Building speakers is not just making a box and adding the drivers. The exact size for the specific driver and the target frequency range and tonality is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more sciency than just slapping together a box for drivers. The box dimensions and chambers inside is almost if not more important then the drivers you choose.
Yep. I built a sub box for a specific area in my car. It was under the necessary volume area for optimum sound. I added a tube to allow air to escape the box. It could have sounded better for sure. But it was in a 1980's car so hardly high fidelity.
Yes! And it's not JUST the volume/size, either. There are SO many other little idiosyncrasies pro-manufactured audiophile-grade speakers have. The rabbit-hole is endless when you're going well beyond what the human ear can theoretically detect and start trying to crack the proverbial "Three Body Problem" of harmonic interference that Audiophiles claim is the reason they pay thousands of dollars for a 3ft piece of copper wire. Like, my inner audiophile was SCREAMING "BEVEL YOUR EDGES! NO SHARP CORNERS INSIDE THE SPEAKER!" and "NO RIGHT ANGLE JOINTS! 3% DISTAL TAPERS IN HEIGHT AND DEPTH! MOLDING ON THE BRACES, DON'T LEAVE THEM 90DEGREES!!" and "NO WOOD GLUE! SILICONE ADHESIVE ONLY!" and "DOUBLE-THICK WALLS! LAMINATE WITH VISCOUS SOUND DAMPENER! LINE THE INSIDE IN LEAD FOIL AND TAR PAPER! MORE MASS MORE MASS!"
Tip for budget minded individuals: if you can't afford practice runs for the veneers, do the bottom, back, and any face that may be against a wall first. They won't be easily visible, and give you the practice needed before doing the front and top.
"Build speakers, don't buy them" thanks, on my way to buy my dream workshop in 20 years when I get a stable job Great video btw, this is why I love the concept of engineering and knowing how to do all the stuff. Like, having a workshop like that with tools, and having all the skills, that's like a dream come true to every tinkerer!
great idea, looks so much cheaper to buy an entire garage of tools and equipment than to just buy a few speakers. thanks for saving me a bunch of money, Zac!
You don't need a CNC or a garage to make rectangular boxes. I made a wooden fightstick in my apartment using a basic handsaw and a drill. You can even get your wood cut in Home Depot or other big box store.
I used to work for a company which installed speakers at Super Yachts. This are state-of-the-art speakers but the most impressive were their custom designs. As every square inch matters on these yachts, sometimes we had to deal with pipes, cables or other yacht related components. So the speaker houses sometimes need to have the most weird shapes. But the most important rule is the volume of the housing. As long as this matches the driver specs, the speakers will sound awesome.
One point of contention among builders is the method of connecting wires to drivers. In this case, you've soldered them, but as you've noted, others prefer crimp-on connectors. In my experience of over 20 years, I recommend using a standard blade connector. Insert the wire into the crimp section, ensuring there’s a bit of excess wire coming out the front. Crimp the connection, then fold the wire over and solder it. Afterward, apply heat shrink tubing to ensure a solid and durable connection. Once that’s done, press the connector onto the speaker terminal and gently give it a small squeeze to ensure a secure fit. The advantage of using blade and socket connectors is that they provide a physical lock thanks to the small hole and nub on the connector, allowing for a removable yet secure connection when necessary. Relying solely on soldering, especially with modern electronics solder that no longer contains lead, can lead to issues. The vibrations in the system can cause the hardened solder to crack and fall off over time. In contrast, a physical connection won’t deteriorate in the same way, ensuring a more reliable setup in the long run.
I worked as a finish carpenter for a kitchen and bathroom business. All the skills demonstrated in this video directly translate to building beautiful custom cabinetry, gables, fridge, and island pillars. You can even wire in lED backsplash lighting. I love how craftsmanship and creativity can be harnessed to achieve almost any end result.
Yes, they do work for cabinetry. Unfortunately, they don't do well for high end audio. Much wrong in this video. Granted, most listeners won't notice the difference between these speakers and high-end speakers. But I have to admit it was a bit distressing watching the various errors he was making. I couldn't watch the whole video.
Just a little tip to keep from burning up those hole saws.... If you will barely start the cut with the hole saw, and then stop. Grab a drill with a drill bit that is maybe three times the width of the kerf of the hole saw blade (So maybe a quarter inch), or bigger, and drill a hole on the inside of the kerf, where the very edge of the drill bit cuts out a tiny piece of the kerf of the hole saw, but all the way across the kerf, so that once it's cut out, the hole doesn't still show. The hole you drilled with the drill should fall out with the middle piece of the circle you cut. Anyway, now continue cutting with the hole saw, and because all that saw dust instantly has somewhere to go, it will quit burning whenever you use the hole saw.
@@theradioweyr Ya, most people don't have woodworking tools at the ready. Just past 40, I've only recently gotten myself the tools to do what he's doing and at his age, I had nothing at all. Let's also point out he has a professional workshop, most people don't even have a garage to work. And I started this before he mentions the damn CNC machine, so ya, most of what he has is professional grade and he has a youtube channel to show for it.
I think it's more of priorities. Obviously the guy is passionate about woodworking, so he bought tools to do his hobby. I'm sure if he started in metal and welding, he'd be starting at 40 like you. No need to ostracize the dude because he has/had different priorities as you.
my cousin builds speaker boxes to specs given by the speaker makers in his backyard with just measuring tape, a jigsaw and a circular saw. dont need a whole shop to make a speaker box.
@TheStonedSpidR hell yeah! Honestly new and expensive tools just make things easier. Definitely doesn't determine if one can make the thing or not. Woodworking should be fun, not something that gives you anxiety about not having something!
I previously worked at an aircraft interior design and electronics company. Of course we had limited space for speaker enclosures. So, we took the area we had and had the drivers custom made to fit the area we had to put the speaker in. We had the best sounding sound systems you could imagine in small corporation jets. This demonstrates that the cabinet size and shape is the determining factor in great sounding systems.
26:55 Another worthwhile tip for beginner solderers is to go ahead and get a syringe of flux. Solder tends to have rosin flux embedded in it, which is enough to ensure a clean and strong joint once you get the hang of soldering, but in the meantime, you can add a bit of flux to the surfaces you want to solder together to help the solder really stick.
Yeah that kinda implies putting in a raspberry pi with dac or not and an amplifier in there. This is more like "a center speaker build" or "a soundbar". Sonos would imply also having the raspberry do some dsp tuning of the signal to flatten the signal(or boost bass)
Yup, disappointed to watch all the way through with nothing related to powered speakers or wireless/bluetooth features. You know, the things that make Sonos speakers different than passive ones. I got baited and switched.
In some of his other speaker video’s he’s said you don’t need the fancy tools. You can build it with less specialised tools too. He has the tools though so he’s using them
That's not misleading. I did this with a table saw and a harbor freight trim router a year ago for the drivers lol. More expensive tools just makes it faster.
You could do this DIY. I'd actually argue this is probably one of his easier builds. Buy the MDF from a DIY supply shop that will pre cut the sheets for you. The speaker holes can be cut with a drill and hole saw or jigsaw. I suppose you could even use a coping saw if you don't mind taking your time. If you don't or can't solder. Then buy the crossovers pre built. Trimming the veneer can be done with a knife and sand paper. Trim router not needed. All the sanding can be done by hand. I'd say a drill and a jigsaw are all that is needed to build this. Everything else just makes the job easier. Easily less that £100 / $100 in tools if you buy none branded tools.
Sure he does, but all of the things he does in this video can be accomplished with far fewer and less expensive tools. If you don’t know how to use your existing tools to accomplish what he’s doing in this video, then that’s a skill issue, not a tutorial issue.
Don’t even need tools. Come up with a cut list and send it off to a company like send cut send or just make friends with the guy at a big box and give him a nice tip to cut everything for you. Then, it’s just assembly.
Nice job! The Carmody designs are well respected so that was a good choice. But I'm a bit surprised you didn't use miter joints on the towers instead of butt joints. I see you ended up doing that on the center channel and it came out great using the tape trick. Getting perfect alignment on butt joints all around is pretty hard, especially without corner clamps etc and for the novice it will probably telegraph through the lovely veneer. A nice (albeit more advanced) improvement to the atmos speakers would be to angle the top speaker baffle to tilt it forward. it would look so much better and be more stable. +High WAF points (Wife Acceptance Factor)
For subwoofer enclosures a popular technique to negate resonance is line the inside with fiberglass resin. (Basically takes 6 days, pour the reason in one side..... Let cure then rotate..... Or if you want to spend a lot more, you can get UV cure)
Also, good audio lasts for long, so don't be afraid to go into the used market, I got super lucky and this guy that works in a BOSE store sold me his old Klipsch R-26F for 225$ for both No shipping no nothing, he brought them in and I took em. They are by far the best speakers I've ever heard and I am running them off a cheap amp, (I am planning on buying a better amp eventually but you know, to get em going) If you prefer Bass that makes half the neighbourhood tremble you will need a sub, but for me, which I personally enjoy more relaxed bass, they are all I need
When I use a hole saw a tip I was told was to drill a relief hole on the outside of the hole you are drilling with a 10mm drill bit so the dust can escape, stops the mdf from burning which smells awful, lovely build :)
@@winebird8952 drill a 10mm hole inside the the edge of the outer diameter of the circle you plan to drill (I find its easiest to start the actual hole you want to drill, then use the scored mark to align a 10mm drill bit to, that way you can make the edge of the 10mm hole tangental with the edge of the cut hole, so it doesnt go over the finish line). Man, this is a lot easier to explain with images...
