Audio advice and discussions with audiophiles and professionals. Free discussion forums, open to all and frequented by industry experts. Ask questions and get advice on stereos, speakers, hi-end amplifiers, pre-amps, home theater, tube hi-fi, turntables, vinyl, tweaks, music, films, video, DVDs and more.
Wayne: These are exciting designs if I understand it all. (I'm a techno-moron.) Please confirm that these speakers work without a cross-over. The option of simply using 12" and 16" MDF shelving is very nice too. The flexibility of using them in the corner to further reinforce the bass is great. And since they should sound very similar to the regular 2 Pi's they could be used as part of a kicking home theater system. This is my dumbest question: Are your stated prices per speaker or per pair? Please send me the 2 Pi and 2 Pi tower plans. I gotta find a way to Tulsa to hear your stuff! Does anyone live near Michigan? A bunch of us from the Decware forum are gathering near Cinni in early Nov. A pair of Pi's would be great to have there. thanks bunches, you're a swell guy jeff
Please send me your E-Mail address, and I'll get plans to you immediately. Kits are sold for individual speakers, so if you want a stereo pair, you'll need two kits. There are a lot of people running odd-numbers of speakers, like 5-channel for home theater. That's why I offer them individually.
Thanks Wayne. I thought of another question: As the 2 Pi tower has a larger cabinet volume is the bass damping that suffers? (I think it makes sense that I remember that the smaller 2 Pi cabinet has more bass distortion and the 2 Pi Tower cabinet more bass, but less controlled.) If this is the case, would that make the 2 Pi Tower a better candidate for a solid state amp? (For these speakers I was toying with the idea of using the Modwright RAM 301, tube pre/30 wpc solid state integrated.) thanks again,
Actually, both the two π and two π tower are well-damped in the acoustic filter sense, meaning that the Q of each of them does not rise to a point of being highly underdamped or peaky. So neither system has a bass peak, as is characterized by underdamped systems. The deal with distortion verses extension is really just a matter of excursion. For a given radiator size, the deeper you run it, the more excursion is required. So distortion goes up as the frequency goes down. On the matter of amplifier choices, the Alpha 10 is extremely "tube-friendly," so you have a lot of choices. It will work on solid-state, push-pull tubes or low power SET amps.
Wayne: As I was leaning towards using 12 inch and 16 inch shelving I'm thinking of using leftover shelving to make "window" braces instead of using 1 inch by 2 inch stock to brace the cabinet walls (while still "preloading" the cabinet walls). And rather than use 4 equal "panes", I'd make one 10 inch by 7.5 inch opening that would allow for stock around the opening while representing the clear opening beyond the insulation. Does that sound reasonable? Does it matter where the port is located on the back wall? Does the Pi decal come in different colors? (I'm thinking about just painting the cabinet black.) thanks
Your bracing sounds like a good idea. About the dimensions, it probably will work well as long as you don't change them a lot and you keep the internal volume the same. Don't change where the port is in relation to the bottom of the cabinet and to the woofer. You can modify cabinet dimensions a little bit, but it is particularly important that the port not be at the very end of the box. As for decals, most are black but I have a few in silver and a few in gold. I use the silver logos on black cabinets, and I'd be happy to send a pair if you'll kindly refresh my memory with your mailing address. Just drop me a line via E-Mail.
Wayne: Using 16 inch and 12 inch shelving stock with simple butt joints and holding the 16 inch outside dimension, the clear dimensions inside would be 14.5 inches by 12 inches. R-13 batts are nominally 3.5 inches thick. Install them on the front and one side would reduce each of the clear inside dimensions by that same amount. The resultant internal "open air" dimensions would then be 11 inches by 8.5 inches. Given a 1 inch nominal thickness of material to "frame" the "window" opening would yield an opening size of 10 inches by 7.5 inches. And as long as there's no crossover and we already have a port, couldn't I just wire the drivers directly to the posts on the amp and run the wires through the rear port? (Remember I like simple.) BTW, using 16 inch and 12 inch stock (with the same cabinet height) the internal cabinet volume is only off by 0.16%, so I doubt if it'll make any sonic difference. (That amounts to less than the width of a saw blade when cutting on the wrong side of the line when cutting stock to proper length - which I'm more than capable of doing.) Any amp suggestions for 2,000 - 3,000 cu. ft. room, listening to classical/jazz at 85 dB peaks? thanks
Sounds like a really great plan. You've touched all the bases and it should sound very nice.