Line arrays almost complete

Mazeroth

I'm getting very excited as my first line array speaker project is nearing completion. The only thing left to do is stain the side panels and paint the rest of the speaker. I’m hoping to have this done by tomorrow night. I will be using a Behringer DCX2496 as an active crossover so I can tweak these babies on the fly. This unit has really impressed me and I’m still in shock at its current street price of $250. The speakers, themselves, house (10) Vifa TC14 5” woofers and a single Fountek JP-2.0 ribbon tweeter. These will only be used for nearfield seated listening. I will be posting pics in the next couple of days so you guys can check them out, especially you, Sid! I think once you see these you’ll want to build a pair of your own.

After these speakers are complete I will begin construction of my new line arrays. I already have the parts for these in my basement boxed up. They will utilize (9) Dayton RS 6” woofers with (8) Dayton PT2B-8 planar tweeters. I have a test box with one of each driver hooked into my active crossover and they are going to sound amazing!

I know this post is a few days early but I’m pumped! Maybe when I get home I’ll take a few pics of them in their current state so you can see them almost finished.

Stay tuned!

Mazeroth

Here's a pic of the speaker with the baffle just glued to it. I have to use my router and a flush trim bit to make the baffle flush with the rest of the speaker, then stain and paint. I'd say I'm 80% done now.

steveinaz

Cool!

VR3

I cant build those...

They wont even fit in my room height wise... LOL

Looks awesome man... Perfect cat scratching post - you can even make tunnels around it!

Mazeroth

Just used my flush trim bit and got the front baffle flush with the cabinet. I also used my roundover bit on the baffle to help with diffraction and for a nicer finish.

VR3

Maz, Can you post a pic of what you used to flush mount? Thanks!

Mazeroth

Ok, I got a little excited and decided to drop the drivers into the enclosure to see how she's going to look. Rotated 90 degrees clockwise for your viewing pleasure

maggiefan

Very nice work, looks great.....:D

danger boy

that's one hell of a center channel speaker you got there.

Mazeroth

This is the exact bit set I'm using. Absolutely a great value at $29.99. You adjust how deep you want the rabbet to go by changing the bearing:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=1864

"Cut five different widths with one bit. Change bearings for 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", 1/2", up to 1/2" deep."

Routers are very easy to use. When I first got mine about 6 months ago I was very intimidated to use it. After about 15 minutes of practicing on scrap wood I can now use it practically blindfolded. Most bits you'll use for speaker cabinet making roll on a bearing so it's next to impossible to mess up.

VR3

That bit is freakin PERFECT - I mean like -exactly- what I'll need...

Now I just need a sloped bit, that does adjustable angles...

Thanks, I wasnt aware something like that existed!

And yep, I love routers and their ease of use - just knock it in place then run with it...extremely easy!

Mazeroth

Boy, was that a long break from working on these. I got one completely stained, polyurethaned and painted. The light spot to the right is just the lighting.

How does she look?

Airplay355

Looks amazing. I bet it will sound amazing too.

Mazeroth

After not liking how the black finish came out on the front I cleaned that off and used my favorite trusty truck bedliner spray. MUCH BETTER!

This weekend I got the drivers installed and tweaked the crossover on it for about a day until I got what I wanted.

The sound these speakers produce has to be heard to be believed. Yes, I would criticize something I built if it sounded like ****, but these things sound as far from **** as you can get, if that makes sense

The coolest part about them is their extremely low distortion due to each woofer barely having to move. It's funny when the room is shaking with bass and the woofers are barely moving. You put your ear up to a single cone and it's barely making any sound.

Anywho, just thought I'd share a pic of one of them. I still need to make bases for them and was wondering if you guys think a black base would look better than a base that matches the red oak stain?

Here's the pic. I used a flash with this picture so the mid and upper portions of the birch look a little light. They normally look like the bottom of the speaker.

michael_w

Did you bring it down to bare mdf before you put the truck bed liner on and how many coats did you do? Any chance you could do a close up shot of the finish please?

btw they look awesome but probably not too stable being so massive with a small base. (hence the extra base you are looking for) I'd probably go black bases.

Thanks,
Michael

Early B.

Maz --

Cool project. I'd love to make my own center channel like that (with a few less drivers in it, though).

Are you using any internal bracing?

RuSsMaN

Very cool.

I'd do the bases solid black.

jcaut

Those look excellent! I'd love to attempt to build a line array, but,.. they're so big.... and I have such a hard time just hacking out a little two-way cabinet!

I've got several of the truncated-frame TC14's in my box of parts, but I've never done anything with them. What's the volume of the part of the enclosure where they are?

I agree on the black bases.

Jason

Mazeroth

When I decided I didn't like the Rustoleum black textured paint I grabbed a piece of 80 grit sandpaper and started to sand the paint off which came off without much trouble. I didn't go overboard getting every little bit off but probably got the majority off. Then I went to a 120 grit to smooth it out a tad and then a 150 grit for a final prep. After that I used plain black spray paint and did a few light coats. DO NOT go from bare mdf to the truck liner spray. If you do it will take a ton to cover it completely. I put on 4 light coats after the initial black spray paint and it came out great. I highly recommend standing back 24+ inches from the area you're spraying to get a good finish.

As far as internal bracing, yes. The ribbon tweeter is enclosed in its own comparment with 3/4" mdf above and below it, so that acts as bracing as well. Under the bottom woofer is another 3/4" mdf which allowed me to make a small compartment at the bottom to house a passive crossover, if I even turn them passive, and also allowed me to make a door on the back for changing out crossovers and also for mounting the terminal plate to. In each chamber of woofers are two more braces that run horizontally and I also used butt joints (I think that's the proper name) that run vertically on all 4 sides.

As far as the airspace goes, each chamber is roughly 0.5 cubic feet, which is nice because I could keep them small. WinISD said the optimal size was a tad under 0.4 cubes tuned to 78hz, but I went with 0.5 tuned to 75 hz. with a 4" long 2 7/8" flared port. I prefer the sound of a sealed speaker but made these ported so they could hold their own without a subwoofer. I will probably run these with an IB subwoofer and will block the ports with a piece of dense foam, making them easier to cross over to a sub.

michael_w

Thanks for the info... I'll have to give the bed liner another try.