# 2way custom built cabinets featuring JBL 2118's



## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

Just thought I'd show off the cabinets I built a couple of months ago for my 2118's. 1cuft cabinets will be ported to 70hz or so maybe. Will also reduce internal volume to around 3/4 cuft with the bottom being filled with sand. Cabinets are made out of 3/4" MDF and the front baffle is 1" Curly maple...so pretty. The tweets are going to be for now Sellenium TItanium compression drivers on 8" round horns mounted to the top of the cabinet. Right now...they are just pretty table art since I don't really have the money to do the brackets and such...










































Drawing for bracket


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## hobie1dog (Apr 9, 2008)

cool stuff, how do they sound?


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## Electrodynamic (Nov 27, 2007)

Nice RX8!  

Nice cabinets too.


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

I wish I had paint skills like that.....


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## brownmoses (Jul 23, 2008)

very nice work. what are jbl 2118's? old school sq woofers? pro sound drivers?


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## Ga foo 88 (Dec 18, 2005)

Whats the intended use for these? I am considering some pro audio style coax's for some party type speakers and what not, just for fun.


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

Because I break everything down into assembly steps, I noticed something odd about your design. You first cut the hole for your speaker. This left you with no center point which is very important when using a circle cutting guide like a jasper jig. But then, you somehow routed out the area in the MDF where the speaker flange would sit. How did you do that? did you place the maple board in there, measure the center point, and then route out the coutersink area?


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## mikey7182 (Jan 16, 2008)

brownmoses said:


> very nice work. what are jbl 2118's? old school sq woofers? pro sound drivers?


Some amazing, very hard to find pro audio stuff. 

Sweet build by the way! You get the horns mounted yet? I'd be interested in how they turn out!


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

Well hells bells I didn't think anyone had ever looked at this thread...

For the questions...comments By the way these are the 16ohm version of the 2118's but with the high efficiency it doesn't really matter.

Paint skills like that? Man thats just a couple coats of high build rattle can primer

JBL 2118's...some bad mofo midrange drivers...yes 8" are considered mid's in the pro audio world...they won't play much below 100hz. SUPER high efficiency...How do they sound in my cabinets...eh...not great yet  Haha. First off the cabinets are 1cuft, which is too big, so the bottom is going to get a layer of special ingredients to take up some space, then they will get ported to the high 80's I believe. These are going to be one set of a few home/library listening cabinets. The sub will be either a DIYMA12 or a SS Ref12 in the house so I can cross them higher to take up the midbass regions no problemo.
Horns aren't mounted but with the horn I have on them now (smaller horn) they actually sit perfectly level on top of the cabinet...I'll have to get some pics with the horns for grins and giggles.
Construction, well...I cut the MDF hole first as you can see. Then with the maple inserted I found the exact same centerpoint on the maple I used for the MDF and routed the maple the same way, but with it sitting in the cabinet, so that when I did the outside ring it also got a little bit of the MDF so it sat nice and flush and pretty like. So you guessed how I did it right on! I appreciate the comments!

Also I building a pair of amps from scratch...well the frame and power supply. The amplifier itself will be a chip amp kit that will go in my frame...The amps are built to match the cabinets with the same maple on the end caps and a giant copper bar in the middle for heatsink. I'll get some pics up soon. I think they're sexy Haha. Two matching guitarsail made amps stereo pair. One amp for the L/R Horns, one for L/R Mids With a active crossover in front of the amps so everything gets what its supposed to. Now that there is a little interest, I'll get some more pics up! Thanks for the Motivation. BTW Itayln, I really like the frugal horns!


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

Alright alright...I'm tired of Italyn Stalyn gettin all the attention around these parts...   Just kidding.....No but seriously though.  jk So this update is for you Picture whores who only look when there are pictures involved...:rolleyes2: Sheesh

Anyways the point of my presentation is, here is a better idea of what the cabinets will look like with a driver on top....minus the fact they will be 6" or 8" horns instead of the elliptical horn, also there will be a small space between the bottom of the horn and the cabinet once the bracket is made. 

