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Tell me how nice my new home-made waveguides look

post #1 of 85
4/24/11 at 8:31pm
Thread Starter 
Here, they are, rev#2. This time using PVC pipe for the roundovers.


Not sure whether to keep them painted white or to go with black. But, pretty, right?

Here's a shot of the inside, before sanding and painting
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post #2 of 85
4/25/11 at 6:17am
Thread Starter 
Wow, tough crowd. Teach me to go fishing for compliments around here....
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post #3 of 85
4/25/11 at 6:19am
very nice work, but why not just buy them?
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post #4 of 85
4/25/11 at 6:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by smokarz View Post

very nice work, but why not just buy them?

Cause you can't get these anymore. Good work bwalsalo, it is a tough crowd these days. My 6x sealed maelx thread was basically a posted pm listing between me and notnyt.
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post #5 of 85
4/25/11 at 6:56am
Thread Starter 
They are 18" waveguides, constant directivity. Where would you buy them from?
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post #6 of 85
4/25/11 at 7:10am
Very nice. I like the white. If I build it, I wanna show it!
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post #7 of 85
4/25/11 at 7:50am
Is this a clone of something in particular or did you design it?
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post #8 of 85
4/25/11 at 7:56am
Thread Starter 
it's an attempt to approach the oblate spheroid contours using available materials and tools.
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post #9 of 85
4/25/11 at 8:11am
They look great.

Color all depends upon the decor/look you're going for. A rich semi-gloss black always seems to work well, IME.

James
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post #10 of 85
4/25/11 at 8:33am
That's very nicely done Bwaslo. Now you just need to make some 30" wide 1.5" throat WGs for me.

Have you taken any measurements?
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post #11 of 85
4/25/11 at 8:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by coctostan View Post

That's very nicely done Bwaslo. Now you just need to make some 30" wide 1.5" throat WGs for me.

Have you taken any measurements?

The JBL 4722 WG's are <$100 each
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post #12 of 85
4/25/11 at 9:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NEO Dan View Post

The JBL 4722 WG's are <$100 each

I'm aware of those...I'm a little concerned about the Screen Spreading Compensation JBL designed in for using behind perf screens. It is probably not a big deal. I'm going to get some of the 4722's at some point to try against the 2352's they replaced in JBL's lineup.

What CD are you going to use?
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post #13 of 85
4/25/11 at 9:29am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by coctostan View Post

That's very nicely done Bwaslo. Now you just need to make some 30" wide 1.5" throat WGs for me.

Have you taken any measurements?

Yeah, but I measured too close (I think). Directivity control seems good down to about 800Hz, though it seems to narrow more than it should around 1kHz. I'm going to remeasure in a bigger space so I can get about 6ft away.

Will post plots tonight
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post #14 of 85
4/25/11 at 9:53am
Those are very nice looking. Looks like a lot of work went into them. I'm definitely interested in seeing the measurements.

These are 18" wide, right? How deep are they?

What do you plan to pair them with?

I'm still daydreaming about my upcoming mains upgrade, want to get the subs in order first.
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post #15 of 85
4/25/11 at 10:01am
Thread Starter 
Thanks.
These are for "econowaves" (extrava-waves might be a more appropriate name in this case), matched with TD15M's. They are 18" wide (including roundovers, about 15" without), 10" tall, 80x36degree pattern, about 8 inches deep.

They are actually easier to make than they look, if you don't count the time figuring out how to do it (and redoing parts from false-starts). When I get time, I'll be posting the design spreadsheets and some fabrication instructions For them.
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post #16 of 85
4/25/11 at 10:32am
True DIY spirit here....well done and I hope they sound great for you!! What CD are you going to use down below 1KHz? DE250?

Any pics on how you matched up the PVC and the MDF?
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post #17 of 85
4/25/11 at 10:46am
Thread Starter 
yup, DE250.

Pix to come. The PVC meets the MDF where the tangent angles match, so the side pieces are longer than top and bottom (that is all figured out in a spreadsheet). Throat is made from "rock hard putty" in a wood box.
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post #18 of 85
4/25/11 at 11:46am
Looks nice.

How about a side view that better shows the profile; probably just the surface color but it almost looks like a discontinuity to a flattish rectangular section near the throat.
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post #19 of 85
4/25/11 at 12:15pm
Quote:
They are actually easier to make than they look, if you don't count the time figuring out how to do it (and redoing parts from false-starts). When I get time, I'll be posting the design spreadsheets and some fabrication instructions For them.
Thanks Bill, I think that would be very helpful for those looking for cheap QSC alternatives!
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post #20 of 85
4/25/11 at 3:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by coctostan View Post

What CD are you going to use?

