patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

rleete

iTrader: (21)

Holy cow, does't get much more ghetto than that. Don't you have any cable clamps? Those are roofing nails?

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Yeap, 7/8 roofing nails. What's a cable clamp?

rleete

iTrader: (21)

something like these: http://cableorganizer.com/saddles-clips/

Available cheap from Radio Shack or the like.

cjernigan

iTrader: (13)

Lowes sells big bags of cable clamps as well.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

dont let them hate! I say pull out all the metal nails and screws and use a GREAT product from home dep called liquid nails. strong as ****. good for holding down stuff like that and the non-metallic glue wont affect the audio signals at all. If you build the crossovers into the speakers, nobody will ever know they're ghettotastic.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

I did use 30 year caulk adhesive on all the crossover components and to seal up the box, but I went back with the screws to make damn sure they don't ever vibrate loose. Again, I have liquid nails, hot glue guns, etc at my other home, but here at MSU I don't have much, so I'm using what I got. Hell, I don't even have a tape measure! Indeed, crossovers are inside of speakers anyway, so they are hidden. Those screws aren't really gonna effect the sound are they? I mean, not on paper, but really I won't be able to hear something and contribute it to the screws right?

Just got done soldering the wires to the speakers for the first box, back to work.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Do I have to break these speakers in or anything? Do I just play them, or is there anything special I need to do?

rleete

iTrader: (21)

No, the nails will not have any effect. I was just teasing. If it's all hidden, who cares?

Just plug them in. Use correct polarity for best bass response, also called phasing. Let 'em rip. No break in required.

However, make sure all glue/caulk is set up properly first.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Polarity has been observed. I got one assembled, but forgot to put the accousta-stuff in it so I gotta take it back apart.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Just finished the speakers. Problem is I don't have a receiver to play them with!!! It should be here tomorrow, the Sansui G-4700. So, I plan to hang them on the ceiling. I understand you supposed to have them standing vertically, with the tweeters facing in. I was gonna do them horizontally, and have the tweeters down, angle them in a few degrees and down a few degrees, say 10*. Would that be fine?

Finished speakers:

y8s

iTrader: (8)

lookin good. the metal in the crossovers wont affect them enough to hear. not as much as not flush mounting the tweeter would but if you've ever made an electromagnet in science class, you'd understand why it *could*, right? (wire wrapped around a nail)

anyway, I had a thought about flush mounting that you could do there for cheap. get some 1/8" masonite or some similar material and cut out holes for the OD of all the drivers that aren't flush mounted and just lay it over the top of the front panel and voila, flush drivers! make sure you goop that **** up good with adhesive though. a rattle there would be awful. or if you want fully awesome, use metal and polish it up. haha.

having them horizontally will ruin the dispersion. with an MTM (Mid-Tweet-Mid), the two mids will have cancellation effects (similar to running one speaker out of phase) when you aren't midway between them (on axis with the tweeter).

WHen they're placed vertically, the position of your head is relatively consistent--say on a couch it'll be 42 inches off the ground or standing it'll be 60, but it's still roughly between those mids so the effect is minimized. you may notice a difference in sound when you sit vs. stand though.

when they're horizontal (and this is why 99% of center channels are fundamentally flawed), the interference pattern of the mids occurs everwhere but a narrow space straight ahead of the speaker. Here's a graph showing an example:



Thats just 30 degrees off axis. (you sitting in front of the horizontal speaker and then rotating it 30 degrees on its stand). I dont know your experience with frequency response graphs but i'll go into it anyway

The big dip in the middle is basically sucking out all the upper-midrange when it's rotated 30 degrees. It will be slightly different for your setup but the effect is very similar. It will make all the vocals drop out. That dip in the graph is ~15 db. And 3 db is "twice the volume" so it's 5 times quieter there.

I'll give zaph credit (at least in this context) though. He picked a fairly low crossover frequency of 1450 Hz. That means that the spacing of the woofers is close enough to at elast minimize the effect. I'd still put them vertically (tweeters-in) and probably pointing straight ahead (more than one listener) or toed-in slightly (one/two listeners) depending on where you sit. if you're moving around a lot, point them anywhere.

Sorry to go off on this, it's the other thing I do besides turbo miatas and speaker stuff has been rolling around in my head for about 10 years.

Matt

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

No apologies needed, I greatly appreciate your advise! I have no experience with those graphs so the explanations was needed. I didn't know it would cause problems running them horizontally, so I'll run them vertically with tweeters in. My room is small, and I have 8' ceilings. What are some good dimensions for spacing them off the walls and ceiling? I have read 3' off the side, 1' off the back, don't remember about the ceiling though. Still, I would like to minimize the distance they are from the walls and ceiling as the room is small.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

HOLY HELL THESE SPEAKERS ARE AWSOME!!!!!

They sound great. They're just sitting on my desk right now, but man these are awesome. It needs a sub, but other than that, I love it.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

They sound much better from the ceiling than on my desk. Needs a sub, but to the 60hz crossover the bass is full. Will trade my flywheel for you nice powered sub....

I ran the wires through the ceiling into the attic, over the ceiling and down a wall and out to the shelf above my desk. That's where the receivers new home will be one day. I need to run power up there though, no plugs to plug it in above the shelf.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

I swear, every song I listen to I hear stuff I've never heard before. I do want to flush mount the tweeters though, might do that tomorrow. Need a sub now. Should I just build the kit sub blaque posted on page 1? It would cost around 200 plus the cost of building a box.

y8s

iTrader: (8)

awesome... glad you're happy. I think they're fine where they are.

As far as subs, for about $250 plus wood, you can make something that will rock pretty hard.

patsmx5

iTrader: (16)

Sooo, what exactly do you have in mind?

FWIW, the speakers are 12" off the back, 18" of the side, 5" off the ceiling.