| The AudioKarma Econo-Waveguide Speaker [message #67017] |
Tue, 12 April 2011 08:10  |
AudioFred
Messages: 377
Registered: May 2009
Location: Houston
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Illuminati (1st Degree) |
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I'm in the final completion steps of a speaker that shows great promise as a waveguide speaker for audiophiles and HT enthusiasts who are on a very limited budget. It's the AudioKarma Econo-Wavguide speaker, a design that includes a generic woofer crossover so the builder can choose his own woofer, ideally a 10" or 12". A design summary can be found here: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=150939&highlight=econo+waveguide
AudioKarma is orientd toward vintage audio, so many builders have chosen vintage woofers ranging from highly efficient JBL and Altec drivers to relatively inefficient woofers from vintage acoustic suspension designs. I believe this design makes great use of a modern high sensitivity pro woofer such as the Eminence Delta 12LFA, which I selected for this project.
My version is a specialized design because it had to be light enough to be lifted by two people onto a speaker pole for use in my house concerts. This limited the enclosure to plywood construction and a box no bigger than two cubic feet, less than ideal for the Delta 12. If one is building this design for home audio use only I would recommend a 3.5 cu ft box, which would result in greater bass extension. The 2 cu ft box is a good size for HT use since you'll be using a 70hz hi pass filter. Home audio use for my version doesn't absolutely require as subwoofer, but one is highly desirable. If you hear this speaker with a sub you probably will not want to use it without one after that. In keeping with the economy oriented design I'm using a diy sealed sub with a 12" Dayton DVC budget driver and a buyout 150W plate amp.
Total cost of the parts for a pair of speakers, all sourced from Parts Express, is $430. This includes air core inductors, Dayton poly caps, audio quality non inductive resistors, ports, quick disconnects, woofers, compression drivers, waveguides, speaker binding posts, and driver mounting screws - everyting except the wire (which you probably already have) and the enclosures. And now for the good news: If you don't have the ability and equipment to build your own enclosures, this design will fit in the PE 1.6 cu ft flat pack trapezoidal enclosures (#245-324) which sell for $69/ea. The woofer hole is pre cut, so all you need to do with a skilsaw is to cut the port openings and rectangular openings for the tweeter and speaker binding posts.
Here's a picture of an unfinished speaker. I'll be posting details later.
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Attachment: 002.JPG
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