BMS 4555 or FitalPRO HF144
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post #21 of 85
4/25/11 at 4:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bwaslo View Post

They are actually easier to make than they look, if you don't count the time figuring out how to do it (and redoing parts from false-starts). When I get time, I'll be posting the design spreadsheets and some fabrication instructions For them.

^^^
THIS....very nice work. Fabrication is no easy task. Did you make a plug? Can't wait to see measurements, and the step-by-step. Things have come a long way over here at AVS if people are doing this type of fab work more often....

Coctostan, do you not want the 4722 because you would like the ScreenArray version of the waveguide that will compensate for an AT screen? You would need a pretty damned big screen to put 3 of these across it with L&R being 30 deg off center....

JSS
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post #22 of 85
4/25/11 at 5:24pm
Thread Starter 
Noah - I think you're seeing where the water putty and wood filler end on the MDF, there's some texture change there. The shape/construction is like this

Here's a diagram of the construction from the outside. The putty is in the box at the end.


The 30" JBL guides look nice, but way too big for me (and I wouldn't want to use a 1.5" driver, would need to add a tweeter to get the highs back).
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post #23 of 85
4/25/11 at 5:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NEO Dan View Post

BMS 4555 or FitalPRO HF144

Zilch liked the 4555 and is definitely the value leader in a 1.5" exit, but it only plays down to 1khz maybe 900hz. The Faital is a 1.4". Would you make an adapter to create a smooth transition? I snagged some JBL 2452H-SLs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by maxmercy View Post

^^^
THIS....very nice work. Fabrication is no easy task. Did you make a plug? Can't wait to see measurements, and the step-by-step. Things have come a long way over here at AVS if people are doing this type of fab work more often....

Coctostan, do you not want the 4722 because you would like the ScreenArray version of the waveguide that will compensate for an AT screen? You would need a pretty damned big screen to put 3 of these across it with L&R being 30 deg off center....

JSS

I'm pretty sure the 4722 horn has SSC which accentuates the HF on axis in order to compensate for perf screens found in commercial theaters. Mine won't be behind a perf screen (mine is weave) so I see this as a negative. Zilch did some testing which showed the effect. I haven't played with them myself so I can't say if it really matters.

Is there a version of this horn that does not do SSC? If so, I'll order them in them morning.

JBL Spec sheet for 4722 showing SSC: http://www.jblpro.com/catalog/suppor...pe=3&docid=621

The 5732 shows that it has SSC too. I think they all use the same horn.
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post #24 of 85
4/25/11 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bwaslo View Post

Noah - I think you're seeing where the water putty and wood filler end on the MDF, there's some texture change there.

Yep, that's it, thanks.
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post #25 of 85
4/25/11 at 8:54pm
I think they look great and the white makes them stand out a bit more if you ask me.

It does look like a hard project to tackle but seems to have turned out nice.

2 weeks ago I bought a pallet jack off Craigslist and the guy that had it was a wood worker that fabricated special forms for concrete. I took him a QSC waveguide and he said he could make them out of wood fairly easy once he got the correct angles figured out.
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post #26 of 85
4/26/11 at 7:32am
Lookin' good! It's great to see more people getting deeper into DIY.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bwaslo View Post

Directivity control seems good down to about 800Hz, though it seems to narrow more than it should around 1kHz.

If you do confirm the pattern narrowing down low, it's called "waist banding"...characteristic of conical/OS flares. A couple of solutions are a larger radius roundover, or, a (counter-intuitive) "step" out to a wider flare in last 1/3 of the WG at the mouth. You can see the narrowing/solutions in HornResp or AxiDriver sims.
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post #27 of 85
4/26/11 at 9:32am
Quote:
Tell me how nice my new home-made waveguides look

They look very nice

Are you making enough for three across the front?
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post #28 of 85
4/26/11 at 10:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erich H View Post

I think they look great and the white makes them stand out a bit more if you ask me.

It does look like a hard project to tackle but seems to have turned out nice.

2 weeks ago I bought a pallet jack off Craigslist and the guy that had it was a wood worker that fabricated special forms for concrete. I took him a QSC waveguide and he said he could make them out of wood fairly easy once he got the correct angles figured out.

PE couldn't get qsc to license the 152i out, that was according to pe though
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post #29 of 85
4/26/11 at 12:04pm
There is some serious talent on this forum. Looks great.
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post #30 of 85
4/26/11 at 1:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stgdz View Post

PE couldn't get qsc to license the 152i out, that was according to pe though

Yeh, I heard. But there are other designs coming. I had a prototype of another waveguide a few weeks ago that looked really good. They are making some final touches to it, mostly the mounting area.
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