Designer:
Alex Boyd

Project Category:
Amplifiers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:
1-8 Hours

Project Cost:
Under $100

Project Description:
I designed a mountable enclosure for a Dayton KAB 2×30 amp.

Design Goals:
I wanted a way to mount my kab 2×30 amp securely to a shelf on my desk, but I also wanted it to look good!

Driver Selection:
325-103

Enclosure Design:
The case was printed with carbon fill PLA, .2mm resolution, no infill (or 100% depending on how you look at it), and no supports.

Enclosure Assembly:
The amp mounts to the case with 4 m3 SHCS. The two holes in the front of the case fit the KAB accessory aux jack and on/off switch. The two side holes fit a 9mm rubber grommet, this isn’t entirely necessary, but looks nice if you have some.

Conclusion:
The case came out great! At first I mounted it on top of a shelf, but ended up securing it to the back of my workbench out of the way.

About the Designer:
I am an engineer specializing in industrial automation. I enjoy building things more than I do actually using them. The STL can be found on thingiverse if you search for Dayton KAB case

Project Parts List:

Designer:
David Johnson

Project Category:
Tower Speakers

Project Level:
Advanced

Project Time:
20+ Hours

Project Cost:
Over $1,000

Project Description:
Transmission line speakers with custom crossovers

Design Goals:
Full range extended response speaker

Driver Selection:
Dayton Audio Epique E220CF-8 midrange/woofer, Morel TICW 1258 Subwoofer and Satori TW29BN -B beryllium dome tweeter

Enclosure Design:
Transmission Line

Enclosure Assembly:
Composite MDF and mahogany plywood box, composite MDF and solid mahogany front mounting panel, internal MDF transmission line chambers

Crossover Design:
Custom built two way for woofer and tweeter, custom built low pass filter for subwoofer

Conclusion:
Met my design goals, sound is uncolored and bass extension is great

About the Designer:
I have been building speaker for over 40 years, with home built speakers in my living room, family room and office. I enjoy swapping drivers and crossovers in attempting to improve the sound from my speakers.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Concrete Everything

YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcfwAmgWHKynC0HJAESsanw?view_as=subscriber

The making of these speakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1ZaGwqJ9i4

Project Category:
Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
1-8 Hours

Project Cost:
$100 – $500

Project Description:
Fullrange desktop speakers with a seamless concrete enclosure and glued acacia wood front.

Design Goals:
Good-looking speakers with a “construction site flair” and enjoyable sound.

Driver Selection:
295-349

Enclosure Design:
Sealed

Enclosure Assembly:
Poured concrete + glued front

Conclusion:
You can see almost all building aspects of the speakers in my DIY video! If something is unclear, just write me on YouTube or comment below the video, I will answer!

About the Designer:
Computer Science student from Germany. Interested in building things and music since I was a little child. This is my first completly self-designed speaker build.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Kirk

Project Category:
Freestyle Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
1-8 Hours

Project Cost:
$100 – $500

Project Description:
Speakers made form Dayton Audio exciters and plywood.

Design Goals:
Inexpensive speakers that sound good and fill the room with music and don’t look too bad.

Driver Selection:
295-230

Enclosure Design:
24×35 sheet of birch plywood from Home Depot

Enclosure Assembly:
Bought 2 panels of Birch plywood for each side. One panel was left in its original size. The other panel I had cut in half.

I rounded the corners on all panels with a Dremel that has a radius attachment.

Stained the panels with a “walnut” color. Need another coat or two probably.

Attached the exciters at 3/5 height and width as many have recommended.

Crossover Design:
Crossover points are 1300Hz and 4500Hz

Tips & Tricks:
These sounded “muddy” before I used the crossover. With the crossover, I send the low to the large panels and the mid to a smaller panel and the high to a smaller panel.

Still not the “Boom” of a subwoofer but nice enough for what I need.

Conclusion:
Nice sounding speakers that look OK on the wall.

Would sound better and produce more sound if the speakers were not mounted to the wall though.

