I’ve been very interested in the Tangband W3-871 driver, so I bought a sheet of 3/4" MDF to build a couple of cabinet designs I saw on the net. One is the ELF1.0, which according to creativesound.ca, was initially designed by Jim Griffin, so it has good pedigree. This may be the design for the computer speakers that I’m looking for. The other is Cyburgs Needle, which I found at diyaudio.com, with claims of 50Hz from this little driver. (Not to be confused with Jim Griffin’s Needles which used an array of the same drivers). I’ve never built a tapered pipe before and it seems easy enough. I thought these two designs would provide me with an easy and cheap introduction to single drivers.

Some changes were made to the design though. Dimensions for the ELF were changed from its cube shape to one more resembling a mini-tower, with internal volume maintained at 177cc. The 5” x 11.5” x 6.5” external shape I used also allowed me to build the cabinet entirely out of 5” wide strips of 3/4" MDF, pre-cut by Home Depot. The Needle called for 12mm (1/2”) stock, but I increased external dimensions to accommodate 3/4".

CreativeSound.ca has a special kit package containing five W3-871 drivers, so I think I’ll order that package sometime soon. With five drivers, my plans changed to 3 ELF’s and 2 needles. If all works well, it could make a pretty nice HT system. Needles up front with ELF’s as surround and center.

I don’t know what made me think I could build and veneer five speaker cabinets in one day. I had to stop work early to grill some meat on my Weber. What’s a Sunday without a barbeque? But I’m pretty happy with what I got done: three ELF’s ready to take veneer, and two Needles ready for stuffing and sealing. The edges on the Needles still need to be routed flush before veneer. I put some round-overs on the Needles’ port exit even though it wasn’t part of the design. Don’t know how that will affect performance.

When my wife saw these speaker cabinets, first question was of course: “What are we going to do with more speakers?” Second question was “How come all your other speakers couldn’t be this small?”

Haven’t ordered the drivers yet, so I don’t know how these sound, but will certainly keep you folks informed. Am I crazy to have done all this without getting the drivers first? The way I look at this is: Even with worst case scenario, I end of tossing the cabinets out, I spend an entire day outside in great weather, doing something I really enjoyed, for only the cost of a sheet of MDF ($25). If I decided to go golfing, I would have spent 3X that amount and I wouldn’t have five cabinets to show for it.

Gar.

• Tangband Cabinet Photos