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DIY Compact tower speakers recommandation

Madslide

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Dear all,
I’m searching for some recommendations on compact tower speaker as I’d like to start my first DIY project.

My listening room is around 20/25m² and want to build something that look like the Davis acoustics Courbet N°4 or the PMC Twenty5 23i with the slated design that I find beautiful (both are compact 2 way speaker but I’m open to 3way speakers as well)
Initially I was thinking of making a kind of clone of the PMC 23i or may be more the 24i as there is plenty of informations on it (side view drawing, cut view, test) but after reading tests and comments on the ASR forum it seems that transmission line is not the easiest solution to manage, and I’m scared to be disappointed at the end.

I’m good at wood working so I’m not afraid by the cabinet manufacturing from scratch, neither by soldering electronic component but I have very limited skills regarding speaker selection and crossover design/engineering.
What would be your recommendations as I would like to start from a drawing and a list of component with a budget close or under 800€/1000$ ? Is there any DIY compact tower speaker already known for its acoustics quality?

Thanks for your help and greetings from France
 

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Roland68

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Dear all,
I’m searching for some recommendations on compact tower speaker as I’d like to start my first DIY project.

My listening room is around 20/25m² and want to build something that look like the Davis acoustics Courbet N°4 or the PMC Twenty5 23i with the slated design that I find beautiful (both are compact 2 way speaker but I’m open to 3way speakers as well)
Initially I was thinking of making a kind of clone of the PMC 23i or may be more the 24i as there is plenty of informations on it (side view drawing, cut view, test) but after reading tests and comments on the ASR forum it seems that transmission line is not the easiest solution to manage, and I’m scared to be disappointed at the end.

I’m good at wood working so I’m not afraid by the cabinet manufacturing from scratch, neither by soldering electronic component but I have very limited skills regarding speaker selection and crossover design/engineering.
What would be your recommendations as I would like to start from a drawing and a list of component with a budget close or under 800€/1000$ ? Is there any DIY compact tower speaker already known for its acoustics quality?

Thanks for your help and greetings from France
There are many good and bad kits and DIY developments, but the developments from Heissmann-Acoustics are very sophisticated and beat many very expensive ready-made loudspeakers.
For example:
https://heissmann-acoustics.de/samuel-hq-sph175hq-xt300-xt25/
https://heissmann-acoustics.de/dxt-mon-stand/
https://heissmann-acoustics.de/dxt-wave/

The building documents cost a bit, but are worth the money, especially with the development effort.
 

Prana Ferox

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Paul Carmody's Amiga is a similar appearance and form factor and gets a good bit of praise. It'd be well under your budget. I am moderately sure I've seen an angled-baffle Amiga build before, as well.

The major complaints with the Amiga tend to be related to lack of bracing in the flat packs, and resulting resonances within the cabinet. These are easy enough to resolve during construction either by adding to the flat pack or, if you're building from scratch, planning better bracing from the start.
 

DVDdoug

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You can use software such as WinISD to optimize the cabinet for a particular woofer (assuming you have the Thiele-Small parameters).

But WinISD doesn't support transmission lines.

I’m good at wood working so I’m not afraid by the cabinet manufacturing from scratch, neither by soldering electronic component but I have very limited skills regarding speaker selection and crossover design/engineering.
There are books on speaker design and maybe someone can recommend some good websites. (The books I have are kinda' old and I'm sure there are lots of bad websites. ;) )
 

digitalfrost

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with the slated design that I find beautiful
You should be able to take any regular tower and slate the enclosure. While it will not be optimal because you move the acoutic centers of the drivers, it will work. I doubt one could hear a difference.
 

Wolf

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I designed the EMP as an improvement/clone of the Twenty5, which uses the same tweeter as the 23i, while making it smaller in stature.
Post #29 in the first link below...
From the ground up build thread:

EMP-FinalXoverCircuit_Stripped.jpg


EMP_Right_1-12oct.jpg
EMP_RightHD.jpg
41ty89d8rl1o.jpg


The FR pictured is before the addition of the 1 ohm resistor, so it is flatter response than pictured herein.
 

Wolf

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EMP Impedance:
EMP-left+1&halfinchlength_42HzFb.jpg


And cut away of slot port:
EMP_slot-port.png


Let me know if you have any questions...
 

