Bracing, cabinet volume, and crossover questions


Alright, I'm about to build a pair of four Pi's, and I have a few questions before I go ahead and order all the parts.

First of all, the given cabinet dimensions are the external dimensions, right? I assume that the given dimensions account for the volume of the drivers inside the cabinet, but do they also account for the volume of the crossover components and any bracing that may be used? I know that differences in bracing probably won't make a big enough difference in volume to be noticeable, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and would like to be able to adjust the volume of my cabinets depending on the volume of the bracing I use.

Second, I realize the Zobel is connected directly across the woofer and doesn't need to go on the circuit board but what about the 16 ohm resistors and the 0.47uF capacitor? According to the schematic, I need to add these to the crossover. What's the best way to accomplish this?

Finally, if I build my own crossover from scratch, do I need to worry about heat dissipation? Ideally, I'd like to just stick all the parts together in a big block with a zip tie or something instead of putting them on a breadboard. The only problem I can think of is that they'd get too hot. Will this be a problem?


Thanks a lot.
Mike Borzcik


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