Homemade Bookshelf Speakers

[dwnrodeo]

I decided to build some bookshelf size speakers from some drivers I had laying around from my old Explorer install. I wanted to do something different from a standard cube shaped design so I went out and sourced some dead ash wood from my property to use as enclosures. I love the look of natural wood products and wanted to incorporate that rustic design into my cabinets. The drivers are Seas L12RCY/P 4.5" aluminum woofers for low end duties and Seas 27TFFNC/G 1" silk dome tweeters for everything above.

I went to the nice folks at Madisound who designed me a crossover, and gave me cabinet volume and port size/length. Luckily the L12 woofer doesn't require a large air space so my enclosure size was relatively small at .13 ft^3. One of the reasons I used it as a car audio driver was because of its low fs and small air space requirements.

I mounted the drivers to an ABS front baffle and flush mounted it to the ash enclosure. I used acrylic for the bottom/base plate which allows you to look inside the enclosure and see the guts. I used furniture feet for adjustable feet for my speakers so I can tilt them up on axis when placed on my desktop. I really like all of the imperfections and character in wood, so I left them wherever I could. You can see the bore marks from the Emerald Ash Borer insect that bores just below the bark and kills the tree. It gives them cool looking patterns/designs.

Overall the sound is good. The Seas woofers have a nasty peak at around the 5khz mark due to the aluminum cones, but Marisound designed a notch filter to smooth out the response. The teeeters are a little bright on axis, but not too harsh. The bass is what you'd expect out of a 4.5" woofer. They're not going to shake the room, but kick drums and bass guitar sound very good and accurate. Anything below 45hz-50hz really rolls off, but most of my music doesn't have a lot of low notes.

[ttocs]

nice bases, nice speakers.

[Eric D]

All I can say is WOW! I better not let my wife see those, she will want a pair. She has slowly been acquiring stuff to put in a future log home, and these would end up on her target list.

I highly suggest you check out this site for your next project...

http://www.diysoundgroup.com/

You could put some of those designs into a nice rustic enclosure and have something great as well. All of the designs have been proven out among the DIY community.

[dwnrodeo]

Thanks for the link Eric. I saw your post regarding some speakers you put together from that site and it looks like they have very affordable options for DIY kits. I just used what I had laying around for this project, but could definitely see going to that site in the future.

It sounds like your wife and I share the same taste for rustic looking wood designs. As you can see in my pictures, my project is sitting on a homemade ash bench with knotty pine on the walls. After completing this project, I definitely learned how I could have done things better/easier and would love to build more enclosures. Finding time is the only hard part. If you want something built, let me know and we might be able to work something out. The only real issue is obtaining the required volume can be difficult for drivers requiring a large airspace. A log's diameter is fixed, so you can only obtain a certain width/depth. To get more volume, you have to increase the length or height of the cabinet.

[ttocs]

the next set of home stereo speakers I make I will be building the enclosures for.

[dwnrodeo]

the next set of home stereo speakers I make I will be building the enclosures for.

I definitely appreciate things more when I have crafted them myself. Just like your Mustang.

[Bfowler]

so how does one hollow out the log?

[dwnrodeo]

so how does one hollow out the log?

It was a delicate combination of a circular saw, a chainsaw and wood chisels. Basically I cut slots into the log with the circular saw as far down as it could go and chiseled the slots out. Then I took the chainsaw and went down the rest of the way. High rpm's and taking your time is key to this trick. The final touches were done with wood chisels.

[Francious70]

Wow, I really like the enclosures. Kudos to you sir!

[smgreen20]

I'm going to revive this thread, so..... sorry.

I just bought a new to me used Pioneer Elite VSX-60 receiver for dirt cheap in mint condition with very little use.

I will soon be building my own HT system from Madisound.

My question is, Dwnrodeo, where at at Madisound did you go for crossover/enclosure design help?

I went to the site mentioned by Eric, while nice, I know I can still build better for less plus I too enjoy doing the work myself.

[dwnrodeo]

Link: https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/c ... madisound/

I just noticed the price they now charge for this... It was at least half of this when I built my project.

[smgreen20]

Thanks you sir.