Designer:

Art K

Project Category:
Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

20+ Hours

Project Cost:

$100-$500

Project Description:
 Samba bookshelf speakers with laminated bamboo cabinets.

Design Goals:
 I read that some speaker manufacturers are starting to experiment using bamboo as the cabinet material (e.g., http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?2597-Sierra-The-Cabinet). I had some leftover laminated bamboo lumber from a previous project, so I decided to try making speakers using (mostly) bamboo.

Driver Selection:
 Samba kit components.

Enclosure Design:
Used Samba kit dimensions, modified slightly to increase the volume due to additional internal bracing and enclosure panel miter joints.

Crossover Design:
 Used Samba kit design and components.

Tips & Tricks:

Laminated bamboo is a hard, heavy, but brittle/fibrous material. If your tools aren’t sharp you may get tear-out when cutting.

I bought a full Samba kit and a baffle-only kit. Since I built my own enclosures I could use the MDF from the complete kit to build the extra pieces I need for the second enclosure.

Conclusion:
My first speaker project, it came out better than expected and sounds great even using a small Bluetooth Class-D tube amplifier.

About the Designer:
 
I am a (very) casual hobbyist woodworker. This was my first DIY speaker project.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

The Zard

Project Category:
 Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Advanced

Project Time:

20+ Hours

Project Cost:

 $500 – $1,000

Project Description:

Competition Free Style DJ blue tooth boom box
features : BOSS D12F Phantom 12″ Flat Subwoofer, Kicker 12 inch Passive, 4x DS18 comp. pro horn mid tweeters, ported Cerwin Vega mid-woofers with guitar amp, crossed over and band pass selection switches. 36-volt 220 x 2 + 350 watt mini BT amp, 80,000 Mah battery, 36v .8F power stiffing caps, carry strap.
marble front and back with custom raised name plate and both holographic and fluorescent flames, chrome corners and carry handle, custom mesh grills.
A battery voltage gauge, radio voltage & power usage gauge and even a cooling fan.
maximum dimensions in. 25W x 20H x 10D, 40 LBS.

Design Goals:
Original- design and build a boom box with a 12 inch sub that would [ ha ha ] weigh in less then 33 lbs.
speaker spacing
build a box for the boombox.
boombox / sub testing.
component selection – After the sub testing I found that ripping on the sub would kill a 6s1p set of battery’s in 2 songs. so after much thought and electrical system design I decided to go with a 7s6p 80,000 mah mobility chair battery, going through a voltage booster / regulator set at 35.5 volts with a 10 amp max output backed up radio side by a set of 6x 3v 10f cap banks for 36v .834 f of power stiffening.
make every thing fit.- the control section is behind the right tweeter in a box that was 4.5 in x 6 x 5.5 [ 7 ]
Driver Selection
battery mounting
crossover design
final testing – sub failure
enclosure redesign – upon going back to the cu ft calculator, I was able to figure out that a 1.5 inch width mod, and a .75 inch spacer for a flat passive would give me a total volume of .9803 cu ft3 after all modifications.
vinyl design and application

