A characteristic feature of counter-aperture is that the sound coming to the listener from virtually all directions, although it creates an impressive presence effect, cannot fully convey information about the sound stage. Hence the stories from listeners about the feeling of a piano flying around the room and other wonders of virtual spaces.

Counterperture

Pros: A wide zone of spectacular volumetric perception, naturalistic timbres thanks to the non-trivial use of wave acoustic effects.

Minuses: The acoustic space is noticeably different from the sound stage conceived when recording the phonogram.

And others...

If you think that this is the end of the list of speaker design options, then you greatly underestimate the design enthusiasm of electroacoustic speakers. I described only the most popular solutions, leaving behind the scenes a close relative of the labyrinth - the transmission line, the bandpass resonator, the housing with the acoustic resistance panel, the load pipes...

Nautilus from Bowers & Wilkins is one of the most unusual, expensive and reputable speaker systems. Design type - loading pipes

This kind of exoticism is quite rare, but sometimes it materializes in a design with a truly unique sound. And sometimes not. The main thing is not to forget that masterpieces, like mediocrity, are found in all designs, no matter what the ideologists of a particular brand say.

Making acoustic speakers based on branded speakers may seem at first glance to be a fairly simple job. However, in reality, making speakers yourself is not as easy as it might seem at first glance.

DIY acoustics from scratch

In this article on ours we will tell you how to properly make acoustics with your own hands based on branded speakers. The crossover is made on metal film
capacitors and resistors from Jantzen Audio.

Inductors, metal film capacitors and resistors are located on the printed circuit board. To make the acoustic boxes, we used plywood with a thickness of 18 millimeters. The total volume of the box for acoustics was 13 liters, and the weight of the manufactured speaker was 6 kilograms.

The volume and dimensions of the speakers were calculated using the BassBox 6 Pro program. And the crossovers were calculated using the X over 3 Pro plugin. We recommend using Titebond Original Wood Glue. The bass reflex tube was Intertechnik BR SL 45. The acoustics were covered with a special black Audiomania 101-14 fabric.

Crossover circuit

Manufacturing of acoustic enclosure

All required dimensions were obtained using a special utility. You can cut plywood according to the drawing yourself, or you can entrust this work to experienced professionals. In the latter case, you will receive the highest quality work, which will ensure the spectacular appearance of the structure.

The walls are glued in stages using special wood glue. To increase the strength of the structure, you can use window beads, which in this case are actually stiffening ribs. It is necessary to cover the inside of the plywood with batting, which is pre-cut to the original dimensions. This will improve the acoustic performance of the device body.

If you did the cutting yourself, you need to go over the joints with a milling machine and carefully sand the joints, rounding the edges. After the box is ready, it can be covered with a decorative film that imitates the structure of wood, or black acoustic fabric can be used. In this case, the choice is entirely yours.

Mounting a crossover

As a rule, testing a crossover for acoustics takes about several weeks. During the tests, you need to select the optimal sound, after which you can begin the final installation work. Crossover boards are covered with silicone sealant or silicone-based glue.

After the sealant has hardened, you can begin soldering the radioelements. When performing this work, you should not skimp on solder. The work must be done to the highest quality possible. Having assembled the crossovers, we fix them in the speaker housing. All you have to do is connect the speakers with a crossover using a special speaker cable.

We fix the speakers with self-tapping screws in the housing and carefully seal the joint to ensure the maximum possible tightness of the internal capacity of the speaker. The sound quality of self-made speakers based on Visaton speakers is at the highest level. In terms of quality, they are not inferior to ready-made branded speakers from well-known brands, and at the same time, the cost of their production is much lower.

Greetings to Datagor readers! I want to tell you about creating an acoustic system using 3D printing technology. Using a 3D printer, I was able to build an unusual acoustic system in the shape of a ball, as well as solve a number of additional problems that arise when making acoustics.
I would like to note that I am not at all advocating the use of plastic as the main material for building speakers.

Ever since my student days I had a dream - to make speakers in the shape of balls. But the methods available to me at that time for creating a custom-shaped case did not inspire me in any way. And now, many years later, I got a 3D printer.