FWIW, my 1983-puchased Kef C60s were made out of 40mm (1.75 inch) MDF - and weighed as much as you'd expect As others have mentioned, internal volume matters, as does the shape of the cabinet (parallel internal faces is a _bad_ thing but most people go with it as a compromise) and positioning of the vent in addition to the diameter/length of the port Personally, I'd add clip on grilles. Not everyone likes to look at the drivers and it keeps probing fingers off the surfaces Making a "strappy picture framey" thing is a matter of using a ratchet strap and cutting some wood blocks to suit Crimping, then soldering makes the connections even LESS reliable than a properly done crimp (crimps apply hundrreds of tons per square inch on the joint and the assembly cold welds itself over time) GIven you have a router, rounding the inside of the window braces should be a no-brainer (less scratching when stuffing the things) and to be honest I'd be highly tempted to use the dynamat on the inside of all the cabinets toppped off with the same acoustic panelling you used to focus the height speakers (all that really matters inside the cabinets is bass. You want to kill virtually everything inside the cabinet above its resonant frequency as that's unwanted Modern design software would allow a lot more tuning of the cabinet than old-style slide rule design. With a 3d router I'd seriously consider shaping the inside of the cabinet faces to act as a waveguide AND give scattering of the higher frequencies. All that said, Covid has killed my hearing (I went deaf for 3 months and top end sensitivity is gone) so would likely all be lost on me
My man, be careful mounting your Denon from the top like that. You've covered where the heat is supposed to vent from...and you will overheat and cook your receiver when you drive your speakers at high wattages. They get hot. I know. I have one. I put 5V usb fans on top of mine to keep it cool. Gonna be an expensive mistake.
@@Jimmeh_B 😂🤣🤣😂Maybe he could drill some ventilation holes in the back of the receiver...😂🤣😂🤣😂😂😂 I just ditched my Onkyo. I am replacing it with a Marantz. Wish me luck!
I am confused between putting compression drivers and tweeters on my shelf speaker build. Which one should I put in it. I thought of putting both but don't have enough space.
Managed to pick-up a pair of Altec Lansing 604-8G speakers with cross-overs, NOS still in their original cardboard shipping boxes at a yard sale. $100 for the pair. I plan on building enclosures for them based on the original plans downloaded from an Altec Lansing connoisseur collectors website. Don't know which enclosures to build yet, as there are three or four different designs. I also acquired a Pioneer SA-9800 amp years ago at an estate sale for $150. I don't think they knew what they had. Can't wait to build the enclosures to test out the Altec's. I don't know if they'll compete with the "Voice of the Theater" Altec Valencia 846U speakers that I inherited from my dad, but we'll see. ( or hear! )
Home made speakers can not only sound fantastic, but they can last a long long time. Mine each have one 15" woofer, two dome mid-range drivers, and four dome tweeters. Total maintenance cost over the years has been about $27 to eventually replace the degraded outer foam rings of the woofers. I built theses speakers back in 1976. Yep, they are 48 years old and still going strong. Granted, I did recently add a couple of Aperion Audio MKII Planar-Ribbon Super Tweeters that sit on top of my speaker cabinets.
I was snared by the "RIP sonos" tag on the frame thing and thought that you had added DSP to your past projects (which I did enjoy thoroughly, great work 100%), as that's really what makes sonos hit the way they do. So while it's nice to have these all together for first time viewers, I didn't love that its essentially recycled content. That said, I love what you do and look forward to future videos.
As someone who actually worked at Sonos (before I was let go after 9 years because of downsizing, so no, my opinion of the product itself is not swayed by the fact I used to work there), you cannot just take a bunch of wood and add a bunch of drivers and be like "yo I made this home theater setup that rivals a big brand, say goodbye to *insert brand name here*" It's cool you made them, absolutely! It's awesome to do manual labor and figure things out, but making speakers is SO much more involved than what you did here. The drivers have to be set to a specific target frequency, the drivers have to be of specific sizes based on low tones or high tones, they have to be pointed in certain directions for a wider audio spectrum (no, just pointing them forward is not the right answer), they have to be a specific DISTANCE from one another, the material and paint of the box itself, the shape of the box itself, the actual dac that's used, the software that's installed that equalizes and normalizes the audio etc etc etc. I literally can go on. Then if we're talking Sonos specifically, the interconnectedness between speakers, the way you can control multiple rooms, the way you can group rooms, the way you add speakers at any point you want, the way you can tune them specifically to the room they're in. Sonos isn't perfect. Heck, if audiophiles are to be believed they sound decent but don't rival higher end stuff. Their app has had some of the worst changes over the years (holy fuck was that a pain to troubleshoot) However, it's just not possible to rival the quality of a Sonos Arc for instance with just your DIY boxes with drivers. Again, it's awesome you build them, but let's drop the "say goodbye to Sonos" on the thumbnail? (or whatever other brand you could put there really), ye? The amount of R&D that goes into building speakers at Sonos, Harman Kardonn, Bose, Samsung etc. is just not something a single individual can achieve. The way the thumbnail is currently is just disrespectful to the ton of work that goes into those types of speakers.
There's another video you might like, it takes into account all of these things but the makers use a completely different type of speaker, with flat panels. It's called "World's Best Speakers!" by Tech Ingredients. I'm curious what you think about of this one.
Sonos sucks. Like Bose, they R&D the crap out of the cheapest components around. Bose Wave Radio retailed for $500, while it has about $50 worth of components inside. I can make ANY shit speaker sound better with DSP too, anyone can. It's not rocket science like Blows & Sukos would have the public believe. While little over engineered shit speakers are ok for surround sound systems due to THX's 80hz HPF, they absolutely suck for music. Especially modern music. Anyone can beat Sonos Arc's performance, easily. The ONLY time smaller is better in the world of speakers is if you value vanity over performance. In this video, dude makes nice furniture. I would not call them speakers though.
@@MP-qn1jw Yeah no, Sonos does not suck. Tell me you've never heard their products without telling me lmao They're not the best by any means in terms of audio quality but y'all audiophiles genuinely are so brainrotted with your "FLAC is so much better than MP3" and other bullshit like that when the differences are so minute that I just can't take y'all seriously.
Sub build, YES PLEASE! I love building my own speakers myself as well so hello fellow speaker snob. It's a rabbit hole worth jumping into. My main reason for DIYing my own speakers is to have control over build quality and parts quality that is simply not on offer in the price range I wish to spend. Build on brother! Subscribed!
The first thing i did was go to the speaker link. The second thing i did was say, its much more affordable to buy. However, i am a carpenter and I i would LOVE to build muly own speakers. But with 3 kids and 2 businesses, I'll never have the time. So envious of that shop. Gosh thats a nice place to play.
You can absolutely build speakers out of hardwood, but you'll want to add some vibration dampening materials to the inner surface of the panels to prevent them from resonating as much. A thick aluminum-backed or mass-loaded vinyl-backed butyl rubber sheeting would do very nicely. You can also do this for MDF or HDF if you want, it's just not an intrinsic requirement like it is for hardwood construction, since the composition of such materials is already less resonant.
You can break it up to different frequencies with a brace that breaks the surface in to inequal lengths and so on and put damper on the inner surface. Its really not that big of a deal outside of serial production.
@@lassikinnunen Absolutely! Internal bracing isn't just for strength. I saw a really good video where the guy's goal was never really about strength either and all he did was drill holes through the sides of the cabinet and glue in some 1" wooden dowels to reduce resonance and it seemed to work beautifully based on the before and after demo. Butyl rubber sound dampening is just another relatively easy option if you want to reduce cabinet resonance due to material choice rather than cabinet design. Another option, if you have a flooring store near you that sells off-cuts or remnants, is to carpet the inside of the cabinet with some dense and deep pile carpet. Glue it down and use some staples to keep it in place and it'll definitely reduce standing waves and resonance. Carpet is one of the best materials for sound absorption you can get for cheap. Carpet padding is also great for this as well and you can see about acquiring remnants or off-cuts of that too. My favorite secret for the ideal sound treated room is to just carpet every hard surface with a premium deep-pile carpet and a premium carpet pad. Just glue and staple it to the walls and ceiling as well as the floor and it'll feel like you walked into an anechoic chamber.