About the Designer:
First ever speaker build. Have no idea what I am doing but just learning as I go.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Tom E

Project Category:
Home Electronics

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:
1-8 Hours

Project Cost:
Under $100

Project Description:
Amp and connection for outdoor speakers. Dayton Audio KAB board with faceplate and USB charging inside a generic utility box. Speaker and DC ran through the wall. Bluetooth preferred connection type.

Design Goals:
Bluetooth audio 4.0 with an option for USB charging for a pool area outdoor speakers.

Tips & Tricks:
I cut the pieces of the plastic box with a Dremel tool to recess them into the box. The air holes allow the amp to get air circulation when the box is open.

Conclusion:
Speakers were already installed high on a wall with the speaker cables ran outside into an old volume pot. I had to simply get DC outside to run a KAB board. Used a generic box to hold and seal all my Parts Express pieces connected to conduit. In hind site, I should have color matched the visible conduit and box. USB cable for charging can be easily closed in the box when not in use. Pleasantly surprised with range of Bluetooth.

About the Designer:
I’m a hobbyist who has been a Parts Express customer for over 20 years doing small jobs for my home, family and church.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
DIY Audio Guy

Project Category:
Subwoofers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
1-8 Hours

Project Cost:
Under $100

Project Description:
12″ GRS Poly Cone in a Sealed Box

Design Goals:
The goal of this project was to build the CHEAPEST subwoofer enclosure possible. The baffle is birch veneered MDF, stained with min wax poly shades. The rest is plywood, painted flat black with a layer of clear coat. It was made entirely out of scrap material left over from other projects plus a few cans of spray paint.

Video of the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcKM0a6ONY

Driver Selection:
292-484

Enclosure Design:
1.5 cuft sealed

Enclosure Assembly:
Very simple design.

I used wood glue and brad nails for the everything but the baffle. The baffle was glued and clamped. This way there were no nail marks in the baffle.

Crossover Design:
N/A

Tips & Tricks:

I put a round over on everything expect the baffle. This gives the edges a clean look and it is still very easy to mask off the baffle for paint.

Sealed boxes are very easy. If you plan your cuts correctly you only need to set the table saw fence three times.

Conclusion:
It sounds great for for a $23 driver in a scrap wood box. It is not going to blow the windows out of your car but this is an affordable way to round out the bottom end in a budget build. This would be an excellent sub for a 2.1 system in an office or a bedroom.

About the Designer:
I have been building speakers for about 5 years. I do it for fun, I do it to unwind, I do it to keep from getting bored.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Weekendredneck

Project Category:
Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
8-20 Hours

Project Cost:
$100 – $500

Project Description:
Assembly of C-Note speaker kit with break down 1/2″ MDF cabinets. Kit was $100, veneer & glue was about $30, incidentals maybe another $15 or $20.

Design Goals:
Thought I should try out a pair of book shelf speakers.

Driver Selection:
999-7140, Dayton Audio components as selected by PE

Enclosure Design:
999-726, @7.5″W X 11″H X 10″D Ported

Enclosure Assembly:
percision cut MDF was a snap to accurately glue up.

Crossover Design:
3,000 Hz. Xover

Tips & Tricks:
BEFORE PURCHASING – You should watch video on kit assembly and download & review instruction manual. After reading all the reviews complaining about the lack of binding posts, I decided to not use any (I had several varieties kicking around). I cut a couple matching lengths of speaker cord (12.5′), tied an overhand knot on the cabinet end, and soldered directly to cross overs. I drilled a slightly under sized hole in the finished cabinet & used a tapered reamer to match the 16 guage wire. when assembling, a glob of Shoe Goo was applied to the knot and the cable drawn thru the box. Finished with shrink tube & nylon mesh.

Conclusion:
Sound/timber a good match for Part’s Express Tri-Trix speakers previously built.