Now here is my translation of Troels Gravesen’s article about “the world’s worst dome tweeter Philips AD 0160.” I think he didn’t come across Soviet, or even many modern tweeters.
Most likely, few people have this particular tweeter (tweeter, not to be confused with Twitter), but Troels’ research will be useful for home-made people to evaluate the quality and proper use of tweeters.

Best regards, Sergei

I'll show you with a real example what you can do with old speakers, namely their drivers, to get improved sound.

Do-it-yourself bookshelf acoustics

DIY or Do It Yourself

One day I decided to build myself high-quality acoustics for sounding a small room, as well as for use as near-field monitors when working with sound on a computer (hobby). The main requirement is adequate sound in relation to the source. It’s not so much that “the lows are wobbling” or that “the cymbals are ringing,” but rather an adequate natural sound. So, we collect high-quality “shelf holders”.

Number of lanes

In theory, the ideal system is single-band. But, like everything ideal, such a system does not exist in nature. Yes, there are very high-quality broadband speakers from the same "Visaton", but for some reason all well-known manufacturers make two-way bookshelf systems. And when it comes to the floor option, then 3 stripes are not uncommon. There wasn’t much of a question here – the classic two-band version: low-frequency and high-frequency.

Speaker selection

The main requirement for speakers is an optimal price/quality ratio. Those. it shouldn’t be “cheap” for 500 rubles, but also not a mind-blowing “high-end” for $1000. Besides, I was in no hurry. The idea of ​​assembling “shelf speakers” with my own hands came quite a long time ago, and I threw the bait in advance to my good friend, “sick” with sound, with whom we have been constantly and fruitfully communicating on this topic for a long time.

The first to appear was the HF - Vifa XT19SD-00/04 ring-rad. These are high-quality 4-ohm tweeters, quite popular among audiophiles. They were planned for one set, but for some reason they didn’t work out and ended up in my set.

LF arrived second. They turned out to be very decent midbass from the Soundstream Exact 5.3 kit. Here you can read a little about them. It so happened that the tweeters burned out during installation, and the lone woofers themselves turned out to be unnecessary. 4-ohm 5.5" midbass mounted in a cast aluminum basket were immediately purchased.

Now that you have the speakers, you can start creating acoustics.

Active / passive?

Each option has its pros and cons. Firstly, you need to take into account the compactness of the speakers themselves and the associated difficulties in layout in limited space. There is no point in installing it outside. Secondly, individual modules as independent components can be combined in the future, and it is also easier to repair if something happens. And thirdly, active speakers are quite expensive. Because if you make a decent amplifier (and sometimes there is one in each case), then it will turn out to be more expensive than the acoustics themselves. Besides, I already had an amplifier. But in any case, I am in favor of the scheme - passive acoustics + amplifier, it is more universal.

Calculation of housing dimensions

We have decided on the speakers, now we need to understand which housing is optimal for them. Dimensions are calculated based on the sound characteristics of the woofer. There are no recommendations on the manufacturer's website, because... The speaker was intended primarily for car audio. There is no point in keeping special equipment for these purposes unless it is your job. Therefore, a smart guy with a special stand comes to the rescue. As a result of laboratory tests, we obtain a calculated case size of 310 x 210 x 270 mm. During the measurement process, the bass reflex parameters were also calculated.

By the way, many manufacturers publish recommended housing sizes for speakers on their websites. When such information is available, it is logical to use it, but in this case I did not have such data, so I had to do laboratory research.

Housing material

In my opinion, the most optimal material for the case is MDF. It is acoustically neutral and also performs slightly better than chipboard. Plywood is also good, but quality plywood is not easy to find and is more expensive and difficult to process. 22mm MDF sheet was chosen as the source material for the body. In principle, standard 18-20mm is quite enough, but I decided to make a little extra. There is no such thing as too much rigidity.

Housing construction and design

One of the most important stages. Before going for MDF, I advise you to decide on the design so that you can immediately ask the seller to cut the sheet in parts, and at a normal point of sale there are always good machines with accurate and even cuts. It is difficult to obtain such a cut at home.

