The Evolution

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TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Carroll Family Home Page"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="AUDIOMetamorphosis"><U>AUDIOMetamorphosis</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The SK4"><U>The SK-4</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hello Mr. Chips"><U>Hello Mr. Chips</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A>   |   <B>The Evolution</b>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Princess"><U>The Princess</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ultra Budget Home Theater"><U>Ultra Budget Home Theater</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Jessicas"><U>The Jessicas</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Metamorphosis"><U>Metamorphosis</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Walk In Paradise"><U>A Walk In Paradise</U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#999999" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0d102002ermwup.gif"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0a096950.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="405" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></b></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=385 BGCOLOR="#DDDDDD" TEXT="#080000"> <div> The Evolution</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <U><IMG SRC="0ce15db0.jpg" border=0 width="277" height="731" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></div> <bR> <div> <U>Project Genesis</U></div> <bR> <div> Back in 2001, Parts Express came into a large number of TV speakers that it appears were manufactured for Sony by Pioneer.  The part number was 269-469.  PE sold some at a couple of bucks, then dropped the price to $1.25.  Apparently they still did not sell great, because PE dropped the price again to 69 cents.  In the meanwhile, Ratch Higgins, who lets his students build speakers as a physics project if they choose, picked some up and posted on Tech Talk how phenomenal the speakers were for the price.  I was intrigued and picked up a few, building the SK-4 (see link at top of this page).  I too was amazed and began calling them The 69 Cent Wonders, and the name stuck.</div> <bR> <div> I decided to try a more ambitious project and resolved to design and build an MMTMM tower.  I chose a volume (1.35 cubic feet) and dimensions (see below), built some enclosures, and used a stock crossover (I forget now what it was).  It did not sound too bad, but I added some baffle step compensation to enhance the bass.  It sounded even better.  Then, in a fit of typical generosity, Wayne Jaeschke, proprietor of <A HREF="http://www.speakerbuilder.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.speakerbuilder.net"><U>speakerbuilder.net</U></A>, offered to work over the crossover for me.  He had measurements for the drivers, took the components I already had, and worked his magic in Calsod to come up with a crossover that sounded much better yet was able to use many of my existing parts.  The result was phenomenal, especially for the parts used.  I currently have these as my HT fronts until I can get my real HT built (Wayne J's Dayton Budget MTMs for fronts and Dayton Budget MTs for rears).  They used to be in my office where they sounded great.</div> <bR> <div> I named them "The Evolution" because I felt by the time I had built them I had evolved quite a distance from where I started in this hobby. </div> <bR> <div> <U>The Crossover</U></div> <bR> <div> PE long ago ran out of the 69 Cent Wonders, but there are a bunch of them still out there.  So, I am going to go ahead and publish the design, in case anyone has 8 of them around and is looking for a project.</div> <bR> <div> The crossover schematic is below:</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="0b019870.jpg" border=0 width="537" height="391" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Here is a picture of a very messy crossover assembled:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0b239b00.jpg" border=0 width="569" height="176" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> As you can see, I used lots of jumper wires.  The low pass components are on the right, the high pass on the left, and the inductor and resistor in the middle are the baffle step compensation.  I chose a 5 ohm resistor for the baffle step compensation based on ear-tweaking.  I tried a number of values from 9 ohms (since this a 9 ohm speaker) downward, and just liked the sound best at 5 ohms.  Higher value resistors sounded muddy and the higher I went in value, the muddier and looser the bass sounded.  You could certainly experiment with resistor values to get the sound you like best.</div> <bR> <div> The crossover is mounted on back baffle behind the tweeter and lower pair of woofers. </div> <bR> <div> <U>The Enclosure</U></div> <bR> <div> The internal volume of the cabinet is around 1.35 cubic feet.  The internal dimensions are 6 inches wide by 39inches high by 10 inches deep.  All construction other than braces is from 1/2 inch MDF, to save weight, except the front baffle is 3/4 inch MDF, to allow for flush mounting of all drivers.</div> <bR> <div> There are three shelf braces and 3 side to side cross braces. They are arranged like this: cross brace centered between top two woofers; then shelf brace just below the top two woofers; then on the front baffle come the tweeter and bottom two woofers, then there is another shelf brace just below the lower pair of woofers; also mid way between the top and second shelf brace is another cross brace; then about 9.5" from the internal bottom of the speaker is another shelf brace, with a cross brace around midway between the middle and lowest shelf brace.  I don't have precise measurements, but it will not be hard to work out during construction.  All shelf braces were from 5/8" MDF (because that is what was handy).  I do not recall what I used for the cross braces -- 1/2 inch, 5/8 inch, or 3/4 inch MDF.  They are about 2" wide, I think.  </div> <bR> <div> A picture below shows the general bracing scheme.   I will explain below why the label on this picture is "Epiphany."</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="0b461d70.jpg" border=0 width="353" height="471" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> I don't have the speaker CTC, but I cut the holes so that in each "MM" the two woofers butted against each other tightly, and so there would be about 1/4" between the edges of the top and bottom sets of woofers and the tweeter </div> <div> edge.  Again, you should have no problem working that out during construction.</div> <bR> <div> The cabinet is ported.  I used PE port number 260-327, which is 3 7/8 inches in diameter.  I trimmed the port to 1 1/2 inches long. It is located on the back baffle just above  the lowest shelf brace. </div> <bR> <div> All sides and the back except where the crossover is located are lined with </div> <div> egg crate foam from a mattress pad I bought on sale at Wal Mart.</div> <bR> <div> The terminal cup is mounted very near the bottom of the back baffle.</div> <bR> <div> <U>The Epiphany</U></div> <bR> <div> In 2002, I believe, the youth room at our church was vandalized and the meager audio equipment they had was ruined.  So, given the low price, I decided to build a set of MMTMMs for the youth room.  I paired them with a Kenwood receiver I bought off E-bay for $46 and a JVC DVD player I did not need because I had purchased a newer one with optical connections.  </div> <bR> <div> They are basically the same speaker, except for a few changes.  I offset the tweeter a bit -- I forget how much and it does not matter.  I can honestly say these speakers sound better with all drivers vertically centered -- offsetting the tweeter negatively impacted imaging.  I also front-ported them because I was fearful they would wind up against a wall in the youth room.  I rounded the top edges and wrapped PE black ash vinyl all the way around.  I also made purple grills because purple is an important liturgical color.  I did a half round on the bottoms of the grills and really liked the look.  I called them The Epiphany because of the importance of that event in Christian history.  Here is a picture of them:</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="0b7ccbc0.jpg" border=0 width="460" height="700" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>