mAking your own speaker cabs

[Austin73]

Hi Everyone,

PLanning on making a couple of speaker cads next week and just wondered if anybody could give me some pointers on making semi god ones.

I'm using a couple of mad old organ speakers (very odd shape!) for a bit of fun so don't really need to worry too much a bout ports etc

Just wonderd if its better to use MDF instead of ply and where can I get tweed covering in the UK.

The cabs will be about 24in wide 20 in high and 12 in deep if that helps

Also what is the best way to join the cab together ( no way on earth will I be able to dove tail them John! lol)

Cheers in advance

Aus

[geertjacobs]

At http://www.ax84.com they've made a nice 1x12 reference design that is supposed to sound really good.
That should at least be good for some inspiration.

[Austin73]

Cheers for that , I could actually use that design for pretty much any speaker just have to adjust the dimensions .

Thanks will check it out properly later after Preston North End have beaten Portsmouth lolo


Aus

[chillhuman]

Hi Everyone,

PLanning on making a couple of speaker cads next week and just wondered if anybody could give me some pointers on making semi god ones.

I'm using a couple of mad old organ speakers (very odd shape!) for a bit of fun so don't really need to worry too much a bout ports etc

Just wonderd if its better to use MDF instead of ply and where can I get tweed covering in the UK.

The cabs will be about 24in wide 20 in high and 12 in deep if that helps

Also what is the best way to join the cab together ( no way on earth will I be able to dove tail them John! lol)

Cheers in advance

Aus

Use ply for the speaker baffle, and 1x12 pine for the sides. MDF is too heavy. As for joining, since you'll be using tweed, I would use butt joints for the corners, but make sure that you use a clamp which will give you a 90 deg angle. I use wood screws to hold joint until the glue dries, and then pull the screws and fill with wood putty after a few days. For corner stability, I use a wooden triangle in each corner.

[petemoore]

  Here's the order I go by for box type speaker cabs, built 10 or more 
1 Size matters..
2 Shape matters, to a lesser degree until radical departure from 'squarish rectangle'
3 Substrate material..
  Assuming your joinery is tight, and the substrates are thick/strong enough to not 'wobble' during low frequency speaker vibration.
  Normal size cabinets attenuate bass, but can make LF's sound 'tighter'. Larger than normal gets better bass note definition and produce more accurate, higher amplitude LF wave forms, will do 'better' low frequencies.
  Here's the deal on the wood substrates, other materials have been tried...thicker than what vibrates much..highly recommended...depends on how much pressure the speakers produce/what the material is/...thicker than what vibrates recommended, but a little bit of wood-tone coming from the sides is super-cool, just takes a whole lot more fine-tuning...similar to accoustic guitar body designing [a whole set of parameters arises if you're looking for 'wood-vibe-tone']. 1/2'' thick minimum, 5/8'' thick for longer spans [though 1/2'' can be made to have increased vibration resistance by adding a 'ply'...just glue/screw a thick strong board across the vibrating substrate [like an oak plank etc.]..works like a charm if glue/screwed tightly. All that said, I do like a little bit of wood-vibe, which is much more of a tuning type deal than "just go with thicker wood than what any speaker could ever 'over-vibrate'.
  Just re-loaded a '60's reflex cab' [w/TT Hempcone]...one of those 'back goes in the corner' type cabinets for which plans were printed in many old HiFi mags etc., these have one diagonal board from almost top/front to back/bottom, so the bass waves pass through a channel in which to better form...and are made from my personal favorite material...antique pine, which can be found as planks which cross mudpuddles etc.
  As long as the joinery does't knock against itself [IOW everything is really tight] any cabinet you put it in will improve the sound, even paper mache' !...yupp, done it to make simple dome behind baffleboard to seal in the speaker.
  With no cabinet, pressures in front of the speaker cone goes right around the frame rim to -pressure behind the speaker [and vice versa] instead of projecting foreward..just sticking the speaker in a board helps some, sealing the back w/whatever or with a 3 dimensional box of any size improves the projection even more, and helps defeat the cancellations [wrapping waves around a speaker frame sounds 'poopy' because...another thread for that subject]..putting it in anything makes most difference, beyond that, larger [up to a point] makes most difference in the LF's. Just making any tight/strong enough box works great.
  But I like the wood to move a little bit', starting with ~5/8'' pine, then strutting or adding a plank where necessary, sort of a tuning process.
  Box [easiest, just make it strong enough, tight joints...
  W/open back, ported, or enclosure
  Reflex [ can substantially increase bass response
 

[Austin73]

great info but unfortunately I have no idea what that means

OK 1X12 Pine what size does that equate to 1'' by 12''?

