with a little tweaking might just rival my bert's........time will tell! Thanks for everyone's input to make these fairly painless to create. I will post more once broken in and with some listening time for some impressions.

[rmeinke]

Re: DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

Ok I need to admit I've been bitten by the bug ......I just completed a pair of eps panels 32.75 X 24 and am breaking them in. I used the DAEX32EP's from Dayton and went to a contractor for a commercial grade panel he said it was the ueps or ultra dense panel rated material. I have a pair of Bertangi's That have a blown exciter that I was looking to fix when I came across this thread and decided to see if this type of solution might work as no parts are available to repair the 1 speaker. I must say this set of panels with a little tweaking might just rival my bert's........time will tell! Thanks for everyone's input to make these fairly painless to create. I will post more once broken in and with some listening time for some impressions.

Welcome to the Flat Panel Speaker Love thread rmaier and great to hear you are getting good results right out of the gate! I am digging EPS myself (high-levels of panel noise not withstanding)... even with the low grade panel there is less coloration than XPS and can only imagine that a higher density EPS would perform very well indeed.

If you don't mind sharing, how thick are the HD EPS panels and how are they "suspended" and/or placed in the listening room? As you lead on, tweaking is the key to getting a good sounding panel. A little well placed EQ can also be very beneficial to tame a hot mid-range that you often get with some panel/exciter/suspension combinations.

Great to hear from you!!!

[rmaier]

Re: DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

I plan on using a heavy canvas sail cloth inserted in the side slits of the panels and attached to a wood frame for suspension. Still working on the EQ but so far impressions are good and from what has been posted by many others after break in these only get better........can't wait.

[dyoung0308]

Re: DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love



So after reading Rich's article in my Parts-Express flyer, I decided I would give this a whirl! We're moving into a new place in the next few months and will be losing floor space and/or entertainment center space for traditional boxes.

I have these hooked up to my Emotiva UMC-200 and UPA-200 (believer in headroom) at the moment. Crossed at 60 bc I couldn't get them to stay on any surface if I played them lower. I've EQ'd them to my liking and have given them a workout on all genres of music. They definitely have a different sound that took a bit to get accustom to, but am enjoying them more the longer I do listen.

Now that I've got an idea as to how the sound, I want to get some testing done on how to best make them wall mounted in some sort of frame. I've previously done research on have some of my photos screen printed onto sonically transparent material and this project would be a great reason to do so... Any recommendations on what to use behind them hanging on a wall?

[rmeinke]

Re: DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

Looking good dyoung! They definitely do take some getting used to... it took me hours of listening but the more (and the longer the listening session), the more I liked. Keep listening man... :-)

I am also looking to build wall mounted panels and I'm planning on using cotton/denim batting with felt as the backer to hold the batting in place.

The available room in the frame may guide use to different materials. I've held my free panels against the wall and then pulled a heavy drape behind the panel and the bass response/balance was quite good and with a sub handling low bass duties would be excellent.

Let us know how the listening progresses!

[dyoung0308]

Re: DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

Looking good dyoung! They definitely do take some getting used to... it took me hours of listening but the more (and the longer the listening session), the more I liked. Keep listening man... :-)

I am also looking to build wall mounted panels and I'm planning on using cotton/denim batting with felt as the backer to hold the batting in place.

The available room in the frame may guide use to different materials. I've held my free panels against the wall and then pulled a heavy drape behind the panel and the bass response/balance was quite good and with a sub handling low bass duties would be excellent.

Let us know how the listening progresses!

I plan on moving my SI HT18 from my car and putting it in our new living room... I think that'll handle the lower end just fine...

Damon

[t3steve]

I have a feeling that alot of people (like me) are waiting for on wall design and measurements before jumping in.

[Unbiasedsound]

I have a feeling that alot of people (like me) are waiting for on wall design and measurements before jumping in.

These DML speakers radiate sound from both the front and back, hence the reason why some even use the back side where the exciters reside as the fronts. By placing the DML panel close to the wall or directly on the wall would most likely change the overall sound of the panels. I am not saying they would be better or worse but they will sound different as it would come down to each individuals preference.

Also congrats to Rich on a very well written article on DML panel speakers.

[rmeinke]

I have a feeling that alot of people (like me) are waiting for on wall design and measurements before jumping in.

Hello Steve,
Life has been crazy since the holidays but I hope to get to this real soon. Wanted to go at this with a finished and polished end result but may instead move to more of a prototype approach just to establish some basic performance characteristics and, as you said... measurements with different materials to absorb the panels rear radiation.

Stay tuned fellas!

[rmeinke]

These DML speakers radiate sound from both the front and back, hence the reason why some even use the back side where the exciters reside as the fronts. By placing the DML panel close to the wall or directly on the wall would most likely change the overall sound of the panels. I am not saying they would be better or worse but they will sound different as it would come down to each individuals preference.

Also congrats to Rich on a very well written article on DML panel speakers.

Thanks man... appreciate the nice comments!

[Crapflinger]

everyone keeps talkin bout this article! I want's to reads it! also, very interested in the "next to a wall" experiments.

[Unbiasedsound]

everyone keeps talkin bout this article! I want's to reads it! also, very interested in the "next to a wall" experiments.

http://projectgallery.parts-express.com/speaker-projects/dml-flat-pannel/

[Crapflinger]

thanks UBS

[rmeinke]

Sup guys??? Life has been crazy the last few months and will not return to "normal" until soccer and track seasons are done mid June but dying to get back to building!!!

What are you fellas working on???