Julian's Speaker Build Diary....

I'm glad you said that. One of the big advantages of DIY speakers is the ability to use the class of components that you'd normally only find in speakers costing ££££ . Such as Polypropelene caps.. (I noted that you had some of the devils spawn in those crossovers - electrolytics ! ).. metalised film resistors etc etc. Definitely make a difference. Don't use tags for your wiring either, at least not long term. You got to learn how to solder and do your speakers the justice of properly soldering all the internal wiring.



GTM

 

G,
Ju's doing this on a budget at the moment, so he's using the OE suppiled parts. I wouldn't use those components either, 'M' or 'V' caps or Auric's only, Craddock's resistors et al, and hard wired point to point, however that'll come later I'm sure.
I take it you referring to those choice alcaps !!!
You have got to start some where sir, and Ju'll deceide how he wishes to play it later I feel. Wm

 

Hi Julian

Just wanted to say "looking good" and that I am still keenly following the thread, if you're wondering if anyone's still interested in your posts. Nearly there!

All the best,

Chris.

 

Been reading this thread with much interest. However the speakers turn out, much respect to you Julian for attempting the project - it must take a certain leap of faith to commence with speaker building, especially a pair of TLs as they are a design which is frowned upon by many. I hope they give you many years of pleasure

 

I havent had much chance to post, what with holidays [Croatia - lovely!] and job hunting. Cheers for documenting this so well Julian.

Now is a good time to order some spare bolts [and T-nuts?] from Falcon or Maplin. If you can order just the bolts it would probably do, but sods law says they will never match the nuts properly, even if they are the right 'size' unless they sell exact spares. When you tighten the bolts, chances are they will get chewed as they are usually naff x-point heads. Maybe IPL supply the smart allen key ones that work better? If they chew, wipe the swarf with damp tissue to stick it to. Also wipe the screwdriver with damp tissue to remove the metal shavings. The worst enemy of a big bass driver is steel shavings. If you remove the bass driver the chances are the bolts will become too chewed, and you want to start with fresh ones.

 

thanks guys,
the project has taken a bit of a back seat at present due to work pressures - the spectre of christmas is looming....
still i'm hoping to be able to fire them up next weekend. as tony says i'm doing things by the book at the moment however once things are settled again i'll be spending some money to get all the right bits in there (or out of there if we're talking about the x-overs). ivan sells the t-nuts and bolts so i'll probably order another set from him (or some good allen key ones from one of the other suppiers) when 'modding time' comes around.
cheers


julian.

 

Ju Why not ask "Stew" over on HFC to veneer yer speakers.

http://gallery11185.fotopic.net/show_collection.php?id=28726

Lovely finish

 

hi,
well i've finally got of my arse this evening and lined the 2nd speaker so the jobs to finish are as follows...

1) drill holes for attaching crossover and attach crossover.
2) dill holes in tl big enough to pass wires through for mid and tweeter
3) drill holes for driver attatchment.
4) seal the boxes up.
5) add final tl lining on last side of box and final brace behind bass driver.
6) attatch the drivers.
7) connect them up and hope they don't fry my amp.

i also picked up the crossovers from tony today. as always tony made me very welcome and i had an enjoyable couple of hours listening to his rig (which is now just stupidly good - although tone phoned tonight to appologise as he'd left it in single ended mode as he'd been watching a dvd the night before - so god only knows how good it really is!). once again a big thanks for tony for sorting the crossovers.
ak,
at present finances mean finishing will consist of a dust down and that's it - i'll be getting them finished properly later on when i'm happy with the sound and have finished faffing with them.
cheers


julian

 

Hurry up and finish them, the suspense is killing us,

 

Just to let you know I have followed this from the start.

Fine job you are doing young Sir.

Keep up the postings.

Can't wait for your first post after listening.

Ken

 

So just an hour of so of work left then
Seriously can't wait for you to finish them. It's a great leap into the dark rolling your own as it were, but they look like they should be fantastic.
Keep up the good work

 

So close i can nearly smell the magic smoke...

well,
spent this morning catching up on the week. i've:
fitted the crossovers
drilled the tl to get the wires to the mid / tweeter cutouts
drilled the front baffle to accept the driver fixings
test fitted the drivers to get the t-nuts bedded in
also i've knocked some veneer pins into the final side to locate it whilst the glue is drying. hopefully i'll get some strap clamps off my dad tonight and get one box fully glued together tonight and the other in a day or so - depending on how many straps i can find.
last few bits will be:
final piece of tl lining on final wall behind bass drivers
final vertical brace behind bass driver
driver sealing and fitting.
plug them in.....

some pictures....


HOBBY is a jealous god and demands many sacrifices...


Crossovers fitted, marked up and baffles drilled...



i now ache quite a bit and am really hungry so i'm going to go fix some lunch and then chill for a bit...
cheers


julian

 

top work mate, I'm getting anxious waiting for the results, can't imagine what your going through. Really impressive stuff for a first DIY project.

 

The point of no return...

well,
i've sealed up the first speaker just like tutenkhamen tomb. it's been liberally glued and veneer tacked into place with a couple of strap clamps (?) about 20 kilos and the other speaker enacting come bizarre speaker wrestling s&m fantasy.

here's a filthy picture to keep you interested.



i'll do the other one tomorrow, cut and stick the foam for the inside panel behind the bass driver and then fix the drivers in place.
it'll then be time to blow up my amp....
cheers


julian.

 

The MDF veneer looks great Ju

Seriously it's looking good, can't wait to see the completed speakers.

 

Good work Ju, takes a lot of bottle to take on a job like this, when you've not done anything like it before. Top stuff mate. Tone

 

andy,
yeah, the mdf veneer is new out. no the veneer tack is to hold the last side in place while the glue cures. it also meant no swimming about when i tightened the straps up.

tone,
thanks mate. hopefully i'll be giving the first one a try tomorrow afternoon. must remember to cut a brace for behind the bass driver thoough.
cheers


julian.

 

And the result is...

hi,
well speaker 1 is finished. i've wedged the brace in behind the bass driver. lugged the bastard downstairs and fitted the drivers.

i then fitted jumpers.




Manhandled the missions out of the way and struggled the new one into place




And in the imortal words of Dr Frankenstein.
It's ALIVE...



of course it's just sat on carpet without the necessary stands / spikes but it sounds pretty punchy straight out of the workshop not what i was expecting from a tl design that was spanking new! to my ears things seem pretty integrated too but listening with one mission and one stl5 makes it difficult to tell anything really (althiough in mono it sounds good and even produces a credible stage!). they seem to be pretty ineficient compared to the b&w's and missions too with 10 o'clock just beginning to tickle them a bit. wheras with the b&w's it was brown trousers time. perhaps there's less distortion too (i wouldhope so with a 10 inch bass driver). this is no bad thing as the nap 250 like something to push into and the volume control on naim amps is tricky low down so result all round. i'm going to glue the other one up later on today so hopefully i'll have both running in tomorrow. just the stands to fill with sand, glue and spike and then stage 1 will be complete.
thinking about it i may actually do the grills now as they are funting big when in place even without the stands.
cheers

julian.

 

bravo - they look better than the missions too

 

Excellent work dude. Hope they blow your socks off.

-- Ian