Also the newest member of this sets family...my made from bars of metal and flat grille steele..the matching amps..well...once the grille is painted black then they'll match..mostly...NOT THE POINT...for what its worth, the front and back are 1/4" thick by 3x8" Aluminum bar stock..the giant copper bar in the middle is 1/2" thick by 3"x4" solid copper. It is the heatsink. The two amplifier chips will bolt on to the bottom of that copper bar. The front will have two 1" thick by 2" Diameter solid copper round bar stock for volume controls. And the back will have obviously speaker and RCA ins/outs and a multi pin connector for the power supply. On to the pics

Oh yeah the end caps are the same Curly maple, but aren't finished yet.


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)




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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)




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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

guitarsail said:


> Alright alright...I'm tired of Italyn Stalyn gettin all the attention around these parts...   Just kidding.....No but seriously though.  jk


ROFL









Those look great man! I'm excited to see the finished product! That tweeter you had on the top, are you going to use that? I wasn't sure because the cad drawing you had didn't look like it was designed for it.


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

ItalynStylion said:


> ROFL
> 
> 
> 
> ...


DAMNIT THANK YOU! :laugh::laugh: Those aren't no tweeters...those are 1" Titanium Compression Drivers   They have a threaded throat instead of bolt on like the ID Horn drivers. So where the throat of the horn and the throat of the driver screw together they will do so at the hole at the top of that bracket. Horn on one side driver on the other so they just end up chilling there relatively securely. BTW the amps I've decided to call...

Coppertops! Ya like? 50watts a channel or so, 4 channels for bi-amping. I was looking heavily at those amps recomended in your thread, but the price is almost $200 now per and thats about what mine cost after its all said and done..plus...i made em! What better conversationg piece...if of course anyone ever looks at my thread  I'm done now haha.


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## Ga foo 88 (Dec 18, 2005)

What are the chip amp kits you are using? I've recently started to check out some of the smaller class d amps like the 41hz and related stuff. It would be cool to see some build pics... if no thats cool too.


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## kevin k. (May 5, 2005)

guitarsail said:


> DAMNIT THANK YOU! :laugh::laugh: Those aren't no tweeters...those are 1" Titanium Compression Drivers   They have a threaded throat instead of bolt on like the ID Horn drivers. So where the throat of the horn and the throat of the driver screw together they will do so at the hole at the top of that bracket. Horn on one side driver on the other so they just end up chilling there relatively securely. BTW the amps I've decided to call...
> 
> Coppertops! Ya like?  50watts a channel or so, 4 channels for bi-amping. I was looking heavily at those amps recomended in your thread, but the price is almost $200 now per and thats about what mine cost after its all said and done..plus...i made em! What better conversationg piece...if of course anyone ever looks at my thread  I'm done now haha.


Definitely looking great, so far... 

"Coppertops"... I like, but I like "Copperheads" better. 

From where I come from, anyway, those Copperheads can be some bad-assed little critters!


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

Ga foo 88 said:


> What are the chip amp kits you are using? I've recently started to check out some of the smaller class d amps like the 41hz and related stuff. It would be cool to see some build pics... if no thats cool too.


This is the kit
DIY Chip Amplifier Kits, PCB's, Components and Information.

My design for frame is derived from the Patek amp. Although 100% honest I had the idea for the copper bar heatsinked amp before I saw this...but I digress...He sells the amp guts as a kit for 59$ for the basic one and the amp for 1000$ and supposedly the amps kick ass! 
The website I found that website from
DIY Chip Amps, Gainclone, Opamp and T-Amp Projects


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

Coppertops is a good name! Especially since both the amp and Duracell batteries power things.


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

I like coppertops as well for the same reason...coppertops FTW!


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## designer485 (Sep 19, 2006)

Nice Work, they look good!


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## kevin k. (May 5, 2005)

I keep coming back to this thread just to look at your speakers... very handsome and I love the curly maple baffles. Interested in watching your progress with these beauties and your Coppertops, too. Very cool projects. Thanks.


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

/\/\/\ Very nice comments, thank you!


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## guitarsail (Oct 12, 2007)

Alright so I made a few acoustic panels to get rid of the slap echo in my rectangular room..ooy..of course the room is a mess, the speaker what thrown on another speaker for reference, etc... but thats not the point. Just a quick pic of the panels on the wall. +









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