SEOS Tempest LCR Build for Theatre Room! My second DIY Audio project. - Page 3

Updates from yesterday.

Finished the other two crossovers, just need to make some standoffs for them:

Primed the boxes:

Here is a picture of the "Sled" I built for working on the speakers, made it real easy to rotate a box around while working on it:

Not a great picture but put one of the boxes in the theatre room just for fun, the picture doesn't really show it, but these things are so much larger than what I have now! I cant wait!

I started painting them black today, I have the second coat on the backs and once that dries I can put the first coat on all the rest of the sides. Progress is slow as I have gotten sick with a cold cough, between that, work, and not rushing things I am hoping to have the first listen on Friday morning!

Quote:

Originally Posted by domanskipaul 

Keep it up! I have to admit, one of the best parts of these projects for me is an excuse to buy more(or better) tools.

I'm very excited to see the finished front soundstage as well as your listening impressions. I may have missed it, but what will you be powering these with? What are you using for your surrounds?

Thanks Domanski, New tools are always good!

Yes I cant wait to see them in the room, initially they will flank the screen and the center will be titlted up slightly until I build the false wall and AT screen. I am running the theatre room off of a Denon 4311 feeding an Emotiva UPA-7 amplifier to the speakers. My surrounds are all energy C-series speakers. I am closely watching some of the threads in here as people explore some good DIY ideas for surrounds to match the SEOS speakers, but what i have will need to suffice for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by domanskipaul 

Also... In the past I always had issues with getting a good finish on MDF. I finally did some research and found out that MDF and water based paints/primers don't get along very well. On my last build I used an oil based primer and sanded between coats - made a world of difference!

I'm not sure how you plan on finishing these but figured I'd but in my 5 cents in case you do plan on painting.

edit: My bad. I just re-read your post about the duratex or primer and paint. ooooops!

Yes I used Kilz oil based primer before rolling on the latex, this worked well on my columns when i built them.

Thanks Nick!

Guys I have a few approaching the finish line questions.....

Confirm I want to line the cabinet with 1" thick Polyfill batting and because this is ported not sealed I do not want to put any loose Polyfill inside.

The Delta Pro 12A seems to already have a gasket on the bottom of the mounting ring so I assume that's sufficient?

Also what about testing? Sometimes I see people connecting up the woofer tweeter (CD) and crossover outside the box sitting on the table? should I be doing this or just connect it all up and go? I am pretty confident with my crossover assembly, I have triple checked them against the schematic and others Tempest crossovers. When I first hook them up fully assembled should I just listen to them in pairs full range stereo to make sure they sound right before letting Audyssey mess with them? In a few weeks I am going to look into a mic and REW but for now I just need to give them an ear test :)

Any other words of wisdom?

Thanks!

Black paint coat one! :)

Hey guys just to confirm the polyester batting is non conductive and ok to cover the crossover touching it?

Well here are some pictures to show what I am talking about, the Poly lightly lays over the crossover, would it be better then to just cut away the poly from over the crossover?

Going to eat dinner then start sealing these up and will check your guys answer on this first! Going to hear them tonight YES!!!!!!!!!

Only finished one tonight should be smooth sailing to finish the other two tomorrow morning! 

Here is a pic next to the Energy tower it will be replacing, I love the way this monster looks!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sibuna 

looks great,

and i really gotta get better at putting xovers together. mine always come out so ugly looking lol

Thanks Sibuna!

Behold!!!!!!!!

My temporary setup until I build the false wall AT screen.

Oh my oh my oh my!!! Everything I had hoped for! So far I just hooked them up and ran them stereo Direct off the 4311 (which runs them as full range no EQ or anything.) They sound amazing and with no subwoofer non the less! I have only listened to music so far and can not believe the things I am hearing.  I am not any sort of professional but the words I would use to describe these would be Detail, Clarity, Separation, Distinctness, Stage width yada yada.... I hear all the instruments in great detail and if i close my eyes the stage is wide with instruments distinctly positioned left to right and everywhere between. I see what everyone is talking about that you can turn the volume up and not even realize how loud its getting because the sound is so clean!

Thank you to Erich, Jeff Bagby, and everyone who has contributed to this project. I will never buy another speaker again, DIY all the way!!

There were several times I found myself wishing I bought the flat packs, but now that they are finished I am so happy that I built them myself.  They are worth every penny and hour poured into them!

I just finished running Audyssey and will be watching the first movie on them tonight.. Skyfall!!

