Another Hybrid OB project

PWRRYD

No finish on them yet.  I'm going to take my measurements, design the crossovers, and voice them first.  That said, I can't wait to see how these poplar baffles look with some finish on them.  They've got some very interesting grain patterns.

Kornbread

Seen some poplar where certain parts of the grain had a blue/green tint.  Kind of a stringy wood but I think it has a lot of character.     

ThumperTom

I was trying decide between poplar and oak last weekend and ended up going with poplar too.  The poplar I picked up has the green tent to it.  I am hoping that it will come out with some sanding or the stain will cover it up.

PWRRYD

I've used poplar a few times now and it can vary wildly.  This particular piece is what I would call "medium" wood.  Not hard and heavy but not soft and light either.  It machined really nicely.  I planed this board down from about 3/4" thick to about 1/2".  I'm gonna do a test piece with the old BLO/turpentine/poly mix to see how the grain pops.

kenrhodes

The color in poplar will fade quickly in sun light. The green and purple will go to light brown. The light green and brown will go to maple/blonde. The grain will stay but will be more muted with time. Thankfully it can be stained to match almost any wood. Any finish that has uv blocker in it will help keep the wood looking like the day you stained it.
  The woofer cutouts will be a great asset in fine tuning the stain.

PWRRYD

That mirrors my experience with poplar as well Ken.

PWRRYD

All of the on and off axis FR measurements, distortion, and zma's have been taken. 

Wolf

1138 woofer, TC9, and NE25?

Mitchell_Cote

Looks great and I bet it will sounds great.

Ron_E

When you stain Poplar the green tint will turn much darker. Our entire house is trimmed in stained Poplar as are all the interior doors. The dark rails and styles and the dark splotch in the right hand panel were green before the stain.



Ron

PWRRYD

Wolf said:

1138 woofer, TC9, and NE25?

Correct:

W5-1138SM
TC9FD18-08
NE25VTS-04

PWRRYD

That looks great Ron.  Do you remember which stain you used to get that color?

ScottS

That's a great look.  Where are you thinking about crossing from the TC9 to the W5?  I recall BK tried the TG9 with an open back mid tunnel and found pretty limited power handling - but I can't recall where he crossed his..

PWRRYD

I prepared the files in Blender (woofer NF/FF splice, added tails, extracted minimum phase) and found the z-offsets in WinPCD this morning.  I played around a little bit with WinPCD sims at lunch.  500 Hz LR4 looks pretty good actually.  I thought LR2 would be possible but the mids would be running out of excursion unless I crossed way high and then I suspect the 5.25" subwoofers would sound thick and muddy with their heavy moving mass.

Ron_E

PWRRYD said:

That looks great Ron.  Do you remember which stain you used to get that color?

Old Masters cedar wiping stain.

PWRRYD

Thanks Ron.

PWRRYD

I did some more crossover work (simulations) in WinPCD last night and today.  Everything looks really good (phase tracking, rev nulls, driver excusions, etc.) so I went ahead and ordered the parts I need from PE.  18 parts per speaker, but 4 of them are cheap resistors. This is the first time I've ever had to use a 4th order electrical filter on a driver to whip it into shape.  Impedance drops pretty low but phase angle is good.

ani_101

which one is the problem driver?

PWRRYD

Tang Band

PWRRYD

I built the prototype crossovers this weekend.  It was way too nice outside to be inside voicing speakers.  I just tack the parts down to the cardboard with a little hot glue.  Keeps things more orderly which I like:

PWRRYD

I had kind of convinced myself that the Tang Band W5-1138SM's wouldn't sound all that good before I even listened to them in a complete project.  They have a super stiff suspension and heavy moving mass.  Boy was I wrong.  They sound great and play really low.  Bryan K would be all over these with his video cam when they are playing Royals at 100 dB LOL.  Those 5.25" cones are stroking!!!  Grant it, super low sensitivity so they need some serious power to meet my needs.   

I've been using mostly higher end drivers lately but I have to say, this combo of drivers is sounding great.  I wouldn't hesitate to enter this project in the 20/20 comp.

Wolf

Have you used the 1139 or 1363? If you like the 1138- give those a whirl!

PWRRYD

Sitting here listening to these (I have the day off) I looked around the family room where I do all my listening....  I could have my own RKFD-DIY, all by myself LOL.  I currently have 8 working pair of speakers in the house!

jhollander

I'm down to 10, after my son and brothers took 3 pairs.  Sill have one pair that's needs to go.  I'm down to painting my hybrid OB pair.

PWRRYD

So after a few more hours of serious listening time, I deem these worthy enough for some real finish.  I took them apart today and sanded the baffles nice and smooth.  I applied the 1:1:1 finish on them.  Next up I will Duratex the woofer enclosures. 

PWRRYD

Pics to follow.