About the Designer:
Covid hobbiest.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Dice

Project Category:
Loudspeakers/Cabinets

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
20+ Hours

Project Cost:
$100 – $500

Project Description:
I built new cabinets with..
PA Knock-Down Trapezoid Plywood Speaker Cabinet for 12″ Driver
Brand:Parts Express|Part # 245-324

Design Goals:
Create a sealed cabinet for these vintage drivers

Driver Selection:
JENSEN SIGMA SERIES SG-220

Enclosure Design:
PA Knock-Down Trapezoid Plywood Speaker Cabinet for 12″ Driver
Brand:Parts Express|Part # 245-324

Conclusion:
Turned out great.
I acquired the wood lattice grills and modified them to fit the cabinets.
I also purchased JENSEN badges to attach to the grills
I purchased the hair-pin legs to elevate the driver to ear level

About the Designer:
I acquired these drivers in really bad cabinets from my father and really liked the drivers.
Building the cabinets was a great projects and I learned lot along the way!

Project Parts List:

Designer:
NEX LEVEL AUDIO

Project Category:
Tower Speakers

Project Level:
Advanced

Project Time:
20+ Hours

Project Cost:
Over $1,000

Project Description:
Bottom Sub has 1x 10″ Dayton RSS265HF-8 Subwoofer, 1x 10″ Dayton RSS265-PR Passive Radiator.

2x 4″ Dayton RS100-8 Midranges wired in parallel for 4 ohms

1x Raal 70-10 Ribbon Tweeter running at 8 ohms. 15uF capacitor wired in series to avoid any accidental low end thumps which would destroy the tweeter instantly.

Top Sub has 1x 10″ Dayton RSS265HF-8 Subwoofer wired in parallel with the bottom sub creating a 4 ohm load total for the subwoofers.

I’m running a 3-way active crossover (DBX 234XS) which gives me so much control over my speakers. I can really fine tune the sound I want in the room.

The subwoofers are powered by an ART SLA-2 with 280 watts a side RMS

The midranges and tweeters are powered by an ART SLA-4 with 140 watts RMS going to the midranges and approximately 100 watts RMS going to the tweeters.

Design Goals:
I wanted to create the best sounding speakers with as much versatility as possible.

Driver Selection:
295-442
295-500
295-352

Enclosure Design:
Passive Radiator on Bottom Sub
Sealed on Top Sub
Sealed Midranges & Tweeter

Crossover Design:
No crossover as I am using an active external crossover with tri-amping

Conclusion:
Overall I am extremely happy with the sound, definitely blow my old Dynaudio BM15A’s out of the water. The Raal tweeters are the crown jewel of my build. They sound literally, REAL. They’re extremely smooth and have such a nice “air” to them. Everything is so silky and I’m amazed at the dispersion, much wider than I anticipated. The midranges sound great and the subs are very tight and controlled. No “woofy” sounds going on but I can get the thump in my chest if I want.

About the Designer:
I build custom bespoke bluetooth speakers and this is my first Hi-Fi build

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Jim O

Project Category:
Tower Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:
20+ Hours

Project Cost:
$500 – $1,000

Project Description:
Audiophile floor towers.

Design Goals:
To design and build a 3 way tower system using a 1st order crossover design with high power capabilities. To be driven with a stereo pre-amp and a 125 watt per channel amp. No EQ running totally flat.

Driver Selection:
(2)ea.
275-131 Dayton Audio RST28A-4 1-1/8″ Reference Series Aluminum Dome Tweeter 4 Ohm

295-528 Dayton Audio DSA175-8 6-1/2″ Designer Series Aluminum Cone Woofer

295-357 Dayton Audio RS270-8 10″ Reference Woofer

Enclosure Design:
3 separate cabinets stacked to make a tower using bass reflex designs that are angled to help improve time alignment and audio focus.

Enclosure Assembly:
Poplar fronts, tops and bottoms. MDF sides and backs, webs and gussets. I made 3D models for several of the parts and a friend printed them for me on his 3D printer.

Crossover Design:
1st order crossover with zobel network on the mid bass. As well as a frequency overlap between the bass and mid bass drivers. This was done using XSIM.