Driver Selection:
BOSS D12F Phantom 12″ Flat Subwoofer

Enclosure Design:
Well I have 2 bumpboxs and looked at the boombox kit here in parts express, I like the idea of a sub, but figured I would have to build my own to get what I want. So I decided to test out the BT receiver from the kit here at parts express, its loud and gave me a good idea what 6.5 inch sub and 5.25 woofers can take. I then looked up what is the most powerful small BT receiver made and got 2 of those.
I looked up in parts express the boss phantom shallow sub, 1 from infinity and 1 from Rockville, as they are all listed as working in as little as .70 Cu Ft3. so I cut out a 24 inch x 20 inch pc of cardboard, and card board shapes for all of the drivers I had gotten from parts express and other sources. I found that I could fit a 12 inch sub, and a choice between several different 5 inch woofer, teeter, mid combinations in a space of 24 x 16 inches.
so, I went to a cubic foot calculator and designed out a box that would be 24 x 6.5 x 16 and have a internal volume of 1.038 cu ft3.
using my card board template I spaced out the sub and the passive.
their were no other internal structures but the subs needed to be tested out. with a earth quake 12 in passive, I first tested the Boss from parts express, it worked great and made the box dance on the floor, the infinity ref1200s would not work with the design and failed out, the rockville also worked good, but not as well as the Boss in this design.
In this design the radio has a sub eq in it and will run directly to the sub like a musical instrument speaker, so adjusting the eq can run it ‘ clean ‘ or ‘ dirty ‘ being guitar amp style.
while looking at the radio installation I decided to make a dampening pad for it to sit on out of a old mouse pad. it is held in place from the bottom of the radio box with 2 nut/ bolt combos.
the power booster is on the side wall over the radio, but can over heat if it getts to hot, so I had to add a small cpu fan and then made a fan grill out of hardware cloth to keep wires from going into it. it is only 12 volt so add a voltage regulator that I have to mount on the top due to limited space and since the fan makes some noise a thermal switch so it only comes on at 113F.
at this point their is no more room so the 2 cap banks are taped together with mouse pad to cushion with transformer tape and mounted on the back side of the panel.
I used the 24 ga speaker wire from parts express for the mid-woofer switches, 18ga amazon wire for left right main feed and mid tweets, 14 ga. rockville speaker wire for the sub, rockville 14ga. power cap wire for battery.
the faceplate for the radio, mid-woofer switch’s, and combo digital gauge was cut from the top case cover from a Motorola cable box.
once all deductions were made the internal volume was .72 cu ft3

Final testing- the subwoofer fell flat and did not sound right, upon contacting Boss they said the woofer would not work with a passive at that volume and the box needs to be .95 – 1.1 cu ft3.
with a new configured volume of .9803 cu ft3 I am ready to move forwards.
after the enclosure mod is done I get to final sanding before vinyl application

custom vinyl is harder to find then you might think, so I got some OSHA noise warning stickers, flame exhaust stickers for a child’s ride on jeep, red pink flames for a motor cycle helmet and holographic blue vinyl.
I found images of flames on the net and used them to make a picture template printed on paper that I taped over the holographic blue vinyl, then cut them out with a razor blade, actually 3 due to glue.

the magic of the mid-woofer switches comes from a handful of components, small maze of wiring and special 6-Pin Rocker Switch’s made for boats and diesel engines.

shrink wrap colors used to strip wires, in the first bandpass test 200uf caps were not enough so the bandpass x-over was re-calculated to a higher x-over point and 100uf caps added
originally JBL 2-way second order crossovers were to be used until one of the second order caps blew out and smoked. after that all cap values checked to make sure 50 volt minimum, and I made my own cross overs.

Crossover Design:
 he sub uses the electronic crossover built into the radio, the mid tweeters are in parallel as a set and use 2 caps also in parallel for each set, the mid-woofers were the pain, they have a switchable direct feed, infinity coils and the coils with caps in combo for the band pass.
so the band pass caps and the coils are up in the control section and the high pass caps are down in the body inline to the mid tweets.
the purpose of so the mid-woofers can be run dirty like a guitar amp, crossed over like a HIFI system and in bandpass for competition, rave, trap n base, etc.

Tips & Tricks:

Ugh, cutting out the metal faceplate for the receiver and switches, the first one I tried to cut out with tin snips and it is ugly, lucky enough I had more metal to use, so I got a small rotary tool with cut off disks, and that made the cuts I need.
when I cut out the vinyl I used a new razor blade with my hand mostly out of the knife to be able to move it around the design, you can get cut proof gloves at a hardware store, if you feel you need them.
predrill holes in areas that will be glued together that you wont be able to get a drill into after and even pre screw in the screws it makes the job that much easier.
Don’t go too crazy second guessing your self or your project will end up like mine.

Laminated bamboo is a hard, heavy, but brittle/fibrous material. If your tools aren’t sharp you may get tear-out when cutting.

I bought a full Samba kit and a baffle-only kit. Since I built my own enclosures I could use the MDF from the complete kit to build the extra pieces I need for the second enclosure.