So, design. The speakers should look at least as good as “industrial” ones, so that there is no feeling of a club of crazy hands. We make not only high-quality, but also beautiful acoustics. In general, there are practically no beautiful, interesting and at the same time structurally simple acoustic systems. Beautiful acoustics are made by the Italian Sonus Faber, stunning in beauty - Magico Mini. But they are all made using precision machines, which, by definition, are not available at home. As an option, you can order the cases from a good “cabinet maker” with hands and CNC. Depending on where and what you order, such work will cost from 10,000 rubles. up to 30,000 rub. along with materials. If the specialist is good, then the speakers will look no worse, or even better, than store-bought ones. In this case, I decided that I would do everything completely myself. Therefore, we look at things realistically and make a design without any bevels, curly cuts, etc. Those. it will be a parallelepiped. The calculated dimensions give a fairly pleasant proportion, and proportion in the design is already half the battle.

What to design in? Although I am related to design by line of work, my knowledge of 3D packages is, to put it mildly, superficial. In this case, the program should be more engineering than rendering. Specialized "Kads" for this purpose are heavy and unnecessary. A solution was found quickly enough - frivolous SketchUp is more than suitable for this purpose. It is so simple and intuitive that I was completely mastered in about an hour. The main thing he can do is quickly create any shapes, set dimensions, use simple textures. I believe that such a program is ideal for “home” purposes. You can easily use it, for example, to design a kitchen or even a small house.

Here is the body design:

Based on the drawing, a diagram of cutting the sheet emerges:

In general, the options are not bad in appearance, but purely structurally they cause difficulties. As a result, it was decided to trim the side walls with ash veneer, and cover the remaining 4 walls around the circumference with leather, or rather with high-quality automotive leatherette. The arquebus is beautiful in itself, but the woofer has a structural overlay on the front side of the housing that will not look very nice. Therefore, it was decided to make an additional decorative overlay (ring) for it, which will press it to the body, and at the same time add beauty to the speaker itself. The construction and design have been decided.

Tools

Before moving on to the next stage, I’ll outline what basic tools are needed for the job:

Circular.

Jigsaw.

Sanding machine.

Straight arms.

Without this kit, it is better to order the cases from a good craftsman.

Sawing

So, we cut the budget MDF sheet. I have already written that it is better to saw on special machines - it is inexpensive, but the results are accurate. But because I decided to make the body myself inside and out, then for the purity of the experiment I sawed it myself with a manual circular saw, and small pieces with a jigsaw with a guide. As expected, the perfect cut did not work out. After the cut, pairs of walls (left-right, front-back, etc.) are installed in pairs, adjusted with a grinder and/or electric planer and checked for perpendicularity with a square. And later during assembly they are finally adjusted after gluing. A loss of 2-3 mm is insignificant. But I still recommend sawing right away “at the base”, you will save a lot of time.

Housing assembly

The walls are glued together with PVA and tightened with screws. First we glue the body without the front wall.

Now there is a hole for the terminal block, as well as a chamfer in order to “sink” it. Initially, according to the design, the terminal block was supposed to be placed at the bottom. But during the process, it became clear that mounting the crossover in the center through the hole for the woofer would not be very convenient, so I moved the hole for the terminal block higher, and the place for the crossover lower.

You can close the box.

Now one of the very important stages is cutting out the holes for the speakers on the front panel. I have already said that the ideal speaker system is a single-way one. Why? Because sound propagates from one source to the listener without a time mismatch due to the (tiny) difference in distance that occurs when using a multi-band system. Therefore, it is best to place the speakers as close to each other as possible. This makes the sound image “dense.” We calculate the holes so that the distance between the edges of the speakers will be approximately 1 cm. The holes are cut with a jigsaw with a circular guide.

