# home loudspeaker DIY goodness



## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

almost finished...my bus parter matt has to do 1 more block sanding and they will be painted a Mercedes Alpine Rain Metallic "pale blue" and then the fun part of passive crossover construction will start afterwards....


"drivers are just mounted for pics"


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

WOW! Looking fantastic!

Is that going to be a passive or active system?


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## metanium (Feb 2, 2007)

That is great looking!



Se7en said:


> Is that going to be a passive or active system?


He mentioned passives in the OP.


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

Se7en said:


> WOW! Looking fantastic!
> 
> Is that going to be a passive or active system?


thanks!!!

passive for this one.....


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

metanium said:


> That is great looking!
> 
> 
> 
> He mentioned passives in the OP.


Doh! Missed it!


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

looks amazing


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## RedMed427 (Feb 9, 2007)

Are you building these for yourself? btw they look orgasmic :O


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Very nice , Randy !!


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

Very nice, is that an AP membrane on the rear?

Also what would be driver volumes per chamber.

And i need to work on my glassing skillz.......those things look like a beaut!


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## Pseudonym (Apr 17, 2006)

interesting design.


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## Arc (Aug 25, 2006)

Nice!! Couple Q's.

Is there a reason that you went with the Genesis version of the revelator other than you happened to have them on hand from the car?

Is that veneer or natural? What is the name of it?

The top curve of the midbass cabinet...is it glassed or is it sliced and curved wood?

They look great man!


EDIT: Two more, is the AP vent for the MidRange? Looks like it could snake down, or is it for the MidBass? If not for the Midbass; is the cabinet sealed or is there a vent under the curve of the base?


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## Arc (Aug 25, 2006)

Wanna share details on this??


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## foreman (Apr 18, 2007)

Randy, any chance you're originally for NY?


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

demon2091tb said:


> Very nice, is that an AP membrane on the rear?
> 
> Also what would be driver volumes per chamber.
> 
> And i need to work on my glassing skillz.......those things look like a beaut!


thanks...yes that's the scan ap vent in the rear.... the 12m has a little over 3 liters and the 18w has like .4 cubes....


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

Pseudonym said:


> interesting design.


allot of my personal reasons behind the design.... 1st to show a large contrast between traditional shape with more of a organic style pod...also to contrast mediums of wood and paint....etc... also the design was to look into minimal baffle intereactions with shape and size for the 4 and tweeter as well as time alignment....


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## invecs (Jul 30, 2005)

Hi Randy,

Did the dispersion pattern of the tweeter changed when you mounted it like that?

Nice work!


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

Arc said:


> Nice!! Couple Q's.
> 
> Is there a reason that you went with the Genesis version of the revelator other than you happened to have them on hand from the car?
> 
> ...



I wanted to do something different with baffle shape...and this gave me that option..the only downside to this peice is that it can't be flushed mounted due to the rounded over top edge.... but it will be smoothed out and painted a mat black finish....

the 12m is a sealed enclosure...the internals of both cabinets are made so that every other layer is an inch bigger...




















the hard part was figuring out how all the pices would attach and not have any visable anchor points as well as provide and ap enclosure for the midbass driver...

some additional build pics...


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

invecs said:


> Hi Randy,
> 
> Did the dispersion pattern of the tweeter changed when you mounted it like that?
> 
> Nice work!


thanks...

the way it's mounted will not effect the disp at all..the only downside to the mounting flang is that since it can't be flushed it will have a minor peak with baffle interactions...


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

foreman said:


> Randy, any chance you're originally for NY?


I'm out of St. Louis... my partner is out of south carolina.... and that's were they r now....


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

very nice build pics, any resonance improvements with the varying thicknesses and i image its to break down internal waves as well.

Any helpful papers for AP tunings?


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

Arc said:


> Wanna share details on this??



those are matt's shop speakers... the scan 6600 along with the 18h skaaning driver...and soon to come four 10 inch scans per side....


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## CMR22 (Feb 10, 2007)

That is so very cool. Thank you for the build pics.


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

You guys have alot of Scan love.........  $

I'll have to settle for the HDS.


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## Sex Cells (Jul 21, 2007)

Can you please explain the inside staggering for us n00bs? Gracias.


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

Sex Cells said:


> Can you please explain the inside staggering for us n00bs? Gracias.


basically a way to try to eliminate standing waves in the box...thus trying taking the "enclosure" out of the equation... also the rear of every speaker opening was chamfered for once again trying to eliminate driver/baffle interaction


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## 300Z (Mar 20, 2005)

That looks outstanding Randy. 

Quick question, can you guesstimate how many hours it's gonna take for each finished product?

Cheers.

Leo


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

300Z said:


> That looks outstanding Randy.
> 
> Quick question, can you guesstimate how many hours it's gonna take for each finished product?
> 
> ...


Thanks...

I had the whole speaker ready to prime and finish in a little over 2 weeks and that was just nights and weekends and not every night due to my daughter just being born... now they have literally sat unprimed for almost year due to my ex and I splitting and I have other things to attend to...but I dropped them off at Matt Roberts " my business partener's " house to have him finish and paint and due the extremely hard part of build passives...

In reality... if done as a full time job...feasibly could be done in 3 weeks give or take for tuning time...


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

also keep in mind that the limited tools that I have slow down the build.. having air tools other than the small pancake compresser of the nailgun would have cut time in half.....


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## bdubs767 (Apr 4, 2006)

Looks great.

How will the passive be built? By just ears? Using LEAP w/ baffle measurements?


