I've been wanting to try out a solid DIY approach to a 2-way, so I'm starting up a build of the Heissmann DXT-Mon-182. I went through $100 of good material to do that darned faceted face but couldn't get consistent results with my tools (which are good, but no match for a CNC machine). So I've got a local CNC shop doing the face -- a capitulation which departs from pure DIY, I realize, but shredding good wood and generating lots of heat from a canted table-saw blade wasn't worth the hours of extra effort. One of those little compromises we make to our values, I guess.
The other problem that cropped up was that the mid-woofer from Wavecor in the 4-ohm version specified by Heissman isn't available in the U.S., but Solen in Canada had it (whew).
The rest of the construction is cinchy. Madisound was very helpful with the crossover parts. My local woodshop has 3/4" MDF for $30 a sheet right now, and they had some walnut veneer for a song. Looks like the build cost will end up at $1,750 all-in for parts and materials (not including the material I chewed through, but hey, who's counting). I'm hoping to visit Amir one day in the Fall to let him test one.
My main worry is that I've never built crossovers before. Anyone who has tips about the spacing of the crossover components, construction methods, feel free to chime in. I'll be asking for help on that, I'm sure. The Heissman diagram shows the physical layout and connection points, so I plan to just blow it up to scale, print it, and lay it over my boards. I'm installing the crossovers outboard in boxes in the equipment closet, rather than in the speakers, and using speakons to minimize the number of terminals on the speakers.
As the forum knows, I've built all the Linkwitz speaker designs over the years, some twice, and I now run Linkwitz 521.4's. The Heissman is a fun project to run a traditional 2-way in place of the LX521.4 upper unit, crossed over to the open-baffle bass unit and my DIY subs which handle everything below 40hz. The MiniDSP flex 8 makes it easy to set up separate profiles for different configurations of speakers, so I can swap things out at my leisure.
The other problem that cropped up was that the mid-woofer from Wavecor in the 4-ohm version specified by Heissman isn't available in the U.S., but Solen in Canada had it (whew).
The rest of the construction is cinchy. Madisound was very helpful with the crossover parts. My local woodshop has 3/4" MDF for $30 a sheet right now, and they had some walnut veneer for a song. Looks like the build cost will end up at $1,750 all-in for parts and materials (not including the material I chewed through, but hey, who's counting). I'm hoping to visit Amir one day in the Fall to let him test one.
My main worry is that I've never built crossovers before. Anyone who has tips about the spacing of the crossover components, construction methods, feel free to chime in. I'll be asking for help on that, I'm sure. The Heissman diagram shows the physical layout and connection points, so I plan to just blow it up to scale, print it, and lay it over my boards. I'm installing the crossovers outboard in boxes in the equipment closet, rather than in the speakers, and using speakons to minimize the number of terminals on the speakers.
As the forum knows, I've built all the Linkwitz speaker designs over the years, some twice, and I now run Linkwitz 521.4's. The Heissman is a fun project to run a traditional 2-way in place of the LX521.4 upper unit, crossed over to the open-baffle bass unit and my DIY subs which handle everything below 40hz. The MiniDSP flex 8 makes it easy to set up separate profiles for different configurations of speakers, so I can swap things out at my leisure.
