New Home Theater Speaker Build - Page 3

Thanks for the reply BeerParty. You are correct. My box will not be deep enough to put the 21.5" port straight back. I am thinking that I will put a 90" turn up in it just past the second brace. It would have to go about 3 to 4" up.

That's good to know. That makes me feel better. Didn't want to have to put another one there. And, I won't have to calculate the volume of another brace.
It has been recommended that i use the Crown XLS1000 or the Behringer Inuke 1000 with fan mod. I am not familiar with amps and have no idea at this point what to use. Do most of these kind of amps have the ability to apply a high pass filter? Could you use a car amp and adapt it to AC? Lot's of questions I have about this project.

Hey, thanks for the information. I was in a guitar shop today and talking to the owner, he seemed to be very high on Crown amps for their warranties and their reputation for being some of the best amps. So, investigating them more, everywhere I look, the reviews are almost always perfect for the XLS1000. I think this may be the one for me. Since this is my first experience with subs/ amps, I will need some help with the hook up/ wiring/ etc..
So, on the back of my receiver (Denon AVR1912), I have a single output (pre out). I currently have a Polk 10" sub in my living room that I run just an rca cable to from the receiver with a y adapter. So, if I use this amp, what type of cable would I use from the receiver to the amp? Also, I wired the room with 14 gauge wire. Would this be sufficient from the amp to the two subs? Also, the drivers can be wired at 2 ohm or 8 ohm. I need 300W so how do I wire them? If I wire them both at 8 ohms and bridge the amp, would that be considered 300W at 4 ohms? Sorry for the obvious ignorance here but it's something that I need to figure out now.

Thanks.

Hello everyone, sorry for the long delay in my build. I have been working on my basement (wiring, plumbing, sheetrock, etc....). I am now to the point that I am ready to start painting so I have to get all of my speakers ready as well. So, just so recap, I am building 3 Stentorians (already built and in this thread) for my front L/R/C speakers that will be placed behind an AT screen in my HT. For the rear and rear surrounds, I am building 4 Sten II's (now complete with the build- see following pictures). I am also building 2 subs from the Infinity Reference 1262W's. I designed the boxes using WinISD Pro and drew it up in Google Sketchup (all earlier in this thread).

I've already posted the Stentorian part of the build earlier so I'll start with the Sten II's here. I did not take that many pictures unfortunately but here they are:

The typical wood stack- for 4 Sten II's:


The glue up and clamping:



Sorry, as mentioned, I forgot to take alot of pics of the Stenn II build so here is the finished product (minus paint):


The inside with the braces/ crossover mounting pads:


The back with the vent hole and hole for the terminal cup:


All 4 Sten II's:



Ok, and now for the subs. I did go ahead and purchase the Crown XLS 1000 to power the 2 subs. We can get into that later when I am ready to put them together and power them up. For now, let's get to the build. I have got 1 of them to the point of clamping the front baffle (done today). I'll show pics to this point.

Cut list and once again, wood pile:



Brace (I made 2 of these per sub):


Front panel marked up for driver hole and port:


Glued up left side panel, back panel and port. Also, painted the inside of the port black:


The 2 braces installed and glued. I messed up and cut them too small so you can see the makeshift shims I used to fill the gap to the right side panel:


The front panel glued up:


And the front baffle glued and clamped up:



So, that's my progress right now. I will be working to get the other sub to this point the next couple days. Then I need to do some roundovers on all speakers. I am looking for ideas here on what size roundover to use.

Passing Interest, if you read this, I would like to know what size roundover you used on your Stentorian build? I know you used a small bearing to get the cool cut line but not sure what size bit you used. Someone said on your thread that it was a 1/2" but it looked like a much bigger one than that.

After rounding over the edges on all speakers, I will be heading to paint. I am still looking for good ideas on paint. My plan is to use the same primer as I am using on my walls in the basement (I'll spray with my Graco sprayer). Is this a good idea? Has anyone used this type of primer on speakers? Need some advice here. Then I need some more ideas on paint. I want to do black on all of them. Not a piano finish but not a dull finish either. And not a textured paint like bed liner or Duratex.

That's it for now. Matt.

So far, I am impressed. I just took them apart and am getting them ready for prime/ paint. I still think they should have a bit more mid/ high range to them. Maybe it's the fact that I had them in my living room and didn't get them set up that well. I'll find out more once I get them in the theater, run some measurements, etc.. I guess if I'm not happy then, I could always look at making some changes to the drivers (maybe different tweeters). Not sure right now. I definitely don't want to discount them without having them completely finished (including paint) and set up with the rest of the system.

Thanks.

Thanks Marty. I have a Denon AVR 1912 that I will be using for the system. It has the Audyssey MultEQ. I ran it when I put the speakers in my living room but it just didn't turn out that great. Of course, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, there were lots of sounds in the house and other factors so I definitely don't want to use that as my benchmark. Should I use additional EQ on the mains, center and surrounds? Also, I will power the subs with the Crown XLS 1000. Should I buy some EQ for them as well?

Thanks

Thanks Marty. I guess that means that my AVR with MultiEQ would not be the best choice. Can you tell me what version of MiniDSP I would need? I was looking on the MiniDSP site and there are several options. Not sure which one I would need and really how it works/ how I would hook it up with my system.

Ok, I am almost ready to put some primer on all these speakers. Got the 1/2" roundover on everything and it looks pretty good. I did it on all sides of the subs and only the front left and right sides of the mains and surrounds. Here are the subs with roundovers and 1 coat of wood putty and sanding.


Now I'll just have to do another round or two of puttying and sanding. I'm going to try to primer them this weekend. Then, I just need to figure out what I'm going to paint with. Anyway, once I get them all puttied and sanded, I'll show a pic of all 9 before primer/ paint.

Martycool007, I am using Baltic Birch for the two subs. Of course, the rest are MDF. I got both subs sanded a ready for primer tonight. All that's left is sanding the 3 Stentorians. Hope to have them ready tomorrow night. I've got a bit of sanding left to do on my sheetrock and hopefully will be ready by Saturday to have a primer party.

I asked earlier but didn't get a response. From any of you speaker finishing experts, is it ok for me to primer the speakers with the same primer that I am using on my sheetrock? Also still looking for a good idea on paint. Thanks.

Here they are. All 9 cabinets ready for primer/ paint.


Plan on applying primer this Saturday.

Thanks alot deewan. I am really looking forward to getting them painted, installed and hooked up as a system in the theater. Maybe another 4 to 6 weeks probably to have it all complete. Well, at least I can sit and look at the completed speakers while the rest gets finished.

Thanks for the compliments Patzig. I am not in Texas. I actually live in Alabama. I've been impressed so far with the Stentorians. As mentioned in earlier posts, I am not really sure at this point how to set them up correctly but I'll do this once they're in place. I got all the equipment to do REW. I'll have to learn how to do it. I think all the speakers and subs are going to sound really good. I'll post all the measurements at that time.

Thanks DavidK442. I have thought alot about "sealing" the edges on the MDF. I have sanded them with 400 grit sandpaper and they are very smooth at this point. I was hoping getting them extra smooth would help. Maybe they will still soak up alot of primer/ paint. I ended up buying some Sherwan Williams oil based primer and paint to do the finishing. I did check out the link you posted. This is a good idea. I'm thinking I can just mix my Tightbond II with water and apply to the edges.