Lovely "Overnight Sensation" builds. These were my first speaker build, although I dare say they were not as good looking as yours. Unfortunately bouncing sound off of drywall is a poor Atmos height approximation. The only way to get Atmos overhead is to use ceiling mounted speakers. The bouncing thing was created by Dolby and manufactures as a gimmick to encourage people to buy new gear and get a bit of an effect. Most home theater snobs would advise you to just mount 'height channels' and skip Atmos until you punch holes in your ceiling. That said, it is also true that Atmos isn't heavily used in movies and the best Atmos effect is in the Dolby test suite.
Yeah, I've seen reviews that also said not to mess with Atmos because it's not used that much. I have a rear set of Bose 151's that are mounted close to the ceiling and pointed down into the room. I have another set I was going to set up on the sides of the room in a similar fashion... (except things in the room prevented me from doing that.) Not ideal, but ideal for the situation. Again, don't go for perfection, just what's good enough for the situation.
@@jackielinde7568 That is similar to what I've tried. I used the SVS atmos/height channel guide, angling the speakers down from as high as you can place them to slightly in front of your seats. It works almost as well as in ceiling speakers.
I, like probably you by watching your videos, are a big fan of blue BOSCH products. Very refined and engineered to be easily controlled tools, made by a company that understands how most of us use them and that control are way more important than raw power.
Those lip edges around the baffle look great but cause a lot of diffraction (canceling) in the mids and highs. Champhers, angled facets, or inch roundovers and driver flush mounting allmost completely solve this and can look quite nice. Clear mids and consistent highs.
@ZacBuilds Hole Saws... You have to remember that 99% of hole saws do not have material extraction, so you have to keep lifting out of your cut and clear out any material (preferably with compressed air) before continuing. Hope this helps and keep up the good work.
I have those 3M bt earmuff/headphones, possibly the best earmuffs I've ever used, and great quality sound to boot. I've been tinkering with the idea of making some new fronts, Yours look great, time to pull my finger out!
I thought my 4" hole saw was blunt, so I spent a good hour carefully sharpening it. It still rubbed and burned. I now believe the problem is the lack of power on my cheap 350W drill press. Bigger motor time.
Hole saws seem like a good solution but they're meant for hole making in mild steel. An example would be creating holes for conduit connectors going into an electrical panel. Cutting regular plywood/ wood doesn't really work well. MDF is torturous to the saw and will quickly dull/ burn no matter how powerful the drill. Recently carbide tipped the hole saws have been introduced, they shouldn't burn but still it's not the right tool for the job. If you've ever gotten The leftover wooden slug stuck inside the hole saw that might give you a clue right there.
I know a lot about sound and wood working, and I would do a number of things differently than you did here. However, I don't think most of the differences will _make_ enough differences for the average person to detract from the intent of the video: "BUILD speakers; don't BUY them!" Your presentation, video quality, and editing are all quite good, which adds to the "You can do this!" vibe; well done. Additionally, anyone watching the evolution of your system can see they can start with two bookshelf stereo speakers and get more complicated and challenging from there (if they want!) without starting over. 👍
Oh those baffles! (Centre speaker) That makes them very directional, and possibly self reflective… I also would have used larger drivers in the centre speaker, as you want it to go down to 80Hz, and a larger volume cabinet would also help with that, and better fit the shelf your putting it on. Oh, and spade terminals are notorious for developing resistance and bad connections as they age.
I would suggest adding something like Dynamat to any possible surface when replacing MDF with hardwood. I would also highly recommend you take a look at SEAS Excel line if you want really high end DIY speakers. There are a lot of kits and drawings with the basis in SEAS and Scan-Speak drivers and tweeters. Edit: Nevermind, I see you did it later in the video. And wouldn't you be better off using coaxial for atmos?
love the video, I built my Atmos speakers by cutting a Tannoy centre speaker in half and shaping into wedges, works great. My only question is why didn't you face the Atmos speakers veneer to match the floor standing speakers?
Love the work you're putting into improving your system but those height speakers need to be angled correctly on all axis to get the correct sound effect. I would googly recommend getting a 2nd receiver that supports 11.1 or 7.4.1 hence the 2nd amp to run the 4 height speakers and your new receiver I use a yamaha aventage it's a few years old now but can process full Atmos brilliantly and your denon will drive the other speakers nicely. Good luck
As far as I know wood isn’t bad for making a speaker. The problem comes when you want to make a stereo pair as it is hard to get two bits of wood to be identical acoustically. At least that’s how a review of a VERY expensive pair of Italian wood speaker explained it. Find the idea of making speakers interesting but my main pair are only 20 years old so don’t feel the need to change them yet. Still great to see some classic ideas for making speakers put into action with the floor standers. Remember the isolation feet are not just to make it sound better for you. They also reduce sound transfer through your house. Edit: One of the best films for demonstrating the up firing/ceiling speakers is Patriot’s Day in DTS-X on Blu-Ray. I hear it is better to use a disc based sound track as there is less compression and there is more content on 4k disc’s. I haven’t changed to 4k discs because of the lack of support for Atmos on Blu-Ray I lost trust in them providing content.
Those are beautify speakers. One tip, blind nuts should really go on the inside of the speaker not the outside. Add some super glue to them to make sure they don't pop out after things are buttoned up.
You always make great looking wood devices on your channel. I love it. If I can do some constructive points on the setup. - Center channel is the most important one in an HT. I would use the same drivers as the left-right channels and not a smaller size to keep the sound signature exact from speakers to speakers. I would even space them more or add another driver if any plans call for it. It really make a hige difference -the new tower speakers are nice, but they dont fit the other ones. I would keep the same look for all of them even if that 45 angle can screw a bit the sound. - i would space as much as I can from the wall and use some isoacoustic feets on all my speakers. Sound like a gimmic I know, but thoses feeds/stand really impact the sound. I would use them also for the dolby atmos over the towers. - I would look into mdf sealer like shellac to close the wood and make it super smooth, even more on sides. Also look at some videos from "Hifiside" for a piano finish on some part of your speakers. Lot of work but the result is so nice and profesional. Great content, I really like all the videos!!
Zac. Nice build. I am going to do this hopefully soon one day as soon as I am done remodeling my house (so never). But I have a bone to pick with you. Will you PLEASE for the love of god, give that Monstera a moss pole. You're a wood worker you have no excuse.. There are BEAUTIFUL builds you can make some UA-cam videos on and that poor baby is growing every direction and has no support. I look forward to seeing my suggestion video come to life.
When you are doing dados, switch over to high tooth count laminate/fine cut blade. They take a full width cut, instead of it being tapered when you use a ripping/cross cut generic style blade. That means you get flat, smooth bottom like a dado stack without all the extra setup.
Nice builds! I'd love to see you build a Sonos Move with a battery charging dock. Bonus points if you can build two and get them to Sync and play in stereo.
Sorry, I can't help myself...keep the heat on the connection you're trying to make just a little bit longer. Those look like cold solder joints that have a lot higher chance of breaking loose over time. I'd use flux paste instead of the solder/flux combined junk too. Flux is almost more important than heat when it comes to a great soldering job. Cleaning wires with alcohol before putting the flux on is usually a good idea on wire that's been exposed for a while, or if you just twisted them with your fingers. It all depends on what your definition of "permanent" is lol. Soldering is some solid therapy once you nail it.
I feel like designing and building 3 way 12-inch stand-mount speakers with air core inductor and film foil cap crossovers, bi-amp binding posts. I want it to sound great with pink floyd and ave have a remove back plate so I can mount the drives in such a way that hides the screw holes and be able to caulk the edges so pressure does not leak out of the enclosure.
Excellent Video and Work 🎉.. I have to agree with others 'save $500 by making your own,.. with a multi-$1000 workshop' 😂 Tis why I bought my last AV speakers, $400 online ❤
2:29 that wood split its always better to use pilot holes and screw them than using nails overtime they hold better Plus nails dont hold the panel enough even while the glue cures
A better question is why? That's like the most important opening on the box for heat to escape through. Looks cool, but surely shortens the life of the receiver.
The dampening efforts are reminding me of the 90s when the craze was mounting all equipment on glass shelves that were floated on tiny pointed feet lol.
7:20 Soldering crimp connectors usually is not a great idea. Liquid solder is wicked into the stranded cable and dries, creating a sharp transition from strands to solid mass. Repeated flexing of the cable at this junction can quickly cause the cable strands to fray and the cable lose current current capacity or even break outright. In your case the joint will be essentially undisturbed within the speaker cabinet so it should be fine, but if it was subject to frequent handling it would likely fail quite quickly.
If you want it to feel like the sound is coming from above your head, you should place the speakers above your head. Relying on reflexion doesn't give anywhere near the same results, especially with speakers that are only slightly directional.
