Eric's DIY Audio Projects

[EricS]

Over time, I'll add some more details and images to this thread, but I thought I'd start off with a few images of my home theater system. It is a DIY system that has taken several years to build...

The overall theater room is 14 feet wide and about 24 feet long.

Front view of the theater:


Rear view of the theater:


The front speakers are open baffle and stand about 52" high and weigh over 120lbs each. The surround speakers are acoustic suspension and use the same mid-woofer as the mains. Each front speaker is driven by its own 125w Class-A amp (a clone of the X-Aleph amp from Pass Labs). I had Class-D amps driving the surround speakers, but had to replace them with other amps as my local power utility began using two-way automated communication system (TWACS) that bled noise into the amps and out through the speakers that just drove me nuts!

I'll provide some additional details and some construction pics of the amps and speakers in a little while.

Eric

[struth]

A fantastic set-up Eric.. very impressive

[Idlewithnodrive]

WoW. You obviously enjoy a good film

[Firebottle]

....and good audio to go with it, Eric.

[Ali Tait]

Very nice, lovely job!

[Macca]

Outstanding HT room - rear centre speaker as well, obviously taking it seriously

Are the speakers your own design or taken from somewhere?

[walpurgis]

That's very smart Eric. Looks great!

[RichB]

Great theatre and something different from the usual Bose acoustimas type thing you usually see.

R

[agk]

Looks interesting Eric. More pics of the open baffles please.

[EricS]

No - I'm not a Bose fan...

As requested, here are some images of the open baffle speaker construction. It is not my design (I don't have the expertise), I am simply a copycat. They are a double layer of 3/4" MDF plus 18mm Baltic Birch. The outer red strip is 1x2" oak.

Here is a closer image of the front speaker:


I ordered about a mile of 15ga wire to wind my own inductors for the crossovers:


The glue-up was a bit of trick with the slanted sides of the cabinet:


And the center channel presented a few challenges of its own for gluing:


Here is the center without the crossover installed:


I added a few braces to the inside of the left and right speakers after discovering they vibrated a bit too much. I doubled the front baffle, I should have doubled the sides as well:


I also added some metal shelf wall-brackets to the back of upright portion of the speaker to tame resonance. A double layer of wood and oak were not enough for the stiffness I was looking for. So I cut up the bracket, screwed it to the back of the baffle, and felted it with leftover scraps from when I felted the front:


They require a little bit of power to really make them sing. As the volume level goes up, there is a discrete point where they just "pop" into an immersive 3D sound experience that I just love.

I'll post some images of the surround speakers next, to be followed by some details on the amps and room acoustic treatments.

Eric