John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Just checking up- have you had a chance to apply some brain cells to the passive soffit-ready speaker you were teasing about?

Uhgg. I have soooo many irons in the fire right now; it's not even funny.

I do have one possibility for a faster turnaround. A friend of mine is going back to Israel and wants me to build him a quick set of speakers from a kit (assuming his wife says ok ). So, I was thinking of killing two birds with one stone. Rather than designing a whole system, I could just modify the crossover of an existing kit. This way, people who don't have access to a woodshop could purchase the cabinets too.

What do you think of modifying the Madisound Soloist?

It's a more expensive design than I had originally conceived, but the cheaper version is going to have to wait.

Thomas

That's probably fine- it makes sense to do a more expensive kit, I think, because the expectations are higher, and you can save a little on the parts count (and thus hopefully the sound) by modifying the actual crossover.

Those of us that are cheap-asses can still just build a cheaper kit, or buy a cheaper speaker, and build your filter to put in front of them, and the tradeoff for the extra parts and complexity is just part of being a cheap-ass.

Jon Best wrote:Those of us that are cheap-asses can still just build a cheaper kit, or buy a cheaper speaker, and build your filter to put in front of them, and the tradeoff for the extra parts and complexity is just part of being a cheap-ass.

Building the Baffle Step Decompensation filter is probably going to translate into at least a couple hundred dollars as well. So, I wouldn't necessarily say that's a cheap alternative.

I feel bad that I promised to post some designs and it's taking so long. I'm building MiniMains, SC2's, developing another MM variant, and now I've even got a plugin project in the works! Things have become so busy, that I just can't find the time to work on these DIY projects. Anyhow, I'm sorry for the wait.

Working from preexisting kits would definitely save a lot of time and effort though.

How about this? If anyone is interested in modifying a preexisting kit for soffit mount, you can send it to me and I'll redesign the crossover. Shouldn't take me more than a weekend to measure and design the circuit; maybe a week of lag time to order the parts; and a few more hours to build the circuits and do any tweaks (my designs are usually pretty on target). So, that’s about 2 weeks turn around.

So, here are the steps as I see them - designed to maximize my convenience, of course!

1. Order your kit and assemble 1 channel, but not the crossover.

2. Send me the assembled channel and the crossover parts.

3. I’ll redesign the crossover and send you a parts list. This way I don't have to deal with money exchanges and such. I'll try to work with the existing network components as much a possible.

4. You order the parts and have them shipped to me.

5. I'll assemble, test, and make any necessary tweaks to the system. Then I'll box it back up with all the parts.

6. You arrange for a carrier to pickup the package and have it shipped back to you.

7. You assemble the other channel and you're good to go!

8. I'll post all the modification info on the board. Boom, one DIY project done!

The only additional cost to you would be shipping (maybe $50 total depending on the size of the speaker..?) and the extra crossover parts. On my side, I think I can get a design complete with only about 8 or 10 hours of work. If a few people with different kits participate, we can build up a nice catalog of projects! I can recommend a list of kits in various price ranges that would be suitable for this modification.

What do you think?

Thomas

Hello,

I'm kindof a newbie here but am quite interested in participating in this arrangement. The Madisound Solist falls within my budget criteria, and I have the advantage of being local to the San Francisco area.

I noticed the Madisound Solist kit offers 2 options for tweeter and crossover components. Is it advantageous to purchase the "upgraded" kit?

Also, would you be able to provide a short list of 1 or 2 other speaker kit options suitable for modification to soffit-mounted?

'Chung

High 'Chung.

Yeah, the fancy crossover components are nice, but the 9700 tweeter is what really makes the upgrade worth it. In any case we wouldn't be ordering their crossover. I would have to completely redesign the crossover for soffit mounting.

One of the biggest issues with choosing a kit is making sure it is front ported. So, unless you are able the build the cabinets yourself, this actually limits the possibilities quite a lot. Here are a few other possibilities:

http://speakercity.com/scanspeak_kits.shtml

Menlo Park? Yeah, that would make things very easy!:)

Thomas

As I am completely new to speaker building, couple of simple questions. The 2 kits seem extremely similar (Madisound Solist and Speaker City MTM-18). As I read more, I'm finding the Madisound cabinate is a particle board construction and Speaker City is MDF. When it comes down to it, is there a performance difference between the 2 cabinets?

I like the price of the Madisound kit, and also would not be opposed to trying my hand at cabinet construction, but if it's a substancial time savings. . .

-'Chung

Yeah, the speaker city cabinets are nicer, hence the higher prices. Basically you want the cabinets to be as solid and inert as possible. The better the build, the less the cabinets walls will radiate sound into the room. Ideally you only want sound coming from speaker drivers and the ports.

The external cabinet dimensions influence a freestanding speaker's response. The height and width of the cabinet actually affect how you design the crossover. Since you're soffit mounting, however, you have the flexibility to change the external cabinet dimensions. A simple way to get a really nice cabinet would be to buy one of these kits and then modify it. For example, you could laminate some MDF panels to the sides to thicken up the walls.

Thomas

If you want to see what my madisound solist that I built look like, go here http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=297 and page down to the pictures of the Killatones that I built. The last picture has the Solists that I built.

Eric

Hello all,

My first post/reply here, just wanted to know if anyone has heard any of the North Creek speaks? My bro built a pair of the Borealis? they seem similar to the Solist only not MTM his have the relevator tweet too. I've heard them and thought they were great and am considering building a pair for my new mix room. Any thoughts? ever heard of them?

P.S I heard the Linn Komri set last month in L.A. and....
Best I ever heard by far and I've heard most of them, if you get a chance you gotta hear them.