Bit of a tip for anyone considering something similar - CA glue doesn't like heat, and it's also a fairly brittle bond so vibration's not the best... with that in mind I'd recommend not CA gluing crossover components to particle board...
Nice Job! Great improvement with the towers. I've enjoyed watching the process, the mistakes, adjustments, and growth. Nice video, editing, and info. I'm still a bit confused with your Atmos cabinets though. Why did you recess the baffle? I've never seen anyone do this. Even with the sound damping material, you are essentially creating a megaphone. The thin sound damping material only works for certain frequencies. It won't stop full range diffraction. Also, the angle of your Atmos speakers looks too shallow. Just prop it forward with a book and run your test again. Diffraction and bad angles might be why you are struggling to hear a lot of height effects. I know your receiver can compensate some, but it can solve everything. Not an expert, just a guess.
Pricing? Wired only or wireless? Do you still need a big av receiver..? Buying the designs and following along is 1 thing but i don't know what all your material costs were let alone just the speaker equipment
Allen Key - Hex Key, new ones sounds a tiny bit muffled but that could just be UA-cam compressing it or what it's sitting on having a slight vibration, I think they sound great, can you do a video on how to isolate vibration to get the best sound out of your bass speakers? After the fact of course lol
In addition to having uniform density, MDF is also much more "anisotropic" with respect to rigidity and elasticity, than regular wood lumber - meaning it has roughly the same elastic properties in all directions (at least compared to wood, whose elasticity depends heavily on whether the forces go along or across the grain.)
So I have looked at building my own loudspeakers in the past. There is a pile of science, a pile of "art" and a pile of superstition about it. About the best i have found is if you want a nice hardwood speaker but dont want to tune the size and shape, or pack a ton of sound insulation to deal with echos, MDF is great for build and then you can always ad veneer to give it the hardwood look (as was done in the video). One of the things I heard from an oldtimer speaker builder was he swore that when you glue the cabinet together, you never want to drive the tacks deeper than you can pull them out when youre done, and then putty the holes before you veneer it. He saidnhe could hear the difference. Ive never heard the two side by side, so I dont know if it actually matters. His favorite speakers he said still had the hardwood veneer to donsome fancy sound magic, but also had polyfill stuffed vinyl upholstery on the outside, to help soak up the echos in the room. I mean, yhey looked like a dogs breakfast. But he swore you could hear a difference. Nowadays, sound foam is cheap enough, and its decent styling to put sound foam in your room so ... 🤷♂️
Nice build. I only have one remark, the way you use superglue. It does not work like that. Making beads with superglue is totally useless, as, aspecially when using accelerator, the dried product will be brittle as hell. So those filters.. everything is going to break off over time. do NOT use superglue to fix filter components. Use any kind of more elastic glue, like hot glue. Which is even easier to apply. If i were you i'd redo the filter boards before stuff resonates loose, shorts, and kills your amp.
Step 1 get a house Step 2 Get a garage with woodworking gear Step 3 Build speakers Step 4 Buy speakers (much cheaper) Step 5 Watching cause I love this stuff
Eminence also makes some really good Pro level drivers. And again, won't break the bank. Are you familiar with Wilson Speakers? They start at $10,000 and go up from there. SB Audience manufactures the drivers for Wilson speakers. That's just one of the big high end speaker companies they provide drivers.
Link the Soldering Station? (Link is broken lol). I've also built 6 speakers so far, love building them. Subwoofer builds for theaters are incredibly fun, too lol.
I wish I could build stuff like this. Great work man. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a ps1 mod video. Especially after the 39th anniversary reveal from Sony.
I just shoe-horned in some random speakers I had lying around to get a couple of Atmos channels into my system - finally upgrading from my AVR made in... 1998, to an incredible Goodwill find that had... you know... modern stuff, like HDMI ports, and, surprisingly, a little bit of Atmos support. It's subtle. I definitely need to create some shrouds to direct the sound. My go-to scene to test Atmos is Rogue One, right after the young Jyn hides in the cave, there's a lightning storm, and it was convincingly real/vertical when I was using Atmos for Headphones on Xbox. I can also attest to having a good center-channel (and discrete surround sound) turning one into an audio snob. I have a full-range floor-speaker as my center channel (my dad gave me my speakers, he was using a little thing that had no treble or bass), and it's night and day. I love having the center channel, and it really sucked for the month and a half when the old AVR died and we were just using the sound out of the projector/a soundbar we had lying around. Woof.
I noticed your "clean" receiver install tucked underneath the cabinet. It looks cool and all but it kinda sucks not being able to turn it up past like 1/4 volume huh? The good news is that it looks like a name brand receiver so you at least should have a few Thermal Shutdowns before you melt the transistors. Oh and you didn't mention, like at all, anything about enclosure sizing (way more important than how to veneer a box, imho).
I like the before and after comparison like my tiny desk speakers let me hear any kind of difference :D I still don't get the spines... what do they do?
Oh, and by the way, the Atmos you are getting on older titles is coming from your receiver. It must have Dolby Atmos up mixing like my Marantz does. They do a really good job! At least Marantz and Denon do. What Denon do you have?
Hi, i am realy fan of your video. I love the skill you have to build thigs with some kind of perfection and aestetic sens. Just a little thing : when you build speakers box and put the front panel behind the lateral/top/bottom panel edge your are modifying the speaker frequency response. This must be taking in account when the crossover is developped. It is the same with driver positions on front panel.
I was taught that allen key trick by one of my coworkers except instead of a clamp, saw, and eye protection, we used bolt cutters and the patented "squint and look away" technique
I broke down and purchased a CNC Router for my workshop. I really want to build a set of speakers - need a tested enclosure design and crossover - don't have time to learn all the theory.
Not sure why every video of yours has a ton of people showing up and complaining about things like the price of your tools or how you made your projects. I think your passion for DIY work that has led you to investing in high end tools that let you make whatever you want, however you want to is super cool. I cannot wait to see you make a functional car or something out of walnut only to have a bunch of haters show up. I will have the popcorn ready!
ummm @ 0:22 what do you mean by "as your Front and Left channels" ??? why just LEFT??? and why FRONT?? don't you mean "you Left and Right channels" ???? I'm confused.. was this a mistake or am I missing something??? 🤷♂
well you need height reflected from the rear too. you cant just do it from the front. Generally the front DOES only give screen height. The rear gives overhead. In my experience anyway. Probably wrong but, when trying to reflect sound vs having actual overhead speakers, thats what i feel like ive always heard
Building speakers is not just making a box and adding the drivers. The exact size for the specific driver and the target frequency range and tonality is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more sciency than just slapping together a box for drivers. The box dimensions and chambers inside is almost if not more important then the drivers you choose.
absolutely true
Correct, but programs do exist today that aid in this (ToidsDIY is a great resource for this, if you are not looking to buy a prefab kit).
Yep.
I built a sub box for a specific area in my car. It was under the necessary volume area for optimum sound.
I added a tube to allow air to escape the box. It could have sounded better for sure. But it was in a 1980's car so hardly high fidelity.
This is one of those things that seems easy on the surface and then there's a whole iceberg of really technical shit.
Yes! And it's not JUST the volume/size, either. There are SO many other little idiosyncrasies pro-manufactured audiophile-grade speakers have. The rabbit-hole is endless when you're going well beyond what the human ear can theoretically detect and start trying to crack the proverbial "Three Body Problem" of harmonic interference that Audiophiles claim is the reason they pay thousands of dollars for a 3ft piece of copper wire. Like, my inner audiophile was SCREAMING "BEVEL YOUR EDGES! NO SHARP CORNERS INSIDE THE SPEAKER!" and "NO RIGHT ANGLE JOINTS! 3% DISTAL TAPERS IN HEIGHT AND DEPTH! MOLDING ON THE BRACES, DON'T LEAVE THEM 90DEGREES!!" and "NO WOOD GLUE! SILICONE ADHESIVE ONLY!" and "DOUBLE-THICK WALLS! LAMINATE WITH VISCOUS SOUND DAMPENER! LINE THE INSIDE IN LEAD FOIL AND TAR PAPER! MORE MASS MORE MASS!"
Tip for budget minded individuals: if you can't afford practice runs for the veneers, do the bottom, back, and any face that may be against a wall first. They won't be easily visible, and give you the practice needed before doing the front and top.
Even better tip, buy already veneered mdf. You can find them almost anywhere in Europe at least.
"Build speakers, don't buy them"
thanks, on my way to buy my dream workshop in 20 years when I get a stable job
Great video btw, this is why I love the concept of engineering and knowing how to do all the stuff. Like, having a workshop like that with tools, and having all the skills, that's like a dream come true to every tinkerer!
Great build! Swap your left and right to bring the tweeters to center and narrow your sweet spot. Maybe grills?
wow ! with such a great shop and tools I would be diy ing not only my hometheater speakers, but my entire kitchen and living room.
great idea, looks so much cheaper to buy an entire garage of tools and equipment than to just buy a few speakers. thanks for saving me a bunch of money, Zac!
