Phil Thien
03-12-2015, 12:57 PM
Four hobbies: Woodworking, CNC (sort of tangential to woodworking), music, and building loudspeaker enclosures.
When we reorganized the living room, my stereo system went away ("it takes up too much room"). I decided to build a 2.1 system and built a small (8") subwoofer with a 2.1 amp from Madisound (a Keiga). The idea is the sub w/ the plate amp would sit until one of the walnut tables I made and you wouldn't even see the thing.
The amp didn't have enough power for the listening levels I desired. I tried an amp from Parts Express. Nope. So a new build was commissioned with an amp from a Logitech Z-2300 system ($25 or $35 on eBay). That one worked, plenty of power.
I then went through several satellite speaker choices. Most of the small satellite speakers are pretty inefficient. I tried Boston Acoustics and Klipsch stuff. Meh. So when I saw a pair of Faital (Italian) full-range drivers with decent (I think about 90db) sensitivity, I jumped.
The first pair I built was pretty weird, using PVC pipe enclosures with CNC'd baffles. Wife was NOT amused. I had planned on making some using black pipe and Corian baffles (and I actually still plan on this), but in the meantime, used some zebrawood I had on hand to make some more conventional boxes. I still have to make some grills (I'm going to use perforated plastic that I will form and set into the channel I left around the baffle).
Solid wood isn't ideal for loudspeakers, but at this size it is fine. Companies like Cizek built small satellites from solid wood with dovetailed corners and they're still around today (and pricey if you can find them). And they're 30-40 years old now.
BTW, I never thought I'd say this, but these little full-range drivers are awesome. I really expected I'd miss some high-frequency extension due to the lack of a tweeter. I also worried about beaming. All those concerns were for nothing.
When we reorganized the living room, my stereo system went away ("it takes up too much room"). I decided to build a 2.1 system and built a small (8") subwoofer with a 2.1 amp from Madisound (a Keiga). The idea is the sub w/ the plate amp would sit until one of the walnut tables I made and you wouldn't even see the thing.
The amp didn't have enough power for the listening levels I desired. I tried an amp from Parts Express. Nope. So a new build was commissioned with an amp from a Logitech Z-2300 system ($25 or $35 on eBay). That one worked, plenty of power.
I then went through several satellite speaker choices. Most of the small satellite speakers are pretty inefficient. I tried Boston Acoustics and Klipsch stuff. Meh. So when I saw a pair of Faital (Italian) full-range drivers with decent (I think about 90db) sensitivity, I jumped.
The first pair I built was pretty weird, using PVC pipe enclosures with CNC'd baffles. Wife was NOT amused. I had planned on making some using black pipe and Corian baffles (and I actually still plan on this), but in the meantime, used some zebrawood I had on hand to make some more conventional boxes. I still have to make some grills (I'm going to use perforated plastic that I will form and set into the channel I left around the baffle).
Solid wood isn't ideal for loudspeakers, but at this size it is fine. Companies like Cizek built small satellites from solid wood with dovetailed corners and they're still around today (and pricey if you can find them). And they're 30-40 years old now.
BTW, I never thought I'd say this, but these little full-range drivers are awesome. I really expected I'd miss some high-frequency extension due to the lack of a tweeter. I also worried about beaming. All those concerns were for nothing.