Rubik's Cube (DIY speakers??)

[TheRealAleman]

Having missed out on Pets's Cubix Pro, when offered here and also on the Bay of E. I'm thinking about speakers.

Obvious choice, wait for a new set of Cubes from Paul. Can I justify spending £4500 on a new pair of speakers? Not really to myself and certainly not to my partner

Second choice wait for a pair of Cubes to come up on the Bay of E. I can't see that happening as from what I've been reading over the last week, you guys love your cubes in all formats

Third choice some sort of DIY option. I could do mod the Celestion DL 6's I have in the loft. Much wider than the Dali Oberon 5s I am currently using. (Don't get me wrong they sound great with the NVA amps and the soundstage is the widest it's ever been. However, it's very position dependant) This should give me a better soundstage, but it's a weakness of Point and squirt speakers generally. Certainly according to "The Doc", and all my experience of PnS speakers in 40 years. So if "The Doc" got it so right about amplifiers, and he did that, maybe there is something about this Omni cube and working with the room idea he espouses. Which leads me to ...

Option 4 DIY my own cube offering . I'm no speaker designer,and a mediocre carpenter, but I think there are enough people on here to shoot me down, and point out the impracticality of my ideas.

I'm thinking along the lines of a double height Cube 1 with upward firing bass driver comprising two 10 or 12" bass units in Push-Push isobaric configuration. A Front firing tweeter (Visatron G20), and a side firing 5.5" mid unit.

Cabinet material? Well, MDF and Birch ply are the readily available materials, but I was thinking, has anyone done any work with Bamboo boards? They are expensive, especially the 38mm thick ones, but very stiff and acoustically 'dead'. Could be a good option.

As "The Doc" is no longer with us, I don't have access to his doped drivers, so will have to do my own. Tweeter choice is easy, as "The Doc" has extolled the virtues of the Visatron G20 many, many times. What to do about the bass and mid units? I've tried to pick Richard's brain by scanning the forum but he doesn't appear to mention the make of those drivers. Anyone know what they were?

Many more questions to come over the next few months

[TheRealAleman]

Doc's 12" drivers were doped Kenford kevlar (aramid) . The 8,6.5 and 5" were made by Qtx and they were kevlar (aramid).

[TheRealAleman]

Acrylic cubes, either in gloss or satin-matt, will not be anywhere near £4500. That figure would be a minimum for making them in birch-ply (given the current cost of raw materials, thanks to Vlad).

[TheRealAleman]

Acrylic cubes, either in gloss or satin-matt, will not be anywhere near £4500. That figure would be a minimum for making them in birch-ply (given the current cost of raw materials, thanks to Vlad).

Well that is good news. I was going off a video I saw on Youtube of the Cube at the NWA show (I think ). Well this project is going to be quite some time in the planning / purchasing, so with any luck The cube will arrive in production in time to stop this mad folly ... In the meantime Doc Mod the Celestion DL6's, Mission Cyrus 780SE, or the Gale 301's ... Hmmm, decisions

[karatestu]

Personally I wouldn't bother doc modding any of them unless you can move the mid bass to an up firing position .

[TheRealAleman]

Personally I wouldn't bother doc modding any of them unless you can move the mid bass to an up firing position .

Yeah, they are all PnS same as the Dali's so may as well keep the Dali's, rather than p!ss about.

Six of the Kenford SBX3040 Drivers are going to set me back £450 quid, but that is without Richards magical doping skills I really hope I don't feck that up.

Add in £120 for the visatron tweeters, and £30-£50 for the 5.25/6.5 QTX QRX drivers. that's £650 for the expensive hardware, and this won't be guaranteed to match the 3 way Cubix.

40mm 5 ply bamboo is £260 for a 2440 by 1220 sheet ... Should be able to get away with a Single sheet ... will have to look at laser/CNC cutting for the boards baffles and front baffle. If it's worth doing it's worth doing well. Then some sort of veneer, with a 2 pack epoxy finish, and automotive grade polishing.

Wire, I'm going for Solid core 16AWG, cant decide on tinned copper or "enameled" copper. Tinned is what NVA use for the power lines in the amps, but enameled gives the advantage of being insulated to some extent, and knowing my luck I can be sure to short something during the build. (Like when I bridged the terminals of a 25,000uF electrolytic, building the power supply for my dual mono power amps back in the long dim and distant past. That made my hair curl!)

[Daniel Quinn]

Doc mods work with point and squirt.

I would not have a upwards firing bass driver in a bay window or a large ceiling .

[TheRealAleman]

Doc mods work with point and squirt.

I would not have a upwards firing bass driver in a bay window or a large ceiling .

I'm considering the Doc mods with my old PnS speakers as a way of "practicing" for the real thing, especially doping the drivers. The Dali's are working acceptably so little real point as I won't use the Doc modded ones in a serious way

We don't have bay windows, and our ceiling is a sensible height. So a cube clone should work well.

[CycleCoach]

Doc mods are sent from heaven

[Daniel Quinn]

Doc mods are the single most important lesson learnt from Richard.

Taking away the crossover , doping and series wiring are the things I will do till I die.

Last year I was building a 3 way and I abandoned doc mods . I eventually got a sound I was happy with . After 6 months , I series wired and dumped the crossover .

It just so much more real.