Conclusion:
I wanted to see what could be done with parts currently available to make a custom boom box, I made this job a lot harder then it needed to be, using a voltage booster and power stiffening caps was just to go over the top in the design and caused additional parts to be added for support.
in the end I decided to make a competition boombox, simply because their is no such thing.

About the Designer:
 
 Previously I was a DJ and worked for tech hifi back in the late 80’s, I built sound off comp. cars before their was such a thing.
now days I run a reptile rescue.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Garage Dweller

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:

8-20 Hours

Project Cost:

$100 – $500

Project Description:

MK Boom Blue Tooth Speakers with custom boxes.

Design Goals:
Create Natural Wood BlueTooth Speakers to match the decor of the rooms they will be used in.

Driver Selection:
MK Series Blue Tooth Speaker Kit

Enclosure Design:
Custom Design using poplar wood

Crossover Design:
2 x2-way pre-wired crossover boards

Tips & Tricks:

The mitered corners must be perfect to give you a nice clean edge. Selecting wood with a nice pronounced wood grain with variation in color really adds a lot to the look. Cutting the side/top/side from the same piece of wood in the same sequence gives you a wood grain pattern the wraps around the box and looks like the box was carved from a solid block of wood.

Conclusion:
Gave me the exact look I was looking for and looks great in the living room. Looks like a piece of furniture. Liked the first one so much I immediately built 2 more. My daughter’s apartment is decorated in a mid century modern fashion so I built hers with the same retro look.

About the Designer:
Novice wood workers that loves building stuff for family members.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Wogg

Project Category:
Subwoofers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:

1-8 Hours

Project Cost:

$100 – $500

Project Description:

Super compact subwoofer for a truck cab with limited space.

Design Goals:
This build was targeting a commercial truck cab. The full size van cab has an empty space under the passenger seat appropriate for a small subwoofer to add some oomph to the door speakers. The goal was to achieve bass output below 40Hz in that small space measuring only 10” x 12” x 6.5”.

Driver Selection:
The number of woofers that can produce bass to 40Hz and below in a cabinet with only ¼ of a cubic foot of air space is really quite small. Between the excellent Tang Band subwoofers and the new Dayton Epique woofers, there were very few to try out in simulation. A secondary consideration was the amplification available. The Pioneer head unit installed was only using 2 amplification channels, leaving the other 2 channels free to drive a woofer without an outboard amplifier. To do that efficiently a pair of 4 ohm loads would be best to get as much of that power as possible. That pointed straight to the Dayton Epique E150HE-44.

Enclosure Design:
Modeling the woofer in the box was done using Bass Box 6. A passive radiator was considered due to the small volume and low tuning frequency, a designer series 8” radiator would just fit on top and was likely to clear the huge motor of the tiny Epique woofer with some careful arrangement. The limitations of Bass Box made it difficult to determine the weight required to lower the tuning properly, and ultimately the added cost pointed us to use a slot port instead. Several design compromises were made to maximize the internal air space of the box. First, the box would be made from ½” MDF to maximize internal dimensions, and second the slot port would be assembled using 1/8” hardboard routed in with a dado slot to keep it in place and rigid. This raises typical design concerns including box resonance and possible resonance of the thin slot port walls. Due to the intended application in a commercial truck cab, these concerns were not a big deal. There is far more road noise and vibration to deal with than the contribution of the compromised cabinet design.

Crossover Design:
 All crossover duties were to be handed off to the Pioneer head unit installed in the cab. The intent was to utilize matrix mode to cross the front amplifier over to the sub at 100Hz. This turned out to be not possible, as the internal matrix mode was intended to be used for mid / tweeter duties making the lowest crossover point option 1.2kHz. A power amplifier was installed and the unit switched back to normal to get a proper sub crossover going at 100Hz. Bonus to that was extra power, the Epique woofer can take 200W thermally and has no problem with a budget 100WPC car audio amplifier.

Tips & Tricks:

The high aspect ratio slot port has ended up a performance limiter for this little woofer. In use, the system rolls off quite steeply below 40Hz, meeting the design target but losing some of the high 30Hz range that should have been possible. Additionally, the 90 degree bend and joint where the HDF panels meet are not smooth and cause significant turbulence that is audible with test tones. In practical use with music in the truck, this is not a problem but if this was put to use in a house as perhaps a desktop system sub I would definitely re-layout the port to be more efficient or use the passive radiator solution.

