Dirty_Vinylpusher

Hullo.

I picked up a couple of sets of speakers the other weekend at the dump for $30.
One pair was near new and are being used in the house.

This other pair, front speakers from a home theatre system were OK, but not great.



So I decided to pull them apart and see if there were any useful bits.




After a while I had decided to make some funny little speakers using PVC pipe, and this is what I'm up to so far.




Starded with the mids.
A piece of 100mm (4 inch) joiner tube was almost a perfect fit.
I had to turn the speaker down to size a bit on the lathe.

Also made a couple of "rings" to go at the front for that recessed look.

The front was then covered with body filler (bondo, bog, whatever you prefer to call it) and sanded smooth.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

For the woofers I cut out the MDF surround from the speaker boxes, shaped them to fit inside the large tube and they got the same treatment as the mid tubes.

I had to use the woodlathe to shape the front as they wouldn't fit in the little hobby lathe.
A rim from a pram wheel fits perfectly inside and I made a ply disc to go at the back and screwed it to the plate on the lathe.

The woofer is a perfect fit inside the tube.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

The tweeters also got a ride on the lathe to fit inside the small tube and make it match the other two with that recessed look.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

And this is where it's up to at the moment.

All the main work is done, now it's just lots of filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling and sanding to be done.

cumminspower5.9

My Feedback: (4)

So are the speakers going to be stacked like that? Looks awesome!

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Yes they will be bolted together in stacks.
Note the little holes.

The wiring will be internal as well.

DieHarder

That's awesome. You do nice quality work it appears.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Thanks.

Well, I enjoy tinkering with all sorts of things to see how I can modify and change stuff to my liking.
I'm very patient with some things and get bored easily with others.

Figuring out how to make things work with "what you've got" is something I do a lot of as well.
Building something for the sake of building it, not so much because I need it.
Actually, I do a lot of that as well I suppose, with stuff like furniture etc.
But to have an idea and then working out how to make it happen is the most fun part I reckon.
Especially if it's something a bit unusual.

I generally hate hate HATE sanding and prepping, but I'm really enjoying sanding and shaping these speakers.
Just gave the woofer tubes a good sanding and a coat of primer paint.
....And all the little scratches and pinholes appeared, haha.

More filling to be done.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Pete Lane

My Feedback: (3)

I was wondering if you could moisten the center cone with water and then use a vacuum to pull out the low spot ?.
Great idea by the way !.

Plane

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Hello.

Yes a few people have said to use the vacuum cleaner to pull it out.
Or just get a hose the right size and suck it out "manually"

But yeh it'll get pulled out one way or another once everything is in place.

Pete Lane

My Feedback: (3)

Cool...........icing on the cake then.
Keep on keepin on.

Plane

funnotcrazy

Let us know what they sound like when you're done. Fellow tinkerer here also.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Yes will do.

I'm thinking now I might have to build a third large tube to put a small stereo in to make it a complete set.
Will keep an eye out for a small unit which could be placed inside the tube, maybe with an iPod/iPhone dock on top.....?
A fully remote control operated one would be good.

Hmmm
Ideas ideas.

Rv7garage

My Feedback: (10)

Those are very cool!

Lars from Norway

Very nice and creative work as always! I like the design of the stack. You know those tubes you use to fill with concrete to make pillars? I have used one of those to make a 12 inch subwoofer box, very succesful

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Hey Lars!


Yeh I was pretty lucky with the dimensions of speakers and tubes here.
Had to take about 5mm off the mids and a bit more off the tweeters to make them fit.

Luckily the woofer fits perfectly inside the big tube.




I've built a few subwoofer boxes in the past for my cars, but always square ones, using MDF.
This is a bit different.
It's tricky to work with round tubes when sanding etc.
Lots of little blocks of wood and clamps are needed to hold them in place on the bench haha.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Have a couple of these on order.

http://reviews.cnet.com/amplifiers-p...-35190789.html

I'll be making a third tube to put it inside and it'll be a standalone unit then, rather than just a pair of speakers.



Other than that, nothing much to report.
Just a lot of filling and sanding.
I've reached that point where I ask myself whether I still would have done this had I known the amount of work involved.
But the answer is always yes.
It'll be worth it in the end, and I can think of worse things to do than drink beer in the shed while tinkering

The end is in sight though (until I start the third tube) and next I'll be making up the backing plates for the individual tubes.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

One thing I hadn't considered is how close to the woofer magnet the circuitboard as seen in the pic below, will end up.
It has the resistors etc and splits the input to low, mid and high.

Does anyone know if it'll affect the sound being that close to the magnet?
and if so how can I shield it...

Guess I'll give it a try, but any advice appreciated.
Thanks.

Rv7garage

My Feedback: (10)

Here's the thing – as seriously cool is the entire concept is, it's not like we're building audiophile-grade stuff here. I say put it together and enjoy!

Dirty_Vinylpusher

No.... I know that, obviously, but I was just wondering if there would be any interference by having it so close to the speaker...

I'm not expecting this thing to rattle the windows (already have a system that does that) but still want it to sound good.
Suppose if there's a problem I can put the circuitry in the tube with the amp and run the speaker cables from there.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Recycling the old speaker boxes for the back of the woofer tubes.






Making ends for the tweeter tubes.
Using slightly smaller caps which I built up and then sized in the lathe.










A messy shed is a sign of work being done.... right?

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Now.... legs....

After scrapping a number of ideas for various reasons, I decided to use these.
They're fibreglass rods for retaining wall blocks, which I've had laying around for 10 years or so.
Knowing that they would come in handy for something one day.

Rounded the ends on the lathe and milled one end flat.









They will be bolted in, just using screws here for mock-up.











Good thing is they can be adjusted a bit to make sure everything sits level.

Not 100% sure if I like them but will leave them there for now.
Will see how it looks once everything is painted.


Which is not far away now.

Lars from Norway

It would be cool to make the legs as they are on bass-drums in front/on the side of the tube

DieHarder

3 days have passed, what's new?! I've very interested in this project! You do a good job describing and appear to take pride in your work. Well done!