BUTT joints I presume are just where the edge of one side is stuck to the face of the other board. I was thinking of putting batons along each innner edge and screw them to each board to give it stability.

Also the face side of the box how should I make that? Should I leave it square or do I have to round the corners etc.

Also does anybody know where you get tweed covering in the UK or Europe.

Cheers for all the info so far.

Aus

[anti-idiot]

http://professional.celestion.com/guitar/features/drdecibel/index.asp

check Dr. Decibel Secrets.

[hellwood]

use 3/4 birch w/ no voids or marine birch if you are paranoid. particle board will turn to dust if you gig and expand into mush if it gets wet.
open back cabs are no brainers because dimensions are of less importance, but more physics and calculations are involved for airtight construction although you could get lucky. make all of your joints dado's or finger joints if you are trying to make it airtight! i even use weatherstripping to help seal the access panel on the back so it cant leak or buzz. use good wire and try not to fry your head w/ impedance miscalculations! have fun and good luck! you can get sweet grill cloths at http://www.usspeaker.com/amp%20coverings-1.htm

[petemoore]

  Making cabinets...great workshop makes it quicker and better.
 see Norm Abrams...
 And is dangerous !
 But...conventional cabs I've used don't really compare either so I prefer homebuilts.
 Density of the wood stock tends to determine how thick the top/bottom, sides, and front/back need to be made from, always has been >1/2 for me, 5/8'' or thicker plywood especially for...
 And it depends on how long/wide the spans are for how thick the wood needs to be...
 I'ts easiest to just use 3/4'' plywood and make the thing super-rigid, I like much more wood-vibe than that produces, also I enjoy the other advantages of pine cabinets.
 Plywood:
 heavy, strong,
 Compression board like particle:
 HEavY, depends on grade for strength
 These materials make fine 'rigid' cabinets, and can simply 'kill' the wood-sound [use 3'4''], very consistant and effective, projection is very good.
 [These are the most common cabinet materials I see used, and after trying the pine out on different style cabinets, they are the last material choice I'd have.
 Antique Pine: [as in 'mudwalk board' at construction site], not hard to find.
 = possibility of 'wood-vibe' and..
 *Lightweight, easy to work with, strong but not strong in the 'dents easy' dept.
 Thickness must be greater than when using denser woods, and these cabinets can be 'tuned' to make 'wood-sound', adding 'accoustic body'..somewhat like an accoustic guitar, my preferred material choice by a good margin because of the sound, I got the wood free, planed it to about >5/8'', {~3/4'' for baffle board] recessed the baffleboard inside the 'wrap' [sides, top & bottom] using Dado,
 But I have a 3/4'' pinewood reflex cabinet that is 'it', even with the 3/4'' thick construction and internal diagonal reflex board it's lightweight, and the LF response is to write home about.
 I would describe my non-conventional approach to cabinets as compared to conventional cabinets in an over-generalization as difference [which is not that great].. Hard sound Vs. Soft sound. or...
 Hard cab: projects better
 Soft cab: makes a more ambient sound
 Super clean/perfect cuts and butt-end joints can work [glued and pin-nailed], not as good as any kind of fancier joinery though, dado or better recommended...when the nails go in they make a 'rise' where the wood got mashed around...screwing 'can' work ok, but I would like to make the tops of all the holes slightly wide for same reason...but instead simply opt for joinery and clamps, perhaps some pin-nails..getting all the many inches of wood surfaces to be joined perfect is the trick part..See "Norm".
  Mainly it's the volume amount, more volume [bigger] = more bass, secondly, the depth [distance behind speaker has some effect, as in 'thin' homebrew ones I've heard and can't recommend]...use some depth, bassy 4x12'' is 15'' deep, Marshalls are like 13'' IIRC, basically going small [volume] = reduce bass...
  but more physics and calculations are involved for airtight construction although you could get lucky.
  Fender 2x12'' or 4x12'' cabinet [choose your Fender baffle board for 2 or 4 speaker cabinet] used the exact same cabinet but different baffle board, that's a 2:1 volume difference [even more when comparing to a square cabinet...the Fender 2, 3 or 4 speaker cab is rectangular, had inches of baffleboard on either end of the speakers.
  So could be considered 'super oversized' when fitted with 2x12's, probably greater than a 2:1 volume difference in cabinet Vs. speaker cone area comparison to say marshall 4x12 slant]...lots of room to add volume [equation wise]...soon gets kinda 'large' though, and diminishing returns of bass response after a certain amount of enclosure volume, it's only when you get down to ~'normal' cabinet size that bass response decreases to any great degree.
  ...just don't make it 'skinny, make the baffle board thick enough [that's what the motors hook on to], make the rest of it solid [rattles are total bummer, sealed perfectly looks better if finishing in stain/clear], your speakers will sound great.

