niss_man Posted March 24, 2010 Posted March 24, 2010 Hi all I am new to this speaker building hobby and actually have had these playing music for over a year now but have only just finished them a week ago. I joined these forums to look for some 2nd hand decent speeks to replace my old crappy chinese ebuy surround system. I ended up for hours on end in the back shed building, then in the house testing, then in shed changing, then in house testing then changing.........I knew it would take a while but not as long as it did. Anyways I got a lot of self satisfaction out of it in the end and will probably do it again one day. I was looking at purchasing some Interdyn BT3's a fellow member had for sale and ended up down the DIY path. I purchased the seas drivers from John at Aranmaracoustics who also provided me with the crossover design from the original Interdyn BT3 design (Thanks John). I used Seas CA26RFX bass driver , 3" dome mid 76MF, and 27TDC tweeter. Built a cabinet with curved sides (that was a learning experience). Designed a crossover using bassbox program and ended with some speakers. A year later I have just changed the crossover to be more similar to what the original BT3s where and changed the port tuning from 31hz in my 100lt box to 42hz. Whereas before I had to use the equalizer on my Pioneer amp to sound to my liking, I now don't use any equalising or smarts to sound better. Simon
Guest Muon Posted March 24, 2010 Posted March 24, 2010 They look great, Simon An inspiration for all of us that are yet to build speakers.
gat474 Posted March 24, 2010 Posted March 24, 2010 Nice job there. John is always very helpful. He showed some of his old paperwork for the BT series including the amount of orders he was getting. This country must be full of a BT series speaker of one typr of another as he built thousands of them.
Greener Posted March 24, 2010 Posted March 24, 2010 Hey Simon what a fine looking result mate. I bought Mission E80 series (pair of the E81's on stands) and I tell ya yours look every bit as good in the high gloss black. The curved sides must have been challenging as you mentioned but you must feel proud of your work. Sometime I would like to use the E81's as rears and get some 3 way floorstanders as mains. Instead of Missions I might have to appoint a "personal speaker Artisan" to build and ship a pair of units identical to yours!! Maybe they would be a "SIMONSEAS AUDIO of Brisbane" product:cool:
niss_man Posted March 25, 2010 Author Posted March 25, 2010 Hey Simon what a fine looking result mate. I bought Mission E80 series (pair of the E81's on stands) and I tell ya yours look every bit as good in the high gloss black.The curved sides must have been challenging as you mentioned but you must feel proud of your work. Sometime I would like to use the E81's as rears and get some 3 way floorstanders as mains. Instead of Missions I might have to appoint a "personal speaker Artisan" to build and ship a pair of units identical to yours!! Maybe they would be a "SIMONSEAS AUDIO of Brisbane" product:cool: That is one hell of a nice comment Onions. Thanks to everyone for their very encouraging comments. The curved sides were a learning curve to biuld as well as spray painting. To curve the sides I used 3 pieces of 6mm mdf but should have used 3mm x 6 to make it easier to bend. I read somewhere that you could use ammonia to help make the mdf malleable to make it easier to curve around the cabinets. This was true to an extent, but I still had to use many clamps to help with the process. The spray painting was performed with an air compressor I bought from the weekend shopper. I was a little bit disappointed with the finish I produced, it was not as high a piano gloss finished as I expected. I think the relatively cheap commpressor I bought did't have enough pressure to utilise the spray gun as well as it could (or it could've been the user). Maybe some forum user could give me some tips.
niss_man Posted March 29, 2010 Author Posted March 29, 2010 Was the paint acrylic, enamel or 2 pack? The paint was an acrylic.
rob323 Posted March 29, 2010 Posted March 29, 2010 You won't get a mirror glossy finish until you smooth it out with wet and dry and then buff it up. Be careful near the edges too.
jkn Posted March 29, 2010 Posted March 29, 2010 HI Simon Thanks for sharing nice work btw. Regarding the paint job. I’m not an expert but have few close friends who are really good. My speakers ended up really good etc high gloss finish. I Have use paint call debeer and will use it again for my new speaker. MPA Refinish Supplies 165 Railway Parade Thornside 4158 (07) 3822 2300
brownemi Posted March 29, 2010 Posted March 29, 2010 Simon a great looking speaker well done. To get the mirrior finish you need to use a two pack epoxy. Deadly stuff so use a good respirator and ventilation. Primer first then use wet and dry in between with 800 then 1000 then 1500/2000 before last coat. Probably need three coats of black. Then polish with a good car polish. Acrylic is easier to use but will flash off and give a more satin/matt finish. Those cheap compressor's should do the job but you need to get air/paint mix right and then practice lots on scrap till you get the right thickness of coat. Good luck
rob323 Posted March 29, 2010 Posted March 29, 2010 2 pack is so much easier to get a really good gloss finish, straight off the gun. If the surface is prepped well, very minimal sanding is required (if at all). I wonder if 2 pack clear would go over the back acrylic or whether it would eat it? Calling 56 Oval?
niss_man Posted March 30, 2010 Author Posted March 30, 2010 Thanks for the advice guys. I don't think I will spray these speakers again and will leave them as the satin finish they are. These tips will sure help when when I next try make a high gloss pair.
niss_man Posted March 31, 2010 Author Posted March 31, 2010 Does anyone know where I can get some felt for difraction purposes around the tweeters. I will be recessing the tweeters to help with time alignment and need some felt to put around the tweeters. Anyone know where I can get some 8mm felt in Brisbane?
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