Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

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NSNO2021
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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by NSNO2021 »

I can only speak re the Cubix. It's a single MDF box with an internal division at the mid point. The MDF mid point plate holds an upwards firing 8" woofer. The upper half of the cabinet holds the forward firing tweeter, the side facing tweeter and the second upward firing 8" woofer
.The 8" woofers ran naked, and each of the tweeters had a separate capacitor and resistor.

The rear of the Cubix held 3 sets of binding posts. It was a clean and functional design and my MDF cabinets were very well made with tight tolerances and rebates for woofers and woofer plates .
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TheRealAleman (Fri Feb 10, 2023 8:10 am)
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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by TheRealAleman »

NSNO2021 wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 7:14 am I can only speak re the Cubix. It's a single MDF box with an internal division at the mid point. The MDF mid point plate holds an upwards firing 8" woofer. The upper half of the cabinet holds the forward firing tweeter, the side facing tweeter and the second upward firing 8" woofer.
This is really helpful ... is it still a 30cm cube?
NSNO2021 wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 7:14 amThe 8" woofers ran naked, and each of the tweeters had a separate capacitor and resistor.
Woofers driven in series, with the tweeters connected to individual binding posts ??
NSNO2021 wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 7:14 amThe rear of the Cubix held 3 sets of binding posts. It was a clean and functional design and my MDF cabinets were very well made with tight tolerances and rebates for woofers and woofer plates .
I'm planning on having my final cabinets CNC Machined so tolerances will be tight ... If I can afford it the cabinets will be built from a stack of laminated 25mm marine ply "Discs" ... well squares with rounded outer edges. I think that will give a massive amount of stiffness, and still be pretty "dead" acoustically.

10" drivers are here, and are sat on my workbench in the shed being played in. I collected the tweeters and resistors today from CPC. PIO capacitors arrived last week. Will prototype a pair of cabinets from "spare" offcuts of 18mm ply I have "Lying around" from other projects.

Must remember to order the Bison Kit :D for doping the woofers ... and sticking everything else together :D

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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by Daniel Quinn »

Some photos would be excellent if not to much trouble .

Your method of construction sounds expensive . I looked at getting them built , in the end , empty speaker boxes were a lot cheaper . So far I've picked up 3 pairs wharfedale dovedales for less than £60 each .

I missed out on a pair for £5 because the miserable sod wouldn't post them , I even offered him £50 . He sent them to the tip .

Wharfedale have just released 2023 dovedales , yours for £5000
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TheRealAleman (Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:20 pm)

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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by savvypaul »

When Mark gets round to it, we have an original pair of Dovedales to Doc-Mod. Hopefully, we'll have them with us at the WAM show.
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TheRealAleman (Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:45 pm) • CycleCoach (Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:42 am)
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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by TheRealAleman »

Just had a read of the last page of the HiFi manufacturers that lost their way thread, and was wondering what the "hate" for MDF cabinets was all about, especially compared to chipboard cabinets. When you have mass loaded them with steel surely the difference is moot?

I've got four Kenford 10" mid bass drivers on my test bench hooked up to my old CA Azur 640A. I've been play music through them 24/7 for a couple of weeks. Last week I bit the bullet, and added the layer of Bison kit, (pictures to come), and left them to dry, playing a sweep frequency loop of 30 to 4000Hz. The doping certainly seems to have tamed a harshness at around 3500Hz.

I'm doing this while working on the cabinet drawings for the two potential designs I've come up with ... The laminated stacked plywood design, and a traditional cabinet from 50mm MDF. This should not need mass loading as each cabinet will weigh the best part of 45Kg without hardware!!

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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by Lindsayt »

TheRealAleman wrote: Sat Apr 08, 2023 2:27 pm Just had a read of the last page of the HiFi manufacturers that lost their way thread, and was wondering what the "hate" for MDF cabinets was all about, especially compared to chipboard cabinets. When you have mass loaded them with steel surely the difference is moot?

I've got four Kenford 10" mid bass drivers on my test bench hooked up to my old CA Azur 640A. I've been play music through them 24/7 for a couple of weeks. Last week I bit the bullet, and added the layer of Bison kit, (pictures to come), and left them to dry, playing a sweep frequency loop of 30 to 4000Hz. The doping certainly seems to have tamed a harshness at around 3500Hz.

I'm doing this while working on the cabinet drawings for the two potential designs I've come up with ... The laminated stacked plywood design, and a traditional cabinet from 50mm MDF. This should not need mass loading as each cabinet will weigh the best part of 45Kg without hardware!!
Maybe it's speakers like Harbeth that have thin walled MDF cabinets that give MDF a bad name? :tools-hammerdrill:

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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by Daniel Quinn »

I think , if your lining with steel , the cabinet material is moot.

At the moment I'm working on lining mine with a mixture of 5mm steel and 15mm perspex , because I've got both in my spares cabinet so it's free
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Lindsayt (Sat Apr 08, 2023 9:39 pm) • TheRealAleman (Sun Apr 09, 2023 6:59 am)

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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by TheRealAleman »

Been a bit quiet over the past few weeks / months, but I've built a test bed for my bass drivers, and had the Bass drivers sat in them playing music at various volumes, and varying that with Sweep Frequency tones ... All in all I think the drivers have had about 8 weeks continuous play, ... In between me doping them with the Bison Kit ... After the first couple of runs I started diluting the Bison Kit with acetone, so that I could control the amount of dope added with each additional "Splodge" ( If Richard didn't retain rights to that volume, It's now TM me :D )

Image

As usual looks a bit ugly, but a few coats of Plastidip will resolve that. I've got on with the cabinet design, just waiting for CNC shops to get back to me with quotes for cutting the panels from 50mm MR MDF. Sit going to be Semi Omni Isobaric design, but gone for tall floorstanders, with space to store records ... Or a few concrete blocks If it comes to that ... The blooming things are going to weigh 65 to 70Kg each, so I'm hoping I won't need to Mass balance them with steel plates. Fusion 360 renders the speaker like this, once Oak veneer has been applied.

Image
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Fretless (Sun Jun 18, 2023 2:16 pm)

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Re: Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

Unread post by NSNO2021 »

They look really good and a long way from a DIY appearance - it's going to be interesting to hear what they sound like.
Next year I am going to make a variation on the Neat Ultimatum XLS 6. I like their design and sound and I think I might just be able to improve on things with an advanced cabinet design and more expensive components - there again I could just waste a ton of money and time but those are the risks and I am fine with the risk to reward ratio
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TheRealAleman (Tue Jun 20, 2023 10:36 pm)
Modified Airlink BPS 3110S with LDA DC filter
TTs, Kenwood KD 8030 with AT OC9XSH, Opera Consonance Wax Engine mk2 with modified Apheta 2 MC cart, PT TOO awaiting restoration.
LDA MCJ3 phono,Schiit Freya plus pre amp, NAD M23, Audiolab 9000 CD transport, Denafrips Pontus 2 DAC, Mano Ultra2 streamer, Cisco switch, Audio Technica ATH 70 cans, Serhan Swift Mu2 mk2 speakers & NSNO W48.5 speaker cables

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