I was thinking of making the crossover accessible, in the bottom section as you suggest. A removable panel should be pretty easy. I’ve also been wondering about putting it entirely separately, (Naim did that more than once!) hence the questions, curious about the pros and cons of the approach.
Will add a few extra m of cable to my order, that’s a great suggestion (not least as I anticipate errors during construction X) )
Hopefully ordering the bench materials this week, been putting a list together. I have a decent workshop space to use, but that place you rented looks great!
Hi, yes the f clamps are good, I’d like to have used sash clamps but haven’t seen any with long enough arms … a couple of the f clamps I have come loose, should invest in some better quality ones.
I’ve never done any electronics before so the crossovers were a challenge, took time to study the diagrams and photos … ended up enjoying it though
Thanks for the link, I may give that a try.
My wife did say to me she doesn’t mind what speakers I build … just that they may not last long in the living room
I haven’t used sash clamps, only f clamps. I simply used scrap bits of wood to prop up the speakers when they needed to be raised for a clamp to run underneath.
I built a pair of Troels Illumina 66 speakers. I made the cabinets lute shaped and put the port firing out the back rather than the front for aesthetic reasons. Very very happy with the sound they give me. Troels is very helpful when discussing the building and modifications of his designs.
There are so many different designs to choose from.
BTW, for those interesting in these kinds of threads, on the roonlabs forum there’s a thread called “DIY Speaker Build - Troels Gravesen’s Poor Man’s Stradivari”. Talking about an elaborate build…
Interesting! I have to say I blame Mark84 entirely for my choice of Troels’s designs, n-lot and Mark63’s threads cemented it. This is the only hifi forum I frequent, so the prevalence of Troels’s designs means I’m way more aware of them than other designs. On occasion I have read DIY speaker build threads elsewhere, dedicated DIY forums, and Troels comes in for occasional criticism, costly, lack of detailed measurements. That might be the case, but I find the information he publishes and his general thoughts and musings, to be really useful, so am sticking with my plan to build the Illuminator 71s. I did point out Heißmann Acoustics to someone the other day, they seem good, and less costly than TG.
I think you forgot @Chalshus- with their lovely looking horn loaded cabinets?
I guess some designers have another job, so don’t need to make money. Plus I feel that many people with that criticism only look at component cost. The support that comes with his designs is worth a lot IMO. All-in-all I don’t think his prices are ridiculous as some make them out to be.
The measurements criticism is fair I think.
I think I understood those, while not a commercial speaker, were built (and designed?) by a friend of his? Or is that incorrect?
I’m surprised to hear there’s people criticising the cost of Troels’s designs, if you add up the cost of the components it doesn’t look like there’s much added on top at all, a small price to pay for all that experience and work that goes into each design.
He doesn’t just go for top of the range components for the sake of it, he uses the parts that work best together to get the best sound quality. For example one of the designs on my shortlist for my next build does use high end drivers for the bass and midrange but the tweeter comes from a much lower range, chosen because it integrates better with the other drivers than the high end equivalent. A bit like Naims philosophy, use the parts that work best together irrespective of price or technical spec.
Aside from that he has designs that range from under £500 to over £12k, plus many of them have a couple of levels of crossover components to choose between quality/cost.
I think people can forget the markup on commercial speakers, build a £500 design and you’ll end up with speakers equivalent of around 2.5k, more if you have the skill and take the time to make high quality real wood veneered or painted cabinets.
I don’t know how far away you are from north Oxfordshire but you’d be welcome to come and listen to them … or if you’re not too far I could maybe bring them to you … if I can figure out how to transport them safely!
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