[nbabmf]

I built my own 4x10 cabinet last year.

Here's the thread about it from Harmony Central:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1754656

[stobiepole]

I've had good (relatively, of course) results from mounting a couple of 8" speakers in a flat pack bee hive box. You can pick them up very cheaply ($15 Australian), they're pine, just need a couple of nails, finger-jointed, you can fit an MDF front-panel to hold the speakers very easily...looks nice with some linseed oil rubbed on. You could put a back on as well, depending on the sound you need. But it's a pretty simple way to go.

Chris

[petemoore]

  Here;s my version of finger joints !
  Make the good corners, glue them,  fit them, clamp them and let it set/dry.
  Then use sharp drill bit and glue all the hardwood dowel 'fingers' in the corners, half of them angled.

[suprleed]

I'm building a speaker cab as well.  I'm using plywood as it seems to be a good value for its strength/durability.  MDF is OK but I noticed that a lot of the professionally made cabs use plywood not MDF.  Particle board, as mentioned, breaks down over time and will disintegrate when wet, only to be used for budget cabs that will never leave your home/studio.

I just butt jointed, glued and screwed my box together.  The trick is making sure everything is square!  You can then internally reinforce as necessary depending on size and how much abuse the cab plans to take.  I did a lot of googling and looked at professional made cabs for ideas.

I'm not familiar with the UK but I would try online resources for tweed covering.

Good luck!

[petemoore]

  Plywood is much better at water resistance than any of the sheets made of *particles, wood dust, who knows what and glue.
  *that stuff [MDF etc.] works as cabinet material, but we're talking DIY alternatives, AfAIc it's out unless it's free, one good dip and it expands, and the joints explode.
  hopefully that leaves wood with grain in it, like plywood or planks of 'wood'.
  Anywhere there's glue, moisture failure is a possibility, as long as the joints are tight and a nice water resistant finish coat is used, the glue joints should hold up fine in normal conditions...and do better under worse scenarios like being rained on, being 'dipped' for ~short durations.
  If 'lively cabinet sound' is in the plan, MDF would be last choice, first would be pine, my fave, then plywood..
  Hardwoods don't take pin-nails, and require more attention to joints, can be rather brittle and prone to cracking if not careful, to say start cuts where there's >1/4'' of grain on both sides. But they can be dent and abuse resistant woods...HiFi guys seem to like them, perhaps because of the look.
  Heavy wood has it's merits, portability is not one of them, being very rigid and not moving so much when the motor/woofer is 'floored' may be one of the desirable reasons hardwood and MDF cabinets enjoy popularity...I don't mess with them.
  Because oak is a 'cheeper' hardwood and is expensive, poplar doesn't take stain as well [but can look really cool anyway...use dark for splotchy cab or clear finish for poplar that starts green or yellow and turns more grey], and those are the less expensive alternatives I've found, poplar is easy to find...a very popular wood !

[Hanglow]

Check out B&Q for plywood, they do 18mm ply, both birch and spruce.

I've also been thinking about making a wee cabinet for my harley benton head instead of running it into the speaker for my carlsbro amp.

Fender tweed is outrageously priced for what it is, http://www.torresamps.com/grill_cloth.htm torres sells some.

I was thinking of just getting some "proper" tweed from a shop/on ebay for a laugh. Don't know how it would work out! Maybe the black and white ones would be quite good.

http://crafts.search.ebay.co.uk/tweed_Fabric_W0QQfromZR34QQsacatZ28155