Yeah dont buy speakers, build them. Step 1: Buy a CNC Machine
LOL! 😹
You can do it with basic woodworking tools. But..... step 1: Have a garage!
@@Zaque-TV 😂
You don't need a CNC or a garage to make rectangular boxes. I made a wooden fightstick in my apartment using a basic handsaw and a drill. You can even get your wood cut in Home Depot or other big box store.
Well duh, we all need a reason to buy a cnc.
I used to work for a company which installed speakers at Super Yachts. This are state-of-the-art speakers but the most impressive were their custom designs. As every square inch matters on these yachts, sometimes we had to deal with pipes, cables or other yacht related components. So the speaker houses sometimes need to have the most weird shapes. But the most important rule is the volume of the housing. As long as this matches the driver specs, the speakers will sound awesome.
Just curious is that proven? I just asked the question, replying to another comment, but it seems like you know the answer.
One point of contention among builders is the method of connecting wires to drivers. In this case, you've soldered them, but as you've noted, others prefer crimp-on connectors.
In my experience of over 20 years, I recommend using a standard blade connector. Insert the wire into the crimp section, ensuring there’s a bit of excess wire coming out the front. Crimp the connection, then fold the wire over and solder it. Afterward, apply heat shrink tubing to ensure a solid and durable connection. Once that’s done, press the connector onto the speaker terminal and gently give it a small squeeze to ensure a secure fit.
The advantage of using blade and socket connectors is that they provide a physical lock thanks to the small hole and nub on the connector, allowing for a removable yet secure connection when necessary.
Relying solely on soldering, especially with modern electronics solder that no longer contains lead, can lead to issues. The vibrations in the system can cause the hardened solder to crack and fall off over time. In contrast, a physical connection won’t deteriorate in the same way, ensuring a more reliable setup in the long run.
silver solder
Did you watch the video???
I worked as a finish carpenter for a kitchen and bathroom business. All the skills demonstrated in this video directly translate to building beautiful custom cabinetry, gables, fridge, and island pillars. You can even wire in lED backsplash lighting. I love how craftsmanship and creativity can be harnessed to achieve almost any end result.
Yes, they do work for cabinetry. Unfortunately, they don't do well for high end audio. Much wrong in this video.
Granted, most listeners won't notice the difference between these speakers and high-end speakers. But I have to admit it was a bit distressing watching the various errors he was making. I couldn't watch the whole video.
Just a little tip to keep from burning up those hole saws....
If you will barely start the cut with the hole saw, and then stop. Grab a drill with a drill bit that is maybe three times the width of the kerf of the hole saw blade (So maybe a quarter inch), or bigger, and drill a hole on the inside of the kerf, where the very edge of the drill bit cuts out a tiny piece of the kerf of the hole saw, but all the way across the kerf, so that once it's cut out, the hole doesn't still show. The hole you drilled with the drill should fall out with the middle piece of the circle you cut. Anyway, now continue cutting with the hole saw, and because all that saw dust instantly has somewhere to go, it will quit burning whenever you use the hole saw.
I like that tip. 👍
Did I watch all of these as they came out originally? Yes. Did I still watch all of this again? Again, yes.
man i was thinking the same lol , especially when he said "first time using veneer" lol
SAME
is he re releasing or what?
1:09 mdf is only good in a dry environment don't use it on a sailboat and be cautious in high humidity areas
damn, thanks for the heads up, was about to install these speakers on my floating home theater system on my private lake front.
takes you a few days using incredibly professional tools. imagine how long its taking us mere mortals
Incredibly professional tools?
@@theradioweyr Ya, most people don't have woodworking tools at the ready. Just past 40, I've only recently gotten myself the tools to do what he's doing and at his age, I had nothing at all. Let's also point out he has a professional workshop, most people don't even have a garage to work.
And I started this before he mentions the damn CNC machine, so ya, most of what he has is professional grade and he has a youtube channel to show for it.
I think it's more of priorities. Obviously the guy is passionate about woodworking, so he bought tools to do his hobby. I'm sure if he started in metal and welding, he'd be starting at 40 like you. No need to ostracize the dude because he has/had different priorities as you.
my cousin builds speaker boxes to specs given by the speaker makers in his backyard with just measuring tape, a jigsaw and a circular saw. dont need a whole shop to make a speaker box.
@TheStonedSpidR hell yeah! Honestly new and expensive tools just make things easier. Definitely doesn't determine if one can make the thing or not. Woodworking should be fun, not something that gives you anxiety about not having something!
I previously worked at an aircraft interior design and electronics company. Of course we had limited space for speaker enclosures. So, we took the area we had and had the drivers custom made to fit the area we had to put the speaker in. We had the best sounding sound systems you could imagine in small corporation jets. This demonstrates that the cabinet size and shape is the determining factor in great sounding systems.
26:55 Another worthwhile tip for beginner solderers is to go ahead and get a syringe of flux. Solder tends to have rosin flux embedded in it, which is enough to ensure a clean and strong joint once you get the hang of soldering, but in the meantime, you can add a bit of flux to the surfaces you want to solder together to help the solder really stick.
What in the world does this have to do with Sonos? I mean, it's beautiful work, as usual, but I was expecting wireless (with the mention of Sonos)
Called "click bait"
GOT YOU B×××H! 😂
Yeah that kinda implies putting in a raspberry pi with dac or not and an amplifier in there. This is more like "a center speaker build" or "a soundbar".
Sonos would imply also having the raspberry do some dsp tuning of the signal to flatten the signal(or boost bass)
Yup, disappointed to watch all the way through with nothing related to powered speakers or wireless/bluetooth features. You know, the things that make Sonos speakers different than passive ones. I got baited and switched.
Agree! What a let down.
Nice craftsmanship, but the video title is a bit misleading. You’ve got a workshop with $10,000+ worth of high end tools. Not exactly DIY friendly.
In some of his other speaker video’s he’s said you don’t need the fancy tools. You can build it with less specialised tools too. He has the tools though so he’s using them
That's not misleading. I did this with a table saw and a harbor freight trim router a year ago for the drivers lol. More expensive tools just makes it faster.
You could do this DIY.
I'd actually argue this is probably one of his easier builds.
Buy the MDF from a DIY supply shop that will pre cut the sheets for you.
The speaker holes can be cut with a drill and hole saw or jigsaw. I suppose you could even use a coping saw if you don't mind taking your time.
If you don't or can't solder. Then buy the crossovers pre built.
Trimming the veneer can be done with a knife and sand paper. Trim router not needed.
All the sanding can be done by hand.
I'd say a drill and a jigsaw are all that is needed to build this. Everything else just makes the job easier.
Easily less that £100 / $100 in tools if you buy none branded tools.
Sure he does, but all of the things he does in this video can be accomplished with far fewer and less expensive tools. If you don’t know how to use your existing tools to accomplish what he’s doing in this video, then that’s a skill issue, not a tutorial issue.
Don’t even need tools. Come up with a cut list and send it off to a company like send cut send or just make friends with the guy at a big box and give him a nice tip to cut everything for you. Then, it’s just assembly.
Nice job! The Carmody designs are well respected so that was a good choice. But I'm a bit surprised you didn't use miter joints on the towers instead of butt joints. I see you ended up doing that on the center channel and it came out great using the tape trick. Getting perfect alignment on butt joints all around is pretty hard, especially without corner clamps etc and for the novice it will probably telegraph through the lovely veneer. A nice (albeit more advanced) improvement to the atmos speakers would be to angle the top speaker baffle to tilt it forward. it would look so much better and be more stable. +High WAF points (Wife Acceptance Factor)
For subwoofer enclosures a popular technique to negate resonance is line the inside with fiberglass resin. (Basically takes 6 days, pour the reason in one side..... Let cure then rotate..... Or if you want to spend a lot more, you can get UV cure)
Also, good audio lasts for long, so don't be afraid to go into the used market, I got super lucky and this guy that works in a BOSE store sold me his old Klipsch R-26F for 225$ for both No shipping no nothing, he brought them in and I took em. They are by far the best speakers I've ever heard and I am running them off a cheap amp, (I am planning on buying a better amp eventually but you know, to get em going) If you prefer Bass that makes half the neighbourhood tremble you will need a sub, but for me, which I personally enjoy more relaxed bass, they are all I need
When I use a hole saw a tip I was told was to drill a relief hole on the outside of the hole you are drilling with a 10mm drill bit so the dust can escape, stops the mdf from burning which smells awful, lovely build :)
So, mark the hole with the hole bit, then send a 10mm through the mark?
@@winebird8952 drill a 10mm hole inside the the edge of the outer diameter of the circle you plan to drill (I find its easiest to start the actual hole you want to drill, then use the scored mark to align a 10mm drill bit to, that way you can make the edge of the 10mm hole tangental with the edge of the cut hole, so it doesnt go over the finish line). Man, this is a lot easier to explain with images...
@@Etacovda63 I totally got it. You and I said the same thing in different ways.
FWIW, my 1983-puchased Kef C60s were made out of 40mm (1.75 inch) MDF - and weighed as much as you'd expect
As others have mentioned, internal volume matters, as does the shape of the cabinet (parallel internal faces is a _bad_ thing but most people go with it as a compromise) and positioning of the vent in addition to the diameter/length of the port
Personally, I'd add clip on grilles. Not everyone likes to look at the drivers and it keeps probing fingers off the surfaces
Making a "strappy picture framey" thing is a matter of using a ratchet strap and cutting some wood blocks to suit
Crimping, then soldering makes the connections even LESS reliable than a properly done crimp (crimps apply hundrreds of tons per square inch on the joint and the assembly cold welds itself over time)
GIven you have a router, rounding the inside of the window braces should be a no-brainer (less scratching when stuffing the things) and to be honest I'd be highly tempted to use the dynamat on the inside of all the cabinets toppped off with the same acoustic panelling you used to focus the height speakers (all that really matters inside the cabinets is bass. You want to kill virtually everything inside the cabinet above its resonant frequency as that's unwanted
Modern design software would allow a lot more tuning of the cabinet than old-style slide rule design. With a 3d router I'd seriously consider shaping the inside of the cabinet faces to act as a waveguide AND give scattering of the higher frequencies. All that said, Covid has killed my hearing (I went deaf for 3 months and top end sensitivity is gone) so would likely all be lost on me
My man, be careful mounting your Denon from the top like that. You've covered where the heat is supposed to vent from...and you will overheat and cook your receiver when you drive your speakers at high wattages. They get hot. I know. I have one. I put 5V usb fans on top of mine to keep it cool. Gonna be an expensive mistake.
I was wondering how he did that,... and then .. why ?
Funny thing is, I have a Dennon AVR, and I've seen those vent holes ALL THE FRICKEN TIME. Didn't think of this. Good catch.
Speakers? LMFAO!! Those noise makers will never get that amp hot. Soon as they get 25w their coils will melt. lol
@@MP-qn1jw IF the power resistors in the generic crossover kits, GLUED TO THE TIMBER enclosures don't burn the house to the ground first.
@@Jimmeh_B 😂🤣🤣😂Maybe he could drill some ventilation holes in the back of the receiver...😂🤣😂🤣😂😂😂 I just ditched my Onkyo. I am replacing it with a Marantz. Wish me luck!
I am confused between putting compression drivers and tweeters on my shelf speaker build. Which one should I put in it. I thought of putting both but don't have enough space.
Managed to pick-up a pair of Altec Lansing 604-8G speakers with cross-overs, NOS still in their original cardboard shipping boxes at a yard sale. $100 for the pair. I plan on building enclosures for them based on the original plans downloaded from an Altec Lansing connoisseur collectors website. Don't know which enclosures to build yet, as there are three or four different designs. I also acquired a Pioneer SA-9800 amp years ago at an estate sale for $150. I don't think they knew what they had. Can't wait to build the enclosures to test out the Altec's. I don't know if they'll compete with the "Voice of the Theater" Altec Valencia 846U speakers that I inherited from my dad, but we'll see. ( or hear! )
Home made speakers can not only sound fantastic, but they can last a long long time. Mine each have one 15" woofer, two dome mid-range drivers, and four dome tweeters. Total maintenance cost over the years has been about $27 to eventually replace the degraded outer foam rings of the woofers. I built theses speakers back in 1976. Yep, they are 48 years old and still going strong. Granted, I did recently add a couple of Aperion Audio MKII Planar-Ribbon Super Tweeters that sit on top of my speaker cabinets.
Dude your videos are amazing and super underrated. Such an inspiration no matter the project. Keep doing you man!
I was snared by the "RIP sonos" tag on the frame thing and thought that you had added DSP to your past projects (which I did enjoy thoroughly, great work 100%), as that's really what makes sonos hit the way they do. So while it's nice to have these all together for first time viewers, I didn't love that its essentially recycled content. That said, I love what you do and look forward to future videos.
As someone who actually worked at Sonos (before I was let go after 9 years because of downsizing, so no, my opinion of the product itself is not swayed by the fact I used to work there), you cannot just take a bunch of wood and add a bunch of drivers and be like "yo I made this home theater setup that rivals a big brand, say goodbye to *insert brand name here*"
It's cool you made them, absolutely! It's awesome to do manual labor and figure things out, but making speakers is SO much more involved than what you did here.
The drivers have to be set to a specific target frequency, the drivers have to be of specific sizes based on low tones or high tones, they have to be pointed in certain directions for a wider audio spectrum (no, just pointing them forward is not the right answer), they have to be a specific DISTANCE from one another, the material and paint of the box itself, the shape of the box itself, the actual dac that's used, the software that's installed that equalizes and normalizes the audio etc etc etc. I literally can go on.
Then if we're talking Sonos specifically, the interconnectedness between speakers, the way you can control multiple rooms, the way you can group rooms, the way you add speakers at any point you want, the way you can tune them specifically to the room they're in.
Sonos isn't perfect. Heck, if audiophiles are to be believed they sound decent but don't rival higher end stuff. Their app has had some of the worst changes over the years (holy fuck was that a pain to troubleshoot)
However, it's just not possible to rival the quality of a Sonos Arc for instance with just your DIY boxes with drivers. Again, it's awesome you build them, but let's drop the "say goodbye to Sonos" on the thumbnail? (or whatever other brand you could put there really), ye? The amount of R&D that goes into building speakers at Sonos, Harman Kardonn, Bose, Samsung etc. is just not something a single individual can achieve. The way the thumbnail is currently is just disrespectful to the ton of work that goes into those types of speakers.
There's another video you might like, it takes into account all of these things but the makers use a completely different type of speaker, with flat panels. It's called "World's Best Speakers!" by Tech Ingredients. I'm curious what you think about of this one.
I work for Sonos currently and the recent re-org was a really rough time. Sorry you were impacted by downsizing
Sonos sucks. Like Bose, they R&D the crap out of the cheapest components around. Bose Wave Radio retailed for $500, while it has about $50 worth of components inside. I can make ANY shit speaker sound better with DSP too, anyone can. It's not rocket science like Blows & Sukos would have the public believe. While little over engineered shit speakers are ok for surround sound systems due to THX's 80hz HPF, they absolutely suck for music. Especially modern music. Anyone can beat Sonos Arc's performance, easily. The ONLY time smaller is better in the world of speakers is if you value vanity over performance. In this video, dude makes nice furniture. I would not call them speakers though.
@@MP-qn1jw Yeah no, Sonos does not suck. Tell me you've never heard their products without telling me lmao
They're not the best by any means in terms of audio quality but y'all audiophiles genuinely are so brainrotted with your "FLAC is so much better than MP3" and other bullshit like that when the differences are so minute that I just can't take y'all seriously.
So can any of y'all tell me what's the top g of speaker brands?
Sub build, YES PLEASE! I love building my own speakers myself as well so hello fellow speaker snob. It's a rabbit hole worth jumping into. My main reason for DIYing my own speakers is to have control over build quality and parts quality that is simply not on offer in the price range I wish to spend. Build on brother! Subscribed!
The first thing i did was go to the speaker link. The second thing i did was say, its much more affordable to buy. However, i am a carpenter and I i would LOVE to build muly own speakers. But with 3 kids and 2 businesses, I'll never have the time. So envious of that shop. Gosh thats a nice place to play.
You can absolutely build speakers out of hardwood, but you'll want to add some vibration dampening materials to the inner surface of the panels to prevent them from resonating as much. A thick aluminum-backed or mass-loaded vinyl-backed butyl rubber sheeting would do very nicely. You can also do this for MDF or HDF if you want, it's just not an intrinsic requirement like it is for hardwood construction, since the composition of such materials is already less resonant.
You can break it up to different frequencies with a brace that breaks the surface in to inequal lengths and so on and put damper on the inner surface. Its really not that big of a deal outside of serial production.
@@lassikinnunen Absolutely! Internal bracing isn't just for strength. I saw a really good video where the guy's goal was never really about strength either and all he did was drill holes through the sides of the cabinet and glue in some 1" wooden dowels to reduce resonance and it seemed to work beautifully based on the before and after demo. Butyl rubber sound dampening is just another relatively easy option if you want to reduce cabinet resonance due to material choice rather than cabinet design. Another option, if you have a flooring store near you that sells off-cuts or remnants, is to carpet the inside of the cabinet with some dense and deep pile carpet. Glue it down and use some staples to keep it in place and it'll definitely reduce standing waves and resonance. Carpet is one of the best materials for sound absorption you can get for cheap. Carpet padding is also great for this as well and you can see about acquiring remnants or off-cuts of that too.
My favorite secret for the ideal sound treated room is to just carpet every hard surface with a premium deep-pile carpet and a premium carpet pad. Just glue and staple it to the walls and ceiling as well as the floor and it'll feel like you walked into an anechoic chamber.
Lovely "Overnight Sensation" builds. These were my first speaker build, although I dare say they were not as good looking as yours.
Unfortunately bouncing sound off of drywall is a poor Atmos height approximation. The only way to get Atmos overhead is to use ceiling mounted speakers. The bouncing thing was created by Dolby and manufactures as a gimmick to encourage people to buy new gear and get a bit of an effect. Most home theater snobs would advise you to just mount 'height channels' and skip Atmos until you punch holes in your ceiling. That said, it is also true that Atmos isn't heavily used in movies and the best Atmos effect is in the Dolby test suite.
Yeah, I've seen reviews that also said not to mess with Atmos because it's not used that much. I have a rear set of Bose 151's that are mounted close to the ceiling and pointed down into the room. I have another set I was going to set up on the sides of the room in a similar fashion... (except things in the room prevented me from doing that.) Not ideal, but ideal for the situation. Again, don't go for perfection, just what's good enough for the situation.
@@jackielinde7568 That is similar to what I've tried. I used the SVS atmos/height channel guide, angling the speakers down from as high as you can place them to slightly in front of your seats. It works almost as well as in ceiling speakers.
I really love the look of those rear firing atmos speakers. It has such a cool intentional presence instead of the usual hidden designs of them.
I, like probably you by watching your videos, are a big fan of blue BOSCH products. Very refined and engineered to be easily controlled tools, made by a company that understands how most of us use them and that control are way more important than raw power.
You're such a good craftsman. These look spectacular. Crossovers don't seem so simple to me.
Those lip edges around the baffle look great but cause a lot of diffraction (canceling) in the mids and highs.
Champhers, angled facets, or inch roundovers and driver flush mounting allmost completely solve this and can look quite nice.
Clear mids and consistent highs.
Love how you mounted the AV receiver under the cabinet. Hope you made modifications so that the top of the reveiver air vents are not blocked.
@ZacBuilds Hole Saws... You have to remember that 99% of hole saws do not have material extraction, so you have to keep lifting out of your cut and clear out any material (preferably with compressed air) before continuing. Hope this helps and keep up the good work.
I have those 3M bt earmuff/headphones, possibly the best earmuffs I've ever used, and great quality sound to boot.
I've been tinkering with the idea of making some new fronts, Yours look great, time to pull my finger out!
I thought my 4" hole saw was blunt, so I spent a good hour carefully sharpening it. It still rubbed and burned. I now believe the problem is the lack of power on my cheap 350W drill press. Bigger motor time.
Hole saws seem like a good solution but they're meant for hole making in mild steel. An example would be creating holes for conduit connectors going into an electrical panel. Cutting regular plywood/ wood doesn't really work well. MDF is torturous to the saw and will quickly dull/ burn no matter how powerful the drill.
Recently carbide tipped the hole saws have been introduced, they shouldn't burn but still it's not the right tool for the job. If you've ever gotten The leftover wooden slug stuck inside the hole saw that might give you a clue right there.
Really cool speaker builds, i love it! small concern about the blocked heat extraction on your reciever setup
That amp will never stress running those dinky noise makers.
I know a lot about sound and wood working, and I would do a number of things differently than you did here. However, I don't think most of the differences will _make_ enough differences for the average person to detract from the intent of the video: "BUILD speakers; don't BUY them!"
Your presentation, video quality, and editing are all quite good, which adds to the "You can do this!" vibe; well done. Additionally, anyone watching the evolution of your system can see they can start with two bookshelf stereo speakers and get more complicated and challenging from there (if they want!) without starting over. 👍
Oh those baffles! (Centre speaker) That makes them very directional, and possibly self reflective… I also would have used larger drivers in the centre speaker, as you want it to go down to 80Hz, and a larger volume cabinet would also help with that, and better fit the shelf your putting it on. Oh, and spade terminals are notorious for developing resistance and bad connections as they age.
I would suggest adding something like Dynamat to any possible surface when replacing MDF with hardwood.
I would also highly recommend you take a look at SEAS Excel line if you want really high end DIY speakers. There are a lot of kits and drawings with the basis in SEAS and Scan-Speak drivers and tweeters.
Edit: Nevermind, I see you did it later in the video. And wouldn't you be better off using coaxial for atmos?
Prestige and discovery are more than good enough for me... At least good enough that me as a designer is by far the biggest bottleneck.
love the video, I built my Atmos speakers by cutting a Tannoy centre speaker in half and shaping into wedges, works great. My only question is why didn't you face the Atmos speakers veneer to match the floor standing speakers?
Love the work you're putting into improving your system but those height speakers need to be angled correctly on all axis to get the correct sound effect. I would googly recommend getting a 2nd receiver that supports 11.1 or 7.4.1 hence the 2nd amp to run the 4 height speakers and your new receiver I use a yamaha aventage it's a few years old now but can process full Atmos brilliantly and your denon will drive the other speakers nicely.
Good luck
As far as I know wood isn’t bad for making a speaker. The problem comes when you want to make a stereo pair as it is hard to get two bits of wood to be identical acoustically. At least that’s how a review of a VERY expensive pair of Italian wood speaker explained it. Find the idea of making speakers interesting but my main pair are only 20 years old so don’t feel the need to change them yet. Still great to see some classic ideas for making speakers put into action with the floor standers. Remember the isolation feet are not just to make it sound better for you. They also reduce sound transfer through your house.
Edit: One of the best films for demonstrating the up firing/ceiling speakers is Patriot’s Day in DTS-X on Blu-Ray. I hear it is better to use a disc based sound track as there is less compression and there is more content on 4k disc’s. I haven’t changed to 4k discs because of the lack of support for Atmos on Blu-Ray I lost trust in them providing content.
Those are beautify speakers. One tip, blind nuts should really go on the inside of the speaker not the outside. Add some super glue to them to make sure they don't pop out after things are buttoned up.
You always make great looking wood devices on your channel. I love it.
If I can do some constructive points on the setup.
- Center channel is the most important one in an HT. I would use the same drivers as the left-right channels and not a smaller size to keep the sound signature exact from speakers to speakers. I would even space them more or add another driver if any plans call for it. It really make a hige difference
-the new tower speakers are nice, but they dont fit the other ones. I would keep the same look for all of them even if that 45 angle can screw a bit the sound.
- i would space as much as I can from the wall and use some isoacoustic feets on all my speakers. Sound like a gimmic I know, but thoses feeds/stand really impact the sound. I would use them also for the dolby atmos over the towers.
- I would look into mdf sealer like shellac to close the wood and make it super smooth, even more on sides. Also look at some videos from "Hifiside" for a piano finish on some part of your speakers. Lot of work but the result is so nice and profesional.
Great content, I really like all the videos!!
Zac. Nice build. I am going to do this hopefully soon one day as soon as I am done remodeling my house (so never). But I have a bone to pick with you. Will you PLEASE for the love of god, give that Monstera a moss pole. You're a wood worker you have no excuse.. There are BEAUTIFUL builds you can make some UA-cam videos on and that poor baby is growing every direction and has no support. I look forward to seeing my suggestion video come to life.
When you are doing dados, switch over to high tooth count laminate/fine cut blade. They take a full width cut, instead of it being tapered when you use a ripping/cross cut generic style blade. That means you get flat, smooth bottom like a dado stack without all the extra setup.
Nice builds! I'd love to see you build a Sonos Move with a battery charging dock. Bonus points if you can build two and get them to Sync and play in stereo.
Sorry, I can't help myself...keep the heat on the connection you're trying to make just a little bit longer. Those look like cold solder joints that have a lot higher chance of breaking loose over time. I'd use flux paste instead of the solder/flux combined junk too. Flux is almost more important than heat when it comes to a great soldering job. Cleaning wires with alcohol before putting the flux on is usually a good idea on wire that's been exposed for a while, or if you just twisted them with your fingers. It all depends on what your definition of "permanent" is lol. Soldering is some solid therapy once you nail it.
I feel like designing and building 3 way 12-inch stand-mount speakers with air core inductor and film foil cap crossovers, bi-amp binding posts. I want it to sound great with pink floyd and ave have a remove back plate so I can mount the drives in such a way that hides the screw holes and be able to caulk the edges so pressure does not leak out of the enclosure.
Click bait title. This doesn't replace a Sonos in any way. This is just regular 1990s stereo speakers.
Water-born contact cement is a lot nicer to deal with. Additionally, I would recommend a "J" roller to apply the pressure needed to form a good bond.
Planning to build a set of speakers for my jeep. Thanks for all the good advice
Excellent Video and Work 🎉.. I have to agree with others 'save $500 by making your own,.. with a multi-$1000 workshop' 😂
Tis why I bought my last AV speakers, $400 online ❤
2:29
that wood split
its always better to use pilot holes and screw them than using nails
overtime they hold better
Plus nails dont hold the panel enough even while the glue cures
One thing I would suggest is when drilling with the hole saw if you wiggle it around it won’t burn.
OMG I’m building a speaker for one of my classes this is so helpful!!!!!❤❤❤❤❤
Great video! 1 question though. How did you mount your receiver to the bottom shelf?
Same question here
A better question is why? That's like the most important opening on the box for heat to escape through. Looks cool, but surely shortens the life of the receiver.
The dampening efforts are reminding me of the 90s when the craze was mounting all equipment on glass shelves that were floated on tiny pointed feet lol.
really great video as allways !!!
7:20 Soldering crimp connectors usually is not a great idea. Liquid solder is wicked into the stranded cable and dries, creating a sharp transition from strands to solid mass. Repeated flexing of the cable at this junction can quickly cause the cable strands to fray and the cable lose current current capacity or even break outright. In your case the joint will be essentially undisturbed within the speaker cabinet so it should be fine, but if it was subject to frequent handling it would likely fail quite quickly.
I have veneered speaker cabinets using pvc glue and an iron. Much less fuss and still stuck 10 years later. Nice job in any event..
If you want it to feel like the sound is coming from above your head, you should place the speakers above your head. Relying on reflexion doesn't give anywhere near the same results, especially with speakers that are only slightly directional.
Bit of a tip for anyone considering something similar - CA glue doesn't like heat, and it's also a fairly brittle bond so vibration's not the best... with that in mind I'd recommend not CA gluing crossover components to particle board...
Nice Job! Great improvement with the towers. I've enjoyed watching the process, the mistakes, adjustments, and growth. Nice video, editing, and info. I'm still a bit confused with your Atmos cabinets though. Why did you recess the baffle? I've never seen anyone do this. Even with the sound damping material, you are essentially creating a megaphone. The thin sound damping material only works for certain frequencies. It won't stop full range diffraction. Also, the angle of your Atmos speakers looks too shallow. Just prop it forward with a book and run your test again. Diffraction and bad angles might be why you are struggling to hear a lot of height effects. I know your receiver can compensate some, but it can solve everything. Not an expert, just a guess.
Great build and video! Maybe a high quality and loud party speaker build are next?
Pro-tip: When building the boxes should have added corner pieces to prevent 90 degree points in the box and should round over the window braces.
Pricing? Wired only or wireless? Do you still need a big av receiver..?
Buying the designs and following along is 1 thing but i don't know what all your material costs were let alone just the speaker equipment
Allen Key - Hex Key, new ones sounds a tiny bit muffled but that could just be UA-cam compressing it or what it's sitting on having a slight vibration, I think they sound great, can you do a video on how to isolate vibration to get the best sound out of your bass speakers? After the fact of course lol
In addition to having uniform density, MDF is also much more "anisotropic" with respect to rigidity and elasticity, than regular wood lumber - meaning it has roughly the same elastic properties in all directions (at least compared to wood, whose elasticity depends heavily on whether the forces go along or across the grain.)
Not trying to hate or anything like that but didn't you already build those speakers and also make a video about it or am I just confusing something?
He made a natural wood version. He explained why he's replacing them in this one
He took all his previous speaker vids and put them in 1 video. This is a re-run episode LOL
@@JEDSaje15 oh okay thanks
So I have looked at building my own loudspeakers in the past. There is a pile of science, a pile of "art" and a pile of superstition about it. About the best i have found is if you want a nice hardwood speaker but dont want to tune the size and shape, or pack a ton of sound insulation to deal with echos, MDF is great for build and then you can always ad veneer to give it the hardwood look (as was done in the video). One of the things I heard from an oldtimer speaker builder was he swore that when you glue the cabinet together, you never want to drive the tacks deeper than you can pull them out when youre done, and then putty the holes before you veneer it. He saidnhe could hear the difference. Ive never heard the two side by side, so I dont know if it actually matters. His favorite speakers he said still had the hardwood veneer to donsome fancy sound magic, but also had polyfill stuffed vinyl upholstery on the outside, to help soak up the echos in the room. I mean, yhey looked like a dogs breakfast. But he swore you could hear a difference. Nowadays, sound foam is cheap enough, and its decent styling to put sound foam in your room so ... 🤷♂️
Nice build. I only have one remark, the way you use superglue. It does not work like that. Making beads with superglue is totally useless, as, aspecially when using accelerator, the dried product will be brittle as hell.
So those filters.. everything is going to break off over time.
do NOT use superglue to fix filter components. Use any kind of more elastic glue, like hot glue. Which is even easier to apply.
If i were you i'd redo the filter boards before stuff resonates loose, shorts, and kills your amp.
When doing the height speaker wiring you could save yourself some time and moving your setup around by pulling 2 new wires using the existing wires.
Step 1 get a house
Step 2 Get a garage with woodworking gear
Step 3 Build speakers
Step 4 Buy speakers (much cheaper)
Step 5 Watching cause I love this stuff
Uh yeah! This is such a great channel.
Eminence also makes some really good Pro level drivers. And again, won't break the bank. Are you familiar with Wilson Speakers? They start at $10,000 and go up from there. SB Audience manufactures the drivers for Wilson speakers. That's just one of the big high end speaker companies they provide drivers.
Link the Soldering Station? (Link is broken lol).
I've also built 6 speakers so far, love building them. Subwoofer builds for theaters are incredibly fun, too lol.
I wish I could build stuff like this. Great work man. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a ps1 mod video. Especially after the 39th anniversary reveal from Sony.
I just shoe-horned in some random speakers I had lying around to get a couple of Atmos channels into my system - finally upgrading from my AVR made in... 1998, to an incredible Goodwill find that had... you know... modern stuff, like HDMI ports, and, surprisingly, a little bit of Atmos support.
It's subtle. I definitely need to create some shrouds to direct the sound. My go-to scene to test Atmos is Rogue One, right after the young Jyn hides in the cave, there's a lightning storm, and it was convincingly real/vertical when I was using Atmos for Headphones on Xbox.
I can also attest to having a good center-channel (and discrete surround sound) turning one into an audio snob. I have a full-range floor-speaker as my center channel (my dad gave me my speakers, he was using a little thing that had no treble or bass), and it's night and day. I love having the center channel, and it really sucked for the month and a half when the old AVR died and we were just using the sound out of the projector/a soundbar we had lying around. Woof.
I noticed your "clean" receiver install tucked underneath the cabinet. It looks cool and all but it kinda sucks not being able to turn it up past like 1/4 volume huh? The good news is that it looks like a name brand receiver so you at least should have a few Thermal Shutdowns before you melt the transistors. Oh and you didn't mention, like at all, anything about enclosure sizing (way more important than how to veneer a box, imho).
This was an awesome video!
Which sounds better between MDF & HDF ? Plz suggest
Love every project you have shared. You should use non BT headphones to protect that smart brain of yours sir! Sorry just trying to look out for
I like the before and after comparison like my tiny desk speakers let me hear any kind of difference :D
I still don't get the spines... what do they do?
Oh, and by the way, the Atmos you are getting on older titles is coming from your receiver. It must have Dolby Atmos up mixing like my Marantz does. They do a really good job! At least Marantz and Denon do. What Denon do you have?
Hi, i am realy fan of your video. I love the skill you have to build thigs with some kind of perfection and aestetic sens. Just a little thing : when you build speakers box and put the front panel behind the lateral/top/bottom panel edge your are modifying the speaker frequency response. This must be taking in account when the crossover is developped. It is the same with driver positions on front panel.
Hey all, I need to make my own speakers is some MDF, a table saw, some glue and .... a $3000 CNC robot. Great
I was taught that allen key trick by one of my coworkers except instead of a clamp, saw, and eye protection, we used bolt cutters and the patented "squint and look away" technique
I broke down and purchased a CNC Router for my workshop. I really want to build a set of speakers - need a tested enclosure design and crossover - don't have time to learn all the theory.
Not sure why every video of yours has a ton of people showing up and complaining about things like the price of your tools or how you made your projects. I think your passion for DIY work that has led you to investing in high end tools that let you make whatever you want, however you want to is super cool. I cannot wait to see you make a functional car or something out of walnut only to have a bunch of haters show up. I will have the popcorn ready!
ummm @ 0:22 what do you mean by "as your Front and Left channels" ??? why just LEFT??? and why FRONT?? don't you mean "you Left and Right channels" ???? I'm confused.. was this a mistake or am I missing something??? 🤷♂
It was a mistake, he meant front (center) and right & left lol.
well you need height reflected from the rear too. you cant just do it from the front. Generally the front DOES only give screen height. The rear gives overhead. In my experience anyway. Probably wrong but, when trying to reflect sound vs having actual overhead speakers, thats what i feel like ive always heard
I would love to see you implement BASS SHAKERS into your setup!!