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Hi guys! Here's a few pics of my completed 2 Pi towers. I redimensioned the speakers to give a more square look. They are 3/4 mdf with a 1-1/2 inch constrained layer front baffle. The speakers contain 2 pairs of 1 1/2 hardwood dowel braces mounted above and below woofer and connecting front and rear baffles and 2 pair connecting side baffles. There are 8 1-1/2 dowel braces total. The speakers are finished in cherry on all sides with the front baffle being naked and the rest wearing Washington Cherry stain and 3 coats of 40 sheen catalyzed spray laquer. The tops, bottoms,and side moldings are all 7/8 inch solid cherry with a 45 degree chamfered edge. I chose to mount the inductor externally and it sits on it's own block of cherry. I intend to experiment with some different wiring but currently am using a flat foil type similar to what is used in the inductor. I learned a lot in building these speakers. Mainly I learned that it is much easier to build a functional speaker than to build an attractive functional speaker. There are many issues that must be addressed whenever cosmetics are an issue. This was a fun project and as Wayne can attest a long time in the making. I first corresponed with Wayne almost 4 years ago and even directed him to this forum. He has given me volumes of info on speaker theory and I believe I can speak for the group and thank Wayne for not only great info, but for bringing better, more practically priced sounds into our homes than many of us had experienced. Thanks Wayne! http://photos.yahoo.com/jerrod_harden
And you're right, I think for many DIY'ers it's a lot more difficult to get the look right than to build a well functioning speaker in itself.
Those are super attractive speakers. Great job! And thanks for posting the pics! Just awesome!
Nice work with those! They are very attractive, and I'm sure they sound as good as they look! Adrian
They look great! you did a fantastic job. I am interested to know what you think about the sound? Are they broken in yet? Please respond... I have a simular pair. I find that I still prefer my Magnepan MMG's with some of my music and prefer the 2Pi Towers with other music. Sometimes my mood will even dictated which type I want to listen to. Two Pi Towers
Nice style and execution. Bill
Looks like Martinelli has some competition <nt>
Hi Jerrod, Beautiful job, you are a very talented woodworker. You are also correct that it's much easier to build a functional box over an attractive one. I have a nice group of "test boxes." Steve
Like Porsche's and Ferrari's, both are really great.
I meant it as a compliment to jlharden. Bill sets one hell of a standard.
Hi guys! Thanks for the kind words. Looking forward to getting the speakers set up in a more suitable room. I have several other projects I'm anxious to start, but I don't have a work shop put together after my relocation yet. Future plans include a equipment stand, media rack and my big speakers. I also have an itch to do a stereo sub thing with cabinetry to match my main speakers. I'll also do a few pieces of furniture in the same cherry two tone theme. That's all a ways off though, right now I'm job and house hunting. Whenever I get settled I'm also going to attempt to build a single pair of Bill's gorgeous horns. He gave me a few pointers at Lima and wished me luck, I'll need it! Jerrod
Hello, I'm pretty impressed by the "little" 2's. They have what I'd call a solid sound perhaps only slightly lacking on the very top end. I'm confident the speakers will open up nicely whenever I can get them into a bigger room. They are my second favorite pair of speakers I've owned behind my old Khorns, though not really a practical comparison. I'll soon try to better those Khorns with some all american JBL and Altec muscle and hope to improve on the build quality and cosmetics of the Klipsches. I've also toyed around a bit with replacing the 2 pi's piezo with the horn loaded Morel soft dome tweeter. This however requires the use of some crossover components on the hf driver. I believe the crossoverless driver implementation of the 2 pi is one of the positive aspects of Wayne's design. I also imagine the horn loaded dome is a better part so I suppose it's one of those trade off things. BTW, I couldn't get your link to come up. Good listening, Jerrod
Thanks for the reply. I think the 2 Pi's Towers are a great sounding speaker when you consider what in-expensive drivers are in them. You are correct about the crossoverless design. lets try that link again. 2 Pi Tower Pics
I think you may be on to something with the Morel driver idea! It seems that the 'issue' most people have (the ones that have it :-) ) with the 2Pi's is the piezo driver. So maybe putting in some form of HE, soft dome, horn loaded driver instead would be an idea... & the cross over doesn't need to get THAT complicated. Btw., I believe Peerless are making such a thingie as well. Have someone tried anything of this sort? Maybe a HF compression horn w. driver? Just a thought... ;-)
Yes, it seems to me the Alpha 10 functions so well in that big cabinet that with a great tweeter instead of a good one we could have a fabulous speaker instead of a great one..... or something like that! I'm about ready to try it, someone talk me out of it soon! ;)
and even the connection panel is cool! Nice, Thomas
Link worked better this time. Are your speakers full sized towers or scaled down a little? My speakers are large, but they did grow a lot with the additional internal bracing, 1 1/2" front and 1 7/8 top and bottom. I've spent the morning listening to the little 2's, sounding better and better. Good work on the cabinets! Jerrod
I diliberatly re-shaped the towers to be more deep than wide. I like the look but did this mainly to change the footprint to work better in my sons room(where they reside). I thing each cab gained about 500 ci. This was because I made an error in the calculations. I compensted by enlarging the port a bit. Thanks for the compliment of the woodwork but mine are a bit rough compared to yours. Congrats to you. BTW- my son listens to his music with the tone controls up all the way and the loudness button ON. These things can really handle allot and pump out some bass! Enjoy
Giving me table saw dreams.... Great job