Tips & Tricks:
The fronts, tops and bottoms are stained with Barn Red polyurethane stain with a polyurethane clear coat. The sides and back have flat black exterior latex using a roller to apply.

Conclusion:
This requires 3D printed parts to complete as shown. I have the STL files I created for printing the plastic parts, but they exceed the 1.5 meg file limit here.

About the Designer:
I am a retired aircraft composite tool builder and now an amateur speaker designer/builder for my home stereos. I’m still learning (hopefully).

Project Parts List:

Designer:
jonathan

Project Category:
Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
20+ Hours

Project Cost:
Under $100

Project Description:
Small 3d printed desktop speakers inspired by the Cambridge Audio Minx Min 12.

Design Goals:
I really like the size and look of Cambridge Audio’s Minx Min 12 speakers. They have a small form factor and high SAF (spouse approval factor). But at $75 per speaker I thought I could make something like that myself for a lot less. Recently had purchased a 3d printer to help make face-shields and wanted to see if I could learn WinISD and Fusion 360 well enough to make something from scratch.

Driver Selection:
C.A. uses BMR’s in their speaker so that is what I wanted to try. Had general idea of the size and frequency response I wanted. Headed over to Parts Express and settled on the Tectonic BMR 3″ Full-Range speaker for about ~$20 each.

Enclosure Design:
Added Tectonic driver to WinISD and got acceptable enclosure and port dimensions. Then modeled the enclosure in Fusion360 using WinISD results and nominal dimensions from driver data sheet. Ended up with an approx 3” 3d printed cube with integrated port and holes for binding posts and mounting hardware. Driver is mounted to a removable front face. Printed on Creality Ender 3 using PLA.

Enclosure Assembly:
Print front and base. Test fit driver, front face, binding posts and mounting bolt. You could stop at this point if you like the 3d printed look, or disassemble and finish as desired. I used spray primer/filler, lots of sanding and black spray paint. I also designed and printed some table-top speaker stands that still need to be cleaned up.

Crossover Design:
#N/A

Tips & Tricks:
20+ hours if you are doing everything from scratch and don’t know how to use Fusion 360 or some other CAD/CAM software. That said, if I could do this anyone can. Enclosures took about 4 hrs each to print, but you don’t have to be there the whole time. Assembly is simple. Finishing can take as short or long as you want. Sanding PLA is not the quickest or funnest thing but persistence and a number of different grits helps.

Conclusion:
No audiophile here, but they sound pretty good to me for such a small speaker. Have not measured these, but guessing they cut out around 120Hz or so based on YouTube speaker frequency “tests”. Being so small you really can’t expect a lot of bass. Enclosure does vibrate a bit, especially as I turn up the volume, unsure how that impacts sound. All in all, I think this was a success. Learned a lot about Fusion 360, how to create my own files for 3d printing and a decent pair of speakers to boot (for about ¼ the cost of buying a pair).

About the Designer:
I spend most of my time driving spreadsheets and SQL as an analyst. Needed to get away from the desk and use a different part of my brain; joined a makerspace about year ago. First project was bookshelf speakers, quickly followed by a sub.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Ryan C

Project Category:
Subwoofers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:
1-8 Hours

Project Cost:
Under $100

Project Description:
Passive subwoofer utilizing a Tang Band W5 subwoofer and 8″ Dayton passive radiator.

Design Goals:
Utilize Tang Band W5 for a micro subwoofer to accompany a 2.1 setup.

Driver Selection:
264-917

Enclosure Design:
Enclosure is 0.26 cubic feet (8.5″ x 9″ x 9″) constructed of a mixture of 1/2″ and 3/4″ plywood. Added 1/2″ acoustic foam to the side along with poly fill.

Enclosure Assembly:
Glue only construction

Crossover Design:
N/A

Tips & Tricks:
Cut all common dimensions at the same time on the table saw to ensure consistency.
Get lots of clamps.
Add acoustic insulation before you put the last panel on.

