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This randomly showed up on my doorstep with a return address to Eminence. Test results here
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/155-diy-speakers-subs/2008882-eminence-n314t-xt1464.html
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After spending months going back and forth in my head over potentially upgrading my main speakers my curiosity was piqued by large format compression drivers. I have already taken the plunge to figure out the capabilities. This AVS thread contains my test data. http://www.avsforum.com/forum/155-diy-speakers-subs/1953585-faitalpro-hf146.html I am presently planning to build a test box for a 15" woofer Well my web hosting with "webs.com" basically decided to give me the big FU. After a year of my site running for free they decided to try and force me to subscribe and claim my site didnt fit their free model? So here I am at weebly for free. I have included all of my old blog entries below.
31 Jan 2015 Iron Driver 2015 I will have a new design posted after the DIY NY Iron Driver competition on May 16th. Not sure when I'll get to the silver flute/sb29 mtm 27 September 2014 Something's brewing Thanks to ODougBo for sending me a set of cabinets. I will have an mtm design featuring the 6.5" Silver Flute woofer and SB29RDNC tweeter at some point in the future. Likely in the first half of 2015, if I'm lucky! 21 March 2014 Finally moved Well I am now moved into the Phoenix area of Arizona. I do not have a work area setup, and I honestly have a ton of stuff going on dealing with such a huge move from Alaska. I still have to put DIY on the back burner... 6 September 2013 Time for a pause With the conclusion of my Vagrant project I wont be working on any new builds for at least another year. I am moving across the country in Feb, so preparation for the move takes priority. I will likely still be willing to work on a simulation or two for someone if requested. 24 July 2013 Why even bother with DIY, there are so many great speakers out there at every budget level? I remember when I first got into this hobby about 12 years ago, I believed the reviewers, and took the self proclaimed golden eared audiophile's word at face value. My budget was pretty low back then (still is compared to many), and I wasted plenty of it on useless "necessities". Several hundred wasted on stuff like Zu cables, which literally fell apart on me within a month, and then the icing on the cake, getting hyped up to the magical system transforming properties of cryogenically treated "Bybee Purifiers". How could I possibly not notice any difference after inserting into my system something that so many golden eared audiophiles raved about, "so many layers of veils had been lifted" they all preached.... Nothing, no difference. That was the point where I stopped believing, and started trying to understand the how and the why of audio reproduction. DIY is just a natural evolution for someone like me, hands on learning is the only thing that really works. Completely designing and building a speaker from the ground up, now that can be an eye opener! Sure, I could stop DIYing now, and purchase the best setup for my needs based on what my budget would allow, But why would I? Being able to create exactly what you want is fun! Doing it for less then a commercial equivalent is just a nice fat layer of icing on the cake. 22 July 2013 -A lot of people might like to know what is needed to get started with designing their own speakers. Do you have Microsoft Excel? There is a large amount of freeware that is based on MS Excel. Having Excel is crucial to getting started, but there are programs that dont need it. We'll start with box design. Here is a download link to Boxycad audio.claub.net/boxycad2.xls -This isn't the most comprehensive program from my perspective, as it only allows you to use 3 drivers on the front of the cabinet (1 side firing), and the speaker can only be a simple rectangle. Other then that it is extremely helpful for finding driver layouts, allowing you to quickly punch in driver sizes and see how far apart acoustic centers of the drivers are. The most comprehensive free program for box software is Google Sketchup http://www.sketchup.com/ -The learning curve is a little steep, but you can literally make anything with it. The cabinet outline for my tower speaker was done with this program. -There are numerous solutions for modeling the bass response of a driver, and all of them appear to work well. My favorite is WinISD pro, because it is the fastest, and allows rapid comparisons of multiple box alignments http://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=winisdpro -As far as measuring, the setup I use cost me $400. That price is because it is the easiest setup to use, and there really isnt anything else out there that is plug and play. -Omnimic http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=390-792 -DATS http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=390-806 -The Design software I use is Jeff Bagby's freeware, which is listed on the 'Links" page of my website. This is all excel based, and will have a learning curve. There are some tutorials that can be found reading through the "speaker building bible" link, along with info on pretty much everything about DIY speaker design/building. It is a tremendous resource. -There are cheaper solutions to the measurement setup, a member of the parts express forum suggested this "UMIK from Cross Spectrum Labs (consider getting a longer cord) HolmImpulse or REW (free) DATS" -I dont use that stuff outside of DATS, so I have no comment on using it. There is also crossover design software that doesnt require excel http://www.audiodevelopers.com/Software/PSD_Lite/setup.exe -Again I have never used it. There is also a very comprehensive $250 program called Soundeasy (it's anything but easy) http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=500-912 -You have to get your own mic setup, but the program has a complete set of advanced software. Here is a nice writeup about it http://www.zaphaudio.com/setup.html -There really isnt a fast way to speaker design, you have to gain the knowledge and then apply it all on your own. |
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May 2015
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