News and Information

Hello. Welcome back to Speakerbuilder.net. After a few months "off" from maintaining my site, it's now time to bring it back online (you can blame the longer-than-expected hiatus on my golf game). The many nice messages from those of you who found this site to be a useful resource in your DIY speakerbuilding activities have been greatly appreciated and were instrumental in expediting the re-launch of the site. Thanks to all of you and I'm hopeful that you'll enjoy the new projects and articles I have planned for the near future.

As you can see, the format has changed. My goal is to provide the information and services of the site through an easy-to-read, attractive interface without being too graphically intensive. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to post your thoughts in the message forum. Most of the projects and articles have been reviewed, revised, reformatted, and reposted. Some articles simply didn't make the cut and have not (and will not) be reposted. If there's an article that you particularly wish to see on the site, let me know -- I'll either email you a copy or post it. If I've simply forgotten to repost a useful article, I'll gladly put it up. Also, there are two projects that I haven't finished -- Veritas and the DHT. Please see Sanaka's great site for links to information on these projects, or the original projects on the PE project showcase. I've got to give a special thanks to Sanaka for his great work in carrying the torch and maintaining current information on my projects, while the site has been down.

Now, what's next? First, there's project x -- an as-yet unnamed WMTMW using the Vifa PL18's, Audax HM100C0, and Scan Speak 9500. I've been listening to them since July and they're simply exceptional. Why no write-up yet? Well, these were originally intended to be a transient-perfect three-way, a la John K's excellent articles on the topic. John's site can be found here. The only thing is that I haven't been completely happy with the sound of the transient-perfect version of the crossover -- they required extremely complex crossovers that resulted in very difficult impedance loads (even in John's own prototype, low impedances were experienced; but unlike him, my listening room amps are single-ended triode monoblocks using Western Electric 300b tubes. My amps don't like tough impedance loads.) Also, even when I borrowed some Krell amps to test the TP3W's, I wasn't overwhelmed with the sound (probably due to my driver selection, as the transient-perfect Dunlavy speakers I've heard were simply outstanding -- as John notes in his articles on TP3W's, driver selection can be difficult.) I haven't given up on the transient-perfect design, but my current attempt may not be successful. Regardless, using 2nd order (acoustic) crossovers has resulted in absolutely exceptional sound that I'm extremely pleased with -- I'd rather have a great sounding speaker that's not transient-perfect, than a mediocre one, just to claim that it is. Also, you'll notice from the picture that I've been studying the use of felt treatments on the time-aligned baffle. I've read John Dunlavy's patents on the subject and followed his teachings. Dave Ralph has also been active in this area and his site provides some very good information on the subject.

Ok, so what else? Glad you asked... I'm actively working on the "DBX" -- an MTM using the Dayton 5 1/4" woofer and Silk Dome tweeter. I'm also doing an alternate version using the Vifa D27TG-05 tweeter in a 2.5-way configuration (there will be a 2.5-way of the DBX, too). "2.5" ways, although having somewhat less sensitivity than MTMs, generally have a better imaging than MTMs -- and some people whose opinions I respect are not fond of the soundstage presentation of MTMs, but that's fodder for another article and some Blue Crabs and beer (some of you will probably remember the connection). See the page on the Dayton Budget MTM for updates, as this interesting project develops. What can you expect from it? Think D3 with a bit less bass and a lot better midrange. Although the D3 has proven to be an extraordinarily successful project for many of you (over 300 people have actually written to me, telling me how they've built it and are happy with their creations), the one weakness of this design has been the inherently mediocre midrange performance of the Dayton 6 1/2" woofer (hey! There's no free lunch guys! If you want killer bass and high sensitivity for $150, you have to sacrifice something -- that's the midrange). The DBX is intended to provide a more happy medium between bass performance and midrange performance. Based on the general consensus that the Dayton 295-300 5 1/4" woofer's midrange performance is very good for a driver in its price category, I think this design should prove interesting.

Aside from that, I have a few other things cooking, but I don't want to discuss anything else until I'm further along with the current projects (hint: peerless 850122? Vifa P17 and XT25? Hmm.. what else does the Rev have up his sleeve?)

Finally, the site's features have been streamlined -- no more chat room, no links page (as Ken Perkins noted, between JPOS and Steve Eklblad, who needs another one?). Also, one of the reasons I shut down the site before was my disgust with certain members of the DIY community who used the chat room to further the commercial aspects of their involvement with the DIY community (and did so in a not-so-appropriate manner). But the main news page of this site will no longer be a place where I discuss such things... you can find my candid thoughts on such ancillary matters in "The Soapbox". Stay tuned for the first installment.

Also -- send me links to your projects! If you've built one of my designs, or even a speaker based on my design, I want to hear from you, so that we can build a repository of information that can help people decide which project to build. If you already have a page up, send me a link. If you don't have a page up, send me some pictures and any text you want to go with it (or just the pictures, if that's all you want to send) and I'll host them right here. There are many great sites showing some fantastic work that you folks have done, but they're too spread out over the vast electronic wasteland of the internet. Also, although I don't intend to be a web host, if you have a great project, some tips, an article, or whatever you think others will be interested in, feel free to send it to me. Unless there's a problem (which we can discuss), I'll be happy to post it here... and don't think that I won't post negative opinions of my designs (provided they are not offensive in the manner in which the opinions are stated) -- people need the whole story and that's what they should get here.