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

bdubs767 said:


> Looks great.
> 
> How will the passive be built? By just ears? Using LEAP w/ baffle measurements?



matt's a wizz at it...and will be a mixture of both ears and a program... he has a nack better than anybody I know hearing and paying attention to time and phase... this we feel will seperate us from the mass majority of companies... with respect to vandersteen...thiel...burmeister.....etc...


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## ///Audience (Jan 31, 2007)

I was wondering what had happened with those Genesis tweets from you car.

*man i wish i had a big garage with orgasmic sound and trophys all around! great build man.


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## the other hated guy (May 25, 2007)

BassBaller5 said:


> I was wondering what had happened with those Genesis tweets from you car.
> 
> *man i wish i had a big garage with orgasmic sound and trophys all around! great build man.



that's matt's garage and trophies....yeah I'm a bit jealous myself


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## Weightless (May 5, 2005)

Randy,

Very nice work. I'm digging the organic flow of the backside of the speaker. How are you finishing it? I'm sure you mentioned it, but I am "reading" this thread like I "read" playboy...


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## Arc (Aug 25, 2006)

Randy wow! That is some serious work there. I have been looking into Translam type designs for the possibility of altering resonance and the interesting shapes you can make.

They look really nice! The midrange pods are very interesting. The ideas of the different size diameters is quite unusual.

I am getting jealous of the work area and all the nice litte drivers residing in it.

Do you plan on documenting the passive construction or series? What components is Matt working with?


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## Matt R (Aug 29, 2007)

Man, that is an awesome shop! I can do some documentation of the crossover build. It will start with less expensive experimental parts before the big dollars are spent on components. 

I'll show some more pics of my shop speakers and system when I get home from work.

Matt


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

Those going to be back in St. Louis anytime soon, so i can have a listen? I kinda also wanna try out a new amp I've been thinking about picking up too. I'll run it by ya, see what you think. First things first though... new receiver for pre-pro.


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## Arc (Aug 25, 2006)

Matt R said:


> Man, that is an awesome shop! I can do some documentation of the crossover build. It will start with less expensive experimental parts before the big dollars are spent on components.
> 
> I'll show some more pics of my shop speakers and system when I get home from work.
> 
> Matt



Please do that would be awesome. I am a sucker for some reason for crossover designs and builds. I hate doing it myself but I like looking


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## Matt R (Aug 29, 2007)

This is how you break in a Scan 6600









The third pic shows the inside which has about 60lb's of concrete poured into it at an angle. The crossover is a test piece that can be tweaked on the bench and refined before it goes into the enclosure. That is a linear phase crossover @ about 3200hz with a series notch filter and attenuation. 

Matt


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## s2groove (May 18, 2007)

I'm lovin that speaker matt. You wana build mine LOL. I got a 6600, but no skaaning, just some plain ole revelator woofers. What amplification do you have in the background. I saw a a sneaky peak of some tubes.


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## Matt R (Aug 29, 2007)

Nothin wronge with the Revelators, Love those too. I have several amps here but the reference amp I use is a Theta. It is biamping those two way's with about 800 watts per cabinet. The tube fm reciever is probobly what you saw. It's a vintage HH Scott model. It's all about to get moved around but here's my Reference for now.


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

Matt R said:


> Nothin wronge with the Revelators, Love those too. I have several amps here but the reference amp I use is a Theta. It is biamping those two way's with about 800 watts per cabinet. The tube fm reciever is probobly what you saw. It's a vintage HH Scott model. It's all about to get moved around but here's my Reference for now.


Is that a Sony 999ES I spot back there?


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

This is awesome , getting to see and have explained the steps as you move to the final pinnacle of this set of speakers.


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## Matt R (Aug 29, 2007)

Thats the s9000es sacd/dvd player. One model older than the 999. It will soon get a fully ballanced mod with new dac's and power supply.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Matt R said:


> This is how you break in a Scan 6600
> 
> 
> 
> ...


How long did you break-in the tweeters ? Pink noise used ?

Concrete should take the reverberations down


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## Ge0 (Jul 23, 2007)

Weightless said:


> Randy,
> 
> Very nice work. I'm digging the organic flow of the backside of the speaker. How are you finishing it? I'm sure you mentioned it, but I am "reading" this thread like I "read" playboy...


With your pants at your ankles ?

Ge0


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## Matt R (Aug 29, 2007)

^^ Thats funny, maybe even no pants. 

It seems speakers don't settle down for about 3 to 4 days of playing. I like to turn on the fm tuner and just let it play for about that long, no pink noise.

Matt


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

When did you decide to use the concrete ? or have you used it in your other speakers too ?


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## Matt R (Aug 29, 2007)

I've been using similar products for years. Granite is a main component of concrete and I've used it in my home theatre and in my truck. Here's some pics of the Granite in my truck.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

Very nice !! Matt


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## jj_diamond (Oct 3, 2007)

skillz! you know, like nunchuck skillz. awesome work


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

Matt R said:


> Thats the s9000es sacd/dvd player. One model older than the 999. It will soon get a fully ballanced mod with new dac's and power supply.


Awww... so close. Props for getting close right?  I was SOO close to getting a 999ES when my old store liquidated here, but someone nabbed it. Ended up with the 1 step down 5 disc, 555ES. Picked it up for $120 about 3-4 years ago, and couldn't be happier. I LOVE that thing. It's really the only reason I haven't pulled the trigger on BluRay yet.

Not to mention the thing is a tank. The play button it worn off. It was our old display and was playing movies 11 hours a day, every day for like 2 years. Still going strong. No problems.


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## Matt R (Aug 29, 2007)

http://vacuumstate.com/son-kits.htm

These guys sell kits to upgrade several players to discrete, balanced players. I think they got a kit for the 555es.

Matt


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