Gorgonzola

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Worth checking out are some designs from Zaph Audio, in particular those of the ZA5 "family" that provides several options for floorstanders. These are high value and will fall within you budget or close at least.

Drivers and crossovers are available from Madisound (USA), for example, the Zaph ZA5.3t 'TMM' design.

ZA5.4t cabinet design ...
za5.3t-1.gif
 

Wolf

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In my personal opinion and from listening experiences, I would not touch that DQ25 tweeter with a 39.5 foot pole. I know it measured well for John and is why he used it in his line of kits, but there is something that has not been quantified in its measurements. It has this 'broadband glare' (a peers words) that comes through when in use that is not apparent during sweeping style measurements. Give it sine waves, and it seems okay. When played above xover full spectrum it really does sound broken to me, and some other builders.

FWIW, PSB used it in a line of their speakers, and I could immediately tell it was that tweeter. I turned around and left the demo room.

Rumor mill says it might be on Tymphany's chopping block in the near future, and I welcome its demise.
 

Wolf

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The ZA14 is a good midbass, no problem with that one. Supplier is not Tymphany, so it's not scheduled to be deleted.
 
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augerpro

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I think a lot of the sales for the ZA14 were driven by the kits that use the DQ25. So if that goes away... I hope nothing happens to the ZA14, I think it sounds fantastic, as long you're not crossing high. Anyway, Sorry OP for the off topic.
 
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Madslide

Madslide

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Thanks for all those proposals, I did not expect to have so many recommendations. Now I have to study that.

There are many good and bad kits and DIY developments, but the developments from Heissmann-Acoustics
Heissmann-Acoustics kit and documentation look very interesting. The only drawback I see with the Mon-stand and Wave model is there sensitivity (83.5 and 85.5db) which I’d like to be around 90db or more so that I can drive them with a small FDA or class D amp.

I was also interested by the Amiga but I’m afraid that after shipping and custom fees, I will pay twice the price for the kit.

You can use software such as WinISD to optimize the cabinet for a particular woofer (assuming you have the Thiele-Small parameters).
The WinISD software looks good and I have to spend time on it, for sure there is plenty thing to be learned from that !

I designed the EMP as an improvement/clone of the Twenty5, which uses the same tweeter as the 23i, while making it smaller in stature.
Amazing congrats for the design. Can you please explain why you make the choice to reverse the slot port position from front to back on your EMP compared to the PMC ?
 

Wolf

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I put the slot on the back because it's harder to get a removable baffle assembly to work when a slot port is on the front. I also had the correct dimensions at the rear (between the pieces of material that made up the xover docks into the inside rear panel) to get the tuning right. The front having the baffle mounting rails and the otherwise full-width dimension is not the correct dimension for the port in this design. Round ports could be substituted if preferred, or using the full-width and a shorter height slot is also an option- as long as the tuning is to 42Hz. Additionally, ports usually have a little midrange leakage and are better to face the rear for that reason to not provide cancellation with the midrange bandwidth.
 
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Madslide

Madslide

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Wolf

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I already have a 2-way simmed for those 2 drivers as I have a quad of the tweeters and the woofers also on-hand. I mocked up the modeled xovers and have them ready as well. I'll be swapping them in for the 'Missing Link' arrangement on my Versa-box cabs and see what I think!

I have the name picked for them; Drottnar

The sim shown here is with real parts values, real impedances adapted, and John Krutke's U18 FR modeled to the box intended:

Drottnar-REALpartsSim1.jpg


The box would be up for debate, but anything from 13-25 ltrs and F3 in the 45-50Hz range. The woofer is not mated well to most conventional alignments, because it's a little lean in those kind of implementations. I've heard several comments about a Seas kit where the bass was not good with the U18, and in another build it was just right. These might be a bit more finicky than some others and require a higher tuning than average to get the full sounding bass we all enjoy.

That said, where the U18 excels is the midrange performance. It is smooth and weighty, and usable to 3kHz easily. It also does not take a heavy parts count to get it there either- that sim above has a single coil on it and that's it! The tweeter by comparison has 8 parts.

I'll post more on it when I get there...
 
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Ericglo

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Heissmann was already mentioned.

They might be out of your price range, but you can check Troels and HIFI compass.

Right around your price range is the Philharmonic BMR. It is available in kit form from Meniscus audio. There are plenty of reviews on this speaker.
 
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