Conclusion:
I am very pleased with outcome. The Tang Band driver is an excellent low frequency driver but can be challenging to use in a traditional vented enclosure because the optimal cabinet is so small and the tuning frequency low. I think I need to add the included passive radiator weight though because the tuning frequency seems to be a little too high.

About the Designer:
I am a music lover, musician, and amateur woodworker, so this is the best hobby for me. I still have my Infinity SM62 speakers I purchased when I was about 13 years old.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Dave Starks

Project Category:
Freestyle Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:
8-20 Hours

Project Cost:
Under $100

Project Description:
Speakers that deliver big sound way in a small package? AVE 750 Alpine Vuvuzela Exponential Horn Speaker with a mouth of 750cm2.

Design Goals:
To create a strong single point rear loaded horn speaker capable of handling some power and delivering a smooth rich sound.

Driver Selection:
LaVoce FSF041 4″ Full Range Speaker. part # 293-710

Enclosure Design:
An original that grew out of the notion of making an affordable rear loaded horn speaker. Utilizing LaVoce 4″ full range drivers and calculations from the Bulgarian Audiophile rear loaded horn calculator website. So to make a rear loaded horn speaker that fit the parameters of the LaVoce I need to have a transmission line that equals 100 cm in length with an interior cross section of 54cm2. The exponential portion would then grow from an area 54cm2 at the throat of the horn to a cross sectional area of 750 cm2 at the mouth. Then searching the internet for cheap exponential horn I came across collapsible Vuvuzela Alpine Stadium Horn $5 each. Which were advertised at a meter long Perfect! for this idea.

Enclosure Assembly:
Lastly I am a novice woodworker so I chose to use dimensional lumber Pine lumber 7.25″ x .75″ and 9.5″ .75″ cut to length and sanded. Using titebond glue for the wood and Elmers for the chipboard. Sonic barrier 260-520 and Acousta-stuff 260-317 were used to damp the interior. The horns came from Oriental Trading Co.

Conclusion:
The sound is pleasant, has way more bass than I expected from the speakers advertised range. The sound stage is seriously the best I have ever experienced. Fanning the horns out against the wall helps in both sound stage and bass emphasis.

About the Designer:
Retired Shoe Salesman that loves to learn and challenge himself.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Brandon Barrington

Project Category:
Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
1-8 Hours

Project Cost:
Under $100

Project Description:
My first home audio build.

Design Goals:
Sound quality on a budget

Driver Selection:
Dayton C-note kit

Enclosure Design:
C-note

Enclosure Assembly:
C-note

Crossover Design:
C-note

Tips & Tricks:
Take your time.

Conclusion:
Sounds fantastic for the price.

About the Designer:
SPL car audio guy. Getting into SQ home audio

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Rob W.

Project Category:
Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:
8-20 Hours

Project Cost:
$100 – $500

Project Description:
The 1st impressions are a full range bookshelf speaker designed for low to moderate listening in an individual office. With moderate efficiency they can be driven by a simple TPA3116v2 digital amplifier.

Design Goals:
Create a small stylish speaker that provided enough frequency response that a separate powered woofer would not be necessary for background music listening in my office. These speakers should provide relatively flat response, at an economical price, while still being “fun” to listen to. While they are near field speakers, they need to provide a wide enough sound stage to be satisfying to listen to during personal lunches, or after hours working sessions.

Driver Selection:
I chose the PC83-4 for several reasons. The first was that its specifications showed it could go down to about 60hz in a ported 0.12 cu ft box. This meant that for most background music it would play deep enough. Second, it showed flat response up to about 10kz with a tamable rise from 10khz to about 18khz. Third, it was fairly inexpensive at only $11.50. Finally, I had used it in a Bluetooth speaker (with no crossover) for our bathroom, and was pretty happy with the performance there.

Enclosure Design:
Using software I found a .12 cu ft box with a port 1.5″ by 6″ long provided the response I desired. I went with a narrow, 4.5″ wide, cabinet that was 8 7/8″ deep. This gave me enough room for a port with no bend, and a taller look which also got the driver further away from the desktop to minimize early reflections as much as possible.