Conclusion:
This little thing sounds fantastic in its home. In fact I think it beats my simple 8” sub installation (Bazooka EL8) in my small SUV. That’s not that easy of a task comparing a 5” woofer to an 8” woofer, by all measures the larger cone should have a huge advantage.

About the Designer:
Paul Graves (aka Wogg on Tech Talk) is an experienced Electronics Engineer and has been building woofers since grunge music was a thing.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

XJoeX

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

8-20 Hours

Project Cost:

$100 – $500

Project Description:

 Blast box upgraded to the 5 26650 battery. Vinyl wrapped finish. Trimmed with black plastic and corners.

Design Goals:
Have a speaker better than anything on the shelf.

Driver Selection:
 Blast box standard.

Enclosure Design:
Blast box

Crossover Design:
 Blast box standard added the 3×5 parts express cross over boards.

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:
Challenge to add the larger batter but it can be done added threaded inserts to box to secure battery and crossovers

About the Designer:
Wanted a graffiti theme found the wrap on Amazon. Added the Dayton charging lights as well. Fairly easy to finsh. Fitting the crossovers with the battery was a challenge. Will finish with grills in the near future.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Busman’s Holiday Garage

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

20+ Hours

Project Cost:

$100 – $500

Project Description:

Portable Bluetooth speaker built from an early 60’s suitcase. CNC’d walnut lumber control plate and speaker bezels. Era appropriate speaker grill cloth. All speakers and electronics purchased from Parts Express.

Design Goals:
To build a mid-century modern-looking portable Bluetooth speaker.

Driver Selection:

Enclosure Design:

Crossover Design:

Tips & Tricks:

 Had an internal speaker bracket CNC’d for exact hole placement.

Conclusion:
Came out good. Took way more time that I thought it would. But, looks great and sounds a bit better than I expected.

About the Designer:
 I build whatever makes me happy.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

 Anonymous

Project Category:
Loudspeakers/Cabinets

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

20+ Hours

Project Cost:

$500-$1,000

Project Description:

 I needed a pair of PA mains/tops for my basement jam space.

Design Goals:
Self-Powered, DSP programmable, Frequency response of 100Hz – 15kHz, as small as possible with respect to driver choice, affordable materials, sealed enclosure. Inspired by MTM type speakers.

Driver Selection:

For each cabinet: 2x Horns 299-107, 2x 8″ drivers: 290-404, 2x 6.5″ drivers 290-662, 1x KPX programmer 325-139, 1x KABD4100 amp 325-434.

Enclosure Design:

Each of the 6.5″ and 8″ drivers are isolated in their own sealed compartment of the cabinet. The volumes conform to the eminence specifications. The horns are sealed drivers so the power supply and amp could be in the same portion of the cabinet, but also be vented for airflow.

Crossover Design:

The KABD4100, SigmaStudio. All digital.

Tips & Tricks:

 I always recommend that you spend a LOT of time in the design phase. 3d modelling was super helpful in this case.

Conclusion:
This was a challenging design, but I am quite pleased with the results. I went with a nice blue paint reminiscent of vintage JBL speakers. The KABD4100 has an audible noise floor…a hiss through the horns. It’s OK for my needs in this space but I probably won’t use that amp in the future.

About the Designer:
 I make stuff. Lots of stuff.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

 Nasso

Project Category:
Subwoofers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:

1-8 Hours

Project Cost:

$100-$500

Project Description:

 The subwoofer for a 3D printed 2.1 audio system.

Design Goals:
The audio system was designed to be placed in a bedroom, with the least intrusive bookshelf speakers, a subwoofer whose design is appealing and functions for audio listening, and a shelf to display items.

Driver Selection:

 The subwoofer feature a Dayton Audio RSS210HF-4 8″ Reference Series HF Subwoofer. The choice was made based on the maximum dimension of my 3D printer bed, and the overall drive performance.

