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A simple cabinet

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Posted on February 28, 2017 at 22:41:12
Bill the K
Audiophile

Posts: 8374
Joined: June 3, 2006

My friends know me as a speaker lover and one of them has now presented me with a pair of Dayton 5" full range drivers. I dont know how good they are and if it is worth building cabinets. I have seen all kinds of cabinet kits and designs but they are all complicated. I would like to have the simplest of cabinets which I can build cheap. I saw a design called Betsy but it is just one plank and I wonder where the bass will come from. All suggestions welcome.

Thanks
Bill

 

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RE: A simple cabinet, posted on March 1, 2017 at 00:27:00
91derlust
Audiophile

Posts: 1101
Joined: December 25, 2014
Have you tried the fullrange forum on DIY Audio? They would your bests bet.

91.

"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein

 

RE: A simple cabinet, posted on March 1, 2017 at 14:52:21
bare
Audiophile

Posts: 1877
Joined: April 14, 2009
I went to a local Hospital Thrift Store.
Bought an attractive appearance pair of Small Sony speakers. (Blond wood grey jersey fabric) for 4$ the pair.
Removed the sony drivers and fitted Mark Audio Full rangers, added a bit of F'glass fill. Buttoned them up and called it a Day.
Sounds good, look good .
Ideal enclosures? Probably not.. But IMO maybe 90% of ideal :-)
As in I have NO intentions of bothering to build bespoke boxes that 'May' sound a teeny bit better (unlikely imo) and most certainly will Not be as finished/attractive of appearance.

 

RE: A simple cabinet, posted on March 1, 2017 at 22:19:53
freddyi
Audiophile

Posts: 3852
Joined: December 6, 2001
PA130 has been used in single and dual driver "XKi" Karlson builds - bass is impressive on the single and should be powerful on the dual driver version. I would just make a small bass reflex PA130 and the similar MCM unit both are pretty good values. Ask at Diyaudio for some ideas.

here's a single XKi PA130 build

a simplified Akabak bandpass model by "xrk971" for the dual PA130 XKi cabinet predicts 92dB at 50Hz - pretty strong for two 5" drivers

the dual driver would have a sensitivity of 96dB at 2.8v


Karlson Evangelist

 

RE: A simple cabinet, posted on March 2, 2017 at 04:45:29
b.l.zeebub
Audiophile

Posts: 9361
Location: 52deg 28'N,1deg56'W
Joined: April 17, 2006
I suspect the driver is the PA 130 and the easiest solution for that one is a simple 4.5L (that is a bit more than a US gallon) sealed box.

With a resonant frequency of 83.4Hz there will be no real bass regardless so 8-12mm ply or mdf with simple butt joints should be fine.

 

RE: A simple cabinet, posted on March 2, 2017 at 05:30:58
Bill the K
Audiophile

Posts: 8374
Joined: June 3, 2006

Yes, it is PA 130. Thanks for the simple solution.

Bill

 

RE: A simple cabinet, posted on March 2, 2017 at 07:30:38
b.l.zeebub
Audiophile

Posts: 9361
Location: 52deg 28'N,1deg56'W
Joined: April 17, 2006
You're welcome!

Don't forget to line the box with something. I'd use open cell foam of a suitable thickness.
This should remove any potential boxiness from the sound which in my experience is mostly internally reflected sound exiting through the cone.

 

?, posted on March 2, 2017 at 09:21:33
bare
Audiophile

Posts: 1877
Joined: April 14, 2009
My thrift store Sony speaker boxes are 4.5 l and of 1/2" Particle board which actually is 'better' than MDF of same thickness ..(spare me the material preferences) 4$ the pair.
But one can always get out the skill saw / drywall screws and make your own.
Without doubt they will be luuvely to look at.

 

RE: A simple cabinet, posted on March 2, 2017 at 12:58:08
Paul Joppa
Industry Professional

Posts: 7294
Location: Seattle, WA
Joined: April 23, 2001
The plain plank with a hole in it is fine for listening to the "tone" and midrange performance. The lack of deep bass allows you to hear the midrange more clearly.

If you then think is sounds good enough for a box, then you can look for better options. If it's unsatisfactory, the time and cost spent is very small.

 

RE: A simple cabinet, posted on March 3, 2017 at 07:03:37
Don Reid
Audiophile

Posts: 886
Location: Rural NW Georgia
Joined: February 2, 2001
Contributor
  Since:
April 1, 2010
I like your thinking, bare. Back in the early 1970s when my budget for speaker experimentation was zero dollars and zero cents, and people could still salvage useful items from trash dumps, I fitted a 6X9 auto speaker into a nice wooden case designed to store an 8 mm movie projector. It turned to be a little too large for the driver so I took up some interior space by coating the interior walls with a mixture of salvaged roofing tar and sand. It was such an awful dirty mess to work with I haven't touched any roofing tar since, but I had completely masked the exterior so I got it done. It actually worked pretty well until the weather turned hot and it began to smell so bad I threw it away.
I dream of an America where a chicken can cross the road without having it's motives questioned.

 

Simply better, posted on March 4, 2017 at 00:56:45
Bill the K
Audiophile

Posts: 8374
Joined: June 3, 2006

The 4.5L AS design or a 6.5L Ported design. Which will be simply better?

Cheers
Bill

 

RE: Simply better, posted on March 4, 2017 at 01:50:33
b.l.zeebub
Audiophile

Posts: 9361
Location: 52deg 28'N,1deg56'W
Joined: April 17, 2006
Better is a relative term here.

Sealed box will start rolling off earlier but at a gentler curve (-12dB/oct) while ported it will go flat to driver Fs and then drops rather rapidly at -24dB/oct.

You may run into problems ported because it is quite possible (but not necessarily so) that the port ends up rather large and the port tube must NOT be counted as part of the box volume.
Consequently it is quite possible that to get a box with a 6.5L volume net requires a gross volume of 10L just to be able to accommodate the port tube.
It may not be this way since I have not calculated the port needed but it is a distinct possibility.

However not too long ago I built some little 2ways for my daughter to take to Uni.
They are ported (I struggled but eventually found a suitably short tube design but it did need 3 smaller ports to make it all fit into a 6L box) and blocking the ports does only produce a subtle change in the bass.

With that in mind I'd go sealed. If you get the material cut to size you can knock up a pair in an afternoon rather than spending hours on WinISD calculating ports, trying to find a suitable tube, fitting it etc.

Also wideband drivers often make very good mids and if the driver turns out really nice you can add a woofer later and may be even a tweeter (note: I am a fan of 3way speakers).

 

RE: Simply better, posted on March 4, 2017 at 05:59:40
Bill the K
Audiophile

Posts: 8374
Joined: June 3, 2006

Thanks a lot. You have made life simple for me with portless thoughts. I love midrange, especially female voices. Joni, Janis, Gaga, Mariah Carey, Maria Callas et al.
Best Wishes
Bill

 

RE: Simply better, posted on March 4, 2017 at 08:27:22
b.l.zeebub
Audiophile

Posts: 9361
Location: 52deg 28'N,1deg56'W
Joined: April 17, 2006
Female voices are a tough test!

Mostly because they reside completely in the midrange. Male voice have more lows obviously but rather surprisingly more top end too.

Let me know how that little driver works out as I'm always in search of a good mid!

Good luck and have fun building and listening.

 

RE: Simply better, posted on March 4, 2017 at 11:59:58
I'd agree with b.l.zeebub. The gentler and longer roll-off of the sealed box is easier to EQ if you decide that the sound is bass deficient.

:)

 

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