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Northwoods III - a budget tower
These are my third and final attempt at a small two-way tower using a silver flute 5.5 that I’ve had for years. The northwoods name came from the first cabinet that was pine and looked like it belonged in a cabin.
The first two attempts sounded like crap. They were both pre measurement equipment so were sims only based on mfg data. I had simmed this third attempt before measuring and correcting. I’ve always had great success with sims being very accurate, except this build. It was very off, including the z offset estimate I made. I was off by a full 10mm. This all explains why the previous versions, well, sucked.
The build uses the 8 ohm silverflute 5.5 and a silkie. I know there isn’t much love for the silkie but I personally like it. The previous attempts used a D27TG45-06, a much better tweeter, but those got returned to the build they were robbed from.
Ill post the squiggles later (they are pretty lumpy), but they use an LR4 at 3600. This is higher than ideal but works. Electrical is 2nd/3rd order.
The first two attempts sounded like crap. They were both pre measurement equipment so were sims only based on mfg data. I had simmed this third attempt before measuring and correcting. I’ve always had great success with sims being very accurate, except this build. It was very off, including the z offset estimate I made. I was off by a full 10mm. This all explains why the previous versions, well, sucked.
The build uses the 8 ohm silverflute 5.5 and a silkie. I know there isn’t much love for the silkie but I personally like it. The previous attempts used a D27TG45-06, a much better tweeter, but those got returned to the build they were robbed from.
Ill post the squiggles later (they are pretty lumpy), but they use an LR4 at 3600. This is higher than ideal but works. Electrical is 2nd/3rd order.
Comments
Except for that and the resistor, all parts are off of buyout terminal cup type crossovers. Those caps are indeed the ones I said sucked on the OB build. They actually work ok here though. Probably because the silkie isn’t as revealing as the planar? I would never normally use that tiny ferrite distortion device as a low pass inductor, but these will be surrounds for the living room, so no biggie.
All in all, they sound surprisingly good. Way better than they have a right to for under $100 in drivers, 1/2” pb cabs, and a big box store grade crossover. I haven’t cranked them yet, but I’m sure the inductor will be unahappy. But what surprised me is they sound good at really low levels.
What is the spalted wood on the floor of the garage?
The wood is spalted worm hole oak (I think it’s oak, it’s actually so spalted I can’t tell). The father in law has a lot of rough sawn wood outside on his property drying with sheets of tin on it. These were from the tops where there must have been leaks. I planed it down and it is gorgeous. Tons of spalt and worm holes but is still stable. I cut it down for drawer fronts for a jewelry chest I’m making for my wife, but was not a fan of it, so I put it aside and picked up some curly maple for that project. I’m saving it now for baffles for some small speakers.
It only takes 16 watts to breach xmax, but that's not the end of the world in reality.