Enclosure Design:

The enclosure for both the bookshelf speakers and the subwoofer was designed to be 3D printed in a filament based on PLA and Carbon Fiber, a stiff material. Both speakers are sealed. A seal for the baffle was also 3D printed in TPU, as well as 2mm feet to isolate the abrasive carbon fiber feet from the floor.
The cost of filament for the Subwoofer is about $35.

Crossover Design:

The project does not have a crossover at the moment. I’m relying on the full-range drives used on the bookshelf, and the amplifier that includes subwoofer volume and filter.

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:
 
3D printing is a good alternative for people that do want to go beyond a cubic design.

About the Designer:
I built some speakers in my teens in the 80s. As I was renovating my home theater, I rediscover how fun is to build your own audio system.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

John Roland Eberly III

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

8-20 Hours

Project Cost:

$100-$500

Project Description:

Portable Bluetooth vintage train case conversion incorporating finished interior and storage space

Design Goals:
Vintage aesthetic with clean sound and long battery life, more useful than just a “suitcase boombox” by including functional, decorated interior carry space

Driver Selection:

(2) 3″ fullrange Faitalpro, (1) 5-1/4″ Dayton Audio woofer

Enclosure Design:

Re-purposed Samsonite mid-century train case, 13″ x 8″ x 9″. Drivers selected using Parts Express published volume ranges.

Crossover Design:

Active using 2.1 class D amplifier.

Tips & Tricks:

One problem was that the case handle rattled and buzzed, sounding like driver distortion. Adding felt pads between the handle and case solved this.

Conclusion:
 Successful project, aesthetics and sound exceed expectations. This case delivers clean sound with not distortion at full volume.

About the Designer:
John Eberly – electrical engineer, woodworker, and jack-of-all trades. Inspired to build these cases by Dr. Records in Fairhope, AL..

Project Parts List:

Designer:

 Phil

Project Category:
 Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

1-8 Hours

Project Cost:

Under $100

Project Description:

The Dayton Audio BR-1 is a 6.5″ 2-Way Bookshelf Monitor Speaker. This is an upgrade to its crossover networks. This modification employs the DC-biasing of crossover capacitors to improve sound. It applies a DC offset to each of the capacitors in the network to reduce circuit distortion. A 9-volt battery supplies the voltage.

Design Goals:
The objective of this project is to improve the sound of the BR-1 speakers by improving the linearity of the crossover networks through biasing of the crossover capacitors. The total parts cost is to be less than $40 for the speaker pair.

Driver Selection:

The drivers are those included in the original BR-1 design
Two Dayton Audio DC160-8 6-1/2″ classic woofers
Two Dayton Audio DC28F-8 1-1/8″ silk dome tweeters

Enclosure Design:

The speaker cabinets are the original Dayton Audio 6.5″ 2-Way BR-1CAB.

Crossover Design:

The DC voltage shifts the signal away from zero, so the waveform does not cross the zero point. This linearizes the waveform of the passive components thus reducing the distortion and improving the sound. The audible effects are increased spatiality, detail, and purity.
Because the battery simply supplies a bias through a high value resistor there is no appreciable current consumption. Battery life is the same as with natural discharge or years. The expiration date of the battery coincides with the need to replace it. Each capacitor in the network is in fact made up of two capacitors of equal value connected in series. Although the battery voltage applied to the center connection of the two capacitors biases them both, no DC voltage appears at the output. The result is sound with increase in detail, smoothness, and resolution. A dead battery has no other effect on the network circuitry, and consequently no other symptoms.
It is easy to make biased networks. Here is how to modify the BR-1 crossover network. The original C1 cap was 6.2uf. To set one up biased for the same value, wire two 12uF caps in series. Then place a 2.2 meg resistor between the caps and tie the + side of a 9Volt battery to the other side of the resistor. The negative on the battery goes to ground. The original C2 cap was 3.0uf. Wire two 6.2uF caps in series. Then place a 2.2 meg resistor between the caps and tie the same 9Volt battery (+ side) to the other side of the resistor.

Tips & Tricks:

Pros
All capacitor types improve. You could also upgrade to the Solen brand, also available from Parts Express.
Cons
The $40 cost to implement is because it requires higher capacitance capacitors and double the parts.

