Cabinetry for woodworkers and music lovers.

[Robatoy]

One fine way to make a fun project pay off big is to make your own loudspeakers. In no other way that I can think of can the time spent be as rewarding. There is a huge return on investement when one choses to build his own speakers. Proper ones. Start here:

people offer incredible deals on complete parts packages. All good.

then, if you have the money:

There is always Dynaudio. I drive a pair with 1000 watts per channel...and we're talking genuine RMS wattages.... the kinda shit that will pop 20 amp mains breakers. I have a pair of Dynaudio Eurostat monitors. Bi-amped. Farking strong stuff. When I play BIG stuff, I point the brick work on my house. Again.

[Jack]

[Upscale]

He's joking that the sound waves from his speakers will remove little bits of protruding cement from his brick work.

[Morris Dovey]

Eh?

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Charles Koester]

The process of putting mortar between bricks is called "pointing".

[GROVER]

[Robatoy]

*hearty laugh*

No lint in this belly-button.

I like sound pressures along 'real' levels. When I wail along with some of the tunes, I don't want me and my Tele to out-shine Robert Cray...................as if.

[Morris Dovey]

Erm. Yes. I knew that. I'm just having a bit of difficulty hearing after even just /thinking/ about a kW/channel audio system being turned up *really* loud. :-)

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Lew Hodgett]

Since when does sound pressure level equate to quality?

IMHO, loud is an indicator of damn little talent.

Lew

[Upscale]

Friend of mine who was a quadriplegic liked the sound so loud that he could feel the vibrations through his wheelchair. He even went to the point that he spent $10,000 on club quality speakers for his living room. The two main speakers were close to refrigerator size. I thought they looked ridiculous, but hey, it was his money. Just meant that I didn't visit as often as I used to. Loudness has usually discouraged me which accounts for my not visiting too many clubs with bands. I've always gone for music as pure as I can get it and that doesn't always mean having it loud.

[Robatoy]

My speakers are dreadfully inefficient. (87dB @ 1 watt/1 meter.) I neeeed that much power *G* Besides, my average listening levels require 1 kw if I want to keep my amps from clipping. Lots of sound, but not loud. I always get a kick out little old ladies smiling when a 100 piece orchestra hits a crescendo pushing far higher sound levels than I do in my room.

r

[JGS]

[N Hurst]

Ahh, the eternal Monster cable debate!

I built some speakers a few years ago using some designs from the internet (called "Esquire"), and they've been great! I've never had enough room to justify BIG speakers, and these really fill up the house with nice sounding noise.

As for speaker wire, I had a friend give me a spool of extra speaker wire he used for his house, and it's been fine. As long as it conducts the signal, you're fine. You're more likely to encounter sound degredation from outside noise than your cables, and most cables aren't shielded anyway! I have a friend who swears by Cat5 networking cable. I can't find any problems with his strategy: lots of good copper, the cable is easy to work with, and you can hook up 4 speakers to one cable if you're so inclined (though he usually dones one speaker per cable: stripes are red and solids are black).

-Nathan

messagenews: [e-mail]...

[N Hurst]

Ahh, the eternal Monster cable debate!

I built some speakers a few years ago using some designs from the internet (called "Esquire"), and they've been great! I've never had enough room to justify BIG speakers, and these really fill up the house with nice sounding noise.

As for speaker wire, I had a friend give me a spool of extra speaker wire he used for his house, and it's been fine. As long as it conducts the signal, you're fine. You're more likely to encounter sound degredation from outside noise than your cables, and most cables aren't shielded anyway! I have a friend who swears by Cat5 networking cable. I can't find any problems with his strategy: lots of good copper, the cable is easy to work with, and you can hook up 4 speakers to one cable if you're so inclined (though he usually dones one speaker per cable: stripes are red and solids are black).

-Nathan

messagenews: [e-mail]...

[Robatoy]

Can he really tell the difference? I have fooled many people by changing the wire, then putting on lamp-cord and raising the soundpressure a fraction of a dB. "Ohh that is better!" Speaker wire, 14 ga or bigger is adequate. Ordinary lamp cord is fine. The rest is baloney, working on the insecurities of the audiophile. Somebody told me that Monster now makes battery cables for automotive sound systems. WTF? Interconnects, between pre-amps and power amps can make a subtle difference if the quality of the wire is poor. At extreme low-levels, such a as moving coil phone cartridge, the wire's capacitance can alter the linearity of the signal, and that can be audible...but man, you got to work hard to bat better than 50%. Today's source materials do away with all that silliness.

[Patriarch]

"Robatoy" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Many years ago, I worked in that industry - the sound industry. I always thought that the geekiest of the audiophiles were terribly insecure. Never certain that they had the 'best' gear, and never certain that could actually be determined. In spite of spending what could buy a decent California house in those days, they never really settled on anything, and mostly got mildly confused or bemused looks from people when they tried to explain their addiction.

I heard a ton of good product and music in those days, and many tons of middling (and worse) crap. Really glad I changed my career path.

Patriarch

[Ian James]

[Rod & Betty Jo]

I have my PC connected to my TV/VCR/ Pioneer receiver VSX- D912..... I used

4 (left, right, video and digital) 50ft of coaxial cables(R6) with RCA adapters. The basic wiring goes from PC (AIW video card) to VCR(Toshiba)....to VCR(Mitsubishi)/Pioneer/TV. And also a PC to Pioneer direct digital connection(coaxial R6) that works great for tunes.....but when I send video I get a obnoxious hum on the TV end......unless I run a extension cord from a bedroom plug to the PC (works fine but is a tad tacky)......In troubleshooting I installed a new circuit for the PC and have tried various breaker panel slots but still get the hum unless I'm on the bedroom circuit......With simple deduction it would appear to be breaker panel related.....Do you have any HUM related suggestions? Rod

[George Max]

Or worse, Kimber Cable. The sterling silver variety.

[N Hurst]

silver variety.

Those are the $5,000/foot cables, right?