Enclosure Assembly:
The enclosure was built from 1/2″ baltic birch plywood. The sides were veneered with Walnut that was resawn down to 1/8″ thick and the baffle and top were veneered with Spalted Hackberry and Orange Osage, both resawn down to 1/8″ thick. The enclosure was assembled using glue, with the exception of the right side panel. This panel is attached to the cabinet using 1/4″ 20 threaded inserts and 1″ long 1/4″ 20 stainless steel hurricane bolts. Both the recessed binding post area, and the driver hole were cut with a 3″ hole saw.

Crossover Design:
The cross over consists of a baffle step compensation and two notch filters. The first notch filter brings down a peak at 1khzto smooth out response, and the second brings down the rising response at 10khz to about 19khz.

Conclusion:
These have not yet made it to my office as I built them on vacation. However, I have been listening to them in my main system and am quite happy with their performance so far. They do produce bass down to about 60hz. It is not authoritative bass, nor is their any real extension below that. But, given that they are 3″ drivers, I think they are doing quite well. As with any driver this size, they could benefit from a tweeter and a woofer, but that would have increased the cost well beyond what I wanted to spend on these.

About the Designer:
Just a guy who enjoys building speakers, woodworking, and listening to music.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Mike weber

Project Category:
Freestyle Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
20+ Hours

Project Cost:
$500 – $1,000

Project Description:
Live edge cherry 1.375″ thick baffle

Design Goals:
Mom needed them for her sewing room

Driver Selection:
DA175-8 7″
NS3-193-8A 3″
DX25TG59-04

Crossover Design:
3rd order Butterworth

Conclusion:
Very nice sounding speakers little low on midrange but mom needed that lower because her hearing isn’t that good and midranges hurt her ears

About the Designer:
I’m a machinist who enjoys music and just started building speakers I made these for about 700$ beautiful art for the price

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Alex Boyd

Project Category:
Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:
8-20 Hours

Project Cost:
$100 – $500

Project Description:
I had the itch to build something new and came across this build while researching desktop speakers.

Design Goals:
Build either a small set of speakers or soundbar that would fit the new desk layout I have at work. Ideally I wanted to find a design that would provide adequate near field bass so I wouldn’t feel like I needed to add a sub.

Driver Selection:
290-224 275-035 290-209

Enclosure Design:
Shown is the enclosure from the PE kit.

Enclosure Assembly:
I glued up the provided panels and used a few clamps to hold it in place. It’s small enough and the routing quality is good, so brads were not necessary to hold it in place.

The cut quality of the panels was very good, it didn’t require much post processing. I sealed the edges with diluted wood glue, I still had a little bit of an issue with the edges eating up paint but that may have been my fault for not priming properly.

Crossover Design:
The crossover design is part of the kit.

Tips & Tricks:
As you will read in other peoples builds, make sure to build the enclosures before you start on the crossovers. The space is very tight, but doable. The most difficult thing is placing the inductors so they do not come in contact with the drivers while also keeping them apart from each other to mitigate shared inductance. The hand drawn diagram they provide is a good layout, but still make sure you do multiple checks as you assemble.

Make sure you seal up the cut mdf edges very well, it will save you a lot of time when painting.

Conclusion:
I am very happy with the sound quality of the speakers, it’s amazing the bass they can pump out in such a small package. These need more power than my last set of bookshelf speakers, I’m currently powering them with a KAB 2x30w, but have a SMSL AD18 on it’s way.

If you are looking for a new set of book shelf speakers, these are the way to go!

About the Designer:
I am a mechanical engineer who typically enjoys building things more than I actually enjoy using them.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
j.a.m. inc.

Project Category:
Tower Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
8-20 Hours

Project Cost:
Under $100

Project Description:
a total crap shoot with random cheap parts. i don’t have all the fancy measuring equipment(yet) but i’ve got some things that get me by for now. i do use Bassbox 6 and Crossover Pro 3. xsim and passive crossover designer.