After the chamfers are removed, we attach the terminal block and speakers, and then drill holes for future self-tapping screws with a thin drill. Without them, firstly, the MDF itself may “spread open” when screwing in the screws, and secondly, during the final installation the speakers will be more difficult to position evenly. I thought for a very long time about how to position the speakers relative to each other, and came up with the following scheme:

Screw holes on external surfaces must be repaired before final finishing. I used epoxy. In order not to wait for one surface to harden, I sealed each surface with tape and moved on to the next one. When the epoxy had dried, I sanded it with a sander.

The veneer needs to be protected. I coated it with clear yacht varnish.

Now you need to cover the body with leatherette. There are many options for how to do this. I decided to do it as follows. A strip is cut 20 mm larger than the width of the case and slightly longer than the circumference of the case. On each side it is folded by 10 mm, the hem is glued with “special glue 88”. Then, using the same glue, the strip is glued around the circumference to the body. First the bottom (partially), then the back wall, then the top, then the front and the bottom again. At the last stage before gluing, the strip is cut in place and glued end-to-end. I glued all sides at once, i.e. didn't wait for each side to dry. After each side I took a short break (the glue sets quite quickly) and started on the next one.

If you really want to, then the phasic can be somehow refined.

Then holes are cut on the terminal block, “woofer” and “tweeter”. The skin on the terminal block and RF will be recessed downwards, so the diameter of the cutout can be left 5-10 mm smaller. The skin on the woofer will be pressed against the decorative ring, so you need to trim it so that it is not visible.

Final editing

First of all, we mount the crossover. The cross is home-made, based on a good element base. Air-core coils, tweeter film capacitors and MOX resistors are used. I didn’t solder it myself, but ordered it from smart guys.

Now we solder the required pair of wires to the terminal block and fix it on the body. The terminal block and speakers are screwed on with decorative black self-tapping screws with an asterisk head. The cover on the “squeaks” is screwed with similar screws, so it would be logical to use the same ones for the rest. The back wall is ready.

The midbass needs to be slipped under the skin, and pressed down on top with a decorative ring. Solder the remaining couple of wires and mount the speaker.

All? All. We screw the acoustic cable to the terminal block and begin testing.

Tests

The system was tested in the following configurations:

1. Receiver Sherwood VR-758R + acoustics.

2. Computer + Unicorn (USB-DAC) + Homemade stereo amplifier + acoustics.

3. Computer + E-mu 0204 (USB-DAC) + Sherwood VR-758R + acoustics.

A little about the configurations themselves. I personally think that at the moment the ideal option for a home music center is: computer + USB DAC + amplifier + acoustics. Digital sound without distortion is captured via USB and sent to a high-quality DAC, from which it is transmitted to a high-quality amplifier and then to the acoustics. In such a chain the amount of distortion is minimal. In addition, you can use completely different soundtracks: 44000/16, 48000/24, 96000/24, etc. Everything is limited by the capabilities of the driver and DAC. Receivers in this regard are a less flexible and obsolete option. The size of modern hard drives allows you to store almost your entire media library on them. And trends towards subscription to Internet content may eliminate this option, although this is not in the near future and is not suitable for everyone.

I will say right away that in all three configurations the acoustics sounded great. To be honest, I didn't even expect it. Here are some subjective aspects.

1. Adequate and natural sound. What is recorded is what is played back. There are no distortions in any direction. Just as I wanted.

2. Greater sensitivity to the source material. All recording flaws, if any, are clearly audible. High-quality mixed tracks are listened to perfectly.

3. Well-readable bass for such sizes. Of course, you can’t fully appreciate organ music on bookshelf speakers (it’s generally difficult to appreciate it on acoustics), but most of the material can be “digested” without problems. It's hard to expect more from such babies.

4. Very good attention to detail. You can hear every instrument. Even with a rich sound image and decent volume, the sound does not turn into a mess (the amplifier plays an important role here).

5. I would like to make it louder;) That is. The acoustics do not scream, but play smoothly. Although this is also not a small merit of the amplifier itself, because As the load increases, a good amplifier maintains linearity.

6. Long listening does not give you a headache. Personally, this often happens to me, but here it plays all day and nothing happens.