Conclusion:
I am pleased with the results of biasing. Some may describe the effect as subtle. However, the BR-1 is considered by many to be one of the finest sounding speakers and deserving of this improvement. I think you will not be disappointed and find that the design goals were accomplished.

About the Designer:
 I am a high-end audio fanatic. I have been building speakers since I was 10. DC-biasing of crossover capacitors is something that has existed for many years. This trick to help improve the sound of passive components goes back to the early 90’s and before when this technique for speaker systems was used.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Carson Drake

Project Category:
Tower Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:

20+ Hours

Project Cost:

 Over $1,000

Project Description:

My first tower speaker build, used solid walnut cabinets with Dayton audio midrange and woofer with a JBL 034 tweeter.

Design Goals:
Build a nice pair of tower speakers for my dads 50th birthday, would be used with a powered subwoofer so wanted flat response from around 70 Hz up.

Driver Selection:

N/A

Enclosure Design:

Two separate compartments in the speakers, one for the 8 inch woofer with an aero port and sealed top side with tweeter and mids.

Crossover Design:

Used a dayton audio prebuilt crossover.

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:
These turned out great for my first large build, very clear sound with better dispersion than expected, they are used in a very large room.

About the Designer:
Just a college student into audio who decided to try building a pair. Built two pairs and a few subwoofers so far.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Carson Drake

Project Category:
Subwoofers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:

8-20 Hours

Project Cost:

 $100-$500

Project Description:

Dual Sundown subwoofers built for use in my car.

Design Goals:
I wanted to build a good sounding subwoofer using sundown yard sale parts, with good response into the upper 20 Hz range.

Driver Selection:

 Two sundown E series 12 inch subwoofers

Enclosure Design:

Tuned to 32 Hz with an epoxy front face. Will be used in my car and cannot see the back or sides of the box so only finished the front side.

Crossover Design:

N/A

Tips & Tricks:

There’s no such thing as too much glue

Conclusion:
Turned out great, these hit very low with good quality sound. Each woofer is getting 750w RMS.

About the Designer:
Currently a college student that enjoys building speakers and subwoofers when I can.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Russell Griffin

Project Category:
Tower Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

20+ Hours

Project Cost:

Over $1,000

Project Description:

Small Tower Speakers

Design Goals:
To build a small pair of tower speakers that sound as close to the $8000.00 Boenicke W-8 speakers as possible.

Driver Selection:

Tang Band W5-1138SMF 5-1/4″ Paper Cone Subwoofer Speaker 
Tang Band W3-881SJF 3″ Full Range Speaker
Dayton Audio ND25FA-4 1″ Soft Dome Neodymium Tweeter

Enclosure Design:

30 1/4″ H X 4 3/4″ W 8.1/4 (top) 14 1/4″ ( bottom) Depth. Small Tower w/built in Mid to bottom Bass Port’s

Crossover Design:

 3-way w/ (hot rodded) with bypass capacitors

Tips & Tricks:

 Hot rodding the capacitors for the crossover with Miflex (oil) 0.1uf foil Capacitors. For faster hitting and better sound.
Front and Rear Tweeters
Built in bottom bass port’s do added box strength

Conclusion:
Amazing sounding and looking small tower speakers. These speaker’s sound as good as any speakers I’ve heard in this size after managing a high end Electronics store for 30 years.

About the Designer:
Electronics manager for over 30 years.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

DL

Project Category:
Bookshelf Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

8-20 Hours

Project Cost:

Under $100

Project Description:

A modified, smart version of Scott Sehlin’s excellent ‘Helium’ design (using the ND91-4 and ND16) but married to the brains of a Google Home in order to take advantage of its smart features and EQ functionality. Custom enclosure with a Red Oak face, designed to match my office decor. Sings beautifully and it’s nice to be able to talk to it and have it deliver up news, music or turn my office lamps on/off.