Design Goals:
my goal was to provide my mother with speakers because her soundbar just didn’t cut it for tunes. they had to be small because i knew she would not want big obtrusive enclosures in her living room.

Driver Selection:
i had noticed the tectonic drivers on sale for $10 so i thought, “why not?” i knew i would want a small tweeter for my piece of mind but also keeping in mind that mom’s hearing isn’t that keen, so i went with the mini planar just for giggles.

Enclosure Design:
i used Bassbox 6 for the design and came up with .3^ft. (inside dimensions are 26h x 4d x 5w.) knowing the location of where the speakers would live their entire life prompted me for a slot port(.5h x 5w x 4.5length) at mid height on the rear(tuning of 66hz(f3 of 56hz)). i knew that they would be powered by an extra pioneer “elite” int. amp @40wpc and tweaked with an extra 10bd/ch eq, i knew i could tweak the sound. the towers were modeled with heavy fill but i only stuffed the top and bottom with polyfill with acoustic foam behind the driver. the middle of the enclosure is empty at the moment. 1/2″ of the rear spikes were cut off to make the rear lean easier to dial in.

Enclosure Assembly:
the cabinet is 1/2″ mdf with my normal dbl thickness front and rear baffles but this time, not so much for strength but more for cosmetics, eg. 1/2″ roundovers on the side edges of the front baffle, all exterior parts flush mounted with lpad recessed. no bracing was used. the top and bottoms are separate 3/4″ mdf and the bases were screwed and glued to the box. i had issues with the mdf on the cap breaking because of too thin of a lip so i just leveled 3 sides after a few repair attempts. the top was glued on and had 3 dowels each for proper alignment.a few brads were used here and there to hold things in place and then clamped tight and allowed to dry. left over cherry veneer was used along with “jacobean” stain and wipe on satin poly. the black is Duratex brused on then worked over with plastic sheeting.

Crossover Design:
crossover design was simple, i saw that Dan M. mentioned “Gold Binding Post Terminal Cup with 2-Way 4,000 Hz Crossover” Part # 299-4030– on the tweeter product page so i picked up a pair on buyout for $2.75 each! i removed the resistor on the low pass section and then for the tweeter, i added an 8 ohm l-pad that has been sitting on my shelf for years, to get the tweeter to a reasonable level.

Tips & Tricks:
service your tools before each project. check motor brushes,lube moving parts, check belts/cables, etc. blow out dust with an air compressor or leaf blower(i vaccuum first, use leaf blower second and finish it with my air compressor)

Conclusion:
the drivers are still “breaking in” but do not sound horrible. the Techtonic drivers are cheap and work but really require eq to tweak. i got out of this cheap because i had the cabinet materials leftover from previous speakers.

About the Designer:
i’m a 30 year veteran of autobody and paint who loves good sounding tunes.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
AJ

Project Category:
Tower Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:
8-20 Hours

Project Cost:
$100 – $500

Project Description:
Paul Carmody, Tarkus inspired, but highly adulterd! A Passive 3 way tower with a side firing woofer.

Design Goals:
After building a set of Paul Carmody Tarkus towers, all be it with a very low WAF. I set out for the same listening experience with an improved WAF. I settled on a side firing woofer to narrow the front panel. This increased my WAF significantly. I kept the separated upper and lower cabinets as a nod to the Tarkus. Sanatized it with no visible external connections to the upper cabinet to help my WAF. The discerning eye can spot my connections.

Driver Selection:
Staying true to the Tarkus the woofer and mid-range are the same. Woofer is the Tymphany 830668 10″ Paper Cone SLS Subwoofer. Mid-range is Tymphany 830657 6-1/2″ Paper Cone SDS Woofer. The tweeter is different due to availability, Tymphany XT25TG30-04 1″ Dual Ring Radiator Tweeter.