I see my future and it involves DIY surrounds....Audyssey lowered the channel level on the Tempests to -9 !! It also set the crossover at 40, I am going to play with that later but for now I bumped it up to 60.

Off to listen some more!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NicksHitachi 

Suhweet!

How is the blend with the surrounds? Like you im contemplating high efficiency surrounds next!

Well I think the blend was fine honestly. We watched Skyfall last night and the audio was just amazing! I did not notice anything negative or feel like the surrounds were lacking in any way, as a matter of fact just the opposite. The surrounds actually sounded better! I think that is directly related to the improvements of the LCR though as I guess some of the sound that is perceived to be coming form the surrounds is actually from the fronts. The helicopter attack scene was especially impressive. I still want to build new surrounds at some point to better equal the LCR's.  Like I said Audyssesy dialed the Tempests back quite a bit, I need to read up on exactly what the impact of that is but I can imagine that having surrounds that can keep up with the output of the LCR's would only be better.  For anybody that wants to build a set of LCR's only I would say go for it even if you can't upgrade your surrounds right away don't hesitate!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSmithers 


Looks great! Like you, I noticed an increase in the quality and presentation of my surrounds after my Tempest upgrade. I'm not sure if it was placebo, stuff I thought was coming from the surrounds by really was coming from the new fronts, or something about offloading 3 inefficient speakers from the receiver so having more available power for the inefficient surrounds. Running them Full Range with no sub is pretty fun for certain types of music, but I did end up settling on mostly 80 Hz crossed to a sub. It looks like you painted the batting behind the ports, or can I just not see it in the pictures you posted? Great work, will be interested in seeing what surrounds you choose.

Thanks Mr Smithers!

I think it is interesting we both experienced the same thing in regards to the surrounds. I don't think it is placebo and would definitely say it is that some of the perceived surround comes from the fronts. I was running all seven of my speakers off of a 7 channel amp before and after the upgrade so I doubt the power was a real issue. Yes I crossed mine at 60 for now and the music is better, I just ran them initially full range to make sure I hooked everything up correctly with the crossovers and such but was pleasantly surprised at how well they sounded! I actually did not paint the batting, my room is just very dark and I took that picture without a flash, you really have to get down at eye level with the ports to see the batting. I had thought about painting it but wasn't sure if that would cause flammability issues and eventually these will be behind an AT screen. I am going to take my time for the surrounds, it seems like there might be some new ideas and designs coming out soon with people wanting to match their SEOS's and also some discussion and varied preferences on waveguides as surrounds....so going to do my research as whats best for me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erich H 

Maybe the better sounding surrounds have to do with the waveguide cutting down on floor and ceiling bounce coming from the front end.

Didn't think about that, that could very well be part of the reason! Have I mentioned how awesome these are!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rr14 

Little late to the party but did you use the fast setting ok premium or the standard pl premium.

Also, not that it really matters unless you want to do some more painting but home depot has a new paint that supposedly blends some of the features of oil based with the cleanup of water based. I'll probably give it a test run when I build my set next month.

I just used regular PL Premium as I was assembling and clamping all the panels at once and by myself and wanted the extended open time. worked out great!

Thanks for the info! I am done painting and well into the enjoyment stage now! Lol, If I was to do it over again I would have spent the extra money on the Duratex, but I wanted to use the left over paint I already had.

Hey SEOS/Waveguide experts I have a question I need help with. I am planning out my false wall setup and when doing my measurements I had not accounted properly for the dimensions of these when toed in. So referencing the pictures below using the right speaker as an example if I place my Tempest as far to the right wall as possible and angle it towards the left for proper toe in to the far opposite listening position, the width from the right wall to the front left corner of the Tempest will be exactly the width of the far right wall to the edge of the screen frame.  So once I build the false wall that means the 1x2 framing for the right GOM panel will cover the left front of the Tempest. Due to the depth I have, the speaker will be right up against the framing like shown in the pictures. So will this affect sound quality negatively? I am inclined to think that it is so far off axis it wont hurt anything for any of the main listening positions but need more educated opinions. 

Thanks guys!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtg90 

Yeah I don't see that being too problematic, should be fine.

Thanks MTG, I tried doing some listening yesterday with the wood how I had it in the picture and I couldn't hear a difference so I will move forward. Thanks for your input!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dank1209 

You did a nice job on the tempests. Thanks for sharing your build. Got 3 coming myself to build.

Thanks dank, glad to share! I can tell you that you will love these, look forward to seeing your build log!