Design Goals:
Goal was to see if it was possible to marry a Google Home mini brain with a custom, better sounding speaker. Teardown of a Google Home mini is surprisingly quick and easy, but the challenge comes in designing a cabinet that will both enclose (and protect) the motherboard while also allowing the microphones to ‘listen’ for your commands. Equally, I wanted to be able to see the four LED lights that sit atop the Google brain that show volume level, etc.

Cabinet is .045 cubic feet, but with different dimensions than Scott’s original design, plus a smidge extra room for the electronics.

After breaking in the speakers the sound really opened up. The ability to EQ via the Google Home app is helpful as the Google brain seems to have an onboard DSP designed to adjust the sound of the original 1” speaker at different volumes. Without a way to hack the original code, the EQ setting allows for necessary tuning at its lowest volume. At full volume this thing really sings and has no issues reaching down to 70Hz.

Driver Selection:

ND91-4, ND16

Enclosure Design:

.045 cubic feet MDF cabinet (1/2” thick) with a Red Oak baffle.

Cabinet is definitely tight, necessitating everything be assembled, wired and mounted to the front baffle prior to gluing the baffle to the cabinet. Designed a removable back panel for access should I ever need to address an issue; however, there is such little room to work inside this size enclosure that any “work” back there would be difficult. I had to be doubly certain during testing that everything was in order.

No pics of how I integrated the Google brain into the top of the cabinet (sorry, can’t share all my secrets). Did an acrylic resin pour to allow the 4 LED’s to show through the MDF.

Crossover Design:

Followed Scott Sehlin’s ‘Helium’ design which has its own thread here:
http://techtalk.parts-express.com/showthread.php?244673-Helium-a-true-micromonitor

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:

Very happy with the overall result, although I underestimated the Google Home mini’s onboard DSP and what that would do to the tuning at virtually every volume level. That said, I prefer having access to EQ settings in all my gear as I enjoy dialing in my sound based on what genre of music I have playing so this is not a problem for me.

Scott’s design is incredible and in this project I would get more out of his design had I chosen a better amp more capable of driving the ND91’s. That said, for the size of my office I definitely don’t “need” more power – at least that’s what my wife says.

About the Designer:
I enjoy using woodworking as a creative outlet for designing custom speaker cabinets that are unique without compromising on soundstage.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Chris Pickett

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

20+ Hours

Project Cost:

$100-$500

Project Description:

 I built two BlastBox kits for Christmas presents and I wanted to modify the standard BlastBox kit to pay tribute to Fender amps. Both of the of the people I’m giving them to are musicians, so they’ really loved the final product.

Design Goals:
Keep the enclosure dimensions standard for sound quality purposes, but to have it look like a standard Fender amp. Also add the battery level and an auxiliary input. Lastly, I didn’t like the way the standard box puts the amp dead center of the box. I wanted to move them towards the back, as they are with many Fender style amps, and so that they wouldn’t be in the way of the handle.

Driver Selection:

Stock Kit

Enclosure Design:

Stock Kit

Crossover Design:

Stock Kit

Tips & Tricks:

 I watched a lot of YouTube videos on how to wrap amp cases… it’s an art for sure, so I made two small practice boxes to figure it out. By the end my corners were pretty darn good. With the metal corner covers they don’t have to be perfect, but I wanted to see how good I could get them. Lastly, by upgrading the battery board, you need to shift the locations of it and the crossovers. I stressed over all that but it tuned out okay.

Conclusion:

Loved the build process… lots of problem solving to make it look right. Learned how to wrap the amp and was really happy with the final results. LASTLY, this thing sounds awesome! To my ear it can sound a bit “bright”, but either the right adjustments you can dial it in pretty nicely. Both people that got the amps love them and their friends all want to know where to get one.

