Speaker build thread

[cranky]

This is how April and May are gonna go.

This is a living room internet radio setup for music, mostly. Fills in the background when I'm working, which isn't often.

It's a semi-active setup with one amplifier for the "Woofer" and the other to drive the other two. There is a proper crossover between the midrange and tweeter, and the Mid and the woofer are handled with an active crossover.

The little storage cabinet below is quite badly built, so I designed the speaker with a purposely weak woofer and a very overbuilt cabinet (relatively) so no vibration transfers to the cabinet. It sounds nice, but there's some setup to be finalised hence all screws haven't been inserted.

This is the first of my 4 builds for this year, will update thread with more pics of the other speakers later. They all share the same veneer so they look similar at least from that perspective. I've been gradually getting more into building these since 2014-15, and this will probably be my second or third last run before I hang up my boots.

 

[Husky]

Awesome setup, man! You clearly know what you're doing. Keep sharing your builds, always cool to see what others are working on

 

[Heisen]

Them toroidal transformers.

 

[cranky]

Those are tiny They're only 100VA each and the smallest of amplifier transformers (I might have a 60VA lying around somewhere). Someday I'll share some shots of the 2KvA monster I used in a Class A Amplifier build. That thing weighed 9 kg all by itself.It was like moving a shotput.

They're made by Torotrans in Pune, one of the nicest folks to work with among the vendors I deal with in India.

 

[TheNawab]

Looks great!

Where do you start learning about this audio stuff? I am really interested in improving my audio hardware knowledge but my current knowledge is basically up till Sennheiser/Sony good, Boat/Mivi bad lmao.

Y'all got any book or YT reccs? I am a very theoretical learner so I don't need quick crash courses or setup-esque knowledge but rather actual mechanical and technical knowledge my ADHD brain can latch onto for weeks at a time learning.

 

[cranky]

Thanks to the mods for moving the thread
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I started when I was 13.

That was 40 years ago. I didn't have books or YT. Just magazines and a very, very patient and generous father. My cousin was building a kit amplifier (which never worked and he gave up) but I was hooked for life. I did have the internet after the 90s and joined some sites that kept my interest fed. We started with basic kit level stuff, the type you buy on amazon nowadays. Those days brands in India were decent - not by today's standards, but enough to keep young guys like me hooked. You do need money though. Quite a lot of it, relatively speaking. I never gave the hobby up and kept building stuff on a smaller scale all the way through my professional career. I quit in 2012 and moved back home, and after a few years of recovery, started building stuff for other folks. We had an intention of going commercial but it's been a bit rough with our personal lives, so it never really took off in a big way and now I'm too old to start a large scale business. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you have a dream, chase it for all you're worth. Never settle.
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Audio stuff on Youtube, DIY? Not that I know of, not proper builders. There used to be basic kit level hackers doing videos but those aren't going to teach you anything meaningful. To be very honest I'm not on YT at all except for watching races and keeping up with PC hardware creators. I only know of Electroboom, but he's more a general electronics guy and does a lot of unsafe stuff as well, not recommended for beginners.

The best place to learn from scratch is DIYAudio, you will find a lot of stickied threads with tutorials and guides, some basic projects that can get you started on the hobby. That's how my really serious journeys started. There are outbound links to all sorts of resources to learn. Folks can be snippy sometimes to newbies but that's just how life is. You need to be good at math (like do long division in your head good) and know basics of Physics, the rest you can learn as you go. It is not very totally safe, lots of burn hazards, potential electric shocks (I got two in the morning) and many sharp and heavy tools and objects. It's also not recommended for minors to do this sort of hobby without an adult present. Learning - learning is by doing.

If you want to read something, and already have a good physics background, the best books are Bob Cordell's book and amps and Vance Dickinsons' books on speakers. You can probably find abridged versions somewhere. The "Dummies" series is usually good but I don't think they're specific to audio.

CordellAudio.com - Designing Audio Power Amplifiers

https://www.amazon.com/Loudspeaker-Design-Cookbook-Vance-Dickason/dp/1882580338

Another great place to learn is Rod Eliot's pages:

https://www.sound-au.com/ (start with the "Articles" section).

Be warned, this is not about brands. We're going to the roots with these resources.

Here's a good one:

So you want to design your own speaker from scratch!

You have been doing this DIY speaker thing for a while, probably built a couple of proven designs from people like Zaph , Troels Gravesen, Paul Carmody or any number of other successful designers. Perhaps you started out like me, cobbling together random drivers with off the shelf or...

www.diyaudio.com