7. Concerns about incorrect panorama and strong dependence of the sound on the position of the listener were not confirmed. As far as I know, car acoustics have a specific sound phasing due to the location of the speakers in the cabin. Namely, I read about this set that its midbass is more universal in this regard. Which was actually confirmed. You can sit in the center in front of the speakers, or stand next to them sideways - the sound is excellent. There is a dependence, but it is very small.

As for the configurations themselves, the highest quality sound was achieved with the second configuration.

Firstly, a very high quality Unicorn DAC was used.

Secondly, the “home-made amplifier” is the know-how of one smart Tolyatti “sound specialist”. Here it is in a nice little aluminum case:

In a nutshell, we were able to find a circuit solution in which the amplifier retains its characteristics when the volume changes, i.e. does not distort the sound at any (constructively permissible) volume. Many amplifiers (even very expensive ones) suffer from this. It was amazing to hear how such an amplifier brought many speakers to life, i.e. made them sound the way they should sound. By the way, some industrial amplifiers (in particular, the Xindak, which is quite good in itself), were also rebuilt according to this scheme, and they got a “second wind”.

Have you compared acoustics with something else, you ask? Yes, for example, with ProAC Studio 110 – these are quite high-quality bookshelf acoustics, here’s a little about them. We compared them and realized that they definitely sound no worse. The “Proaks” may have a slightly lesser dependence of the sound on the position of the listener due to the specific placement of the inverter and the “tweeter”; somehow they cleverly calculated all this. As for the rest, it’s absolutely no worse, even I personally liked my homemade products better, but we’ll chalk that up to subjectivity;) I also put on headphones (quite good Koss) and compared them by panorama, highs and lows. Absolutely identical sound. Even at the bottom. In general, complete delight.

Costing by materials

Mid/bass speakers (pair): 3,000 rub.

HF speakers (pair): 3,000 rub.

Crossover (pair): 3,000 rub.

Sintepon: 160 rub.

Terminal (terminal block): 700 rub.

Screws: 80 rub.

MDF sheet, 22mm: RUR 2,750.

Scotch tape: 30 rub.

PVA: 120 rub.

Special glue 88: 120 rub.

Vibration isolation: 200 rub.

Figured ring-onlay: 500 rub.

Cable: 500r.

Total: 14,160 rub.

Some materials were or were received free of charge and accordingly are not taken into account here.

In custody

In any more or less complex device or complete functional system, absolutely everything is important. When it comes to a music system, the final result is influenced by a large number of factors:

Soundtrack quality.

A device for playing a phonogram.

Digital-to-analog converter.

Signal amplifier.

Wires.

Speakers installed in the acoustic system housing.

Correctly designed for speakers and high-quality assembled housings.

Diagram and accessories for the crossover.

This is a basic but not complete list.

It is wrong to think that the main thing is the amplifier, or the main thing is the wires, or the main thing is the speakers. A home music system is like an orchestra. And if in this orchestra some people play poorly and others play brilliantly, then overall the result will be average. Or, as they said in a very precise example: if you mix a barrel of shit with a barrel of jam, you get two barrels of shit.

There is another extreme. A good system costs incredible amounts of money. This means that each component should cost half a million. And phonograms must be exclusively on Super Audio CDs or branded records. Like a closed society of elite audiophiles. This is all bullshit.

I came to the conclusion that it is quite possible to assemble your own relatively budget system, which can be described in one word “Sounds”. And if, due to its specific features, it is better to use real existing solutions as a DAC or amplifier, of which there are a lot now. Then a correctly made (either independently or to order) acoustic system will sound better than a “branded” one purchased for the same money. Nowadays almost all components can be ordered online. Moreover, many manufacturers publish enclosure diagrams for their respective speakers. There is a lot of software for calculating housing parameters. There are many specialized forums online, and offline there are people with hands. Of course, it is impossible to be an expert in everything. As in any field, the main thing is to know the general principles.

