Adventures in speaker-land.
Emboldened by my Decware
buddies Terry and Eli and the wealth of information on the Single
Driver Website, I decided to build my very own speakers with a single
driver (the mighty radio shack 40-1354). I built Terry Cain's Bigger
is Better design from the DIY page on the single driver site.
I used 3/4 inch birch plywood and 18ga magnet wire
for the speakerwire. The mounting wood circle is 12" in diameter. I screwed
'em & glued 'em, then removed the screws and filled the holes with
woodfill. The lovely Robin was my semi-willing accomplice!!
Here's how they turned out after we decorated them.
I think they are beautiful!!
The project was a lot of fun, and for a while, perhaps
due to the "proud papa" syndrome, I was very happy with the sound (after
20-30 hrs of break in). However, while the big pipe really does give good
bass extension, the 1354 driver was not doing the job. The mid-bass was
real peaky and the treble wasn't what I'd hoped for either. Rather than
trying to tweak the RATSHACK driver, we decided to try a better one. So
off to EBAY where I purchased a pair of 5.5" Isophon full range (30hz -
20,000hz @ 4.5 ohms) ($90 for the pair). We installed them and WOW!!! what
a difference. Its a smooth but detailed, nimble, musical, engaging, fun
set up. They are much more sensitive than the 1354's so the little Zen
can drive them quite well. We are now very happy with the Bigger is Better
mark II, and the Klipsch fr-3's are back in the closet.
We now have aquired 2 pairs of 12" vintage full range
speakers. A pair of Lafayette Co-axials pictured on the left and a pair
of Cletron cathedral series pictured on the right. We are in the process
of figuring out some enclosures. Stay tuned????????