Enclosure Design:
The upper enclosure was slightly enlarged to .52 cu ft. The lower cabinet remains true to Tarkus volume, but wildly different dimension and alignment.

Enclosure Assembly:
The enclosures were built from 3/4″ birch ply. Veneered with fumed oak. Finish is a hand rubbed varnish.

Crossover Design:
I am bouncing back and forth between a true to form Tarkus crossover and my bastardized version that accounts for the side firing woofer. In my version the tweeter high pass remains unchanged. Band pass was altered to a low pass second order. This allows the upper cabinet to roll off naturally. The woofer has a second order low pass @ 250hz.

I am undecided on which sounds better. The Tarkus crossover sounds surprisingly good with the altered speaker alignment. Slightly brighter that in the Tarkus towers I have. My adjusted crossover seems to match the brightness with more mid range. I can’t decide if it goes to far and becomes muddy. I will need to talk wife in to swapping the crossovers around without my knowledge to see what I like.

Tips & Tricks:
Don’t be afraid to try and fail. I have built tried and true designs as well as some home brew stuff. Chopped some of the home brew stuff up. I learned no matter what. Have fun and build more!

Conclusion:
I think I achieved what I was after with either crossover in use. Thank you Paul Carmody for the inspiration!

About the Designer:
Just a guy building stuff I don’t need.

Project Parts List:

Designer:
Nick D

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:
8-20 Hours

Project Cost:
$500 – $1,000

Project Description:
This is a 200 watt, semi-portable boombox designed to have a great sound and reach high volumes.

Design Goals:
All-in-one system that can be moved around if needed, not battery powered. Must have +/- 3db and get very loud. Tuned to below 50 hz. Size and weight were not huge concerns. Must be made with a natural pine.

Driver Selection:
(2) Dayton Audio RS225-8 8″ Reference Woofer (295-356)
(2) Dayton Audio RST28F-4 1-1/8″ Reference Series Fabric Dome Tweeter 4 Ohm (275-141)

Enclosure Design:
(i will attach a photo of the plans i made in AutoCAD) I used a program called WinISD to design the enclosure. I split the box into 2 equal enclosures for the 8″ drivers, each enclosure is 0.83 cubic feet with a 1.5″ diameter, 5.5″ long port tube, this should theoretically let each driver reach 45hz (at -3db), although i do not have a calibrated microphone to check

Enclosure Assembly:
The person this was for asked that i make it with a pine from a local sawmill. Since pine is so light, i was worried about the box resonating. So the walls of the box are 1/2″ pine and 1/4″ MDF glued together, the front baffle is 1/2″ Pine and 1/2″ MDF glued. The rear baffle is simply a piece of painted 1/2″ MDF screwed on so i can access the inside in the future if needed. For the best look i personally selected each pine board with a lot of character in the grain. The 2 enclosures are separated by a 1/2″ MDF partition, and i had to make an enclosure within the enclosure to seal off the amp (the plans dont show this). All seams are sealed up with silicone. I added a brace above each of the 8″ drivers and one centered in the back to screw the back panel to. Once the box is together i had it clear coated by a friend to protect it, bring out the grain, and give it a nice gloss finish

Crossover Design:
I used a free program called VituixCAD to design the crossover network, rather then explain the entire thing i will simply attach an image of the crossover diagram.

Tips & Tricks:
On the back panel i used that black metal panel to attach the power to and RCA, these are great because they give a professional look and are easy to attach electronics to, but you need to seal this thing up from the inside or it will let air escape and resonate like crazy, i used a pvc pipe cut in half (so like a half circle)

Conclusion:
The speaker came out great, it has a great sound, a great low end, and can get extremely loud. It technically is portable with the carry handle and all but it is very large and also weighs like 50-60 lbs so thats why i say “semi” portable. i originally planned to make a cloth grille for the front that was removable to protect the speakers if needed but i never got it done.

About the Designer:
Im more of a woodworker then anything else and I have made a few speakers in the past but this one was my first major speaker project where i designed the entire enclosure and crossover network.

Project Parts List: