DIY Flat Panel Speaker Love

[Unbiasedsound]

I haven't used a segmented sphere but I did try it on card board boxes and Styrofoam coolers, sound wise boom box quality but not audiophile/hi fi......There was a Styrofoam sphere at a craft shop but I wasn't going to waste money to try it out.

[Unbiasedsound]

Part 2 of Tech Ingredients DML flat panel speaker series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKIye4RZ-5k

Except for using a different panel material, he did nothing to further improve on the panels....in fact he disregarded the counter weights. sigh

[Unbiasedsound]

I thought this video was pretty interesting> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0hTamed0-k

[BRYANCMARTINS]

Hey Gang, glad to be here.. I'm about to embark into my first dml build.. I was curious what methods all of you are using in painting the panels and did any of you notice a characteristic change in the sound.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Unbiasedsound]

Hey Gang, glad to be here.. I'm about to embark into my first dml build.. I was curious what methods all of you are using in painting the panels and did any of you notice a characteristic change in the sound.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Any time you put anything on the existing panel material it will change the sound to a degree.....Polystyrene is very susceptible to corrosive type of chemicals so certain types of paints like oil based enamels can corrode it if too much is applied.

[Evilmonstertruck]

I want to try this. I was wanting to use these for the panels: https://www.stewmac.com/Materials_an...AaAtqYEALw_wcB

It basically mimics those super expensive JMC's.

Do this sound like a good idea? Maybe four exciters per panel?

Thank you

[Unbiasedsound]

I want to try this. I was wanting to use these for the panels: https://www.stewmac.com/Materials_an...AaAtqYEALw_wcB

It basically mimics those super expensive JMC's.

Do this sound like a good idea? Maybe four exciters per panel?

Thank you

It says the panels are 8 inches X 22 inches....The 8 inch size is a little too small, it would produce more bass if it was over 12 inches....Also for the most coherent sound is when using only 1 exciter per panel.

[Evilmonstertruck]

It says the panels are 8 inches X 22 inches....The 8 inch size is a little too small, it would produce more bass if it was over 12 inches....Also for the most coherent sound is when using only 1 exciter per panel.

Ok. Is the length good? I was just mirroring, to a point, those JMC's. They user 8 exciters per panel. I am a complete noob with these so appreciate the help.

Thanks

[Unbiasedsound]

The length 22 inches is good. Bass is limited when the panel is smaller then 12 inches. A exciters bending wave is like throwing a stone into a pond and watching the waves/ripples....When more then one stone is thrown into the pond the waves/ripples will over lap with each other creating more chaos then coherency....Exciters work very similar that is why one exciter per panel will produce the most coherent sound.

[Kornbread]

$33 - $102 for an 8"x22" piece ... WOW! How about some 1/4' ply, balsa, whatever, your choice, from the local hardware store, maybe they have some scraps for free. Experiment with that for a while and see what happens. You may want to continue the experiment, maybe not, but you haven't spent that much $ on something that may, or may not, turn out the way you like. As far as exciter placement, I wanted to find some type of glue that would allow me to move/measure/repeat the process without damaging either the panel or exciter, never found it.

Just an FYI, I've built about 8 speakers using plain ole' cones n domes since experimenting with the 'dml' panels, and IMO, the cones n domes have bettered the panels in every way except the panels have a very diffuse type of sound for those that like an exaggerated stage.

Being a planar type of guy, I own both Apogee Calipers and Carver Amazings, I had high hopes for dml panels being a crazy cheap way to get some of that planar performance ... I got meh.



YMMV

[Evilmonstertruck]

$33 - $102 for an 8"x22" piece ... WOW! How about some 1/4' ply, balsa, whatever, your choice, from the local hardware store, maybe they have some scraps for free. Experiment with that for a while and see what happens. You may want to continue the experiment, maybe not, but you haven't spent that much $ on something that may, or may not, turn out the way you like. As far as exciter placement, I wanted to find some type of glue that would allow me to move/measure/repeat the process without damaging either the panel or exciter, never found it.

Just an FYI, I've built about 8 speakers using plain ole' cones n domes since experimenting with the 'dml' panels, and IMO, the cones n domes have bettered the panels in every way except the panels have a very diffuse type of sound for those that like an exaggerated stage.

Being a planar type of guy, I own both Apogee Calipers and Carver Amazings, I had high hopes for dml panels being a crazy cheap way to get some of that planar performance ... I got meh.



YMMV

Damn. That sucks. Like I said i was just trying to imitate those JMC's, that cost $8k!!! They do use there own type of exciter so maybe that's where the difference is. But for that money they have to sound good.
Maggies have always been a dream of mine to own. Maybe one day.

Thanks for the response.

[Kornbread]

Damn. That sucks. Like I said i was just trying to imitate those JMC's, that cost $8k!!! They do use there own type of exciter so maybe that's where the difference is. But for that money they have to sound good.
Maggies have always been a dream of mine to own. Maybe one day.

Thanks for the response.

By no means let me stop you! I do think these panels have potential.

IMO, exciter placement has to be just as big of an issue as panel material and suspension. If there were some way to mount the exciter/measure/repeat procedure without damaging either panel or exciter, that would go a long way in furthering this experiment. At one point someone mentioned having a copy of software nxt (looks like nxt later became HiWave Audio, then somehow became Tectonic Elements) used to model nodes of the dml panel. It would have been very helpful, but I was never able to get my hands on it.

IIRC, in one of the dml threads (may have been on another site) there was a Russian that was successful in making commercial (concert) sound reinforcement via dml panels.

The Tectonic Elements bmrs' that PE sells, are a bastardization of cone and dml tech, so it does work.

Please continue the experiment, just trying to caution you towards getting your feet wet before jumping in.

[panoramer]

This is how the JMC Soundboards look like from the back.

https://youtu.be/JlZKtY21S4U?t=27s this video shows some details during assembly. (German language). As you can see the Exciters are mounted on a teardrop shaped peace of ?? before they are mounted on the soundboard.

https://youtu.be/eF_rwi-vAjA?t=1m21s here you see another video this time french with more detail on the 8 exciters and some electronics.

Does anyone know what kind of electronics these might be?

The Soundboard is made of 4 mm Spruce. What if we use normal Spruce panel instead of tonewood quality Spruce?

Maybe it's possible to adapt some ideas to DIY projects

[Bob Johnson]

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

[Bob Johnson]

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

[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.

[panoramer]

Does someone have the Monacor placement configuration pdf downloaded? The link in this thread is inactive.

[Ronin]

Hi all, new to the mega-thread. Will be making my own panels soon in conjunction w a subwoofer so mids and highs are most important to me.

[QUOTE=captainjack115;n1283173]

Sounds like that would work!
Having a hard shell surrounding an otherwise dampened material sounds ideal.
About 6 years ago I tried a thin gauge of aluminum, I then surrounded the exciter with a piece of extruded eps glued to the aluminum. The result was a nice sounding panel with good highs.
The bad news was a huge loss in sensitivity, thinner EPS backing didn't work either, although louder the resonance of the aluminum sheeting reared it's ugly head.
So far all materials tried for wide range have had a common denominator problem, namely edge mounting.

Captain: how much sensitivity are we talking? rough guess as to db/1m?
If anyone else want to 'chime' in on aluminum, or other atypical materials, please do so.