About the Designer:
 Woodworking background, filth and sixth kit build.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Paxderwex

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

8-20 Hours

Project Cost:

Under $100

Project Description:

Small portable guitar amp for practice

Design Goals:
Compact and high quality sound

Driver Selection:

8 inch bass speaker

Enclosure Design:

Thin wood

Crossover Design:

N/A

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:

Works Great

About the Designer:
Just an old bass player musician with a hobby

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Mark Bandoszeski

Project Category:
Home Electronics

Project Level:
Advanced

Project Time:

20+ Hours

Project Cost:

Over $1,000

Project Description:

Project Threshold is a 2.1 channel system packing a total of 8,000 watts. The left and right channels are rated at 2,500 watts each and the subwoofer channel is rated at 3,000 watts. Drivers used were as follows tweeter ribbon horn x 2, midrange 6-1/2″ x 2, woofer 12″ x 2, passive radiator 12″ x 2, subwoofer 15″ and passive radiator 15″. Music can be listened to through Bluetooth, USB flash, SD card, vinyl record, CD and FM radio. The sound can be easily adjusted to the type of music being played or to meet the acoustics of the listening environment using the 10 band equalizer, 4 L-Pads (tweeter and midrange volume), DSP controller (subwoofer) and the spectrum analyzer. The system works effortless to reproduce music with clarity, exceptional bass and staging The enclosure size is 39″ H x 55″ W x 18″ & 22″ D weight 370 lbs.

Design Goals:
Design a 2.1 channel speaker system that can reproduce music at near audiophile levels even at high volume levels.

Driver Selection:

-Tweeter Fountek ribbon horn 
-Midrange HiVi F6 6-1/2″ 
-Woofer 12″ LaVoce WAF123.01
-Passive radiator 12″ Dayton Audio DSA315-PR 
-Subwoofer 15″ Dayton reference RSS390HE-22 
-Passive radiator 15″ Dayton Reference RSS390-PR 

Enclosure Design:

The enclosure was deigned using Solidworks 3D cad modeling software. Built using Medium Density Fiber Board 3/4″ and 1-1/2″ (front and rear baffles) thicknesses were used. Within the the enclosure are five separate speaker boxes. Each box was sized according to the manufacturers recommended internal volume size. The woofer and subwoofer boxes have internal bracing.

Crossover Design:

Three way high power handling with speaker protection.

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:

Although the project was extremely difficult the end result was worth the countless hours and cost of over $5,200 to build.

About the Designer:
I am a Mechanical Engineer and small business owner and spend my free time working on projects like this.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Mike

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:

1-8 Hours

Project Cost:

$100-$500

Project Description:

Blast box portable speaker to use as a home theater but portable to use out by the pool. Wanted this to resemble an old radio for decor and character.

Design Goals:
Wanted this to resemble an old radio for decor and character.

Driver Selection:

Blast Box Kit

Enclosure Design:

N/A

Crossover Design:

Stock Blast Box

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:

The blast box sounds incredible and allowed me to accomplish exactly what I wanted at an affordable price. Better quality, sound, and character than a comparable store bought speaker (like Sonos)

About the Designer:
Purchased rca vintage name plate and badge on eBay. Wrapped in automotive interior wood wrap high tac contact paper, edge and corner protectors and brass knobs. Added grill covers for speaker protection. All in for less than $100 to get this look.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Wes and Tim

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Intermediate

Project Time:

1-8 Hours

Project Cost:

$100-$500

Project Description:

We converted an RCA drive-in movie speaker into a stereo rechargeable Bluetooth speaker.

Design Goals:
To make a durable portable speaker for car camping and working in the studio.

Driver Selection:

Portable 30 Watt Battery Powered Bluetooth Speaker Package with 2-1/2″ Full-Range Drivers

Enclosure Design:

N/A

Crossover Design:

Stock package

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:

Was a tricky project as there isn’t a lot of space on the inside of the speaker. We had to do some customization to the battery board.

About the Designer:
 Just someone who bought 2 drive-in speakers years ago with the intent to make something modern from them. The Parts Express kit was perfect because it gave me everything I’d need.

Project Parts List:

Designer:

Pedro

Project Category:
Portable Speakers

Project Level:
Beginner

Project Time:

8-20 Hours

Project Cost:

Under $100

Project Description:

Wanted to build a great portable speaker

Design Goals:
Simple

Driver Selection:

Dayton Audio MKBoom Portable Bluetooth Speaker Kit

Enclosure Design:

N/A

Crossover Design:

Stock package

Tips & Tricks:

N/A

Conclusion:

Fun, learned a lot!

About the Designer:
Winter project, loves music

Project Parts List: