My way (DIY JBL)

[rajapruk]

I've lived a life that's full.
I've traveled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this.
I did it my way.

As Sinatra sings. But more specifically, I did it as a 3.5 way!

My speakers are DIY (based on JBL 4365 Studio Monitor parts). A carpenter built the cabinetts for me. I designed them.
@pos has been helping me with the crossover design. Without him I had not pulled this off. Merci beaucoup!

Active crossover. Closed boxes. Designed to be able to be placed deep into corners. Modular for flexibility.

Woofer boxes are built with constrained layer damping (2x12mm mdf with damping glue in between).

Electronics:
OPPO BDP-103 with 7.1 AES3 digital outputs (VanityHD modification)
BSS BLU-160 dsp (AES3 input/output cards)
BSS BLU-BOB2 8-channel dac
4 x Hypex nCore nc400 DIY amps driving 15" woofers
2 x MASSDROP x THX AAA789 amps driving compression drivers

Closeup on left speaker:

I found this forum recently, and I love it. I try to be as objective as I can regarding audio.

Now when I have the chance, I also want to thank @JohnPM, @AndrewMason and @Floyd Toole for indirectly helping me make this system sing the way it does (without knowing it).

I am extremely happy with my system. It does not sound like a system (to me). It sounds real (gives me that illusion). And still, there are endless room for improvements. I never want this system to be totally finished actually. Amps and dacs will be upgraded in the future, I think. Also MTM configuration will be tested.

Just for the fun of it.

 

[RayDunzl]

Very nice...

 

[Dogen]

Well done! Lots of power from those Crowns into what I imagine to be very sensitive speakers. Do you know the sensitivity? Anyway, I guess you can go pretty loud and clear if you want to.

 

[restorer-john]

Nice room, outlook and setup. Well done!

What's the little boxes on the wall with the bird/s on it? Extractor fans or something?

 

[SIY]

What's the little boxes on the wall with the bird/s on it?

They're tweeters.

 

[restorer-john]

They're tweeters.

 

[Wombat]

JBL have great documentation.

JBL 4365 ts.pdf

 

[rajapruk]

Nice room, outlook and setup. Well done!

What's the little boxes on the wall with the bird/s on it? Extractor fans or something?

Thanks!

Ventilation. No fans, just a variable hole to the outside.

 

[Sal1950]

Awesome job, I bet they sound awesome with tremendous speed and impact.
Woo Hoo

 

[rajapruk]

Well done! Lots of power from those Crowns into what I imagine to be very sensitive speakers. Do you know the sensitivity? Anyway, I guess you can go pretty loud and clear if you want to.

I do not know the exact sensitivity. The speaker correction EQ eats a lot of sensitivity due to closed boxes for the woofers. But it plays loud enough for me. I have about 6dB headroom left when watching dynamic movie on the absolute highest volume I can tolerate.
(It is the headphone amps that sets the limit of my SPL, I think)

 

[Sal1950]

I have about 6dB headroom left when watching dynamic movie on the absolute highest volume I can tolerate.

Beware hearing damage. Old age and it's normal losses sneak up fast enough as it is.

 

[rajapruk]

Beware hearing damage. Old age and it's normal losses sneak up fast enough as it is.

Yes. It is a property of this kind of system: playing very loud does not feel loud to the ears.

 

[Wombat]

Yes. It is a property of this kind of system: playing very loud does not feel loud to the ears.

Too true. Seems to be a property of good high sensitivity drivers.

 

[rajapruk]

Some pics of the internals of my babies.

 

[rajapruk]

Too true. Seems to be a property of good high sensitivity drivers.

I think it is a property of low distortion.

 

[Sal1950]

I think it is a property of low distortion.

Agreed, there's just an ease and cleanlyness to the sound that makes high levels more comfortable than they should be at times.

 

[Wombat]

Agreed, there's just an ease and cleanlyness to the sound that makes high levels more comfortable than they should be at times.

Agree.

 

[FrantzM]

What a DIY job! Congratulations. Wow!

 

[Biblob]

Awesome, excellent designed and executed.
I wonder though if the speakeris reverse engineered, or the design is completely open source?

 

[rajapruk]

Awesome, excellent designed and executed.
I wonder though if the speakeris reverse engineered, or the design is completely open source?

I do not get what you mean.
The design of these speakers is not reverse engineered from something else. I designed it with a blank paper as a start.
There were several alternative designs I did. From the start I wanted a rounded backside, but that was too expensive to build. I also wanted to have the option of placing the horn vertically (like JBL 1400 Array).

I have told my carpenter that he can build this boxes and sell to others if someone should want them. But this design is so specific to the JBL H4365 horn I think, and those horns are totally unavailable for anyone to source, so I am not expecting it to happen.