The article does not claim to be the ultimate truth, but I hope that my thoughts and my experience will be useful to someone else.
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Hello everyone who suddenly became interested in this topic or was just wondering how the idea came to fruition 75 gdn bandpass 6 order + Alphard Hannibal7 8OHM+Alphard TW-302SX

A little bit of history. For a long time I was interested in the sound of the woofer in different designs, be it s.i. or f.i, and in most of the experiments the s.i. won, but in my memory there was one option that sounded an order of magnitude higher: the Alpine r series in s.i. with a volume of 35- 40 l. Since many options have been tried, interest in the 6th order band pass has appeared, especially since there is a lot of information about it on the Internet. After reading many forums, I had a choice between 3 options from the volumes of litrozh 2 camera boxes, I don’t remember all the numbers, so closer to the point 1 camera 580 * 430 * 270, 2 camera 160 * 430 * 270 is the average option of the three, 3 camera under acoustics 360*430*270 then everything is a little more detailed:

material for the box

material for the box

The price of plywood is 900 rubles per sheet (2 sheets) + 200 rubles to the sawyer for a more responsible approach

Wood glue

Wood glue "Titebond" - ideal results as practice has shown

quality material

First ace

Preparing the second column

Glue protrusion

After gluing and drying, the internal seams were filled in for better reliability and durability.

All seams were taped inside

All seams were taped inside

Two boxes for future speakers

A couple of boxes

Holes for phases 50 and 100 are cut in the front walls.

Holes cut

The interior walls were coated with industrial linoleum adhesive.

Coating of internal walls

This work increased the weight, which had a good effect on stability and the sound of the speaker.

Material

This material is used for gluing industrial linoleum to the base; after drying, it looks like liquid rubber and becomes dense and odorless.

Carpeting

The price for this carpet is 150-200 rubles per 30 linear meter

Speaker installed

A pair of 75 GDN were bought for 1400 rubles from a person from the studio; these speakers were lying around for replacement but were not useful; they were in excellent condition for a very low price.

Speaker installed

The amplifier from an old subwoofer has a power of 100 watts, the speakers operate at 50% of the maximum.

After the first listen, it was 100% clear that the 50 pipe was very small for the upper chamber and four 100 pieces were prepared for temporary use.

Installation of the remaining parts and listening gave a huge impetus to complete this idea

Installation of the remaining parts

Appearance

The speakers were sanded with a special machine; it was enough for exactly 2 ac, after which it died and went to waste

After sanding

It was not possible to achieve a sharp edge, and even so it was pretty good

A couple of Alpina cans to give the wood its natural color.

A couple of cans of Alpina

Alpina Holsglaz wood impregnation highlights the structure of the wood and gives it color, parquet varnish three layers and the surface has become glossy and wear-resistant.

two coats of impregnation gave too dark a color, so one coat was applied

Appearance in the morning after drying

Appearance

Appearance

both materials were applied with a brush, a test layer with a sponge or roller was not the best option, of course there was no sprayer

First coat of varnish

Rubber feet

the version of legs made of rubber feet is not the best, but this option is a trial one

Speakers

I read and looked at a lot before I settled on this pair, the price and the advice of one very good consultant, Rinat Mukharlyamov, played a role. All acoustics were bought in the store /////AGR STUDIO tuning territory, the price of the entire order was 4400 rubles. I would like to note that this was the first time I encountered such service (competence, responsibility and responsiveness) I am a person who was looking for acoustics in a car audio store, I never expected that these guys would bring an order that was completely out of their specifications, for this I have huge respect for them and further development

Speakers

Pipes length 200 mm diameter 100

These pipes are the third option of all that were ordered, unlike the previous ones, they had a bell on both sides of the stiffening ribs and were of the highest quality, ordered from the Audiomania.ru online store

Bass reflex installation

The reverse side of the first terminal block is made of copper, the acoustic wires are all soldered. The top wire goes to the Alphard Hannibal7 8OHM+Alphard TW-302SX the bottom wire goes to the second speaker, connecting a pair of 75 GDN and VUS

Compound

All acoustic wires are wired with terminal blocks and insulated

Insulation

bolt m 8 copper on both sides copper nuts white end minus red plus

Here is the whole story about this project, assembled in two hands with the support of his beloved wife and two pets.