604 Project Update

[Seadweller]

Well, I've assembled all of the goodies for the project, and last week, received my drivers and crossovers from Great Plains. What a magnificent driver it is!!!!!!!!

Now that all of the drivers, crossovers, nuts, bolts, t-nuts, brass screw inserts, sound dampening, thumb nuts, etc. are here, I went to the cabinet maker for a peek at his initial drawings. These cabinets are going to defy description, and the design is absolutely gorgeous. I simply can't wait another day for them to be finished, but it's going to take around 30 days to make them, so I'll likely be out of my mind by then.

The cabinet will have a removable panel on the rear, to which the crossover and binding posts will be mounted. The panel will be attached with knurled thumb screws for a "professional" appearance. This way I can fiddle with, or change the crossover in the future.

I'm going to do my best to document the construction, but this is not a DIY cabinet this gentleman is making, unless of course you're a master wood craftsman. Looking at his drawings today, the construction details are mesmerizing, and he has well over a million dollars in machines that will be used in their construction.

My dream has always been to work in this industry, as audio/music is my passion, and I'm wondering if this system could eventually become a marketable product?

[Old Guy]

There are a lot worse being sold, and for more money.

That said, being in business is not for the faint of heart. I can say this personally, having nursed an ulcer for the last 30 some years.

The one thing specialty manufacturers have going for them is the net- anybody can be somebody on the net. Even without money, you can have a presence on Ebay, a free website, and promo like Craigslist and such.

But being in business means making a lot of decisions you don't like to make- and sometimes spending all your recreational and even sometimes survival money on the biz.

I started out living in the back room of my warehouse. And I've had it easy compared to some...

[gamalot]

All sounds very interesting Seadweller and I hope they turn out exactly as you would like.

I have a few questions from a position of having built a few cabinets myself.

Your cabinetmaker; Is he a cabinetmaker or is he proficient in building speaker cabinets?
The reason I ask is because any cabinetmaker can build a pretty box but a great deal more goes into building a good speaker box.

Your design; Is this something from a set of posted plans or just something cooked up by your craftsman with some input from you?

Just my own observations here but I am well aware that I can build a nice box but I could never have built great speaker cabinets without some valuable input from members here and at other sites.

I see some considerable dollars in your above parts list and don't have a clue how much more will be spent on the cabinets and your craftsmans own labor but I know that too is considerable.

I will close by saying a speaker need not be gorgeous to sound great. Likewise, a speaker that is gorgeous won't necessarily sound great unless some knowledge and solid design goes into them.

Keep us posted.

Gary

[bfish]

Well put, O.G.

The exceptions are those with no scruples or ethics, they suceed in business AND politics.

(From a guy that lives in a van down by the river...)

[Seadweller]

Hmmm, the back of a warehouse eh?

Maybe I'd better rethink this!!!!!

Regarding the cabinet builder, to my surprise he is talking about matching driver output, measuring panel resonances, and isolating the crossover from vibrations, so I guess he does have experience in the area. He?s even designing a specialized grill to eliminate diffraction. He specializes in very high-end projects, and he?s working my speaker project in to a $150K custom media room he is building for a Chicago executives beach home (must be rough).

I'm using the MLTL specifications that Jay Fisher kindly provided, and indeed, without this board, I never would have taken even a single step in the DIY direction. My original intention was to build a standard 620 or Stonehenge III cabinet based on drawings readily available on the net. I was already working with a cabinet maker, when out of the blue, this gentleman called me to see if I still had a car he sold me 3 years ago. I didn?t consider him originally, because I assumed the cost would be exorbitant. I asked him if he was interested in building me a pair of speaker cabinets, and he asked me to run my plans by for a look-see.

He looked at my plans, including one I had modeled myself, and said they looked like coffins. This gentleman is all about how the eye perceives dimension and depth, so he asked if I?d give him full reign on the exterior, which included turning a stand mounted design into a floor standing design. I told him that as long as the interior dimensions and driver placement were exact, he could have full control of the aesthetics. I think he took on the project for the fun factor!

By using the Great Plains driver in what seems to be an ideal enclosure design, I believe the sonic attributes will be spectacular!

[gamalot]

Sounds great Seadweller!
I can't wait to see some photos of the project.

Gary

[Steve Schell]

Seadweller, you might want to check with Jay on the issue of stand vs. floor mounting. I suspect it may make a difference in the performance of the system, as the distance of the bottom of the cabinet to the floor may affect the loading on the bottom firing ports. Can't remember the particulars, but I believe that Jay considered all of this quite carefully.

[Seadweller]

Hi Steve,

I have been working with Jay on the cabinet design, and he has been very gracious with his time and information....My design will result in the bottom of the cabinet being the proper height from the floor, so the loading should be the same as the stand mounted version.

Below (if I figured how to attach an image properly) is a very general concept. The final version will have features intended to break up the monolithic look of this concept. The fine gray line is the bottom of the MLTL, where the port will be located. The speaker bottom will be open on all four sides. In an essence, I "integrated" the stand into the cabinet, as my better half didn't want a stand mounted speaker in the living room. She was willing to put up with the mammoth size of the speaker, if it was floor standing, and she could pick the finish!!!

[gamalot]

LOOKS GOOD!

SO I have to really wonder just how many DIY designs have been conceived in keeping with the rules set by our "Better Halfs".

Here are my 19 clones, BY THE RULES! LOL



Gary

[valhallax]

very nice looking speaker gary..very nice. is that oak?